On my eighth birthday my parents gave me a brand new
Sears Roebuck bicycle. It was a
single speed (I didn’t get a cool banana seated three speed until my eleventh
birthday) and fire engine red. I loved that bike; I rode it everywhere.
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| Courtesy Google Images |
In the early 1970s, there was a gas shortage so people purchased mopeds, small motorized scooters that had pedals.
The operator would start pedaling then a motor would kick in. They were useful
because you only needed a valid state driver’s license to operate one and
they were much faster than walking.
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| Courtesy Google Images |
The next generation of motorized bicycles is
just around the corner. In 2013, Korean auto parts maker, Mando, will roll out a chainless hybrid bicycle called Footloose.
According to DVICE.com, Footloose is a folding electric bike
that turns human pedaling power into energy to be stored in the bike’s
lithium-ion battery. The bike can travel up to 18.6 miles on electricity alone.
It has a control unit that monitors the vehicle’s speed and automatically
adjusts its energy output.
I was never a big fan of the moped. It was bulky and
seemed to lack a whole lot of mobility. On the other hand, the Footloose appears to handle like a
regular street bicycle. Depending on cost, I could envision owning one.
Does this make anyone feel like going for a weekend
bike ride?
Sweet bike! Hard to believe it gets 18+ miles on a single charge, but then battery tech is advancing quite a bit. Pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteWe need to reorganize things so the world is more bike-friendly. My girlfriend recently tried to bike 2 miles through Boston to get to work... when she got back she said she'd taken her life in her hands and she'd never try that again! Our government needs to think about how it can restructure its cities so we can survive once the Oil Age is over.