FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentum

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Aushiker
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FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentum

Postby Aushiker » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:11 am

Image

Thoughts on this?

FlyKly's smart wheel is designed to fit on just about any bicycle; it's lightweight (nine pounds), runs on a 36V Lithium battery, and its electric motor is so thin that it fits snugly around the spokes of the wheel.

Once fitted onto a bike, the smart wheel can help the user pedal up to 20 mph for 30 miles. If the user goes faster than 20 mph, like when racing down a hill, or pedals with the motor off -- the battery will charge automatically.

"The motor turns on when you start pedaling and begins accelerating to your desired speed. It stops when you stop," FlyKly writes on its Kickstarter page. "It saves you time by getting you to your destination faster and gets you there without losing your breath or breaking a sweat."


More at C|net.

Andrew

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:34 am

Watching the videos this has got me seriously interested as an option for my summer commuting into the headwinds here in Perth. Looking at the videos this is designed with a single rear cog but I do that the bikes shown include geared bikes. I guess it could be used with say a triple on the front? Just ride on the middle chain ring I assume. Sound feasible?

Andrew

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby MarkG » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:02 am

lazy way out.
Train instead
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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby HappyHumber » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:15 am

Good onya MarkG. Not everyone is Superman like your testosterone pumped, virile self. :roll:

Can't say I'm really in the target market either, but it's one of the more elegant solutions I've seen insofar as electric assist goes.

I presume what you say would be the go with regards to a triple or a double crank, Andrew. Modern 3/32" chainsets are inherently meant for a "wavering" chainline by nature as they move up and down through the gears. I'd probably be more inclined to worry about chainline variations swapping it in and out with a single speed/cog set up as the video initially does.
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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:26 am

HappyHumber wrote:... but it's one of the more elegant solutions I've seen insofar as electric assist goes.
That is what I thought as well but boy the criticism of it has been quite severe in the e-bike word ... Reddit hasn't been too kind on it and nor have the folks over at Endless-Sphere. I do think but they are coming at this from a different perspective to the market it is targeted at and also from a power limited environment such as we have. Still there seems to be some serious questioning of the claims.

I just liked the idea of being able to swap the wheel over for those days I wanted to use and to go back to being a normal bike the other days, well as normal as a laid bike can be :) It seems a neat concept and for not huge dollars to play in ebike world.

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby John Lewis » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:36 pm

Reminds me of that front wheel motor in the Avanti Electra.
It of course had an external 12V 14H lead acid battery and some wires to the electronic gadget on the bars. No throttle and pedalec. 200 watts.
It actually works quite well. I have the wheel from one and tried it on my old Giant. Battery is pretty shot though so little range.

A friend , an older lady with lung problems, has one and it enables her to keep up on our over 50's group rides and she is often out front. Without out she would simply not be riding.

There is certainly a place for something like this. I think a lot of those on Endless sphere want power, speed , range and no need to pedal. These things were never meant to be like that.

John

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:34 pm

I did contact FlyKly re using it on geared bikes (and about the charger) and this is there response ...
Hello!

Your geared bike actually gets turned into a single-speed by replacing your
old rear wheel (together with the gear cassette) with the Smart Wheel.

The charger will of course also be included in the package, compatible with
all types of plugs.

Best regards,
Team FlyKly
There is still a bit of time so will give it some more thought.

Andrew

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:13 am

This was posted at BROL - http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .... This one has a three-speed hub so a little different in that respect. Development time-frame is not given but.

Andrew

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Wed May 28, 2014 10:34 pm



Andrew

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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Mububban » Fri May 30, 2014 11:25 am

Re your query using the middle chain ring, I've got a ~12 year old MTB with a 200W e-assist front wheel, it's 24 speed (3 x 8) and I almost never get out of 3-5. Moderate climbs I can still get away with 3-4, if I find myself in 3-6, 7 or 8 then I'm going too fast for the motor to be of use anyway. With it my speed is pretty much 28-32kph regardless of incline, whereas before I would be jumping from the granny gears all the way up and through the range. Awesome for commuting.
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Re: FlyKly smart bicycle wheel gives riders electric momentu

Postby Aushiker » Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:48 pm

Another "first impressions" review. This time from Turbo Bob.
All in all it worked just as promised. They have really put it though its paces during development so it should be a trouble-free E-wheel that performs like many will like. With the delivery at the Italian factory of a new casting machine for the hub, production will ramp up quickly (till now each hub has been CNC machined, nice, but time consuming). The wheels are assembled and shipped from both a New York facility and one in Italy. Some Asian parts are used, but on the whole they are making and assembling each wheel in house.
Andrew

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