>A five mile flat ride won't do much for you unless you >sprint the whole way

Yeah, it's annoying- I used to ride 10+ each way with a nice hill in the middle, then we moved offices..

Still beats using a car though.

I read somewhere that the weight Armstrong lost after cancer treatment (5 lbs. or something) actually made him a better rider. A five mile flat ride won't do much for you unless you sprint the whole way, and even then I don't know.



re: the Windcheetah trike: WindCheetah's are very cool.

http://www.recumbents.com/home.htm has lots of neat links, and a search for "dutch recumbents" will turn up some pretty bikes.

>If you cycle commute (depending on the distance and effort >you put into your commute) you won't become >Armstrongian... quite the opposite, you'll waste away.

If only! 5 flattish miles each way (with a x country loop of a mile or so thrown in for interest) just isn't burning my flab fast enough..boo

Interesting idea.

Maybe elecromechanical systems will allow affordable, high-performance electric vehicles to happen. Users are going to have to get used to the idea of doing some work while they pilot their vehicles... and it's going to have to be just enough work not to make them all sweaty before they get to their place of employment. Considering the way modern road systems are built the energy recovery systems will be key. All the stoplights are the killer, not the hills. In indonesia, they have seperate roads (minus stoplights) for all the scooters and bicycles.

One other serious flaw: designed around the concept of the two person commute.

Other reader commends:

>[...]bicycling commuter with an Armstrongian physique[...]

If you cycle commute (depending on the distance and effort you put into your commute) you won't become Armstrongian... quite the opposite, you'll waste away. Look at your average tour de frog rider... absolutely scrawney, but exceptionaly arobically fit.

Hmm.

Have a look at this.. I'm getting mine in March.

I suppose that if they are using copious amounts of carbon fiber, it may just be expensive, as opposed to "heavy and expensive." I commute 23 miles to work, so I think the only thing that will work for me is to park 2 miles out, ride in, then move back a mile a week until I am an incredibly buff bicycling commuter with an Armstrongian physique (but with all my equipment). I'd like to see an electric assist that would cruise at 25 mph and couldn't be tinkered with. That way you'd still be working out, but be able to use it for longer distances if you weren't a triathlete or didn't want to spend three hours/day commuting. Plus you could put in a cd changer.

Mind Candy -- now *that's* the boingboing we remember!

"Brain Candy For Happy Mutants"

They cant have only one person powering this thing because of friction. That wonderfully complicated drivetrain will suck the energy from their legs faster that sprinting through mud.

it seems like the drive train is their killer ap - certainly not much else there - plus, why make a two-seater the basic model. using two humans for the power is fine and competitive with speeds of intra-city kph, but not good for a single user.

It looks heavy and expensive--carbon fibre. And they use an off-the-shelf 14 speed Rohloff. It smells like a bunch of jonny-come-lately's who are reinventing the recumbent. There are a slug of fully faired Dutch bikes that look this groovy.

craniac, this is a tandem which requires more engineering to
do right than a regular recumbent. I'd still like more details
about the drive train though.

#1. ya those look cool too. but do they have a windshield? ;p

I love my bike. I guess that's what being a college student does to you.