Trek is moving more seriously into the utility/transportation market with a new three-speed they’re calling the Belleville. Well, I think I will keep this post kind of short. I am simply amazed that a company with the brand name of TREK can do such big campaign build-ups to such mediocre products! Hey, TREK, let's get real for a minute. Did your engineers and designers really think of this design, or did yall 'JACK' it from say...GARY FISHER?
Look at this Gary Fisher...and then look at the TREK..Now, sure, Trek owns Gary Fisher, but DANG...Competing products in the same company, who owns all of the distribution to both? Is this a test marketing Stunt? I certainly hope not because the TREK Design isn't even as close to being as HOOOTTT as that simple Gary Fisher!!!
Gary Fisher City 3
TREK
Most notably, look where the Top tubing connects to the neck of each design... HA!HA!HA! At least if you are going to make a Knock-Off TREK...At least have other engineers, outsourced or something come up with a design that is different than one you already own...and oh yeh...make a better one the 2nd time around! I feel like laughing, kind of like Nelson...on the Simpsons!
For much of man’s history on earth, he had two choices for getting around, either on foot or on the back of an animal (such as horses, mules, and wooly mammoths). Bicycles were developed to add another transportation option that multiplied human efficiency by a factor of approximately five.
But the history of bicycles is very fuzzy. Sources often disagree as to the names of the inventors and the dates of their inventions. Leonardo DaVinci sketched a facsimile of the modern bicycle in 1490. It was way ahead of its time and, as far as we know, never left the drawing board.
Around 1790 a French craftsman named de Sivrac developed a “Celerifere” running machine, which had two in-line wheels connected by a beam. The rider straddled the beam and propelled the Celerifere by pushing his feet on the ground, scooter fashion.
n 1817 German Baron Karl von Drais added steering. Several versions appeared around France and England by the early 1800s. As a replacement for the horse, these “hobby horses” became a short-lived craze. The roads of the time were too rutted to allow for efficient wheeled transport.
Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan developed a rear-drive bike in 1839 using a treadle and rod for the rear drive mechanism. But, he lived in the Northern British Isles where people and ideas traveled slowly, so his invention didn’t spread. R.W. Thompson patented a pneumatic tube in 1845. Prior to this invention, bikes had metal wheels.
The French anointed Ernest Michaux “father of the bicycle,” as he and his brother Pierre added cranks and pedals. Their Velocipede started a bicycle boom. The larger front wheel made it faster but less stable. The war of 1812 brought an end to the French bicycle boom.
British engineers were next to pick up the design and improve upon it by adding ball bearings, pneumatic (Dunlop) tires, wire-spoked wheels, chain drive, variable gears, and cable controls. Over a twenty-year span, the British brought the bicycle to its present form, thanks mainly to James Starley of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company. In 1885 the Starley Rover safety bike was born, returning wheels to a reasonable size and improving the bike’s stability.
In the early days, women’s dress (corsets, pointed shoes, and voluminous skirts) limited their participation in this new sport. Newspapers of the day railed against the “sorcers” or bicycle speedsters.
Article and Photo courtesy of Bike Europe
(AND, Belgium) – As e-Bike sales march on many new models targeted to specific consumer groups will hit the market. Examples: the race e-Bike, the mountain e-Bike; fully enclosed transport e-Bikes. This raises questions on the legal framework for these vehicles.
As the European Commission is reviewing the type-approval procedure for mopeds and motorcycles it offers the electric bike industry the opportunity to start discussions with European institutions on the legal framework, which the industry believes to be the most appropriate for their vehicles.
Today, it is the European type-approval legislation for mopeds and motorcycles that determines whether an electric bicycle is a bicycle that is excluded from the type-approval procedure or whether it is a moped that needs to comply with the type-approval procedure.
The European institutions have promulgated the type-approval law in 2002, without however properly consulting the electric bike industry on the most appropriate legal framework for their vehicles.
Since then, the majority of the products put on the market have a motor output of no more than 250W and their motor is cut off at 25 km/h. These vehicles are excluded from the type-approval procedure and are classified as bicycles.
Nevertheless, the electric bike offer is becoming much more diverse and a growing number of vehicles have a motor output above 250W and/or a motor that assists beyond 25 km/h.
This development raises two questions:
Are the 250 W and 25 km/h limitations the most appropriate specifications for excluding vehicles from the type-approval, thus classifying them as bicycles?
Is the type-approval procedure for mopeds and motorcycles the most appropriate homologation procedure for electric bikes not excluded from type-approval?
With the review of the type-approval procedure for mopeds and motorcycles currently taking place it is imperative that the electric bike industry starts a discussion on the legal framework which it believes to be the most appropriate for their vehicles.
The European Two-wheel Retailers' Association (ETRA) is prepared to defend and further the interests of the electric bike industry. For that purpose however, ETRA requires the support of the industry and a consensus on how the type-approval should be reviewed for electric bicycles. The matter is urgent since the European Commission intends to produce a first draft in November this year.
That is why, in cooperation with the Light Electric Vehicle Associaton (LEVA), ETRA intends to organize a meeting for the electric bike industry in the framework of Eurobike in Friedrichshafen. The meeting is aimed at discussing the two above-mentioned questions and at deciding whether and how to lobby the European Commission.
The meeting is currently planned for Saturday 5 September 2009 at Eurobike in Friedrichshafen from 9 am till no later than 12 o’clock. However, should the majority of the participants prefer another date and/or time, then ETRA will reschedule accordingly.
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