gizmag

Milan-based Danish designer Nils Sveje describes Bike 2.0 as the next generation bicycle… hence the name. At first glance, it looks pretty ordinary. Its very Spartan appearance doesn’t exactly turn heads, and in fact it’s the lack of external features that gives away the fact that this is no ordinary bike.

Instead of a chain, the bike has a pedal-powered internal generator that’s wired directly to the rear hub motor. Instead of derailleurs, it has a stepless gearbox. Instead of brake levers and discs, it has a regenerative coaster brake. And, instead of shifters, it has two wireless rings on the handlebar.

Regular propulsion is achieved via the bottom bracket-mounted generator, that creates power which is sent back to the 500 W brushless motor. Using the “superconductor” (which one would assume is a capacitor), however, the rider can get power boosts when needed. An Intelligent Cadence Leveling feature keeps the rider pedaling at the same speed, via a continuously-variable transmission. The rider initially sets their desired cadence using one of the handlebar control rings.

Very cool tech… but I’ll bet the price will knock your socks off.




  1. The DON says:

    NO MUDGUARDS

    That pearly white frame wont be for long, not to mention the riders back and legs.

    YUCK

  2. Ballenger says:

    All that technology and it still has a Prostate-exam-on-a-stick seat.

  3. noname says:

    Let me be first, to state the obvious in a supposit Technology blog, the bike does not have a “superconductor”. A super-capacitor maybe but not a “superconductor”.

    Only recently has a sufficiently high Tc superconducting material been reported (If you riding in below freezing weather). I doubt practical/usable wires have been fabricated from such a discovery.

    The superconducting material discovery is a 16-layer 9223 structure, (Tl4Ba)-9223 or (Tl4Ba)Ba2Mg2Cu7O13+ and is reported to have a high Tc of 258 Kelvin (-15C, 5F). 4-point resistance tests on a sample pellet have shown a sharp resistive transition near 258 Kelvin (-15C, 5F).

  4. cgp says:

    What’s the bet this is just computer imagery.

  5. noname says:

    # 24 cgp,

    I think it is!

    Because, if I didn’t have my computer I wouldn’t have seen it; Q.E.D. it’s computer imagery!

  6. Greg Allen says:

    Bicycle 1.0 is one the greatest inventions in history. Bikes, even more than cars, ended the era of the horse.

    But, it’s not progress to make it expensive and impossible-to-repair by amateurs.

    Just fix the clunky derailleur gear system.

  7. JustRide says:

    Amazing Video

  8. akallio says:

    Did you know that the old fashioned bicycle with roller chains is the most efficient self-propelled mechanism known? Food for thought.

  9. Wrigsted, the Dane says:

    Hey, we have hills in Denmark! One of our highest mountain is the “Himmelbjerget” which directly translated means “The Heaven Mountain” and it is nearly 200 meters high! Ok, 147 meters, but try to pedal to the top of it and then come and say that we have no hills here.
    Actually there are quite a few who use el-bikes in this country, so it’s nothing new. It’s just that it have that Scandinavian (think danish) design look that is new

  10. sargasso_c says:

    Such elegant perambulation upon which to become an organ donor.

  11. Richard L. says:

    It is not a recumbent bike, so it is not the bike of the future. Surly not a 2.0, at best it’s a 1.5.

    Recumbents are the future of bikes!

  12. AlBme says:

    While #2 will be giving his left testicle to ride one of those, he’ll be losing the other one during the ride.

  13. Greg Allen says:

    >> akallio said, on November 25th, 2010 at 12:03 am
    >> Did you know that the old fashioned bicycle with roller chains is the most efficient self-propelled mechanism known? Food for thought.

    I had heard that — I think ten speed, specifically.

    We Americans are so tech-oriented, we neglect marveling at the low-tech inventions that revolutionized our world.

    The bicycle for transportation, the AK 47 for war… the plastic bag, the ball point pen, etc etc.

  14. acdex says:

    #1

    Designer != Engineer

    Chain = 99% efficient, dynamo+motor = 80% ?

    noooooooo

    Designer = Nils Sveje http://inodasveje.com/products/electronics/bike-2-0/

    Engineer = IPU http://ipu.dk/english.aspx

    Chain = 95% Bike 2.0 max 80%

    IPU is working on the project.

  15. GetSmart says:

    Emergency Room not included…

  16. Reverse Engineer says:

    Hmm… I wonder how much all this pedal-powered internal generator, rear hub motor, stepless gearbox, regenerative coaster brake, bottom bracket-mounted generator, 500 W brushless motor, “superconductor”, and continuously-variable transmission unobtanium would weigh.

    For efficiency of a conventional bicycle, a track bike is tough to beat.

    For something unconventional, Sam Whittingham pedaled Georgi Georgiev’s Diablo III recumbent streamliner to 82.33 MPH at the 2008 World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain, Nevada (and no, that’s not a “motor paced” record – check out Fred Rompelberg’s 166.9 MPH record for something really unconventional).

    For aesthetics, an old steel track bike is my favorite. No brakes, no derailleurs (or “disraeli gears”), no cables. Just a pair of beefy 1/8″ gears on a classic lugged or fillet-brazed double-triangle frame.

    Hmm… time to go for a ride…

  17. R.O.P. says:

    Sad rip off of the pursuit track bike Graeme Obree built in his garage using some parts from a washing machine. Unlike this “award winner” Obree’s bike actually worked as evidenced by his breaking the world one hour record…twice.

  18. Rudy says:

    I still think this is the best idea. But for whatever reason(s), it is not taking off.

    http://liveleak.com/view?i=0fd_1211123388

  19. foobar says:

    I love all the emergency room comments. If you’re stupid, you’ll get killed doing pretty much anything.

    If you ride your bike down a freeway, you increase your chances of getting killed. If you drive the wrong way up a one way street, you increase your chances of getting killed.

    I have an old touring bike in the garage with ~200,000 km on it. The car next to it has ~100,000 km on it. I honestly can’t recall any death defying experiences on the bike, but I’ve had at least one this week in the car (raging soccer Mom in a minivan).

    Of course, I’ve had a couple of seriously cool implosions riding my mountain bike on some twitchy single track. But I deserved that.

  20. cgp says:

    Told ya so. Just some 3d file. This generation lives in their solids modeling universe. No physical manufacturing skill sets. Just send it off to a chinese bake shop. No real world abilities folks. Forget fast trains. The men who knew about nuclear engineering, workshop fabrication techniques, metallurgy are nearly passed on.



Bad Behavior has blocked 49081 access attempts in the last 7 days.