The days are gone when it was only difficult to park a four wheeler in a busy street or in some vague corner of the city. The difficulty is now the same in parking the bikes as well. How good would it be if you can fold your vehicle and take it along with you? Above all, if you can put your vehicle in a bag and take it along with you wherever you go? Adding to it, if it doesn’t need fuel to run, wow, its just amazingly great to think. Well, these are not my mere imaginations. It’s a live product available in many countries. Wanna know what that product is? Well, it is the YikeBike. YikeBike is World’s first super light electric folding bike.
To mention a word about the manufacturer, The Christchurch Company which makes YikeBike won the Dell Innovative Hi-Tech Hardware Product award at New Zealand recently. YikeBike comes into two versions: Carbon aka the high-end one and the Fusion aka the low-end bike. The bike was also featured at #15 in TIME magazine’s list of top 50 innovations in year 2009.
This electric bike has a running range of 10 km with the capability of attaining a top speed of upto 23 kmph. The YikeBike weighs just 10.3 kg and is made of carbon fibre composite frame and is powered by an electric brushless DC motor. The source of power is a LifePO4-40 min re-chargeable battery. The YikeBike can be folded or stretched to its original form in less than 20 seconds. The front wheel is 20 inches and the rear 8 inches in size. In the folded form, it occupies a volume of 43 litres
“We created the YikeBike to dramatically change urban and suburban transportation, providing users with a fast, safe, cost-effective, eco-friendly way to navigate their cities and towns,” said YikeBike CEO Grant Ryan. “The original, upscale, carbon fiber YikeBike generated tremendous interest among early adopters when we unveiled it in late 2010. This led us – in record breaking time – to design the more mainstream YikeBike Fusion, which uses conventional materials to make it more appealing to both cost-conscious and energy-conscious consumers.”
This bike is pretty similar to the Segway in terms of catering its purpose. Both are ideal only to be used within the city and for a short distance only. But, this is differentiated from the Segway in terms of its design concept.
The YikeBike is an ideal bike to be used at night times also. It comes fitted with High Vision built in LED lights which will be constantly glowing always. This enables the rider and the bike to be noticed by the passers irrespective of it being day or night.The YikeBrakes are also known for their safety being offered. Thought these are very small machines capable of carrying just one rider, safety is given a top priority at the time of conceptualizing this bike. This is proved by the very fact that the YikeBikes comes fitted with anti-skid regenerative brakes. This enables the rider to ride the YikeBike even on wet roads without compromising on the riding confidence.
But, why does the YikeBike need a special mention at this point of this. I’ll tell you why. At this perid of time, when we hear of petrol price being hiked every now and then, the YikeBike costs you a meagre US$0.01 for every km that you ride on it. It is hardly 45-50 paise for every km. This is, of course fine to use in roads, but wondering how to carry this once you reach your office, school, college or whatever? Its very simple. You gotta fold it and either put it in the bag which is given exclusively to carry it or you can even fold it and take it along with you just like that. That’s how it is designed. (This even reduces the expense of buying a lock for it!!)
The large 20 inches front wheel is capable of taking any bumps or small pits in the road without much strain andl even worrying about reducing the speed at which you are commuting.
The bike is ideal for those who are interested in reducing their Carbon footprints thereby leading a sustainable life with a Green Badge to promote eco-friendliness.
The interesting point is the price at which you can get your hands on a YikeBike. The YikeeBike Carbon which is made out of Carbon Fibre is priced at US$ 3795. This is the one which weighs the above mentioned 10.3 kg. In Indian currency it is (just) around 1.78 lakhs and the YikeBike Fusion which weighs 14 kgs cost US$ 1995, which comes to around INR 93,765 (only).
When you book a YikeBike, you get a Charger, a Charger Cord suited to the delivery country, a user manual, a carrying strap with which the YikeBike can be carried along with the user and a toolkit along with tyre inflator and the keys.
The YikeBikes are available in a range of 6 stunning colours. The colours available are Carbon Fibre which is the standard colour, Silver, Red, White, Green and Blue. Many corporate giants including Google are customers of YikeBike. Apart from this, YikeBike is featured in many magazines and have received great reviews too.
The company claims that every YikeBike comes with complimentary telephone/email support for two years. In addition there is a full 1 year warranty where the company takes care of the pickup and return courier of your YikeBike. There is also a full range of service videos online so you can easily replace tires, adjust steering, etc.
Also, the company offers global delivery of these YikeBikes is the form of a package straight to the doorstep irrespective of the country where it is to be delivered and the delivery period is just one week.
So are you all set to book one! Is it worth the price? What is your say on the YikeBike. Have your word below.
Regards,
M.Naren.
Author – BikeAdvice.in
