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Number 15, The YikeBike

It's like getting your first Big Wheel all over again — and you don't even have to pedal. An innovative bicycle-design concept derived from the old-fashioned penny-farthing, the YikeBike is a folding electric bicycle out of New Zealand. The rider sits on the seat, holds on at the sides and zooms around at a top speed of 12 m.p.h. (20 km/h). You lean left or right to steer, and it even comes with electronic antiskid brakes. The first 100 YikeBikes will be road-ready by mid-2010 in New Zealand as well as the U.K. and selected other countries in Europe.

The YikeBike weighs roughly 20 lb. (9 kg) and runs on a lithium phosphate battery that can be charged to 80% capacity in 20 minutes. Read more

As Australian bicycle sales continue to outstrip motor vehicle sales1 and prove resilient in the face of a slowing economy, the next evolution – the Electric bike or E-bike – is taking off around the world.

“Australians are not just buying bikes, they are using them increasingly frequently. Census figures show a 28% increase in riding to work across Australian capital cities, with Melbourne’s growth soaring to 48%. This growth is largely centred upon the inner-city, with superior levels of bicycle infrastructure,” says Elliot Fishman, policy advisor with the Cycling Promotion Fund.

Meanwhile E-bicycle use and sales have also seen significant growth around the world, particularly in countries with high bicycle use, as a growing number of people are searching for convenient alternative transport options. It seems the age of electric mobility is getting closer to an increasing number of people and technology is ready to change to a new era––from oil to electricity.

Last year 23 million E-bikes were sold worldwide, and the number is expected to double by 2012, says Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports, a biennial publication tracking the industry, with markets flourishing in China, India, Europe, and the U.S.

Enter the YikeBike

A result of five years of research and development, the YikeBike is the smallest, and at less than 10kg, the lightest electric folding bicycle available in the world. It’s designed to give people freedom to commute easily and quickly in crowded urban environments with a minimal carbon footprint.

"It came out of a vision for a transport revolution - asking the question about what sort of radical new transport device would help address the challenges of people navigating our increasingly crowded, polluted cities,” says inventor Grant Ryan.

The YikeBike also has a radically different riding position, steering mechanism and wheel configuration, giving a safe smooth ride while folding up to a super small size. It does this by replacing chain, gears, pedals, brake pads, cables and levers with a powerful light, 1.2 kW electric motor and smart electronics.

More and more people in the world now live in cities and can’t easily take their cycle with them on a bus, train, car, up an elevator and store in their apartment - the YikeBike solves these problems by being much simpler, smaller and lighter.

Will this new ride revolutionise urban travel? Perhaps not… but it certainly provides an entertaining glimpse at what the e-future might hold!

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So what do you do when you challenge yourself to come up with a design to make traveling around busy, congested cities as easy and stress-free as possible? According to the folks behind the YikeBike - which was officially launched at Eurobike 2009 trade fair in Friedrichshafen Germany this month - you start with a blank sheet of paper, throw a good-sized front wheel in for stability, swap pedals for a brushless electric motor and abandon the familiar forward-leaning riding position of the bicycle altogether.

The term bicycle was, according to the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum, first coined to describe a weird-looking two wheeled contraption that became popular in the 1870/80s. Much later it was nick-named the Penny Farthing, looking as it did similar to a small English Farthing and the larger English Penny placed next to each other.

Reinventing the wheel
The old bicycle design has now received a facelift courtesy of Grant Ryan, a successful businessmen and keen tinkerer from New Zealand. Aiming to tackle burning issues such as inner city congestion, parking problems, pollution, lack of personal space, increasing fuel prices and increasing urbanization, the design team opted for a fresh approach to two wheel transportation.

In order to safely traverse all the bumps, pot-holes, curbs and such like, a good sized front wheel seemed a good place to start. Stretching forward to reach handlebars on a bicycle might be what we've become used to over the last 120 years or so but an upright riding position would afford the rider better visibility whilst at the same time being seen more easily by others. By also making the vehicle truly portable, the basic mini-farthing design began to take shape.

Some five years and lots of tweaking and testing later and the first expression of the mini-farthing concept is realized in the form of the YikeBike. Pedal power has given way to a custom 1.5kW brushless electric motor which drives a 20-inch front wheel.

The motor is powered by the latest nano-lithium-phosphate (liFePO4) battery technology which, the company claims, takes only 30 minutes to fully charge, has a range of about 10km (just over 6 miles) and should be good for at least 1000 charges. All of the smart electrics are completely sealed and shower-proof. Smooth, safe and relatively short (when compared with a bicycle) stopping is made possible by electronic anti-skid brakes. And all of this is enclosed in a sexy black carbon fiber frame construction that provides lightweight strength.

Indicators, lights and controls are situated on hand grips to the side of, and slightly underneath the seat. Acceleration is reported as being quick and smooth, reaching its full speed of 20kph in a matter of seconds. The YikeBike quickly folds up to a meager 150mm by 600mm by 600mm (5.9in by 23.6in by 23.6in) and weighs only 10kg (22lbs) all in, making it the smallest and lightest electric folding bicycle currently available.

"What we have done is take a fresh approach to cycle design to give people freedom to commute easily and quickly in crowded urban environments with a minimal carbon footprint," says inventor Ryan.

Learning to ride the vehicle takes no time at all and appears to be great fun, one product blog visitor commenting: "These would have to be the most fun you can have, sitting down with your hands by your sides and your clothes on!" But there is a problem - those who've tried it can't seem to wipe the smile from their faces. Read more

Watch out Segway. There could be another mode of electric transport making it’s way across the globe if Southland, New Zealland inventor Grant Ryan has his way.

