In article ,
says...
I doubt it. The loss in efficiency over a mechanical
transmission would make most any ride a real chore.

A good point. Bicycles lose only a fraction of 1% in friction losses. The

That's a bit optimistic IMO (except maybe for a fixie), but it's only
a few (single-digit) percent according to most any source.

above proposed bike would probably be lucky to lose say 30%. Think of it this

And even 70% efficiency would take some pretty fancy
(=expensive) engineering when you are talking about fractional
horsepower motors and generators.

way, you are pedalling 3 gears higher then you are going.

Another point is that all that stuff would weigh something. I think the
proposed bike would weight considerably more then the 18 or so lbs for a good
mechanical bike.

THough if you were building a commuter or loaded touring bike, the
weight would be less of an issue.


A final point is all that added stuff is fairly complex and I think it would
have a certain failure rate. The mechanical bikes are pretty reliable - except
for flats, one sees very very few mechanical failures on bikes.

True.


--
Dave Kerber
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