There was a bit of long bike discussion on the blog recently in response to a couple of posts about the Fisher El Ranchero concept. Frequent commenter bikesgonewild was the first to mention that the El Ranchero would be “the perfect vehicle for Trek’s electric project.” After seeing those posts, a reader named Bob sent me a couple of interesting long bike images. The first is a Kona that was spotted at Eurobike. It appears to be a Ute with and electric motor and supposedly it will available in 2010. Maybe someone who was at the show can fill me in on some details about this bike.
The second image is a homemade long bike with a 35 cc 4-cycle engine. As Bob pointed out in his message, “electric motors aren’t the only game in the long bike lineup. Gas motors are much cheaper and at upwards of 150 mpg, they are quite economical. Running 1.6 hp through a gearbox provides plenty of get up and go for even the most loaded long bikes.”
As we see a greater variety of long bikes on the market, we will surely see several different models with some sort of motor assist. For bikes that are intended to carry heavy loads, it makes perfect sense. I assume that most will be electric, but what do you all think of the idea of a long bike that gets a bit of assistance from a gas-powered engine?
Updated 1:30: As Dolan pointed out in the comments, I should have at least mentioned the Stokemonkey electric motor kit for bikes with an Xtracycle. That would be your original electric assist cargo bike.
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