His i&nvention is called the YikeBike and this little folding electric bike looks like a unicycle on steroids but it could be the answer for convenient public transport that you can take with you practically anywhere. This uniquely shaped carbon fiber bike weighs in at 22 pounds and has a 1.2 kilowatt motor that moves people around at top speeds of 12 miles per hour. Read more

The bicycle blogosphere is buzzing about the YikeBike, the hottest item being reported on at Eurobike this week (Eurobike is Europe’s biggest bicycle trade show). The YikeBike is part Segway, part “mini-farthing”; a “bicycle” with an electric motor and no pedals that’s ridden like a Penny Farthing.

It looks like a clever device, and the designer is obviously very talented, but a “bicycle” that tops out at 12 mph and doesn’t provide the ability to pedal doesn’t seem like a step forward. One of the selling points is that it’s “sweat-free”, but a bicycle can be ridden at 8-10 mph with no more effort than is required for a relaxed walk. And in regards to storage, it doesn’t look any more compact than a Brompton.

Is it me? I get the feeling this is another high-tech (and very expensive – €3,500-€3,900!!) toy like the Segway that’s trying to re-invent the wheel when we already have the perfect urban vehicle in the good ol’ safety bicycle. Read more

If you don't mind your handlebars being located beside your butt and endless giggles and smirks as you roll by then perhaps the YikeBike is the fancy bit of urban mobility kit you've been yearning. Looking something like a space-age version of that charming British improvement on the French boneshaker bike, this mini penny-farthing is minimalist but packs some cool features. Not only is it equipped with turning and braking indicators but it is the first "bike" to feature anti-locking brakes. The carbon fiber frame ensures strength but keeps it light enough (10 kg/22 lb) to carry up a couple flights of stairs after you spend the 15 seconds it takes to fold it up.

It's said that its 1 kW motor offers a power to weight ratio better than many sports cars and makes acceleration brisk but the electronically set speed limit of 20 km/h (12.5 mph) will keep you from overtaking any Porsches on the straightaways. Unless there's heavy traffic. That's where the Yikebike's small footprint and maneuverability might turn smirks of superiority to expressions of envy. The lithium battery can take you 9 to 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and takes 20 minutes to charge 80 percent. Don't look for this sleek set of wheels on sale in America anytime soon as the roll out early next summer includes only a handful of European countries and its home turf, New Zealand. Read more

Let's play a word association game: electric bike, penny farthing, folder, carbon fibre, Porsche… hard to build a mental image from that lot, but one day… that list will immediately make you think “Yike Bike”. Maybe.

What we have here is a folding electric bike that weighs less than 10Kg with a range of about 10Km and that is as easy to charge as a laptop and not that much bigger when folded, which the team behind it hope will one day be the transport of choice of the style-conscious buisnessman or urban commuter for the short hops from penthouse apartment to downtown office. And as for the “Yike” – well, that's what you say the first time your ride it, or at least the cleaned-up version. Read more

Well, it's an improvement on the dorky-looking Segway, which has never taken off as its inventor hoped. This U.K.-designed electric, motorized - can we call it a bike? - will surely turn heads when it gets onto the streets next year (pre-ordering has begun). But the YikeBike, though it is foldable - a big plus - and sleek, and zippy, suffers some of the same pitfalls as other street-ready motorized stuff such as Segway and GM/Segway Puma.

Safety and integration with streetscape
YikeBike's founder Grant Ryan says the bicycle is the 'most commonly owned form of transport in the world today' with over 2 billion two-wheelers worldwide and 130 million being sold annually. And since the 1870's when the safety bicycle first appeared, bike design hasn't really changed that much.

There's a reason for the that. Prior to the safety bike, penny farthings, with their huge front wheels, were faster than predecessor bikes, but also difficult to mount and a bit unwieldy, and off limits, of course, for skirted humans. YikeBike has some similarities with the penny farthing, though the steering perches behind you, instead of in front.

But can it really be called a bike? YikeBike's pedals are more properly called foot rests - the 1.2 kw electric engine does all the work, while brakes and controllers are located on the steering. YikeBike's designers followed the idea of bicycle to help them get street-use approval in the countries (not the U.S. but the U.K., Germany, and New Zealand, among others) where it will initially be distributed. Read more

Yikes! Bikes! Fruit Stripe Gum! This is the YikeBike. It looks like a unicycle with a second, stabilizing wheel. If only there were a word to describe a unicycle with two wheels. Bi-something. Bi-cycle!

The YikeBike, she folds down to a somewhat-manageable size. The whole getup weighs around 22 pounds, so you can be that sweaty guy in the crumpled suit that brings his bike into the office everyday.

Did I mention that it’s electric? That’s important. It has a one-kilowatt motor that can reach a top speed of 12 miles per hour. Charging apparently only takes about a half-hour and will give you enough juice for a five-mile jaunt. Read more

You know the opening sequence of The Jetsons where George's flying car folds right up into a briefcase, then he goes inside and kicks his feet up at the desk of the future?

Well, we may not have flying cars -- or moving walkways that sweep us to our office chairs for that matter -- but soon we will have the YikeBike, an electric bicycle that tucks neatly into a bag little bigger than a briefcase.

Its styling queues are decidedly futuristic penny-farthing, with the large front wheel, tiny rear, and little mustache handlebar, but that front wheel is driven by an electric motor giving a range of 9km and a top speed of 20km/h. No word on how long a full charge takes, but 80 percent requires only 20 minutes.

It looks like fun (see for yourself after the break), and is due to start shipping by the middle of next year, but at a cost of €3,900 (over $5,500) it's going to be something of a tall sale for a short ride. Read more