What’s New at Currie Technologies - IZIP & EZIP

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David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, is a poster boy for bike-riding. Almost. Firstly, where’s the helmet. And secondly, he keeps having his bikes stolen.

The second one was nicked last week, from the front of his house. So what should he, and all cyclists, be doing to avoid theft? After the fold: some helpful hints.

l. Get a Good Lock

Invest 10-20% of the cost of your bike on the lock. The hardened steel D-locks are highly recommended. Use two locks: a D-lock and a chain and the robber needs 2 different kinds of tools to get them off.

2. Lock it Properly

Put the lock through the frame and lock it to something immovable. Leave as little slack in the chain as possible.
Don’t leave the padlock lying on the ground where it can be whacked open.

3. Consider the Value of your Bike

That means, the more valuable it is, the more the thieves will want it.
Don’t park in the same spot every day.
Don’t let it stand out as the most expensive one around.

4. Disguise the Brand

A hard one to stomach, but put tape over the name or spray paint the frame an ugly color.
Even if the thieves see the brand name, the re-sale value has been lowered.

5. Consider a Folding Bike

Folding bikes are expensive but you can take them with you.

6. Buy a Cheap Bike

They don’t have so much street-cred but equally, no one wants to steal them. The Guardian

Tags: bike theft, bike tips, Electric bike, steal bike

MTA events will encourage commuters to get out of their cars next week.

If you’re looking for a way to reduce traffic congestion on the roads, shrink your carbon footprint and get some exercise, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a suggestion: Take part in Bike to Work Day next week.

Los Angeles County’s flagship public transit agency, supportive businesses and other partners are organizing several events and promotional offers on May 14 to get residents to try something different than single-occupancy vehicle commuting. Although it’s admittedly difficult to change ingrained behaviors such as driving to work, the MTA is hoping that people who give it a try for one day might decide to do it on a regular basis. If enough people make an effort, the L.A. region would reap numerous benefits, such as less congestion, cleaner air and a more healthy population.

If you decide to pledge to bike to work at the MTA’s Web site, www.metro.net/biketowork, you’ll have a chance to win several prizes, including a two-night stay for two at the Red Mountain Resort & Spa in St. George, Utah; a hybrid electric bike

from Currie Technologies; and wireless bike-attachable speakers for iPODs and Bluetooth connections.

Here’s another incentive to commute on two wheels: If you want to use public transit to supplement your commute, you can ride MTA buses and trains for free that Thursday when you board with a bike or helmet. (During rush hours when ridership is high, however, you may have to wait for the next train to board at certain locations.)

There are a few restrictions: Subway trains that run along the Metro Red and Purple lines do not allow bikes to board in either direction during peak hours between Union Station and the Wilshire/Vermont station.

Other local transit agencies will also offer free rides to bike commuters. In the South Bay, Beach Cities Transit, Torrance Transit and Gardena Municipal Bus Lines will take part in Bike to Work Day by allowing bicyclists to ride at no charge. The Gardena buses do not have bike racks, so riders there would have to park their bikes before boarding.

If you’re still not convinced, consider that you can enjoy refreshments and giveaways from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 40 pit stops for bicyclists around the county. In the South Bay, such pit stops will be set up at the Aviation Boulevard Green Line Station, under the sponsorship of Los Angeles World Airports, and at Torrance City Hall. The Aerospace Corp. and Raytheon will sponsor a third pit stop along the Green Line in El Segundo .

There are other good reasons to bike to work: You arrive at the job alert and awake, you save money on gas and there’s no hunt for a parking space. As the L.A. area expands its bike routes and bike lanes, it makes sense to see if biking fits into your lifestyle one or more times a week.

Tags: electric bicycles, Electric bike, hybrid bikes

TWIN LAKES — At 51, Lin Dohse’s knees aren’t what they used to be, but she still likes riding bicycles.

Which is one reason she loves her 2008 eZip Trailz , an electric bike. Another has to do with her grandson, Zach, 8, and the hilly land hereabouts, including a short but fairly steep incline just east of the home where she and husband Dennis live at the corner of Mueller and Park.

