Van Moof announces a 31 mph awd 'hyperbike'

[m@Robertson]

No time to load at all. The Bullitt is just a big open box that you toss your stuff in and go. The bags - just undo two straps, unzip and put things in. You do need to balance the load unlike the frontloader but thats part of cycling and shopping. For smaller loads, the kangaroo pouches made by the folds of each bag are larger than most panniers' capacity by themselves. Just tuck stuff into the pouch and roll on.

The duffel bags were specifically made for speed and convenience. 30 seconds to detach the bag fully from the bike and 15 seconds to toss in the support dowel and zip it inside. Now its a 36" duffel with a carry handle.

Great Big Bags 2.0 – 138L (each) Panniers… Seriously?!

My first set of Big Bags were 77L each, almost the same size as the largest generally available cargo bike pannier (and 1/3 the price). It turns out you can go a lot bigger than that and stay pract…

talesontwowheels.com

In a dense urban environment, you have parking issues with bikes like these that affect their practicality not so much in riding but in owning them in the first place. The frontloader is *extremely* common in Europe. If anything its the norm not the exception for moving people and cargo. the Bullitt is actually designed to fit into a standard EU elevator (those people just love standardizing things). Here in the States the norm is a longtail or midtail but thats definitely an inferior urban design when laden compared to a frontloader.

 

[mschwett]

No time to load at all. The Bullitt is just a big open box that you toss your stuff in and go. The bags - just undo two straps, unzip and put things in. You do need to balance the load unlike the frontloader but thats part of cycling and shopping. For smaller loads, the kangaroo pouches made by the folds of each bag are larger than most panniers' capacity by themselves. Just tuck stuff into the pouch and roll on.

The duffel bags were specifically made for speed and convenience. 30 seconds to detach the bag fully from the bike and 15 seconds to toss in the support dowel and zip it inside. Now its a 36" duffel with a carry handle.

Great Big Bags 2.0 – 138L (each) Panniers… Seriously?!

My first set of Big Bags were 77L each, almost the same size as the largest generally available cargo bike pannier (and 1/3 the price). It turns out you can go a lot bigger than that and stay pract…

talesontwowheels.com

In a dense urban environment, you have parking issues with bikes like these that affect their practicality not so much in riding but in owning them in the first place. The frontloader is *extremely* common in Europe. If anything its the norm not the exception for moving people and cargo. the Bullitt is actually designed to fit into a standard EU elevator (those people just love standardizing things). Here in the States the norm is a longtail or midtail but thats definitely an inferior urban design when laden compared to a frontloader.

i actually really want a frame triangle bag that turns into a shoulder bag, like a messenger bag. nobody seems to make such a thing (it would need to be custom anyway for the triangle on a compact frame), but i think it should be fairly easy to get one made. i normally just wear a backpack, but sometimes it gets sweaty :ew:

i see a lot of more typical radwagon type cargo bikes here, always with a kid or two on them. some of the playgrounds in the east bay are like rad/yuba showrooms

i'm not sure in what way this new vanmoof would be superior to something like that, except that it goes faster... which, back to the point, is exactly why it shouldn't be in already-congested bike lanes lol.

 

[JRA]

As far are I'm concerned any bike with a front hub motor and pedalable drivetrain is awd.....As far a Hyper goes I guess I have had that ability for at least 3 years

and light to boot.

(weight taken with 12ah battery not shown in picture)

As I mentioned in another post in this thread it is wrong to assume that if a moped class actually pedalable bike does come along it should be treated as a motor vehicle and subject to all regulations. The geo fencing thing does muddy the waters a bit however and I feel is not going to alleviate the angst that a moped class vehicle will cause in the bike lanes even if electronically speed limited somehow.

A simpler way to address this might be that nothing with a license plate is allowed to travel in bike lanes or MUP's.

 

[m@Robertson]

i actually really want a frame triangle bag that turns into a shoulder bag, like a messenger bag. nobody seems to make such a thing (it would need to be custom anyway for the triangle on a compact frame), but i think it should be fairly easy to get one made. i normally just wear a backpack, but sometimes it gets sweaty :ew:

i'm not sure in what way this new vanmoof would be superior to something like that, except that it goes faster... which, back to the point, is exactly why it shouldn't be in already-congested bike lanes lol.

Interesting idea about the bag. Would be a challenge to conveniently remove it as you tend to have three velcro straps up top and three more on the down tube. A custom bag maker could do this for sure. I ended up working with a guy in Russia of all places (Uraltour) who makes custom triangles of any size for a whole $30 or so plus shipping. All of the USA bagmakers were booked for months or on bike tours. I literally tried and couldn't find anyone to take my money for a straightforward custom triangle - and USA makers are like 10x the Russian guy's price. Now I have like 4 of them from him. Maybe he's up for the idea.

Not sure what Van Moof's thing is with the speed of this thing. Its unnecessary to toss it in to an otherwise potentially successful idea. My bet is they threw it into the press release to get people talking, and press coverage, and thats the last we'll ever see of it. A 700wh battery and two hubs are going to need a lot of help to get to that speed. Maybe its just BS for the initial splash.

 

[mschwett]

....

Not sure what Van Moof's thing is with the speed of this thing. Its unnecessary to toss it in to an otherwise potentially successful idea. My bet is they threw it into the press release to get people talking, and press coverage, and thats the last we'll ever see of it. A 700wh battery and two hubs are going to need a lot of help to get to that speed. Maybe its just BS for the initial splash.

yeah. 50kph vs 45kph is such a silly distinction, kicking the bike out of class 3 in the US and whatever the corresponding speed category is in the EU, for a very marginal amount of speed... which of course comes at a very high energy cost!