NYT Story About Tiny Hidden Motors in Professional Racing

[Jason McNeil]

Interesting article about tiny 25W hub motors used in the world of cycling. No one quite knows the extent of mechanical aids used today. What's next? An eBike stage of the Tour de France?!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/sports/cycling/with-a-discreet-motor-doping-the-bike-instead-of-the-cyclist.html?_r=0

Varjas said that his crank-assist devices could produce more than 250 watts, the amount of power a professional rider might typically average during a four-hour race. The smaller hub-assist motors, which he makes only for custom orders, typically produce only about 25 watts, he said, and require the rider to be able to maintain a high pedaling rate as is the case with all professionals. Even a 25-watt boost would be significant during a professional race.

Varjas said his system was nearly silent and light enough to keep a bike at the cycling union’s minimum weight.

“If you have this system, you can stay with the group, but nobody hears it, nobody sees it, nobody knows about it,” he said of the devices, which cost 10,000 to 25,000 euros (about $11,300 to about $28,200), depending on features.

[lizardmech]

It looks like a RC hobby motor inside a tube with reduction gearing, quite nice profit margin on $28,000.

[Keith]

Whilst it is astonishing the levels people will go to in order to cheat, to me the bigger picture is that it shows just how head in the sand our lawmakers are in banning personal mobility devices when, fairly soon, it will be difficult to tell if a device is powered or not.

When I was in Hyde Park recently two people came by on long boards that, even to my fairly trained eye, looked like perfectly ordinary skateboards other than a very faint whine that could only just be heard.