Manufacturers do provide bikes for transportation -- with chain covers,
hub-generators, wired lighting with standlights, integrated locking devices,
coat guards, drum brakes, hub gears, durable fenders, usable racks, etc. -- but
usually not in the U.S., where the market is (or is perceived to be) nearly
exclusively competitive or recreational.
Here is a bike with many of the above features, which Cannondale sells in
Europe:
http://gb.cannondale.com/bikes/10/ce/model-0SR5N_0SR5NF.html
But in Cannondale's listing of urban bikes for the U.S., there is nothing
remotely similar:
http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/10/cusa/recreation.html
So there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem: Non-bike aficionados won't ride
for utility until there are true utilitarian bikes on the market, but those
kinds of bikes won't be available until manufacturers know they will sell.
That said, it has been a few years since I gave up on a search for a suitable
OEM commuter and just built my own, so maybe there are newer entries in the
U.S. market that I'm not aware of.
Eric Sundquist
________________________________
From: Hans Noeldner <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Mon, January 4, 2010 9:03:31 PM
Subject: [Bikies] Bicycle drivetrain and my dreams
India Rose, Kirks, thanks for your suggestions! I am
familiar with Triflow; we used it on some scientific instruments where I worked
years ago. But I had not thought about using it on a bike; I will try it!
I think it's loaded with Teflon and graphite powders; they should be good for
cold weather.
I think about how the best engineering minds in the world
have devoted so much effort to making motor vehicles, aircraft, and weaponry as
astonishingly reliable and robust as they are under all kinds of extreme
environments. In this day and age no automobile company would dare to market
a vehicle with an open chain drive! Much less vehicles which require 1/10th
the frequency of adjusting, cleaning, fiddling, and replacement of "consumables"
(chains, brake pads, cables, etc.) as bicycles.
Dear President Obama:
Instead of bailing out the car companies, how about spending a few stimulus
dollars on a "Man on the Moon" project to design and bring to market a
PRACTICAL, affordable, lightweight, year-round, virtually maintenance-free drive
system for that most efficient of all transportation machines – the bicycle.
A totally-enclosed, modular, sealed transmission and shaft drive which
approaches the efficiency of a chain/derailleur; one which requires adjustment
and lubrication no more often than, say, once every four years. (As a
mechanical engineer, I can assure you that this is entirely feasible.)
The people engaged in the project could pretend that
ordinary people getting on their bikes and going where they need to go –
without any #...@#!! fiddling or f**king around – is as IMPORTANT
AS GOING TO THE MOON. Duh.
Oh well…maybe the Trek drive belt plus enclosed hub
gearboxes will approach this level of…not perfection, but ADEQUACY.
However, I have a hunch that the Trek belt will be susceptible to chunks of ice
getting caught in the teeth and rupturing it.
Hans Noeldner
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