“Far out” cannot sufficiently describe this baby. What we have here is one of five in existence. It’s a Pi X Plug-in Hybrid 500cc 50cc (I don’t know how that extra “0″ got in there) moped. What’s so special about it, is that it was built for and tested for Bonneville speed trials… that and the fact that it’s as expensive as a used Lexus hybrid. Chances are you WON’T see one of these on the street, but at least you did see it here. Click on the title link for more info.
CNNmoney calls it a gadget to die for.
8. December 2007 at 7:04 pm
OH, MY, GOD.. Thats really cool but I could make and sell something like that for $5000 abd still make a decent profit. No doubt the design is super-sexy but the steering head angle has me a bit worried.. super raked out front ends handle well at high speed… only if the trail is properly adjusted. If not, whoa baby!
Very interesting.
8. December 2007 at 7:06 pm
Aba faba faba alba!
8. December 2007 at 7:19 pm
Well, The concept drawings they show seem to indicate a trail dimension so they have thought about it at some point. The photographs seem to indicate that there might be less than 2″ of trail, fine perhaps at lower speeds but potentially serious wobble at higher speeds. They are selling these things so I’m assuming they are safe. So maybe I am just being nit-picky. But for $39K I think I deserve to be!
9. December 2007 at 3:42 am
steve, you’re throwing people off by saying 50cc in the title and 500cc in the text! :P
9. December 2007 at 1:22 pm
Oops! Sorry Roy… I think I kept expecting to type 500cc because of the price tag. It was just damn hard to type 50cc. It should say 50cc in the text too.
9. December 2007 at 1:42 pm
I have a bright red Honda Spree I’ll sell you for half that much! ;D
9. December 2007 at 2:33 pm
That’s a motorized Cannondale!
10. December 2007 at 3:10 pm
I think it’s a little early for April Fools Day. The two pictures with the puch and weed-wacker motors are the worst photoshop jobs I’ve seen in a long time. (That is of photoshop jobs that are not intending to deceive.)
10. December 2007 at 3:13 pm
I should have said ‘not intending to be blatantly obvious’.
10. December 2007 at 5:25 pm
No, it’s real; and besides, Steve wouldn’t play an April Fool’s joke on us (in Dec.) Right, Guzman???
Check out the Pi HERE, and THERE.
Still too $$$$$ for even me:)
10. December 2007 at 5:47 pm
I believe the electric bike is real. But the ones with the photoshopped gas motors attached are not. I would be hard pressed to even give photoshop that bad of a name. probably done in MS-Paint.
10. December 2007 at 7:54 pm
The folks in the Moped Army have fun ripping into those Photoshop “hybrids” here:
http://www.mopedarmy.com/forums/
discuss/1/444858/444858/
It seems they really only have the all-electric design built, and there’s nothing in that that hasn’t been done better elsewhere, such as here:
http://www.optibike.com/index.html
10. December 2007 at 8:09 pm
Surely this is a joke. Just look at the prices on their “shop” page:
http://www.electrobike.com/
PiShop/PiShop.html
My hypothesis is that somebody may have actually built the prototype and one of his friends made an entire website to subtly, mercilessly mock him.
I appreciate the point they make about the obscene hidden costs, the unrealistic ambitions, the absurd rhetoric, and the apparent (desperate) greed of electric bicycle companies, but surely keeping this site up is a bit too much?
12. December 2007 at 8:41 pm
Haha. That would be funny… the friends say “HOW much did you spend building that?!”
“We’re never gonna let THIS one go.”
and that is a pretty poor Photochopping if I do say so myself… and I know a poor photochopping, I mean look at my attempt to put a Tweel on a Honda Helix:
http://geekaustin.blogspot.com/2005/01/dammit-i-am-grease-monkey.html
27. December 2007 at 4:13 am
Electric Bicycles and Electric Scooters
Elmo The Electric Bike and Electric Scooter Guy
This is an excellent blog for electric bicycles. There are not too many around like this. Thanks for making this such an interesting subject. Oh, by the way, Wired Magazine has a great article on hybrid cars this month. (Jan 2008 issue).
God Bless,
Elmo