Megan Lynch (she/her)

Introducing the ICE CIXI Pers Chainless Trike - No Chain No Gears!

I first heard about Cixi in Spezi reports from last year. I felt skeptical about it. There's something about the elegance of human-powered cycle design I love and removing the chain removes that further.

OTOH, not being able to reverse easily on a recumbent trike or quad with e-assist is a PITA, so gaining a reverse with this is a big plus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TCdOR7-gIo #Recumbent #Trike #BikeTooter

This ICE Trike Has No Chain—Here's Why

YouTube
Apr 4 at 8:07amWeb
Show threadAndrew C💯Apr 4
@meganL I saw a YT a while ago about a chainless bike on the same idea. I think a chain drive is well over 90% efficient at delivering pedal power to the wheel, so way more than these pedal generator -> electricity -> motor systems.
Show threadAndrew C💯Apr 4
@meganL also, my experience with shared scooters with 350W motors is they're kinda weak going up hills. I imagine a 250W trike would have it even worse.
Show threadMegan Lynch (she/her)Apr 4
@arc315 Yeah. The problem there is that car-centric legislators equate wattage to speed. They don't take into account that people are different weights, carrying different cargo, and might be going uphill. So the EU rules limit e-assist to 250 watts and no throttle.
Show threadMegan Lynch (she/her)Apr 4
@arc315 ICE is located in the UK. Not sure what their rules are, but the EU rules are generally followed because otherwise they can't sell in the EU.
Show threadAndrew C💯Apr 4
@meganL Yeah, but at least with a pedal assist bike, the rider contributes up to 200-250W /in addition/ to the motor itself. With a pure-motor thing like this, that's only 250W total.
Show thread😀🚲Apr 4
@meganL any regen-capable motor can do reverse, even while chain-driven (you would need to let the pedals turn backwards.) But is the loss of torque worth whatever you get from a serial generator/motor, besides the efficiency losses? Do these only work in flat terrain? I don't get why it's always the new novel idea to lose 40% of your leg power and 100% of your leg torque.