DirtRider.com has done its usual excellent job in reviewing the e-cycle offerings – this time for the Swiss company Quantya. We summarize some of their findings below.

Quantya makes two off-road models, the Track and the Strada. The Strada is a full street-legal version with DOT certification and ready for a license plate in all 50 states. The Track, on the other hand, is the same bike without the street-legal lights, speedo, or secondary battery to run these functions.

The Track is sized as a ‘fun bike,’ in the CRF150F range. It’s designed for casual trail riding. Because it’s so quiet, backyard tracks won’t bother the neighbors, and riding on trails near houses won’t even be noticed.

The Quantya bikes weigh as much as a full sized gas bike, and the suspension is a ‘real motorcycle’ suspension. Travel is twelve inches front and rear. The suspension absorbs the hits as well as its travel would be expected to, and the bike overall has a nice, planted feel.

According to DirtRider, the tires on the Quantya seem designed for minimal rolling resistance rather than dirt traction. This is probably the most limiting factor to the bike’s performance.

The bike also has a ‘freewheel’ effect. When the rider cuts the throttle, the engine ‘freewheels,’ a sensation similar to an auto clutch disengaging when you lock up the rear tire. With an auto-clutch, a blip of the throttle will bring the compression braking back, but with an electric bike the motor has to ’spool up’ to get back to deliver drive. This freewheel effect is an argument to opt for the rear brake bar-mounted lever, as dragging the rear is a technique to minimize this freewheeling.

Charge time is approximately two hours for about a 45 minute aggressive ride. In addition to some backyard moto and leave-from-home trail riding, the Quanta could also become your around-town scoot or even a commuter bike if the distances weren’t too long.

What could be better than a second bike that never needs its air filter cleaned, its valves adjusted, its engine overhauled, its oil changed, and so on?

MSRP: Track $9,975, Strada $10,700
Claimed Weight: 195 lb
Actual Weight: 222 lb
Seat Height: 35.4 in.
Footpeg Height: 13.8 in.
Seat-to-footpeg distance: 21.6 in.
Street Legal: optional
Fuel Capacity: n/a
Transmission: n/a

Source:
http://www.dirtrider.com/reviews/motocross/141_0905_get_amped_quantya_track_web_test/index.html

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Gocycle Full Review

London, England — Every big city has its union problems. Depending on which union goes on strike, it can bring traffic in London to a stand-still. No buses. No underground trains. The solution? Commuting via an electric bike. THe latest entry in the E-bike offerings is Richard Thorpe’s British-made GoCycle.

Thorpe, a former design engineer for McLaren, has a specialist knowledge of carbon-fibre composite components. Since carbon fibre is too expensive for the mass market, Thorpe used a new technique of injection moulding magnesium called Thixomoulding, which is more commonly used for mobile phone and laptop casings.

VBy doing so, the cost of the GoCycle was cut to a fifth of the carbon-fibre equivalent. Thorpe invested in bespoke robotic tooling and conduct a global search for investors and suppliers.( His search for strategic partners has not borne fruit, however. )

The first few thousand bikes have now been produced by two companies in Britain and the initial reception has been positive – the GoCycle ranked in the top five new products in April’s (2009) Gadget Show.

The price is £1,158 online. Thorpe’s company, Karbon Kinetics Limited, has set up a government-approved tax-free “cycle to work scheme”, which lowers the price to £599. This offer is contingent on your employer signing up for the program.

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British entrepreneur Azhar Hussain has developed an all-electric race-ready motorcycle capable of acceleration and speed. His creation is going to be on display at the zero-emissions alt-fuel <em>grand prix</em> he’s hosting in June, 2009, on the Isle of Man.

It’s Hussain’s intent to show people – in particular race people – that “electric can be fast.”

Hussain is hoping to have his electric, and fast, motorcycle next year, for sale next year. It’s going to cost about $30,000, at present estimates, but Hussain believes that the next generation of motor sports enthusiasts will embrace it. Not only will it eat up the track, but it will also be street legal.

Several start up companies have been developing electric two-wheelers such as scooters, or commuter bike, now Honda and KTM are getting into the act with an item a bit more powerful…a full-blown electric motorcycle, and Hussain is right on their heels.

As far as Hussain’s creation is concerned, the prototype started out with the frame of a 2000 Suzuki GSX-R 750. They replaced the engine, transmission and radiator with a pair of air-cooled Agni Lynch electric motors. Each has a continuous output of 20 kilowatts (about 27 horsepower) and a maximum of 40 kilowatts.

The power comes from a 4.3 kilowatt-hour battery pack made by LifeBatt. It’s good for 3,000 cycles and recharges in three hours. Range is 20 to 40 miles, depending upon how hard you’re riding. Hussain says the TTX01 will do about 30 miles at 100 mph. (Since the main aim for his bike is racing, he’s working on a “hot-swappable” battery system to allow the racer to get back onto the track fast after those 30 miles!)

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