Barak Electric Bicycle Kit: Making an e-bike out of a bicycle

Some people like the idea of a plain bicycle, the way it requires the body to pedal naturally, with its return on investment being good health and fitness, but wait a minute.

Electric bike riders prefer their e-bikes to cars, say they have more fun, and like the practical benefits of picking up speed and the machine's extra support.

Micah Toll, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering with a degree in mechanical engineering, has come up with a kit that can transform an ordinary bicycle into an e-bike.

He notes that the kit makes it possible to own a more affordable e-bike. He has designed the "Barak Electric Bicycle Kit."

The conversion process, he said, is not complicated. What's in the kit: a battery, controller, hub motor wheel, which replaces one of your current ones, and throttle.

The parts, said Toll, are easily bolted on to any bicycle. Toll said the whole process could be done in less than 15 minutes using only a few simple hand tools.

In his video he shows the changeover procedure. First, you replace the front wheel with a motor wheel from the kit.

Then you slide the throttle over the handlebars. Plug the motor and throttle wires into the controller. Place the controller inside the battery holder. Place the battery holder on the seat post, and then slide on the battery.

The kit is available with two customization sets. One set has to do with wheels and the other set has to do with power levels.

Micah Toll's DIY electric bicycle ebook is not available in stores, but it gives you everything you need to know to build your own ebike (and how to save money while doing it). 

His ebook (normally sells at its retail price of $40)here it is offered for just $19.95

In sum, one can choose from a 20-inch or a 26-inch wheel, and one can choose between 350 watts and 500 watts of power.

As for the two different power levels, he said the low power version is the 350-watt kit, and the more powerful version is the 500-watt kit.

He said, "These kits both get approximately the same range and same top speed (18-20 mph and 20-30 mile range)."

The difference, he added, is the power and acceleration you feel. As for wheels, Toll designed the kit to come with either of two wheel sizes, 20 and 26 inches as these are the most popular sizes found on standard bicycles.

He said that 20-inch wheels are more common on folding bicycles while most mountain bikes, beach cruisers, and road bicycles have 26-inch wheels.

Toll has turned to Kickstarter for a crowdfunding campaign.

Pledge amounts range from $585 for the 350-watt 20-inch version to $590 for the 350-watt 26-incher to $640 for the 500-watt 20 inch kit to $655 for the 500-watt 26-inch kit.

The estimated delivery date is December 2014.

The Volitude VI Electric Folding Bicycle

The Volitude fold-up pedal-assist electric bicycle (or pedelec) from Swiss company Volitude SA that first got our attention in concept form early last year has now entered production.

The body of the bike, which is now known as the Volitude V1, has received a slight redesign in shape but the bike still features the unique EasyFold mechanism that allows it to be folded or unfolded in just a second and has seen it dubbed the “Swiss Army Bike.”

The bike is powered by a 250 W electric motor with an integrated torque sensor that provides motor assistance up to an electronically-limited 25 km/h (16 mph) in keeping with EU regulations.

Volitude is selling the V1 for CHF4,990 (approx. US$5,465), with shipping expected to kick off at the end of March, 2013. Check out the pricing and online shop here.

The 11.6 Ah, 36 V lithium-ion battery should be good for a range of around 40 km (25 miles), depending on the terrain and amount of effort the rider is willing to exert.

The included 110/240 V external charger, which the Swiss company says is similar to a laptop charger, will recharge the battery to 80 percent capacity in four hours, with a full recharge taking six hours.

Xfire system projects a bike lane onto the road

A lot of people won’t ride a bicycle on city streets because they’re scared that a vehicle will run into them.

This fear certainly isn’t helped by the many drivers who unknowingly get dangerously close to cyclists while driving alongside them.

Xfire’s Bike Lane Safety Light is designed to address that problem by using lasers to project a virtual bike lane on the road around the bike.

The folks at Xfire aren’t the first to think of this idea, incidentally. Designers Alex Tee and Evan Gant came up with a very similar concept in 2009, which seems to now be commercially available as the Laser Lite Lane.

British design student Emily Brooke, on the other hand, built a one-off device that projects a symbol onto the pavement in front of the cyclist, to let drivers know that a bicycle is approaching from the rear.

Powered by two AAA batteries, the device uses dual 5-milliwatt red lasers to project two lines onto the asphalt, extending back from either side of the bike’s rear wheel.

While those lines don’t do anything to physically protect the cyclist, they do provide motorists with an attention-getting visual guide as to how much distance they should be keeping.

The device also serves as a standard tail light, incorporating five “extremely bright” red LEDs.

True, some people just won’t care about lines on the road, but in many cases drivers simply don’t realize how much space a cyclist requires – this is a way of letting them know, not unlike those side-extending safety flags that some riders use.

