The Yikebike is a sensational product - I called it the first "transportation appliance" when I rode the miniature electric penny farthing last year. Funnily enough, when I wrote about the ingenious range-extender earlier this year, I wrote that the Yikebike ticked all the boxes but one - its range. Now that the company is to offer a slightly heavier version at roughly half the price, you can probably bury the last objection that could be aimed at the Yikebike.
The Yikebike Fusion will ship four weeks from now.
The trouble with devices like this is that they don\'t solve an actual problem. I mean, I like toys as much as the next guy, and this looks fun, but honestly, if you\'re talking about a range like that, you\'re better off getting a decent bicycle for at most a fifth the cash, and cruising around on that. You\'ll get similar top speed, better theoretical range, easier maintenance and less environmental impact. And $2k is a lot of cash for a toy.
But yeah, I agree - this is a toy, like the segway. Fun concept - but not really practical. Anybody that can\'t ride a bike is most likely going to use a car (or a motorbike). Still - perhaps it\'ll evolve into something that will be more useful someday - like electric cars have been slowly doing. They too had basically no useful range at first. For now, though, I\'m content to watch and wait...