
YikeBike - vnuk
http://www.yikebike.com
======
rfreytag
I have ridden recumbent bikes (e.g. <http://www.recumbents.com/home.asp>) for
decades. Mine is very much like the Yike: underseat steering, approximately
20" wheels, short wheelbase, and I sit almost directly over the front wheel
(like the Yike) except I have to pedal. Here is what I know:

1\. sitting on a wheel means every time you hit a pothole you say yike as your
spine is pounded.

2\. you MUST keep both hands on the wheel at all times because it is
dynamically unstable (very different from an 'upright' bike which will steer
hands-free).

3\. forward center of gravity will dump you on your face under heavy braking
(or for the Yike - the slightest braking).

4\. small wheels feel every bump in the pavement (which has a fractal
dimension explored in greater detail as the wheel gets smaller).

5\. You can ride a recumbent for hundreds of miles in a day and still be very
comfortable (I have) but it requires a chair-type seat; preferably with some
recline to it. That seat looks painful.

6\. A short wheelbase like my bike or the Yike allows you to turn on a dime -
but it takes practice as both wheels do not have the same weight and a skid is
unrecoverable. Do not attempt this on ice, snow, wet leaves, etc..

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maxklein
Yikes, that thing will not sell. The core demographic that would use it are
the same people that want to look the coolest. And I can't imagine anyone cool
sitting on something as dorky.

Another good idea killed by poor design.

~~~
xinsight
Sadly, I'm sure they spent a lot of time on the design. I think they're just
solving the wrong problem. The lack of storage space limits this to joy
riding. You can't buy groceries, commute with a laptop, etc. etc.

~~~
jamesbritt
Why wouldn't a backpack work for carrying things?

~~~
sown
When it comes to long distance hauling of stuff on twos you want to let the
machine do the work.

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jamesbritt
Sure, but given the range of the Yike I don't think long-distance hauling is
really an option anyways.

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brandnewlow
Every person in that video seems to be thinking "Ha ha. Look at that moron!"
though I'm sure that's not what I'm supposed to be thinking.

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modoc
"How heavy is a YikeBike? The YikeBike weighs less than 10kg with a full
battery and air in the tyres"

And how much does it weigh with a drained battery and flat tires? :)

~~~
herdrick
Less, actually.

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modoc
Measurably less than "less than 10kg"? Yes, I understand that air at 30psi
weighs more. Let's assume that the tires hold 3 liters of air (standard for a
mt. bike, the yike looks like it holds a lot less actually). The 30psi will
add 3.75 grams. Less than two pennies.

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ntoshev
This shouldn't be compared to a regular bike but to Segway. A popular electic
bicycle would also be cheap and allow pedalling.

~~~
bmj
_A popular electic bicycle would also be cheap and allow pedalling._

Absolutely. If I wanted an electric bike, I'd go with something more sensible,
like this:

[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/schwinns_new_line_of...](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/schwinns_new_line_of_electric_bikes.php)

~~~
robfitz
The perks of the Yike (I feel funny just saying that) are the weight (20lb vs
45lb) and size. I see lots of business people here (London) on those little
fold up city bikes. The Yike seems more targetted at those customers than the
traditional cyclist.

~~~
sown
The Yike also allows you to avoid the legions of bicycle fundamentalists who
will inevitably accost you over an electric bicycle choice.

~~~
dasil003
How does it do that? At 20kmh I'll ride circles around this thing on my
mountain bike with knobby tires wearing a 30 pound pack.

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TravisLS
I'm going to go ahead and predict this same problem:
<http://paulgraham.com/segway.html>

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wouterinho
First thing that came to my mind as well. I like the foldable functionality
though. In Amsterdam there are a lot of people using folding bikes. They
commute to Amsterdam by train taking their bikes and then use the bike to get
into the city. Works pretty well, but it still looks kind of silly.

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tel
I would not want to go down a hill on that thing.

~~~
bigsassy
According to their FAQ: Speed limited so that it can never go faster than 20
km/h even down hill.

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arfrank
It looks like it will have pretty much exactly the same problems the segway
has. It is too expensive (~3,500 - 3,900 Euros). The range is too short
(9-10km) and it doesn't go fast enough(edit: When finished won't go fast
enough). It reminds me exactly of how the Segway origionally wanted to be,
long distance and high speed, but regulations and batteries kept it from doing
so. If they are going for a small niche then they might be fine, but if they
are trying to mass market it, then it seems like it'll be another pipe dream.
That's not to say I don't think its cool, just not at all practical.

