Electric Euro Scooters We Can't Have #2: Motorman

[Yesterday's post was about the electric Schwalbe - a vintage scooter retrofit to be electric.]

The Motorman was a slow burn when I first saw it - it was just too simple, too European, and too expensive. It took me a while to figure out how beautiful that simple part is.

And it's hard to figure out what it is. It sure doesn't look like a scooter. It's not a moped or electric bicycle - it has no pedals. Really, when you get down to it, it's the distillation to the simplest of motorcycles (but most people won't see, hear, or smell the motor.)

The Motorman is the design of Ronald Meijs, a Dutch designer who set out to build a basic and beautiful eco-friendly urban transportation. He took styling inspiration from the American board track racers of 100 years ago.

The Wired Article from 2015

(Lots of Mesquite Hugger motivation in the first paragraph.)

(Just ignore the last paragraph's coming to America theme.)

Frame, hub motor, wheels, brakes, and a seat. What could be simpler? No pedals. No chain. No gears. No clutch. Easy to clean, Easy to maintain. Easy to charge. Even easy to haul - it's only 99 pounds.

Just plug and charge

Don't let the numbers bother you - you can't buy it over here anyway.

Do I want a Motorman - oh yeah! But not in Euro-spec. I would want it to be a simple motorcycle capable of somewhere around 45 mph, which should be pretty attainable. But then I'd probably want to mess it up by adding things like suspension and a cushy seat.

How about you? Do you find appeal in this stripped down machine? May you find a scoot that avoids that Wired article's first paragraph!

PS. If you want a cool electric moped-ish machine that you can buy here, be sure to check out Monday Motorbikes - straight out of San Francisco!

Fossil Free Friday - Electric Scooters

Since Grizz, Mendi, Fester, the Loi-Yer, Double K, and Melissa are headed to the Texas United Scooter Rally this weekend, it seemed like a great day to throw a few electric scooters up for Fossil Free Friday.

Grizz' red Vespa and the Mesquite Hugger E-Vespa

  

Earlier this week, Derek Markham posted about a new electric German scooter. (Or should that be "German electric scooter"? Where's Noam when I need him.)

Derek Markham article on TreeHugger

I'm always excited when I run across a new electric scooter so I popped on over and found a pretty standard little scooter that

• looks a whole lot like a 2006 Yamaha Vino
• has a 28mph top speed
• 30 miles of range
• is available only in Europe. Snagit.

 But, then I remembered that we have a similar scooter available over here. The Genze 2.0.

And the Genze may not be all retro-Yamaha stylish, but it's got a nice list of virtues:

• It's vastly slightly faster (30mph!)
• It has the same range - 30 miles
• No insane Teutonic import tariff -  it's made, or at least assembled, in Ann Arbor Michigan!
• It has a removable battery pack, too!
• You can buy one (in Texas) for less than $3000!
• And, it's a 2-wheeled pickup truck! (You know me and electric pickups.)

(A pretty small pickup truck)

The pickup bed even inspired a weekly contest!

So there you have it - two emission-free electric scooters to help you get off the gas, keep it in the ground, clear the air, and generally make the world a less stinky place.

May you live in a less stinky place that you helped to create!

PS. In case the Genze 2.0 is not your thing, be sure to check out the Fido (my favorite), the Boxx, and the Monday Motorbike. - three very different approaches to electric scooters.

Fossil Free Friday Videos: Monday Motorbikes and a DIY Electric Motorcycle

Okay, this is a very lazy FFF post, but there's some very good stuff here!

Just a preview of the last video (and a run-on sentence)

 

I stumbled across a couple of Monday Motorbikes videos which answered a few questions for I've had on battery removal and such. (However, I am still unsure about the voltage - two 33 volt packs?) They are definitely worth watching and helped me to appreciate this thing even more. If you are confused about the name, these are from way back in the past when they still called it the Bolt Motorbike.

TechCrunch: Bolt's High-Tech Motorbike (4 minutes)

Monday (Bolt) on Twit Bits (13 minutes)

 

And finally, here's a video from a crazy German guy who builds an electric motorcycle on almost no budget whatsoever. I won't give too much away, but I love his very simple approach to mounting the electric motor on the old bike. (For those of you with sensitive eyes and ears, there's one cuss word on the video, and I completely agree with the sentiment surrounding it!) Enjoy!

DIY E-Bike/Motorcycle (How to build) (8 minutes)

(Please wear a helmet when you ride.)

 

(This post is dedicated to all of those lovely folks at Exxon who bring us destruction, denial, and Rex Tillerson.)

 

May we continually choose better and maybe have a little fun along the way.

Fossil Free Friday: 2 More DIY Oddball E-Bike options

Two bikes that have snared a lot of attention lately on Mesquite Hugger are the Super 73 and the Monday Motors M-1 (formerly the Bolt.) And I can definitely see why. Both hearken back to a childhood hot rod spirit while also filling the bill for people who are tired of trashing the earth for their own personal transport and fun. Kind of a best-of-both-worlds thing for considerably less commitment than a Tesla.

Another part of their appeal (for me at least) is this sense of DIY adventure. I can hear the voice of the Rusty saying over coffee, "Oh yeah, we could build that. That sounds like a great project." (Rusty, Lubbock already misses you and that let's-build-the-crap-out-of-it glint in your eye.) Shoot, I already built an electric minibike and have gathered up all the pieces for an electric moped. This is a do-able thing, people.

Apparently, we are not the only ones who think so. As evidence, I offer up the Luna Banana and the HopMod.

