ShareRoller electric motor drive

Update:  Included pictures and Kickstarter preview link.

Remember when I mentioned over the holidays that Bromfoot creator Jeff Guida had something cooking?  Well, Jeff’s finally allowing me to share what it is!  It’s ShareRoller, a portable electric friction drive system for several types of bikes, including Bromptons!  The unit resembles a very small suitcase and weighs about 6 or 7 pounds.

The ShareRoller is primarily designed for bicycles used in major metropolitan bike share programs, such as New York City’s Citibike and Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare.  The bikes used by those programs are super stout and very heavy… it is hard to imagine a lighter weight person pushing one those.  I weigh around 175 lbs. and I had a tough time getting much speed on a Citibike.

The ShareRoller uses a high power drive wheel motor (such as those used in electric RC cars) to drive the front wheel.  The unit latches on to where the bike share bicycles lock onto the docking station, and the drive wheel presses against the front wheel.  The drive wheel has a hard rubber outer surface which contacts the front tire… this is less damaging to the tire compared to some sort of gritty sand-paper like surface.

For the Bromptons, Jeff designed an adapter block so that the ShareRoller can be used with your typical Brompton luggage options (C-bag, S-bag, etc.).  The adaptor block weighs about half a pound and is designed to not impede the folding of the Bromptons (Note:  it’s not certain yet whether Bromptons with dynamo hubs will be able to use the ShareRoller due to the location of the lights.  Jeff didn't have access to a dynamo hub equipped Brompton during the development of the ShareRoller.  The ShareRoller should work with the dynamo hub itself, but the light may impede installation of the adapter).  The adaptor block allows you to install the ShareRoller in about 10 seconds.  This allows you to quickly revert to your “normal” Brompton with minimal weight added… for comparison, hub-motor electric kits must be permanently installed on your front wheel and they add around 18 pounds even if it’s not in use.  Having multiple adaptor blocks allows a single ShareRoller to be used on multiple Bromptons (not simultaneously, of course).

There are two battery capacities that will be available at launch:  one will provide a 12 mile range and the other around 20 miles.  Other notable features include headlight (20 lumens) and a USB port for charging your portable devices.

Jeff graciously let me test ride a prototype when I was out in NYC.  I rode the ShareRoller both with a Brompton and a Citibike.  The application of power from the ShareRoller was very smooth and controlled from the thumb-operated throttle control.  It made the Citibike much more tolerable and the Brompton got almost scary fast.  I gotta say, it was pretty fun to use, and could be useful for pedal-assist up big hills or for just getting home when you’re super tired.

The ShareRoller will go on Kickstarter around February 28.  It certainly isn’t cheap, starting at an early supporter price of $995 on Kickstarter, but it’s a much better and much cheaper solution than other Brompton hub-motor electric kits.  Jeff runs a one-man operation, and the economy of scale just isn’t there yet for him to be able to offer it a a cheaper price.  Jeff and I are both engineers, and in talking with Jeff, I really got the sense that he would rather use higher quality parts than to try to build down to a price.  Jeff is very much a perfectionist…he’s worked hard at optimizing throttle acceleration rates to balance performance and battery life, which was difficult because his suppliers kept introducing newer batteries every few months.  The same attention to detail went into pretty much every aspect of this product.

I know a lot of hard core cyclists and very casual riders may not find this product useful, but for some this could be a very useful piece of gear to commuters.   Here are some use cases that come to mind:

• If you live in one of these metropolitan areas with compatible bike share bike (obviously).
• If the weather is really nice to ride in the morning, but brutally hot in the afternoon (this is usually the case in Arizona).
• If your route has a lot of hills.
• If you need to arrive at an appointment and would not like to be dripping with sweat.
• If you happen to be towing a lot of cargo and could use some assistance.

And here’s my own personal use case:
I’m in a city soccer league that plays at different fields around town.  I like to ride the Brompton to the closer fields (around 5 miles) because it gives my legs a good warm-up (plus all the environmental factors that goes with riding a bike in general).  I play my game, then afterwards the team usually goes to a restaurant for dinner.  I fold up my Brommie and ride in someone’s car to the restaurant so they don’t have to wait for me.  After I eat, I have to ride back home.  At this point I’m pretty tired and full, and my ride back takes super long.  The ShareRoller would really come in handy in this situation.  I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one.