Cannondale’s CERV bike dynamically adjusts to changing terrain

Developed into a working prototype by Ohio-based Priority Designs, the CERV is based on a concept from Cannondale that called for a design that allowed the handlebars to move up and down without altering the distance from the seat to the crank.

The answer was a triangular frame with 100 mm (3.9 in) of travel up and down that moves in relation to the front end’s 85 mm (3.3 in) of travel forward and back.

The curved drop handlebars long found on racing bicycles are pretty nifty, right?

If you want to get down low to reduce your wind resistance you grab hold of the lower part, and if you’re climbing a hill and need to get a bit more weight and leverage on the crank you can shift your grip to the top bar.

The Continuously Ergonomic Race Vehicle (CERV) concept bike takes things a step (or two) further with a design that dynamically adjusts the position of the handlebars based on the terrain being covered, all without changing the seat-to-crank height.

Cannondale’s CERV bike dynamically adjusts to changing terrain - Images

Recycle - A bicycle made of cardboard

If the weight of your bike frame is a chief concern, you can drop many thousands of dollars on a carbon fiber frame. Or you could talk to Izhar Gafni, an Isreali entrepreneur and rather obsessive tinkerer who has built a low-cost, good looking, functional and light road bike from cardboard.

We’ll let the well-produced video below tell the tale of the bike’s origin and development but first, consider the potential here to scale up production of such steeds.

Gafni figures the bike could be produced for about $12 in materials. That means the bike would retail for well under $100 — likely much closer to $50.

Sure, you can walk into a Walmart today and pick up a Huffy cruiser for $90. But that weighs about 45 pounds, compared to the featherweight cardboard bike.

As Inc.com notes, this could be a boon for companies that offer bikes as amenities, such as resorts. I also think it would make for great campus bikes for large corporations or warehouses.

For bike-sharing fleets, however, the cardboard might not be able to withstand the abuse that riders are sure to dish out.

Audi’s new futuristic electric bike was designed for fun

Audi, known globally for performance oriented cars and chic designs, revealed a two wheel model at the Worthersee Autonews 2012 show, a meet-up of Audi, Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda (and their fans) in Carinthia, Austria.

The new bike, called the Audi e-bike Worthersee, is a lithium-ion-battery powered e-bike that according to Audi, explores technological limits on the basis of Audi’s core competences: design, connect, ultra, and e-tron to make a unique and innovative sport bike.

Neither a straight electric nor a normal bicycle, the company describes the prototype as “high-end pedelec” that’s made specifically for “sport, fun and tricks.”

The design is super-futuristic, probably for the reason of steering away from other bike concepts. Audi wants us to know that this bike, like their cars, is performance, speed and flash-driven.

Audi’s new futuristic electric bike was designed for fun

Ridekick provides an electric boost to regular bicycles

Although some cycling purists may sneer at them, electric bicycles certainly do come in handy when hills need to be climbed on morning commutes, or loads need to be hauled.

E-bikes can be quite expensive, however, plus their motors and batteries make them heavy and clunky when their electric-assist feature isn’t being used.

That’s where the Ridekick kicks in. The motorised trailer quickly hooks onto an existing bicycle, pushing it to speeds of up to 19 mph (30.5 km/h), for a distance of about 12 miles (19 km) per charge. When you want your regular ol’ human-powered bike back, you just unhook it and go.

Ridekick provides an electric boost to regular bicycles - Images

The Sperm Bike - Home deliveries

Biological analyst Alan Dowden of the Seattle Sperm Bank rides the Sperm Bike, a custom-designed, high-tech bicycle used to deliver donated sperm to fertility clinics.

Donor sperm is transported by medical technicians aboard the bike in liquid nitrogen cooled vacuum containers.

The first Sperm Bike was adopted by Seattle Sperm Bank's sibling company, the European Sperm Bank, in Cophenhagen.

Picture: REUTERS/Anthony Bolante

Electronically switchable chainless drivetrain developed for Alpha Bike concept

The Alpha Bike is an interesting prototype out of the University of Pennsylvania featuring a fully internal chainless drive that can be switched between fixed gear drive and freewheel electronically.

Fabricated entirely in-house, the bike's drivetrain, brake systems and onboard electronics are all concealed inside the custom-machined frame and an LCD display on the handlebars updates the rider on important journey information.

The bottom bracket of the Alpha Bike is home to the Switchable Integrated Free-Fixed Transmission (SWIFT) Drive system designed by University of Pennsylvania Mechanical Engineering seniors Geoff Johnson, Lucas Hartman, Katie Savarise, Evan Dvorak, Katie Rohacz, with Dr. Jonathan Fiene as advisor.

SWIFT uses an electronically-controlled clutch for switching between fixed-gear and freewheeling modes and incorporates a central shaft made from AMS-6514 Maraging steel, a Titanium 6Al4V clutch plate and belt pulleys made from stainless steel.

