Saturday, June 5, 2010

The electrically assisted racing bicycle....

This story has been around for a few days but it seemed so unlikely I posted nothing about it. Now it's made the NY Times. The racing organizers are developing tests to detect bicycles with cheater motors in the seat tubes. Who'd ever have imagined...?

Glenn in SC, thanks for the heads-up!

4 comments:

James Thurber said...

This story is making headlines in the biking community.

Next thing you know the "cheaters" will be hiding tiny, .049 gasoline motors in the bottom brackets (the ones that powered gasoline airplane models back in the 1960's). With a scream and a buzz the bikes will fly up the most difficult hills with the " . . . greatest of ease" and beat the challengers.

Leaving a tiny trail of stinking smoke - laced with the wonderful odor of burnt caster oil.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a marketing ploy. A false rumor is started in order to hype someones product.

I was behind a guy today who was off-gassing some kind of steroid. Smelled like teen spirit.

philcycles said...

No ploy, it's real. Motor in the seat tube geared to the BB spindle. And with electrically powered shifting batteries are now on the bike. It is possible to get 200 watts from a AA size battery. And if your power output is 500 watts, you do the math.
If it's happening it's yet another black mark against out sport.
Phil Brown

David S said...

I'm shocked!