Here are links to other articles about the ShareRoller (including pictures):
http://gizmodo.com/a-tiny-briefcase-that-turns-citibikes-into-electric-sco-1527113318
http://www.gizmag.com/shareroller-electrify-bicycle-share/30918/
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3026607/fund-this/this-lightweight-turbo-kit-will-turn-clunky-bikeshare-bikes-into-a-speedy-e-bike#6

And here is the Kickstarter preview link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/247419341/1782517041?token=3224406b

A night out with a Brompton rep

Brompton North America representative Ed Rae swung by Metrognome Music and Cycle to Go to give a talk about traveling with the Brompton and just Bromptons in general.  Ed was also gracious enough to answer a bunch of questions that the audience had for him.  After the talk we rode to Sky Bar, had some pizza and had lots of interesting discussions!

Dirty Brompton, the paparazzi target

It seems like I've been shot!  Treehugger.com did an article on a $600 pop-up bike lane that was demonstrated at the Open Streets Minneapolis event last year... which was also the host for the Brompton US Championship.

My mug is shown in the first and last pictures of the bike lane.  Also shown are "Purple" aka @bikenanigans and Todd from Metrognome Music and Cycle to Go.

Here is the link to the article.

Thanks to @CalhounCycle for notifying me!

Mondrian with yellow Tannus tires

I gotta say, I think this combo looks pretty dope.

Tannus Aither Tires

Back at Interbike, Todd was frantically searching for the Tannus stand. I had no idea who they were or what they did. When were found them, I discovered that they make solid tires.  Todd had read up on some Brompton riders who have had them installed and had varying levels of satisfaction with them. Some had loved them and others not so much. But the allure of having tires that were always ready to go and not worrying about flats had us dying to find out for ourselves (here's another review).

The Tannus tires for Brompton (the model is called the “Nymph” and is 16” x 1.25”) comes in two different hardnesses.  The softer one is supposed to be equal to about 110 psi and the harder one was about 140 psi.  I don't think this is accurate as they feel a little softer. Todd got a set of white soft tires and I opted for the yellow hard tires for the ODB (they come in a array of colors).

A word of caution here: these tires are a pain in the ass to install yourself without the specialized tools.   By specialized, I don’t mean bike tools, I mean Tannus tools. If you have the option, I recommend having a pro do the install.   Todd’s going to get a couple of how to videos up soon.

After taking off the old tires, one needs to insert these little tabs all the way around that lock the Tannus tires onto the rim.

Now comes the hard part…putting the tire on the rim.  The Brompton sized tires, a lot of practice is needed before you can install them by yourself.  The first few installs Todd and I had to stretch the tires on together.

After the tires are on the rim, the tabs need to be pushed in underneath the edge of the rim to lock it in place.  The tabs are pushed in with this tool:

There is also another tool that makes this job much easier... it looks like a modified set of channel-locks.

First ride impressions:  the feel very damped and muted, especially before they are broken in (Tannus states that the tires break-in at about 100 miles).  It does feel like it takes more effort to go the same distance or speed as a conventional tire.  I’m going to try to put together some testing to get some quantitative results.

2014 Brompton World Championship registration is live!

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that registration for the 2014 Brompton World Championship is now live.  It will be held at Goodwood Motor Circuit for the second year in a row on July 26 & 27th.  There will be three events this year... the World Championship, the Marathon, and the Sprint.

I do not plan to go this year but I hope many of my readers will.  Perhaps next year for me.  Good luck to all of you who enter.

Here is the link to the registration.

New York, New York

Over the holiday, I was able to spend a day in New York City.  

I was finally going to be able to check out famed folding bike shops NYCeWheels and BFold... or so I thought.

I first went to NYCeWheels on the upper east side and was greeted with this sign:

Oh well.  I headed back to SoHo to BFold and had a bit of deja vu:

I didn't come away completely empty handed though.  I met with Jeff, the inventor of Bromfoot.  He has developed something really cool and wanted me to check it out and give him some feedback.  I can't really reveal anything until Jeff's ready to go public, but I'll do a post when that time comes.