“It doesn’t hurt my knees when I ride, and I can ride with my grandson,” Dohse said, breaking into a wide smile, as she frequently does. “If my knees have had it, if my knee is hurting, I can kick in the electric motor and get some help. He tells me, ‘Grandma, you’re cheating.’ But 8-year-old knees can do these hills.”

Dohse can pedal the electric bicycle

built by California-based Currie Technologies the same as her 3-speed AMF Roadmaster. She likes that option for the health benefits. “I do pedal. I don’t have this (the motor) on all the time,” she said.

Then there’s the savings in fuel costs from not having to drive to the hardware store, library and grocery store, or run various other errands fewer than 10 miles roundtrip, all of which comprise the majority of her frequent bicycling trips outside of her jaunts with Zach.

“It’s funny coming home with a pumpkin in the basket. Sometimes, I have to break the groceries up into three trips. But so what — I’m not using any gas. It doesn’t take any gas!” she said, laughing. “What’s not to love? Last year, I figured I saved over two fill-ups. So, that was $100. It’s great for older riders. Only thing is, it’s heavy (66 pounds, including motor and battery). But with the battery on it, who cares?

“If you’re really far away, and the battery dies, you can just pedal home. Or you can do what I do,” Dohse added, pretending to hold a phone to her ear, “‘Honey, can you come get me?’”

Fed up with skyrocketing prices at the fuel pump, the mother of three adult daughters found the 2008 women’s model Trailz selling for about $300 online at Walmart, although it is sold elsewhere as well and can be ordered direct from ezipusa.com. That’s pretty much the bottom range in pricing for electric bicycles, which are made by a surprising number of U.S. manufacturers and list as high as $15,000, though most run between $400 and $2,500.

“I got it last year at the end of May when the gas prices started to go up. Two weeks after I bought it, they were sold out,” Dohse said. “I should be a marketer for this. I take it to yard sales all over town and people say, ‘Where did you get that?’”

It shipped assembly required, but Dohse said her husband put it together in 20 minutes. It features a rear luggage rack, with a rechargeable 24-volt battery pack mounted on the side. The 450-watt DC motor bolts on near the left rear hub, with power transferred via chain-drive to the axle. On the opposite side, there’s a 7-speed Shimano freewheel and rear derailleur. The steel frame includes bosses (where water bottle holders are bolted), fender and rack mounts. There’s a comfort seat and a suspension fork. Controls are on the handlebar grips, as are the brake levers and gear shifter.

On its own, the battery provides a range of 15 to 22 miles at speeds of 15 to 18 mph. Adding human pedal power extends the range between charges and can boost the speed according to the rider’s capability.

While the trend is catching on here, in China electric bike sales (including scooter-style bikes) have exploded to well over 10 million since 1995. Given their ease of use, no licensing requirements, cheap operational cost, ability to navigate even the narrowest streets and pathways, and parking convenience, it’s easy to appreciate their popularity.

Of course, navigating Twin Lakes is a far cry from wending through teeming Beijing, but Dohse finds her eZip Trailz appealing for many of the same reasons, aside from it just being plain fun to ride. The only shortcoming has nothing to do with the bike itself.

“There’s only one place in town that has a bike rack. That’s the library,” she said. “It would be nice if they had one at the hardware store and the grocery store. More people are riding bikes these days.”

Tags: Electric Bikes, Mountain Electric Bikes, Women Electric Bikes

Apr 27th 2009
From Economist.com

Electric bicycles and scooters are relatively cheap, can ease congestion and are pleasant to ride

ELECTRIC cars are all the rage. Every big carmaker seems to be developing one, and governments are vying with each other to support them. Although such vehicles are more environmentally friendly than their petrol counterparts, there is a greener option that many governments seem to have overlooked: the electric bicycle.

Like electric cars, electric bicycles are classified as zero-emission vehicles, meaning they emit no exhaust gases. Emissions, however, are produced elsewhere, when the electricity used to power the vehicles is generated. Even taking that into account, though, an electric bicyle wins out handsomely in the emission competition with a petrol-driven car, as it is 15-20 times more efficient. Moreover, making an electric bicycle uses far less energy than making an electric car.

