Good news - ETRA liquidated

[Deleted member 4366]

is this the new 2014 Oxygen bike?

Andrew's still negotiating with them. They're saying that they can only supply 1000 per month, but he needs more than that for the anticipated demand.

E-bikes manufacturers in recent years concentrated on improving motor and battery performance whereas the key to a mass market is simplicity and robustness.

That's exactly what these scooters are, simple and robust. They also looked extremely well developed as they've been selling them in millions for several years.

This product is not meant for cyclists. They're meant for anybody that wants cheap efficient short range transport. One of the reasons that ebiking has not taken off in the UK is because both the legislators and marketing have directed their activities at converting cyclists instead of the non-cyclists, of which there are substantially more.

I guess there's plenty of people on this forum with closed minds that wouldn't go near one of these bikes. I bet many of them have iPhones too.

 

[mike killay]

To me, that Chinese scooter looks great.
Cast wheels so no broken spoke problems, Rudimentary leg shields so that on wet days, you can just twist the throttle and tuck your legs in.
Provided that the motor/wiring etc. are OK, I would ride one.
The whole thing speaks robustness and not some super light delicate tracery of minimum weight, that although we as cyclists know is strong, Mr Public does not and relies on his eyes for judgement.

 

[trex]

...
This product is not meant for cyclists. They're meant for anybody that wants cheap efficient short range transport. One of the reasons that ebiking has not taken off in the UK is because both the legislators and marketing have directed their activities at converting cyclists instead of the non-cyclists, of which there are substantially more.

quite so.
e-bikes in the UK are not cheap transport.
To me, the reason why not many LBSs want to sell e-bikes is much lesss because they think e-bikes are a cheat but more because they are such poor value compared with sub £1,000 bikes.
The 8-Fun BBS01 shows how LBSs may be tempted to switch side, but not at the current price. Sooner or later, somebody is going to come up with even a better product and possibly at lower price point.

 

[flecc]

This product is not meant for cyclists. They're meant for anybody that wants cheap efficient short range transport. One of the reasons that ebiking has not taken off in the UK is because both the legislators and marketing have directed their activities at converting cyclists instead of the non-cyclists, of which there are substantially more.

That's absolutely true, this moped style product could conceivably succeed where bicycles never will in the UK. The legislators are indeed the block though, such moped styles needing far more power than we or the EU permit at present, even with tweaks to get through type approval.

 

[trex]

the success of the Copenhagen wheel is astonishing:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly-smart-wheel/posts/632830
They've raised 7 times more money in 40 days than their initial target of $100,000.
Perhaps we'd need our own London wheel project.

 

[flecc]

the success of the Copenhagen wheel is astonishing:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flykly/flykly-smart-wheel/posts/632830
They've raised 7 times more money in 40 days than their initial target of $100,000.
Perhaps we'd need our own London wheel project.

This is the trouble with crowd funding, there isn't the analysis that the markets bring to investment. I cannot see why this should succeed any more than the similar design from MIT a couple of years back, or the Berkestrand Motorised Wheel of a decade and more ago. They completely failed, and I expect this one will as well.

All-in wheels are undeniably an attractive concept, but they don't deliver what the potential or present e-bike public desire and need.