Hasta La Gadget!

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Jonathan, who can’t be bothered to burn off calories on a normal bike once he heads of to university next year. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“My college of choice has a big, hilly campus, and driving is pretty heavily discouraged, so I’ve been looking at getting an electric bike. I have to keep it under $900 (I may be able to up to around $1100, but that would be a tough sell). I’d like it to look somewhat low-key, not unlike a typical street / mountain bike. It doesn’t have to be crazy powerful, but it does need to be strong enough to tackle hills on a regular basis, and it needs batteries to match that usage pattern. I prefer the flexibility of a mid-drive mounted motor, since that would let the motor take advantage of the gears, and it would let me easily switch between power-assisted and all-electric pedaling, but I wouldn’t mind a different setup. Finally, the university has a lot of fog and rain, so weather-resistance is probably important. I already own a street-bike with 26-inch wheels and a diamond-frame body, so if a conversion kit would be a strong option, I’m also open to modifying my current bike. Finally, if the bike most suitable for my needs falls outside of my price range, what would the price-range for that bike be, and what alternatives could I pursue? (I don’t really want a motorbike or a scooter / moped.) Thanks!”

Phew, looks like this guy’s going to be quite the wordsmith! For those of you currently cruising around campus on a power-assisted bike, which did you use? And how’d you secure it while in class? Throw this fellow a bone — he’s obviously more interested in nabbing a 4.0 than cranking on a set of pedals, and that’s a-okay with us.

Ask Engadget: best electric bicycle under $1000 for college campus cruising? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Last we heard, Nokia’s bike-powered cellphone charger was set to roll out worldwide by the end of 2010 for about €15 — now the company’s peddling it for €30 to European velocipede enthusiasts. (Sure, it’s twice as expensive as we anticipated, but it’s a huge step up from this thing.) The kit, intended primarily for developing markets, comes with a Nokia charger, phone holder, and bottle dynamo: the thing that spins your pedal pushing into cellphone juice. Aside from price and availability, Nokia seems to have followed through on the rest of its promises — it sports a 2-mm charger interface and provides 28 minutes of talk time for every 10 minutes spent riding between 6kph (4mph) and 50kph (31mph). European riders can pick up the charger kit from Nokia’s online store, while the rest of us just keep spinning our wheels.

Nokia’s €15 bicycle cellphone charger, now €30 in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink All About Symbian  |  Nokia  | Email this | Comments

In a move that is sure to excite the outdoorsman (or outdoors-lady, as it were) in us all, German outfit Ego-Kits has unveiled the E-Powered Downhill Bike Kit so you don’t have to go through all that pesky exercise getting to the top of the mountain to enjoy the thrill of bombing back down. The kit comes with a 1200-watt aluminum motor that mounts under the down tube of 70 percent of downhill bike models, a battery pack (contained within an included backpack), charger, controller module, crankset, chain, and twist grip throttle with a battery charge indicator. We don’t know the price or when the system will officially go on sale, but we do know that when mounted on a mountain bike, it looks cooler than other, more pedestrian electric bikes we’ve seen previously. Jump after the break to see the Ego-Kit in action.

Continue reading Ego-Kits declares victory over nature, gravity with its E-Powered Downhill Bike Kit

Ego-Kits declares victory over nature, gravity with its E-Powered Downhill Bike Kit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BeSportier  |  Ego-Kits  | Email this | Comments

The first time we saw the YikeBike we couldn’t help but think it was a little too stylistically shaped, a bit too svelte, and a lot too carbon fiber to actually exist in the real world as anything but a prototype. But now, over a year later, here we are looking at a little green “Add to cart” button on the company’s website. Yes, the 6 mile range, 15mph top speed foldable cycles are starting to roll out of the warehouse with an estimated ship date of just one week. The best news? The price is $3,595, far from cheap but about $2,000 less than they were originally estimated to cost and a downright bargain for something that offers this unique blend of bizarreness and fun. How much fun? Get a refresher course in the video after the break.

Continue reading YikeBike foldable electric bike now available for the low, low price of $3,595 (video)

YikeBike foldable electric bike now available for the low, low price of $3,595 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Oh Gizmo!  |  YikeBike  | Email this | Comments

Say “electric bicycle” around here and visions of Sanyos with baskets go floating through our heads. The Beast from M55 is something rather different, rather more bodacious. It offers a 40mph top speed and a 75 mile range plus a construction featuring pieces hewn on CNC along with plenty of titanium and carbon fiber bits for good measure. The design is perhaps a bit too in your face for some, but for others is the perfect mix of ‘tude and tech. It’s been in design for some months now but recently made something of a debut at SEMA ahead of a forthcoming shipping date with pre-orders open now. Cost? If you have to ask…

M55 Beast Electric Bike is quite appropriately named originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Likecool  |  M55  | Email this | Comments