On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:43:10 +0000, Richard Schumacher wrote:

My searches have not turned up anyone selling a bicycle with a
continuously variable electric transmission. I don't mean an electric
scooter: I mean one in which the crank turns a generator/alternator, whose
output through an electronic controller then drives an electric motor on
the wheel rim(s) or in the hub(s).
snippage
*Efficiency
would not be as good as with a conventional drive, but that's not really a
concern for commuters or pleasure riders.

Efficiency would indeed be a concern for commuters and pleasure riders if
the efficiency is low enough, as I would presume would be the case. You
have three separate sources of energy loss: the inefficiency of the
generator, the power transmission to the motors, and the motors
themselves. Do you ever notice an electric motor getting hot? That's
wasted energy, and that gets worse as load increases.

The engineers can give reasonable estimates on the energy losses.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
_`\(,_ | death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to
(_)/ (_) | them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.
-- J. R. R. Tolkien