The Rubbee: Electric Bicycle Conversion

[Ishmael]

So I was inspired by Gooki's journal and his commuting via electric bicycle and decided to do some research. I came across this little item and thought it might appeal to some folks here. Behold the Rubbee:

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/30/how-to-turn-your-bicycle-into-an-electric-bike-in-seconds-video/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732543648/rubbee-the-electric-drive-for-bicycles

This looks like a pretty darn neat item. Does anyone have any experience with it at all? Any thoughts about it?

This might work for me as right now I have to drive via a windy road about 60km return, but with a bike I could take a bike path that's straight and level (converted old train track) and 30km return. 15km/1hr each way is just too much for me to handle, but with an electric assister on my bicycle it would actually probably only take the same amount of time as driving.

[theSchmett]

Looks very cool! But the kickstarter campaign doesn't promise delivery until 2013. I would say 1100 dollars US (that's the early bird price) is a LOT of money. At $3.50 a gallon that is 314 gallons of gasoline. At 30mpg that is 9,420 miles.

But if it enables a bike trip and that's what you want, I say go for it.

I did see a post very recently on someone's blog about a trailer with e-assist built in that is less expensive and also carries some cargo.

http://www.monetarymusings.com/65/review-ridekick-power-bike-trailer/

Sorry I can't remember which Mustachian out there runs this blog but I remember the post!