No chain, It'll never catch on

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
here are some similar examples of e-bikes without chain:

The Mando Footloose:




the JIVR:



They all have one thing in common: instead of trying to make a better bike, they are obsessed with re-inventing the wheel.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
19,991
8,173
60
West Sx RH
Ok until it breaks/doesn't work then you are up the swanny.
Chainless oil/maintenance free good for town/city or short commutes but can see the exercise rate being even less then a chain/belt drive ebike.

Have a feeling AK would love it though but may be not the price.
Talking of price any ideas ?
 

MG.

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jul 28, 2017
11
11
50
Fleetwood
I think that once the idea is refined and iterated there's no reason to suppose that it won't be more reliable than a mechanical chain drive and all the associated gubbins. I wouldn't buy one yet but I reckon that something like this is the way that electric bikes will mostly go eventually.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,785
The European Union
Too much energy loss, a derailleur is 98% efficient this will never be close to that. Great for Copenhagen and Amsterdam useless in the Alps.
 
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Deleted member 4366

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It's a good concept for some circumstances, like for riding in places without steep hills; however, there's several disadvantages. You're permanently limited to the motor's torque (70 Nm), so on a hill, standing on the pedals will only charge the battery faster. The motor will still slow down and stall out on anything above 15%. Secondly, there's a weight penalty. Thirdly, the efficiency loss of your pedal effort must be something like 25% compared with 5% for a chain drive. That's not a problem as long as your battery has some charge in it. lastly, it's 650w, so not legal as a pedelec.

It's a great idea with some potential, which, no doubt, will gradually be improved on, but I don't see it being any use to me at the moment.
 

MikelBikel

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 6, 2017
588
284
Ireland
And it looks heavy with the crank genny *and* a hub motor.
Now if they made it a combined crank motor/generator doing double duty, if thats even possible, they might have something.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
no chain? they should have gone for belt drive.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,785
The European Union
1. It is a bad idea trying to solve a problem which doesn't exist. OK so Denmark and the Netherlands are not exactly tiny niche markets but I don't see having a chain being a problem there.
2. It will not work where I live. As soon as you leave town you have 14% inclines that are over 1 km long. That motor is going to need so many Wh/km that you will need a huge battery to go the shortest distance and it isn't the 100 W or so that you are putting back into the battery which will improve range much.
 

mike killay

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 17, 2011
3,012
1,627
Quite what is the problem with chains?
When you read the advertising blurbs about 'No more greasy legs and trousers etc.' it is obvious that the poor old blurb writer is struggling to find anything positive to say, clearly does not ride a bike and seems to think that all cyclists are constantly covered in black grease and hate their chains.
 

rich_r

Pedelecer
Jun 23, 2017
89
32
50
North Yorkshire
Not fitting into the current definition of a EAPC could be an issue - although I'm sure a new class could be created.
But yes, chains and belts do a pretty good job of transferring power from legs to wheels, and using a generator and motor doesn't really seem to bring anything that useful. I guess there may be some niche applications where removing the external mechanical link is desirable. It's always nice to see ideas put into real products though.