~~~
dandrews
"Same problems as the segway has" ... let's see:

"too expensive" - check! (Got me there.)

"range is too short" - I'd like more range, but after 20 miles your feet have
had enough of the Segway. Miles of sidewalk cracks beat you up and you need a
rest. Really, I'd settle for a faster recharge rate.

"doesn't go fast enough" - you want to fall faster than 12 mph?

"regulations" - in 43 of the United States, Segways are allowed on sidewalks,
bike paths, and roads. See <http://www.segway.com/support/regulatory.php>

"batteries" - the biggest problem with the Segway batteries is that they're
considered hazmat and are hard to ship. The FAA takes a dim view of "lithium
ion" anything, even though Valence's lithium iron magnesium phosphate cathodes
make them safe to transport. That's really less a problem with the technology,
and more of an opportunity to educate the regulators.

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brandnewly
I can't imagine trying to bail out if you got into trouble with the handlebars
around your legs like that.

~~~
bigsassy
From the FAQ (I swear I'm not from YikeBike PR): It is likely that you will
jump off the front of a YikeBike in an emergency braking situation - this is
very easy as there are no handle bars in the way.

~~~
Tichy
At 20km/h it might not be so easy after all.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
I'm guessing that sailing off the front gets progressively easier the faster
you're going. It's the graceful landing that presents a problem.

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dc2k08
Yikebike: How much: €3700~ ($5400) | How far: 9-10 km (5.5 miles) | How fast:
20 kph (12 mph)

For comparison...

Segway: How much: $2-7000? | How far: 38km (24 miles) | How fast: 20 kph (12
mph)

~~~
davidw
Another comparison:

My shitty commuting bike: 50€ | Range: unlimited | Top speed: a bit more than
30kph depending on how fast you can spin

~~~
cwp
I'm sure it compares favourably to the Yike, but the range on your commuting
bike is not unlimited. How far can you ride before you have to stop and eat?

~~~
davidw
I can eat on the bike, actually. I did 210 km one day, a number of years ago,
and only really stopped once (I had plenty of food that I ate as I went), but
that wasn't with the city bike, for sure. Even the nice bike costs half of
what this thing does, though.

Bicycles, on reasonable terrain (i.e. roads of some kind, or rideable trails)
are _the_ most efficient form of human transportation, in terms of energy /
km.

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davidw
Sat that high up with not much in front of you... it looks like it might have
some stability issues.

~~~
JeremyChase
Yes, even the guy in the video looked wobbly.

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dpcan
This bike and segway are marketing to the WRONG demographic.

City folk are too cool and care too much about their image to ride these
things.

Come out here to the small towns of the mid/northwest where we drive our cars
10 blocks to get to work. Or the grocery store is 3 blocks away, so is the
movie store, and Starbucks.

They are still too expensive, but every house on my block could benefit from
one of these, and if we saw each other riding it down the street, we'd all be
jealous of one another and want one.

~~~
vaksel
small towns don't have proper sidewalks for things like that, and having them
on the road is a recipe for road rage.

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Keyframe
Great, but I would not like to be seen on one.

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onoj
It is a sad sad state of product design that the people who spent so much time
designing and making it never rode a bicycle.

If they had they would know that even getting on this contraption would scare
the daylights out of a seasoned cyclist(like me).

Not to mention that it is everyone's dream to look like an idiot at speed.

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Gibbon
This is what I said the first time YikeBike was posted on HN:

"tiny wheelbase + forward centre of gravity + unexpected obstacle =
faceplant."

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DanielStraight
It doesn't look stable _or_ durable.

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Poiesis
Kudos to all who are trying to make bike-like commuting practical. I'm looking
forward to practical ideas.

~~~
Poiesis
...and let me just say I'm still looking.

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vnuk
I just hope that the price will be much more reasonable when it goes into
production...

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joeld42
dammit when is apple going to release one of these so people think it's cool?

