Lightweight Velocité maglev , the best idea that went nowhere.

Joined
Aug 19, 2023
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Los Angeles
Going back to 2014-2016, the Lightweight company in germany released some promos of a electromagnetic bike with a coil in the body , the magnet thingie above the front wheel and 200 magnets inside the front wheel. There wasn't a lot of clearance so maybe water or debris would affect this, but they were claiming it would hit like 62 miles/100kmh an hour with 500 watts on a road bike. Which is probably more than you want, and it's also a question of what the uphill torque would be like. The motor was claimed to be around 4 lbs. Something like this seems like the ultimate expression of the advantages of electricity over a gas motorcycle engine and taking advantage of the lighter weight of a deluxe bike, without the downsides of friction, mid, hub drives etc. I've emailed them about the thing and never received a reply. With the interesting position of the coil, i suppose it could double as a mud guard or whatever, and be just as waterproof as a IP68 drive. It's unclear how much the extra frame around the motor and the magnets weigh. I suppose there's less market for it in europe with all those 250w street laws. Perhaps it could be lighter if it used only 250w and offered a bit less power.


The Chimera eBMX high drive is pretty impressive also, 1000-4000w at 8 lbs, and the Bikee Lightest (if it actually works like it says and offers 90nm torque with 30nm output) 'lightest.bike' 1.7kg 1000w mid drive

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