People who buy these things deserve poverty.
I thought it looked neat.
:-|
They totally look neat, but functionally, they would suck as bicycles (at least with current technology)
This is the first step to having magnetic wheels become a thing. We know canonically Jim Kirk’s motorcycle uses these, so it’s definitely mainstream by ~2250.
Honorable mention: the Bell Riots happen September this year, and it seems we’re on track for those too
Would it be hard to translate brushless motors into bikes/vehicles? Don’t those things use magnetism?
Oh I’m sure it’d be quite hard. But that’s a future engineer’s problem lol
The technology is getting there. I forget which company did it, but one has developed an insane magnetic suspension system for automobiles.
Right now the limiting factor is the energy required, so battery tech is the bottleneck.
It’s a real shame shipstones haven’t been figured out yet.
For a heavily constrained system like a car’s shock absorbers, couldn’t permanent magnets be used instead of electromagnets?
I’m picturing a car crash where some poor sod is perforated by a super strong magnet that went flying
I think the main advantage to fixed stiffness springs was that it was controllable. So if it was a fixed strength magnet the advantages over springs is likely limited compared to the cost. Magnetic suspension is cool because it’s an active suspension system.
It was Bose. Yes, the premium sound system producers. It never went anywhere, despite being practical magic, because it added around 2,000lbs and cost six figures.
They also developed a semi-tractor seat using the same sort of voodoo, which is on the aftermarket for around $5k installed.
I’ve started seeing magnetic suspension offered as a luxury option in nicer cars, wonder if it’s derived from that Bose system. I remember watching the demo from the 90s, mind-blowing.
Not the same sort of thing. Bose’s “magic carpet” suspension used linear electromagnetic drivers and sensors to move the suspension to compensate for the road conditions detected. They took speaker drivers on steroids and did noise cancellation on bumps and dips in the road.
Magneride and similar use an electromagnetic coil to adjust dampening by acting on a ferrofluid, which changes how hard or soft the suspension is. You want a stiff “sport” suspension, fluid is high viscosity and harder to move. You want a soft “comfort” suspension, the fluid is lower viscosity and moves easily.
Needs blue or orange neon lights
Is this an AI bicycle or a Dyson bicycle?
I suppose either way it sucks.
And very very expensive.
Dyson also makes hand dryers.
They blow.
Ok, maybe with a magnetic linear drive?
Me on that bike: ah, muddy dirt road, my arc nemesis. And what’s that? a random pile of dog poop, my day’s ruiner.
The wheels are apparently really really loud when they are mounted like this. You just can make good enough ball bearings of this size at any reasonable cost and weight
The complexity of this design cannot be outspoken.
As far as I can tell, this product never panned out. It was backed by 132 people to cover 150k GBP in 2017. It was called the “Cyclotron Bike”.
I’d only ride this bike if it formed a wall of coloured light behind me as I rode
What is this bullshit? Bike in post makes more semse than this.
Wait, I’m confused. Does it have tires or is that just a big ring of plastic?
From the video it looks like the plastic rings are casings and the wheels are inside them, and the wheels poke out at the bottom. Seems dumb to me.
You can kind of see it here but it looks like they’re intentionally hiding a good view of it with angles/lighting:
What happens when you ride through mud?
You ride into the mud. Not so much out of the mud.
😞
*The coolest looking concept bike ever created.
Lemmings: hold my beer while I list every complaint I can think of about this design
My first complaint is that it looks like it was designed by someone with zero knowledge of how to make a bike.
Nah; you just have to jam the stick through the tire itself so it gets caught at the part that is spinning the wheel.
just curious how strong would the fork have to be to handle the forces…
Fork aside, a bike wheel’s structure is based on supporting the load on the hub by hanging from the spokes at the top of the wheel. In order for that machine’s wheels to not fold in half the rim would have to be incredibly heavy and slow.
Now that you mention it… This doesn’t look like it would actually work once a human being is actually on it. All the weight is gonna be on the tires and the part holding (and presumably spinning) the tires. Also: What the hell are the pedals connected to?
There could be an internal chain between the pedals and the rear wheel, but that’s going to be a single speed and suuuuuck to ride.
Idk, hahaha. I mean the torque applied to the axle would be huge so either that shit is Adamantium or it breaks
Never mind how strong the thing itself is, that joint is basically impossible to engineer so that the wheel can’t rotate side to side. That is, rotate on an axis it’s not supposed to. Sure, you can prevent an (essentially) round thing from rotating with a pipe clamp, but now try to do that while allowing freedom lengthwise.
That wheels are round and not pipes help a bit, there’s some lever purchase you get from the radius but in general, nope. You’re still sitting at the short end of the lever.
Diamond frames with spoked wheels are literally the optimal solution to the problem the rest is compromise (e.g. having no top bar for comfort) or overengineering.
Company: how can we convince out of shape tech bros to spend $10k on a bicycle?
that is pretty much my impression about these bikes too. Bought for couple 10Ks, used twice.
10k? You buying second hand? You can easily spend $15k on a top tier bike these days.
Dude I haven’t ridden a bike in almost 30 years.
Only 10k for full suspension futuristic looking bike, that’s a bargain tbh :D
You mean 0 suspension?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is good, I’m just saying that bike industry is so insane that 10k for a bike wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
I’m learning a lot about how much money can be wrung out of rich idiots for some shaped aluminum and two tires.
Eh, I’m waiting until the seat is simply hovering in the air without any bars
Why do we need a seat when we can just Crazy Frog it
Thanks, now it’s stuck in my head
Golden. 😂
Can I at least keep my pants on or is the nudity required to make this work
Nudity is required, gotta see that wang
I’ll never forget the day I found out crazy frog was created in my city, it’s a weird mix of “god damn it” and “fuck yeah”.
How much do you charge for the service of throwing eggs at a particular house local to you?
Is there any regime where this is more efficient than spokes? I’d imagine that at high speed there’s an aerodynamic advantage (possibly similar to a track/TT disk wheel?), but I can’t imagine the bearings being better than current bikes. But bearing loss might (???) just scale linear with speed, so probably a win from aero in the end. But this isn’t counting weight, which I imagine is worse (but doesn’t matter much at high speed on flat ground).
Is looking cool important?
Broke: How many times will I need to repair this bike over a lifetime of ownership?
Woke: How many people will stare at me as I’m biking?
Bespoke: How many times will this bike get me laid?
For the last one it’s more competitive than you think. I’ve gotten laid thanks to a bike people didn’t even see. Gets you an ass that does wondets
Yes. The answer to that is yes. Especially for a render
In cycling? Super duper important.