Some 21m electric bicycles were sold in China in 2008, according to Frank Jamerson, author of Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports. The figure has doubled since 2005. In Shanghai alone there are an estimated 1m electric bicycles. Some 800,000 are also sold each year in South East Asia, he says, where they replace the noisy and smelly petrol scooters that are ubiquitous in many places.

Typically, an electric bike can run for 30-50 kilometres (20-30 miles) between charges. Recharging a battery can take 5-8 hours, but costs only a few cents a day. But some advanced new bicycles can store energy when they brake, meaning they can go many times further, and some advanced new batteries can charge up in a fraction of the time.

Your correspondent borrowed the new electric bicycle

andreas vollenweider-kryptos download from Ultra Motors, a British firm, and took it for a spin in London. The ease with which you can slip in and out of traffic, without breaking into a sweat, is intoxicating. The pedals are there should you wish to use them. And there is no battle of wills between pedestrian and cyclist. It is no sweat to restart, so the temptation to zip through a red traffic light, menacing people as you do so, is removed. A twist of throttle sends the A2B silently zipping away at speeds of up to 25kph. There are no more scary moments when, as a cyclist, you struggle to gain the necessary speed to cope in busy traffic. The A2B is at the top end of the market at £1,949 ($2,850), but there is a huge variety of electric bikes available, starting from only £600.

So why don’t more people use them in America and Europe? The reason is that western governments are not much interested bicycles. If more road space were given over to them, and roads were designed with two-wheeled transport in mind, that might change. Safe places to park and recharge are also needed. All these measures would be far less costly than subsidies proposed for electric cars. The British government, for example, announced recently that, in a few years, motorists will be able to get up to £5,000 in incentives to buy an electric car.

Such bribes would not be necessary to encourage people to switch to electric bicycles. People actually love the idea of a bicycle that does not need pedalling. The point is that everything else needs to be made easy. As your correspondent waits at a light, a fit pedal cyclist pulls up beside her. “What is it? An electric? Is it for very lazy people?” Yes, it is. For very lazy people indeed.

Tags: Electric bike, ezip Electric Bike, izip electric bike

Detroit may be the land of the automobile, but the rising cost of gasoline and state emphasis on eco-friendly technology has some Michiganians investing in a two-wheeled, rechargeable means of transportation — the electric bicycle.

It may be the dead of winter, but this battery-powered ride is getting a warm reception here, turning the heads of preteens, 30-somethings and seniors alike who are looking for a cost-effective alternative that’ll get them to school, work or the corner store.

The outlook is good news for eCo Wheelz, a new electric bike retailer in downtown Plymouth that’s hoping to carve its niche for what they believe is an untapped market in the tri-state area. Experts say their timing is right: More Americans are looking to pinch pennies, do their part to promote green technologies and do away with the rigorous physical demand of conventional bikes.

“Anything that gets Metro Detroiters out of cars and trucks and into more efficient modes of transportation is encouraging from both an environmental and road congestion point of view,” said Hugh McDiarmid Jr., a spokesman for the Michigan Environmental Council. “If this shop is unique and one of the first of its kind, it might represent a niche that Michigan companies and workers can fill as part of diversifying the state’s economy.”

The product — a huge commuting tool for decades in China, Europe and Japan — broke onto the scene in warm-weather states like Florida and California in the mid-90s, but just started gaining attention in Michigan over the past year.

Light Electric Vehicle Association Founder Ed Benjamin said Detroit, a flat city on the edge of water with nasty winters, has as good of a chance as any state for this market.

There are plenty of people hoping to reduce their carbon footprint and save on the cost of transportation or invest in electrics for novelty reasons.

Colleen Robbins is finding plenty of uses for the $900 electric bike she bought her preteen Chaz a couple of months ago.

The 37-year-old Canton Township resident might even use it to commute the eight miles to her job as an accountant at a local manufacturing plant or for quick errands.

“You don’t have to take a car or balance groceries on a regular bike,” she said. “You can just charge it and run up to Family Dollar or Kroger to pick up a couple things and run home.”

At first glance, most electrics aren’t much different than a regular bike. The wheels, handlebars, seat and basic frame are the same. But depending on the model, it’s the battery, motor and throttle that make the difference.

