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0:00 – Intro
1:46 – Advantages of Digital Drive
4:25 – Disadvantages of Digital Drive
6:50 – Digital Drive eBikes
9:02 – Digital Drive Efficiency Analysis
11:06 – Improving the Efficiency of Human Bodies
11:37 – More Possibilities for Digital Drive
12:48 – Summary
24 Comments
I might be wrong… but I think this is the FIRST video explaining digital drive bicycles on YouTube!! How cool is that?! 😎
Hmm… electric drivetrain. Seems like it would break more often. But I suppose it technically has fewer parts.
Electric drivetrain: 65% effective.
Mechanical drivetrain: Practically 100% effective.
For me the the biggest downside is malfunction and or maintenance .
I have zero understanding of electronics but am quite good a repairing mechanical devices. going all electric means i have to take my bike to a shop if it malfunctions .
I think it's a good idea to take a simple thing as a bike and complexify the thing at the level you cannot fix it by yourself and pay it a lot (good for industry).
imagine thinking that anyone other than liberals who had never had to work for the money they have would give up the freedom of being able to pay once and own forever without having to replace any parts and with minimal maintenance.
having built hundreds of different generator powered bikes, it's easy to overestimate how much power a human rider can produce…the very top end of power production is around 200 watts and that would be short sprints of just a few minutes…steady riding cadence can only produce about 75=100 watts ( per hr ) of power..so whn you stack that up against how much power the electric motors consume ( varies a lot )…it's pretty clear a rider cannot keep up with the power needed to keep a e-bike going. then it's just a battery depletion issue. in a nutshell…digital bike are stilla dream.
wont replace chain bike because of price too
Great Video! It's interesting your analysis on digital drive bikes is similar to what I found on Electric vs Hybrid vs Gas cars. The gas cars can reign supreme at very specific speeds based on their transmission and on flat terrain with no stops. Hybrids and Electrics both handle the stops as well as down hill sections wonderfully with regenerative breaking. Hybrids are great as some can offer redundancy not often talked about or utilized well helping with major issues since they can essentially have 2 drive trains. Whereas Electrics only have one to deal with and so can reduce complexity. Though not weight since batteries weigh more than gas.
It could double as two different power generators powering one another as one moves generates and powers the other empowering the other respectively…also a third if compact to keep pepetual with indestructible parts
6:05 good comparison of hub- and middrive.
Thats exactly what I felt when driving both systems.
With more variability in gearing of the hubmotor this disadvantage could get minimized.
Downvoted for insanely calling these analog electrical bikes "digital" when they are clearly not digital at all, and not even discussing where this insane name comes from.
Parallel hybrid is the best of both worlds when it comes to efficiency. But it's really complex, and has high maintenance
The next question is, why do we need pedals to rotate anymore. It could just as wel be some kind of piston that just moves up and down for example. Also bumps in the road could be used to generate power through the shock absorbers. Charging when the road sloaps down would be really cool as well.
A bike that comes with an integrated upright stand could also have a mode built in where you could charge the battery while peddling in place. Say if you had a commute that was kind of awful you could still pedal it in a session or two during the day, storing your mechanical energy for the next time you ride but not having to get all of your pedaling in at once. This could similarly have the perk of being able to act as a mobile charging station for smaller electronics using this same idea.
Weight, price, efficiency and production carbon footprint kinda kills this tbh.
Also, that direct tactile feel of normal bikes can never be recreated perfectly by software tomfoolery!
I just hope they make these bikes before I hit 80.
Dude, do you even know what does "Digital" mean?
I really like this idea for city cycling. In some of the major cities it often feels like you are waiting for traffic lights half the time. You just need a three-wheeler bicycle to make it work. Also riding downhill, you could recharge your battery, where now you often just stop pedaling.
Outside the cities some people use recumbent bicycles. Those have very long chains, so the difference in efficiency might be a bit smaller.
I am currently in the Philippines, where in some cities you see a lot of electric tricycles which they call ebikes. Most of them don't even have pedals. As I am used to cycling, and like the workout, I would be more likely to buy one with pedals. Range anxiety is a thing for me, especially since batteries here lose range very quickly.
Power rangers.
The eletric fever is getting out of control
lol power ranger!
Amazing tech! Very inspiring vid~ thank you!
лол… даваще беспроблем… продавайте только эти байки по тем же ценам что и механические… и воопще вопросов не будет