A front hub houses a drum brake and dynamo which provides power for the electronics, charging two super capacitors which in turn power a suite of sensors and a microcontroller. At the rear there's a compact three-speed planetary gear set actuated by a standard push-pull cable.

The LCD display on the 16 ounce (458 g) 3D-printed handlebars offers the rider useful information such as time, distance, cadence, wheel speed and chosen gears. Bike dynamics information is stored to SD card, which can be examined after completion of a ride.

Sadly, there is no information available on how the performance of the prototype drivetrain compares to more familiar designs. Nor is there any indication that the development might result in a production model.

The purpose of the design project was to "create a bicycle push the boundaries of integrated systems." In that regard, the Alpha team was recently rewarded for its efforts, receiving the Gemmil Award in the University's 2011 Senior Design Competition.

EADS Airbike made of steel-strength nylon

Engineers from the Bristol wing of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) have announced the development of the first bicycle using Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technology.

The manufacturing process involves "growing" the components from a fine nylon powder, similar in concept to 3D printing.

Said to be as strong as steel, the end product is claimed to contain only a fraction of the source material used by traditional machining, and the process results in much less waste.

It also has the potential to take manufacture to precisely where the component or product is needed, instead of being confined to factories often located a great distance away.

• 
• 
• View all
  

The Airbike has an integrated truss structure to keep weight down while maintaining strength and rigidity, although the ALM process is said to result in components that are 65 percent lighter than those produced by traditional machining anyway, and it uses about one tenth the material.

The structure of the two-wheeler was perfected using computer design software and then constructed using a powerful laser-sintering process which builds up thin layers of a fine powder of metal (such as titanium, stainless steel or aluminum), carbon-reinforced plastics or – in this case – nylon, until the solid form is created.

Complete sections are "grown" from the chosen structural material, with the wheels, bearings and axle incorporated within the process and built at the same time. EADS says that the nylon components produced by the ALM process are strong enough to replace steel or aluminum.

Unsurprisingly perhaps for the company, the eight-bladed wheels are based on the scimitar propeller design of the Airbus A400M, and the bike's name follows a similar line to that of Airbus, the first EADS company to use the technology.

EADS sees the technology potentially allowing components to be quickly and cheaply manufactured precisely where they are needed – such as in offices, shops, houses or even remote military or humanitarian aid locations – instead of in factories half a world away. The company believes it has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing.

"The possibilities with ALM are huge – it's a game-changing technology," said Andy Hawkins, the lead engineer for ALM at EADS. "The beauty is that complex designs do not cost any extra to produce.

The laser can draw any shape you like and many unique design features have been incorporated into the Airbike such as the auxetic structure to provide saddle cushioning or the integrated bearings encased within the hubs."

EADS Airbike made of steel-strength nylon

A Bicycle that purifies Drinking Water

Bicycling is a great way to burn calories and get fit. But a new kind of bike may improve the health of entire communities in an entirely different way.

Nippon Basic, a start-up based in Japan, has plans to scale up production of a bicycle that purifies water for those living in remote villages or disaster areas.

Cycloclean functions just like any other bicycle, except that the addition of a water filtering system allows bikers to crank out drinking water using the same pedaling motion that propels bikers forward.

The rotation of the bike chain helps to remove impurities by driving a motor that pumps water through a system of filters, pumps and hoses located near the rear wheel. But just how much drinking water are we talking about here?

The company touts on their website that during the course of a 10 hour biking trip, the technology will generate about three tons of clean water, enough to quench the thirst of 1,500 people.

The modified bicycle also features puncture-proof tires and the capacity to suck up water at a depth of five meters.

Originally developed in 2005, the company has since sold 200 bikes to countries like for the Japanese equivalent of 6,600 dollars per unit.

Although the bikes are considerably more expensive than ordinary bicycles, company president Yuichi Katsuura says that the bikes can actually be a form of revenue for businesses that sell water and create new opportunities for the millions of rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh who stand to lose their jobs as the economy grows.

“You go to where water is, put your bicycle on a stand, drop a pump and peddle for clean water, which can then be sold elsewhere,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The company hopes to have 100-200 units available for purchase annually, with production slated to ramp up around April.

Photo: Nippon Basic

Green Technology and the Electric bicycle

Create your own Personal Cycle Lane wherever you go

(Image: Evan Gant, IDSA and Alex Tee, Altitude Inc)
Cycle lanes are a good way of keeping bikes away from cars and minimising accidents, but they aren't available on every road.

Evan Gant at the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and Alex Tee of Altitude Inc in Somerville, Massachusetts, have designed a portable cycle "Light Lane" that straps to the back of a bike.

A laser projects an image of a cycle lane onto the road directly behind the cyclist to remind approaching cars to leave room.