this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

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Dead simple to use, the Clip offers up to 12 miles of electric range for your bike.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm failing to see how this is preferable to just swapping your rear wheel with a hub motor and calling it a day. You can get a very nice conversion kit and battery from the Usual Scumbags for that kind of money, or if you're careful you can pay a lot less, and still wind up with a final product with significantly more range and performance.

And, you know, doesn't look nearly as stupid. Front wheel friction drives are a uniquely terrible solution to the bicycle propulsion problem, and they have been ever since their inception with those nasty two stroke things from the '50's. Their energy transfer is quite inefficient, and their failure mode when you encounter a hill too steep for the motor is to steadily fuck up your front tire.

The only possible benefit I could see from this is if you plan to regularly swap it between multiple bicycles or perhaps bikes you don't own, like beach rental bikes or something.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Is there any kits for recumbent trikes around? I've been googling a bit but can't find any good stores or reviews that doesn't reek of SEO

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Like, ebike conversion kit? You can use whatever pretty much, but mid drives are popular. Hubs work fine too.

If you're looking for a brand of recumbent tadpoles, Terratrike, Sun, ICE, and CatTrike are all fairly well known brands.

Look around for dealers in your area if you're looking at buying one, they should be able to give you a test ride.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Not that I've seen specifically for recumbents, but there are front wheel motor hub kits you can get and just swap out the front rim. You'd then be front wheel drive.

A mid drive kit from any brand would also work, and in that case you'd drive the rear wheels with your existing chain and sprocket on the axle.