Carbon Fibre etc.

Here's an article on carbon fibre I found on another forum

http://gas2.org/2012/07/16/67-pound-carbon-fiber-electric-motorcycle-revealed-in-norway/

Wow. Thats light. In the future I guess that all bikes n cars will be super light.

Range 60 miles make it useless no mater how light it is .Next idea please .

gus wrote:Range 60 miles make it useless no mater how light it is .Next idea please .

Its the way of the future....

I fly model aircraft and up until recently all my competition models were powered by 2 or 4 stroke Internal Combustion engines.... For the past 2 years I have been using Electric 'outrunner' type motors with 4 cell Lipo batteries in the models. I haven't had to mix any fuel for over 2 years and just keep recharging the batteries - which will generally have a life of over 50 - 60 flights/recharges for an outlay of around $30. The motors are extremely powerful (at least equal to the .72ci 4 stroke motor I was previously using), more reliable and the 'speed controller' which is also needed to operate the thing is programmable.
EL motors are continually being improved - along with batteries. They will have a longer life, become smaller and lighter, maintain their charge for longer periods and eventually motorcycles like the current Toyota hybrids will have some form of 'recharge' occurring whilst the bike is being ridden. (the Prius and other Hybrids regain some charge when braking occurs or when they are 'coasting' downhill)

It might take a while for the technology to arrive and for a bike to be truly 'competitive' against a 'fuel' powered engine - but it will happen..

I'm sure it will and we will all look back (selfishly) and pine for the past . I'm sucking up all the fossil fuel while i can . So is everybody else or we would be riding scooters .

gus wrote:I'm sure it will and we will all look back (selfishly) and pine for the past . I'm sucking up all the fossil fuel while i can . So is everybody else or we would be riding scooters .

Yes... well there's nothing like the sound of a well exhausted IC engine... I've threatened to put a piece of cardboard behind the prop of my models (held on with a peg) to make the sound we used to make on our pushbikes of old!

Bhoffo wrote:

gus wrote:I'm sure it will and we will all look back (selfishly) and pine for the past . I'm sucking up all the fossil fuel while i can . So is everybody else or we would be riding scooters .

Yes... well there's nothing like the sound of a well exhausted IC engine... I've threatened to put a piece of cardboard behind the prop of my models (held on with a peg) to make the sound we used to make on our pushbikes of old!

It may be prudent to make some recording of your favourite sounds on your iPad before the sounds are a thing of the past.

I'm not sure that playing the sound whilst riding your silent electric motorcycle will be quite the same but may be the only alternative.

There is actually available for model aircraft a 'sound amplifier' - I saw a large scale DC3 a few months back powered by EL Motors... The amplifiers played a recording of a 'real' DC 3 engine sound, when it was turned off you could hear all the tappets rattling - just like the real thing.. amazing.. So perhaps your statement above isn't so far fetched after all...?

I have to say though... through work a few years back and soon after the Toyota Prius arrived on the market I had the chance to drive one... a very strange experience... no engine sound... You get to know when your normal car engines are working hard - time to change gear etc - but with this there was none of that. Would take some getting used to..