 

The Luna Banana (for you Super 73 fans)

Luna Banana (pedal only)

Since Grizz ordered the Sondors bike, I have been paying a lot more attention to the offerings from Luna Cycles. Recently, a pair of maxi-minibike variations have popped up on their website. The Luna Banana (pedal only model) is a big kid dream come true - a big honking minibke you can pedal around on. If I lived near a boardwalk, I'd much rather be the dork on this thing than a nerd on a fat bike or a dweeb on a beach cruiser. It's got an 8-speed drivetrain and disk brakes at both ends. Pretty cool stuff! And, it has lots of room for batteries and motors and all kinds of good stuff. (Or you could just pedal it around, which would not be a bad thing at all.) Lots more info below:

 

For those of you with fewer ambitions or less time or more money, you can also buy one that's already impressively electrified:

 

30 miles per hour and you never have to pedal - but you should

 

On top of all these things, Luna can upgrade you to a much bigger motor and a much bigger battery for $325. That's a massive amount of power and range for this maxi-mini. (Make sure your emergency room insurance is paid up!) But in comparison with lots of other bikes out there, this thing is pretty inexpensive. And you can get it in red, white, or black - your three favorite colors! Nope, it's not the cargo-bike-of-my-dreams, but it may be just the thing for the hooligan you want to be.

The HopMod (for you Monday MotorBikes fans and for my buddy FlatTracker 23)

 

Okay, so you're not into the minibike thing as much as the BMX/flat-track/motocross/hot-rod/moped thing. The HopMod may be right up your two-wheeled alley. It's early in the Kickstarter phase right now.

 

See the Kickstarter Video here

 

Yep, this might look easier to put together than the Indigan moped kit for the DIY M-1 post. A lot of thought has gone into making this frame a universal platform with lots of room for personalization, and batteries and a motor. And you can get it in three stages of development:

 

Just a frame

 

Pledge Level 1

Frame and electric mid-drive setup

 

Pledge Level 2

 

The whole enchilada (and it does come painted)

 

Pledge Level 3

 

Once again, that's a whole lot of bike for the money, and this one comes from deep in the heart of Texas - San Antonio to be exact. For you nearby readers, this is your chance to shop local. (Remember the Alamo, Pee Wee!)

 

May you adopt your dream green vehicle, and may it be a joyous and earth-saving thing!

 

PS. Thanks (once again) to ElectricBikeReport.com for the heads-up on the HopMod!

Fossil Free Friday: Updates on Electric Scooters and Such

In the quest for a vehicle to help us move on...the quest for an oh-so-cool pair of eco-friendly wheels to haul us about!

Fido (An electric scooter built by vintage scooterists)

This one is hard for me. You see, I have loved the Fido since before there was a Fido. And the first photo brought me in even closer.

Yep, it was love at first sight!

 

I love the idea of it -  a very simple and elegant form designed to do what you need it to and to be repaired by the average human being. I love the reality of it - it's a very practical machine that has a realistic range and realistic speed and lots of little perks to make it perfect for lots of jobs. I have never met them in person, but I am a big fan of the people who dreamed it up, invested their lives in it, and have now built it. Jeb Gast, the Fido founder, was a big inspiration to me when I decided to build my electric Vespa and he has continued to impress me since. I even love the old building they restored for the factory and I wish they were a little closer so I could swing by and check out their coffee digs. I can't imagine a cooler scooter company anywhere.

Check out the Fido Useful video

 

But that level of coolness comes at a price. I can't imagine what they have had to invest to get this thing off the ground and I know that a 72 volt, 35 amp-hour battery pack is a big investment in itself.

Check out the cool 'stache! and the teaser video

On the more personal side, I know my own finances and have known all along that I can not afford to buy ANY new electric scooter. But I have held onto a hope of buying a new Fido all through its development. And I held onto that hope until the price was finally announced. The first batch is up for pre-order with a price tag of $10,500. When I found that out, I realized that the Fido is out of my reach and I worry that it will be for many others as well. I wish them great success and hope that they find buyers who are able and willing to make the investment for a very cool and capable machine.

Monday MotorBikes (Formerly the Bolt M-1) (An electric moped built by vintage mopedders)

Love it with the spoked wheels

While I've never looked at the Fido and thought - hey I could build (a reasonably acceptable version of) that, I have done that with the Monday. [If you're ambitious in that way, check this out: 1977 Mopeds Indigan Roller. Just order that without the gas motor, add batteries, a motor, some brackets, a controller, and a throttle. ;-) Everything is so simple on the internet!]

That looks like fun to me!

To be fair, you'd spend a lot of time and money doing it, but a reasonably acceptable version (with a lot fewer cool features) could be built in a garage.

but it's pretty cool with mags too

On the other hand, for $6,000 you can buy this rather cool bike with very few headaches and lots of cool features like Bluetooth this and USB that and keyless other stuff. (You know you love instant gratification.)

The Monday is definitely an interesting machine as far as it capabilities. It's a 20mph e-bike in Economy mode, but it's a 40mph motorcycle in Sport mode. (I believe that Sport mode doubles the voltage from 24-48 volts.)

It is a very cool machine, and $5,995 is an attainable number for some of us.

Motochimp

Now, let's go a little goofy! Double K sent me this link this week and I knew I had to share it with you!

A Video with a lot of photos and a British voice-over

 

48 volt, 350 watt, 19 mph, all the usual stuff

 

Just your friendly neighborhood MotoChimp

 

I haven't found anything to indicate that it's headed to the US any time soon, but goshdarnit, it's adorable!

 

Can't you just see this thing in a Gorillaz video?

 

Other Bits of Related News this week:

 

Piaggio announced that they are finally getting ready to produce an electric Vespa.

 

Zero Motorcycles announced their 2017 line-up.

 

I think that's everything.

 

May you find your gas-free ride and may the air clear.