Yikebike Fusion - a bit heavier, a lot cheaper

URBAN TRANSPORT

Yikebike Fusion - a bit heavier, a lot cheaper

By Mike Hanlon

23:15 May 19, 2011

6 Comments

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Yikebike Fusion - a bit heavier, a lot cheaper

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The Yikebike is a sensational product - I called it the first "transportation appliance" when I rode the miniature electric penny farthing last year. Funnily enough, when I wrote about the ingenious range-extender earlier this year, I wrote that the Yikebike ticked all the boxes but one - its range. Now that the company is to offer a slightly heavier version at roughly half the price, you can probably bury the last objection that could be aimed at the Yikebike.

The Yikebike Fusion will ship four weeks from now.

About the Author

Mike Hanlon
Mike grew up thinking he would become a mathematician, accidentally started motorcycle racing, got a job writing road tests for a motorcycle magazine while at university, and became a writer. He went on to edit or manage over 50 print publications before embracing the internet – a dozen start-ups later, he founded Gizmag. Now he can write again.

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User Comments (6)

Good start. Lemme know when it stops ticking the "silly looking" box.

Chi Ken Sup - May 20, 2011 @ 01:50 am PDT

It's not your little brother's Big Wheel?

Bryan Paschke - May 20, 2011 @ 06:49 am PDT

I think I'll just keep my SUV, thanks very much. It has a range af about 400 miles and doesn't get me beat up when I get where I'm going.

Skeptical Jones - May 20, 2011 @ 07:34 am PDT

I AM NOT A NUMBER!

William Volk - May 20, 2011 @ 09:28 am PDT

I've got a similarly two-wheeled device that has a range of *at least* 30km, is a lot cheaper, doesn't contain toxic materials such as those found in the YikeBike's batteries, improves my health and is fueled by food. And which will not be featured on GizMag.

The trouble with devices like this is that they don't solve an actual problem. I mean, I like toys as much as the next guy, and this looks fun, but honestly, if you're talking about a range like that, you're better off getting a decent bicycle for at most a fifth the cash, and cruising around on that. You'll get similar top speed, better theoretical range, easier maintenance and less environmental impact. And $2k is a lot of cash for a toy.

Frank van Schie - May 20, 2011 @ 02:54 pm PDT

@Frank, I think you don't look enough at the http://www.gizmag.com/urbantransport/ section. At present, 50% of the latest ten articles are about commuter bicycles :)

But yeah, I agree - this is a toy, like the segway. Fun concept - but not really practical. Anybody that can't ride a bike is most likely going to use a car (or a motorbike). Still - perhaps it'll evolve into something that will be more useful someday - like electric cars have been slowly doing. They too had basically no useful range at first.

For now, though, I'm content to watch and wait...

Taryn East - May 24, 2011 @ 02:45 am PDT