Yike Bike

[Lillian 216]

What do you think of the Yike Bike?

I rode one years ago, and wanted it then. NOW, it looks like an EUC with a seat to me. This man appears to have buyer's remorse. 

 

 

[neurokinetik 104]

Sure is noisy.

[Lillian 216]

4 hours ago, neurokinetik said:

Sure is noisy.

I noticed that too. 

I used to think they were super cool. $5K saved!

Edited September 7, 2019 by Lillian
Re-worded sentence

[meepmeepmayer 13,504]

41 minutes ago, Lillian said:

$5K

[Rywokast 2,351]

i think its a ridiculous waste of money lol.. and that sound is hideous

[Toshio Uemura 1,565]

On 9/6/2019 at 1:24 AM, Lillian said:

What do you think of the Yike Bike?

I rode one years ago, and wanted it then. NOW, it looks like an EUC with a seat to me. This man appears to have buyer's remorse. 

 

 

No range ...! No speed ...! Extremely ugly and pricey...! The „Forcemech Voyager R2“ is so much cooler in every aspect ... and it's half price at Amazon. Check it out! I already pre-ordered one. With my high speed e-horse riding I am bound to need one sooner or earlier!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074ZNL9SF/ref=psdc_3777061_t1_B01N0207SR

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Toshio Uemura

[Rywokast 2,351]

29 minutes ago, Toshio Uemura said:

No range ...! No speed ...! Extremely ugly and pricey...! The „Forcemech Voyager R2“ is so much cooler in every aspect ... and it's half price at Amazon. Check it out! I already pre-ordered one. With my high speed e-horse riding I am bound to need one sooner or earlier!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074ZNL9SF/ref=psdc_3777061_t1_B01N0207SR

 

lmfao

[Lillian 216]

19 hours ago, Toshio Uemura said:

No range ...! No speed ...! Extremely ugly and pricey...! The „Forcemech Voyager R2“ is so much cooler in every aspect ... and it's half price at Amazon. Check it out! I already pre-ordered one. With my high speed e-horse riding I am bound to need one sooner or earlier!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074ZNL9SF/ref=psdc_3777061_t1_B01N0207SR

 

[Lillian 216]

19 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

$8,000 for Model C

[meepmeepmayer 13,504]

1 minute ago, Lillian said:

$8,000 for Model C

Sweet Lord. How in the world did this company get funding?

I wonder if it's so loud because the motor is geared...

Anyways, lol.

[neurokinetik 104]

Yeah, geared for sure, which is needed because they are only using a 200W motor to drive it. 
 

[Lillian 216]

On 9/8/2019 at 11:36 AM, meepmeepmayer said:

Sweet Lord. How in the world did this company get funding?

I wonder if it's so loud because the motor is geared...

Anyways, lol.

Even the Lord is like, "Jesus Christ!" 

[/Dev/Null 359]

And I thought the 40km'ish real world range of my 650wh V10 was bad...20km is terrible.

[Rywokast 2,351]

3 hours ago, /Dev/Null said:

And I thought the 40km'ish real world range of my 650wh V10 was bad...20km is terrible.

20 km advertised.. imagine what real world is.. this thing is an absolute joke even for 1000... for 8000 thats just like hahaha lets see how high we can put it and see if any lunatics actually buy it.. completely absurd

[ColinOldAndCranky 11]

The yike bike suffers a fundamental flaw, the same flaw that saw penny farthings never very popular and rapidly overtaken as soon as the safety bike was developed.

 

There are lot of other issues with it but basically it's geometry and the centre o fbalance is a deal breaker. It is hard to believe that it escaped the attention of a professional designer.

It was recently put up for sale for any takers - the production tools, the design, the patents. I expect it'll go for a fire sale price if at all.

Before it was released in 2010 gave it an assessment in the Bicycle Networks Australia which detail the many obvious deficiencies, most of which have probably been identified already in this thread.

Quote

I have been aware of the NZ designed yike bike for a while now. And I believe that it maybe gonna be available at last sometime June.

Have a look at http://yikebike.com/

While I like anything that helps ean us off our cars,this one seems a little less than likely to succeed IMHO. And with good reason.

I can see that, in due course, it's range will head north of the current 10km. Battery technology will look after that.

And maybe the 200W limit will be upped in due course by some states. The yike uses 1200W I recall.

And ten kg is bit heavy as a liftable while the other arm carries the briefcase and laptop. But that may improve with technology. (My uni is 6kg but I have a long handle - the seatpost/seat - so I can wheel it instead of carrying. And I'm considerably stronger than the target market.)

But these are not deal breakers in my opinion.

The deal breaker...

I look at the forward position of the rider and think "this has the same safety flaw that Penny Farthings faced".  Braking solidly or a bit of a bump or depression to slow it for a moment and you pitch forward and off.Penny farthing are sometimes fitted with Whaton Bars where the bar is behind the rider. Makes it awkward to get on but means that the rider falls forward and down instead of staying on the critter a bit longer and then pitching up and over. Or worse, staying on it as it crashes down on you as you do the inevitable face plant. All are dangerous but one is less so. The designer puts a positive spin by implying that all you guys on your regular bikes are in danger of the bars if you brake suddenly. Yeah!

And the designers promo video does little to convince me either - while the riders are all doing there best to look relaxed and cool, I note that the critters wobble and flit from side to side. THe onlytime it is travelling smoothly is when cornering or doing esses. Bad ice skaters like me look better in the sme circumstance but straight line is the bit htat gives away the lack of stability and tracking.

It's a pity that so much thought goes into it but that it's all dependent on a fundamentally flawed geometry.

What do you guys think? Would  you risk using one?

 

[Philip 16]

I am somewhat familiar with the evolution and business arc of Yike Bike. I bump into the inventor at conferences here in New Zealand every year or so, and have done a bit of business with the latter owners and managers in recent years. We shared a site at a couple of trade shows in the past, and I've also had a Yike Bike for a few months and thoroughly evaluated it in urban environments across hilly Auckland - which is what you get when you build a nation's biggest city on top of 50 volcanoes, and have an ocean and a sea lapping at the coastlines on either side of this relatively narrow strip of land.

It's an interesting device, and a clever design. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you get used to it is rather good. But always a slightly odd feeling. I thought the aluminium model was always just a bit heavy to carry (and I am a tall able guy), but there was always the carbon fibre up-sell. The fold-up capability was awesome, yet not necessarily of much utility in a country like New Zealand (where apartment living is minimal, and our houses a relatively large) - but no doubt attractive in many other places. I never saw range-per-charge being a limitation, as it was intended for last mile transport. In New Zealand it was legalised for use on both footpaths and roads, but it didn't have that luxury in most other markets. Funny how attitudes and laws change, albeit slowly (and oh how ironic that it was low-tech KickScooters that were the driving force that drove the evolution in personal mobility, not Segway, not Yike).

For me personally, I happen to *really* like the feeling of riding self-balancing machines (also, it is my business), and I never fully warmed to riding the Yike. But then I don't gravitate towards riding a bicycle or ebike, either. For last mile, give me a full-sized Segway PT every time (unless I'm going to have to lift it!), or a S-Pro/Plus or a KickScooter (if public transport is involved).