Bricycle electric tricycle actually cooler than it sounds
By Nilay Patel 
posted Aug 2nd 2008 12:39AM
posted Aug 2nd 2008 12:39AM
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I actually saw this on the other blog first and was like hrmp. a cucumber bike!
Exactly! Well, I actually thought of a honeydew melon, but still, the concept was the same.
On another note, you were number one to post, and didn't use the f-word! You get a cookie!
fugly?
Wait, can I change my answer to green sneaker? It looks like the mirror image of a tennis shoe painted pale lime green!
lol
mirror image? Wouldn't that just be the other shoe?
its an upside down gun.
no, he used the f word.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to catch that... You may have his cookie.
thats one ugly vehicle
4-wheel breaks on a tricycle?
I'm thinking like wtf ?!! does this go like faster than 20 miles an hour?
Actually I was thinking "WTF?! Where is the 4th wheel?"
But ya, yours works too.
My thoughts exactly.. there's not 4 wheels.
the brake is a lie
haha lol, there must be three wheels at the back! cleverr :p
.... But our tricycles have four wheels....
with a nod to Spinal Tap.
The source material says "disc brakes on all wheels" so I think this is just Engadget making the usually-correct assumption that "all=4".
Yuck
"is up there with the Tesla Roadster in terms of sex appeal "
Kinda like Rosie O'Donnell is up there with Angina Jolie?
Hey, some people dig the whole fat, bigoted lesbian thing.
Quote from the movie Sideways:
"She's two tons of fun, huh?"
Am I the only one that thinks this looks a little phallic?
They have surgery for that...
Agreed.
Here's an overhead view of it: 8==D
PENIS!
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like a giant nose?
How can it have four-wheel disk brakes when it only has three wheels?
It's 4 "wheel brakes", not "4 wheel" brakes.
My guess the front tire has two of those disk brakes.
two front disk brakes so when you pull the front brakes, the whole thing flips over and destroys your metallic cucumber siding?
how do you get in/on to this thing?
universally-embarrassing homebuilt electric vehicles? wow, that's quite a sweeping statement considering the number of EV projects on http://www.evalbum.com/ . there are quite a number of pretty sweet DIY conversions that are being done by industrious tinkerers in garages all over the country. be a little more open-minded, man. we lowly non-lawyers can't afford a tesla.
Amen to that: http://www.tronbikes.com
Scientists say this vehicle will make you 56% more attractive to the ladies..
(may or may not be a real statistic)
Expecially when you jump in like the Dukes of Hazzard, since there is no doors or other openings other than on top
"Can you get it in a color besides electric cucumber?"
More like, "can you get it in a shape besides 'erect penis'?"
Erect penis?
more like, you better get yours seriously checked out...
couldn't help but laugh @ electric cucumber..
interesting concept.. not quite accessible to those who don't want to look too futuristic.
nosebike is nosey
Clive Sinclair, you were right all along... just 25 years ahead of your time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5
Exactly my thoughts. Although, with all that smog back in those times, the lack of windows may have been a bit discouraging.
Beat me to it...Sinclair C5....Err... 'Sport'.
Remember the Pedi-Car from the 70's ? Same thing but with motor assist.
The future looks like ass. Let's just destroy the planet and die cool.
"The future's so ass... I've got to wear shades"
This is the first time I've actually laughed out loud at an engadget comment in a long time :)
Hmmmm, can I have it with no roof, painted black, and the words 'Cool Runnings' stencilled on the side?
yeah, honestly! no roof would look way better
I have had the same idea to try and build my own style of this for commuting to work. I also had the idea to include a solar panel just for a extra tiny boost.
www.FliteRecord.com
Will you call it the Ericycle?
how can it have four wheel disc brake when its a tricycle meaning it only has THREE wheels???
try reading other posts first.
Pepe Lepew @ Aug 2nd 2008 10:05AM
It's 4 "wheel brakes", not "4 wheel" brakes.
My guess the front tire has two of those disk brakes.
which would be the logically correct assumption. if you're gonna comment on something please read the other posts to make sure you're topic hasnt been brought up like 5 times.
so is it like a motorcycle with a trunk or just a scooter?
Brian, if you're reading this, please stop now! What you've come up with is a Sinclair C5, only 30 years later, probably even heavier, and even more impractical (How do you get in it? Crawl through a hole in the back?).
The C5 was a spectacular failure, and this is even worse. Battery-assisted conventional bikes and trikes are available, and all this does is pointlessly add weight and ruin the handling, for sake of little more weather protection than can be got from a set of mudguards and a jacket (in actually bad weather a high-sided three-wheeler is the last place I'd want to be - even if it didn't tip over, the front end would never stay put unless you weigh it down, making the thing even more impractically heavy!)
This is a great idea! I like the suspension and brakes on all THREE wheels. I would like to see 2 motors, one on each of the rear wheels to help with keeping the steering light and for speed. I would also like to see a windshield. The primary reason I can see for having an enclosure is weather, which begs for a windshield. I would like to see where the battery pack is going to go. Low in front of the rear wheels or behind the driver would help with traction for dual drive rear wheels. Lastly I would like to see what kind of weight is forecast and how the driver gets in and out. If you could design this to go 20-30 miles at 50mph then it could be used for commuting, which is obviously the main target of this project.
I looked into converting a bike to electric and decided it wasn't feasible yet. The main hurdles were: 1. It just couldn't be fast enough for me to run home (8mi one way) when needed. Dogs, lunch, meet workers, etc would take me 40-50 min round trip. I need something that can hit 45mph. 2. Weather. A little bit of rain in the forecast would force me into a car for the day. I work in an office and can't have soaked clothing when I get there.
A gallon of gas: $5
An electric tricycle: about $300
Riding to school in style: priceless
Ugh, yet another clueless post from Nilay. To say almost all home-built EV's are 'ugly' shows how little he actually knows about the topic. There's a stack of real home-built and converted beauties over at the V is for Voltage community ( http://visforvoltage.org/ ). I'm sure there's many other communities online as well who would refute that all EV's are ugly. Most conversions I've seen look just like the motorcycles they're built on.
This bike is cool. One of the great things about pedal powered electric-assisted vehicles is that in Australia, the vehicles don't need to be registered or insured, and you don't need a license to drive 'em. That makes them incredibly cheap to operate, even compared to other Electric Vehicles.
what's the extra disc brake for?
As someone else has mentioned - it is probably a dual front brake setup, which makes sense considering that you do around 70% of your braking on the front wheel.
How about we just suck it up and ride a regular old bike?
How can you have 4 wheel disk brakes on a tricycle?
just like on a motorcycle. im willing to bet the front wheel has two discs. one on each side.
Okay....enough with the 4 disk brake stuff...we get it we get it....I think with the situation we are in for inexpensive travel options we should be open to ALL new ideas. kudos
I want a cheap electric car. Period.
that's a big pen1s
Four wheel disk brakes on a trike! That is quite a feat!
Pink dildo wouldn't be a bad color either.
Cool.. Mke it low in the dark blue, and we can play TRON....
uh... anybody remember how the Ambiguously Gay Duo's car looked? Well, this is the version you would have to compensate for.
When I look at this I think of Jimmy Durate and Barbara Streisand though I am not sure why.