solar powered bicycle

http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html

misterfact@yahoo.com wrote:

http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html

that's nothing, I have a bicycle powered by donuts.
j.

wrote in message

http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html

Very nice big picture, but it looks like a fake to me. The solar panels are only going to generate greatest power during a ride when the sun is close to the horizon. The higher the sun is, the less of its energy will be intercepted by the panels. As a result I don't think the panels will ever be able to keep up with the energy expended in propulsion. You can start off with a fully charged battery and it will take you some distance, depending on the efficiency of the motor and the size of the battery, but I doubt if those panels will ever restore the expended energy unless the bike is laid down on its side in the sun for a day or more. Also I don't think the efficiency of a panel that can be overlaid on the spokes of a bicycle wheel is anywhere near what you get with a normal, flat under glass, solar panel made from single crystal or multi crystal silicon.

"Leonard Abbott" wrote in message

THEY ARE GREAT
Your argument is compelling.

On Mar 22, 10:55 am, "misterf...@yahoo.com" wrote:

http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html

looks like a good way to steal solar panels.
let me know where y ou park yours :)

On 22 Mar 2007 16:54:35 -0700, "Tater" wrote:

On Mar 22, 10:55 am, "misterf...@yahoo.com" <misterf...@yahoo.com wrote: http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html
looks like a good way to steal solar panels.
let me know where y ou park yours :)

If you are a thief, there are plenty of oportuneties to steal more valuable stuff.
Most of us are not thiefs, so this bike will probarbly be left alone.
-- SEE YA !!! Trygve Lillefosse AKA - Malawi, The Fisher King

On Mar 25, 12:09 pm, Trygve Lillefosse wrote:

On 22 Mar 2007 16:54:35 -0700, "Tater" wrote:
On Mar 22, 10:55 am, "misterf...@yahoo.com" <misterf...@yahoo.com wrote: http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html
looks like a good way to steal solar panels.
let me know where y ou park yours :)
If you are a thief, there are plenty of oportuneties to steal more valuable stuff.
Most of us are not thiefs, so this bike will probarbly be left alone.
I am not a thief.

but ive had lots of my bikes stolen.
even $10 junkers with warped rims.
and some idiot is gonna see the solar panels and think "i steal a batch of those, i wont have an electric bill."
not realizing his electric on his utility bill is probably less than 25% of the total

In article , trygve@lillefosse.NOSPAM.org says...

On 22 Mar 2007 16:54:35 -0700, "Tater" wrote:
On Mar 22, 10:55 am, "misterf...@yahoo.com" <misterf...@yahoo.com wrote: http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html
looks like a good way to steal solar panels.
let me know where y ou park yours :)

If you are a thief, there are plenty of oportuneties to steal more valuable stuff.

And there are habitual and compulsive thieves who will steal anything that isn't nailed down. Some will steal something that they could have gotten for free. Or something that they cannot use, and don't really want. Just to be stealing.
-- Get Credit Where Credit Is Due http://www.cardreport.com/ Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum

On Mar 22, 4:20 pm, "Chuck Olson" wrote:

misterf...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

http://therapyproducts.com/products_sunnybike.html
Very nice big picture, but it looks like a fake to me.

My first thought too, but if it was photoshopped, they took ALOT of time at it.

The solar panels are only going to generate greatest power during a ride when the sun is close to the horizon. The higher the sun is, the less of its energy will be intercepted by the panels. As a result I don't think the panels will ever be able to keep up with the energy expended in propulsion.

I'd agree. I'd bet that anything generated while driving is incidental. They run on their batteries I'd bet.

You can start off with a fully charged battery and it will take you some distance, depending on the efficiency of the motor and the size of the battery, but I doubt if those panels will ever restore the expended energy unless the bike is laid down on its side in the sun for a day or more.

Yep, I'd agree. Probably also comes with a "plug-in" charger if they're smart. And there's also the flickering shadow issue; the forks shade the panels with every revolution. That'd lay a beating on production.

Also I don't think the efficiency of a panel that can be overlaid on the spokes of a bicycle wheel is anywhere near what you get with a normal, flat under glass, solar panel made from single crystal or multi crystal silicon.

I'd also be worried about stone chips and whatnot from the ground hitting those multi-hundred dollar panels...
I'd be curious to get my hands on one in real life... not 1000$ worth of curious, though ;-).
DJ