Some types have a removable 17-pound battery latched on, while newer versions have batteries built into the frame — with an outlet for charging. Riders can pedal manually or kick on the throttle, and because federal law limits electric bikes to 20 mph, they can be ridden wherever regular bikes are used, said Jeremy Panizzoli, president and co-founder of eCo Wheelz.

“As soon as people get on, they are sold,” Panizzoli said. “They are a lot of fun, easy to operate and a great alternative.”

Although eCo Wheelz declined to site specific sales figures, in their first few months they said in-store and online purchases have steadily increased. [ More.. ]

[ Via The Detroit News

]

Tags: automobile, battery-powered ride, eCo Wheelz, electric bicycle, izip, rechargeable, transportation, two-wheeled

January 28th, 2009

By Clint Williams
Green Right Now

People going green are turning to gasoline-electric hybrid automobiles like the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight or any number of hybrids offered by General Motors for transportation. But folks really serious about saving gasoline and money will want to consider the latest alternatives to gasoline-electric hybrids: sweat-electric hybrids.

The latest generation of electric-hybrid bicycles is arriving at a bike shop near you. Major bicycle makers Giant and Schwinn (who can forget the Stingray?) have recently introduced cutting-edge hybrid bikes that seamlessly harness battery power and pedal power, making biking to work easy as the breeze in your hair.

The new offerings from the bike big boys promise to nudge so-called e-bikes from the eddy of the eccentric into the mainstream. E-Bike sales in the US are projected to hit 220,000 units in 2009, up 83 percent from 2007 sales, according to the Electric Bikes Worldwide Report, 2008 Update. In Europe, sales this year are expected to hit 750,000 - three times 2007 sales.

“We’re seeing huge growth,” says Pantea Mavaddat, marketing director of Currie Technologies

, maker of the Izip line of hybrid bikes.

An e-bike isn’t an electric scooter. You still have to pedal to get somewhere. But the electric motor makes pedaling much easier; making uphill rides less daunting and flat roads effortless.

“It changes your psyche,” says Brown Loper, co-owner of an Atlanta-area bike shop and sole owner of a Giant Twist e-bike.

Loper’s commute to work is just a mile and a half, but it’s nearly all up hill.

“So, even me, on my other bike, I get to work and I’m puffing and feel like I need to take a shower,” Loper says.

The battery boost of the Giant Twist

flattens the hill, Loper says, so now most days he rides his e-bike to work. And he is using it often to make a run to the nearby grocery store or video rental store.

“I’m not saying it will take the place of a car, but if you can get out of your car two or three times a week, it’s worth it,” Loper says.

A calculator found on the Schwinn electric bike website helps you figure the impact of riding a hybrid bike instead of driving your car. For example, you drive 1,000 miles a month in an automobile getting 20 mpg and paying (for now, anyway) $2 a gallon for gasoline. If you ride your hybrid bike for 20 percent of those miles, you’ll save $20 in cash money and cut your CO2 emissions by 388 pounds. You’ll also burn about 5,580 calories.

“You can get a workout on the bike if you want to,” says Loper, noting that you can ride without turning on the engine.

The design of the Giant Twist and Schwinn Tailwind (pictured) have the battery packs hanging on the rear wheel like saddlebags. The motor drives the front wheel. Each has a similar range - 30 miles. A twin-battery version of the Twist has a range of 60-70 miles. Recharging the Twist’s lithium ion battery takes about four hours. Schwinn says you can recharge its Toshiba Super Charge ion Battery in just 30 minutes.

Cutting-edge hybrid technology - even in a bicycle - comes at a premium. The Giant Twist runs about $2,000. The Schwinn Tailwind - demonstrated earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - has a suggested retail price of $3,199.99. The Currie Technologies Express, promising speeds of up to 20 mph, will set you back $2,999 when it goes on sale in April.

That’s more than the $400 or so for a good quality, old-fashioned cruiser bike, but it’s a lot less than a second car. And when gasoline hits $4 a gallon again - and it will - it will seem like a good investment.

(photos courtesy Giant, at far top; Schwinn, above)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media