Marshall Brain's Blog

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Electric Blade

Tonight I met the owner of a new electric bike made by Electricmoto. It feels like a cross between a 2-stroke dirt bike and a mountain bike. It's powered by an electic motor rather than a gasoline engine.

This bike is extremely quick in terms of acceleration, and tops out around 45 MPH. Because it is electric it has tons of torque and can climb almost anything. You can click here to see a video of the bike on a BMX track. Range is 10 to 12 miles, and recharge time is less than an hour. Specs, FAQ and lots of photos are available at Electricmoto's web site.

It's a little pricey... OK, at $4,699 the price is nuts. A Segway is actually $200 less, and the price of a Segway is nuts. Still, it is a cool bike. With a fuel cell it would be even cooler, but that probably doubles the price right now.

[If you want to compare the HP/Torque of the Blade to a dirt bike, this page is interesting. The page mentions that a 125CC 2-stroke typically produces 15 lb/ft of torque, and a 250CC 4-stroke produces 19. In the Electrticmoto FAQ, 32 lb/ft peak is mentioned for the electric motor. This Yoshimura page has lots of horsepower graphs for various motorcycles.]