Clean Techies: Pi Mobility – An E-bike Design with Nothing Wrong

One of the lessons we learn as we go through life is how much tougher things actually are than they initially appear. I was a reasonably athletic person as a young man, and I thought surfing might come easy. Wrong. Designing electric transportation might be an example of a subject that would certainly be a piece of cake. What’s so hard? You have a battery pack and an electric motor. It has one moving part. Well…., no.
Read more...

The Virtual Driver: A Fresh Slice of Pi

PiCycles get their name from the mathematical constant of the ratio between the circumference and diameter of a circle. Why? Simple. Pi Mobility cuts its frames from a tubular aluminum circle, thus creating something it calls the PiCycle arch.

Read more...

LA Times: Bicycles are getting artsy smartsy

LA Times: Bicycles are getting artsy smartsy Creative bicycles, long a favorite subject of student industrial design contests, are busting out of art college and onto the streets. This year, there's been an explosion of creative frame designs across the cycling spectrum — road, mountain, electric, commuter — that are nothing short of sculpture on wheels.

Read more...

Uncrate: PiCycle Electric Bike

Ever need an extra boost of power when you're out biking? That's exactly what the PiCycle Electric Bike ($5,000) can provide. Powered by a 48 volt brushless DC motor, this hybrid electric/human transport can reach speeds of up to 30 mph and can take you 20 miles without the need to pedal.

Read more...

Trendhunter: Mathematical Electric Bikes

The PiCycle is a bicycle like no other. It’s basically a mathematical electric bike that just so happens to go 30mph. The PiCycle also has luxury aspects to it as you have your choice of laquer finishes that are either red or black. The PiCycle costs around $5000 but with a hefty pricetag you get some hefty options.

Read more...

Beautiful Life: Electric Bike PiCycle LTD by Pi Mobility

Pi Mobility offers us stunning electric bike called PiCycle LTD. This isn’t only the vehicle but the real work of art. Unusual frame in the shape of an arc is a central element that makes the design so attractive. Wheels PiCycle LTD can be rotated as the usual rotation of the pedals and 48-volt electric motor. Maximum speed of the bicycle when operating the electric motor is about 30 mph and the distance that you can drive at full battery charge – is about 20 miles. The cost of such luxury bike is about $5000.

Read more...

Susan Willett Bird's smart talk on conversation: the PiCycle at TED 2011

OK, I get obsessed with cool design. 

The PiCycle had a display at TED 2011 and I fell in love with it.  Maybe it replaces my dream of having a Vespa to zoom around Manhattan's streets.  The PiCycle is just too cool looking.  Besides drop dead looks,  it is electric so you can just pedal your little heart out, or be a lazy son of a gun and let it do all the work (up to 20 mph) for you, or you can have a little of each.

Read more...

Electric Bike e: PiCycle looking for PiDealists

The best advertising for a product comes from its happy owners, who sing the praises of that product to the sky.

In December 2010, PiCycle introduced their “PiDealism” idea, which was to enlist the owners of PiCycles in a social media advertising campaign. Right now it’s in a pilot period, exclusive to the Bay Area and parts of Los Angeles for the time being.

Read more...

Autodesk Labs: Autodesk Gallery Exhibit: Would you like a slice of PiCycle?

"PiCycle PiCycle PiCycle...  I want to ride my PiCycle 
I want to ride my pi 
I want to ride my PiCycle 
I want to ride it where I like" 
   an adptation of "Bicyle Race," Jazz, Queen, 1978.

Read more...

PiCycle on Display at TED!

Develop 3D: The Power of Pi

The PiCycle is a new breed of electric bicycle. Designed and manufactured in California, it is being touted as a truly sustainable transport solution. Tanya Weaver looks at how design technology helped realise this bold vision

When you see the PiCycle for the first time, you can’t help doing a double take. With its arched aluminium tube it bears some resemblance to a bicycle, but not like one you’ve ever seen before.

In fact, it’s an electric bicycle offering pedal, motor or hybrid propulsion - a melding of the best of both a bicycle and motorcycle.“I love that PiCycle elicits strong feelings including bad ones,” says PiMobility’s founder and CEO, Marcus Hays.Hays set up PiMobility in Sausalito, California, in 2000. His aim was to create an electric hybrid bicycle that would be all about efficiency, not only of structure but also of purpose.

He felt frustrated that the only country where electric bicycles could be made cost effectively was China. He wanted to engineer a simpler structure that would achieve economies of scale without the need for cheap labour.

Read more...

Earth Techling: PiCycle Electric Bike Has WiFi Tracking Tech

Interested in electric bicycles, but hesitant to invest the necessary cash, seeing as how your last bike got lifted? Fear not, as the new PiCycle e-bike offers the option of integrated Wi-Fi-based technology–not only to remotely monitor the bike’s performance, but to track it if it’s stolen.

Read more...



Autodesk: How Autodesk Tackles the Next Frontier of IT-for-Green

My travels last month took me back to the Bay Area for client meetings and a chance to spend some time at the Autodesk Gallery, a very cool space near the ferry building in San Francisco. Autodesk uses it to show off its customers' design innovations, not coincidentally created using the company's design software. The event in January showcased how customers are using Autodesk visualization software to improve the sustainability of their product designs and implementations. This is tackling sustainability right at its core: Making products that are more energy- and resource-efficient, easier to manufacture, easier to reuse and recycle, right from the start.

Read more...

Gizmag: PiCycle: the hybrid electric bicycle with embedded Wi-Fi technology

Combining an electric motor with a form factor that has remained largely unchanged for over a hundred years, hybrid electric bicycles make it easier to get around in an environmentally friendly way, while still providing some much needed exercise. One of the most distinctive electric bikes going around is the PiCycle(which began life as the Electrobike Pi). The latest model from Pi Mobility retains the instantly recognizable arch frame of its predecessor, but has been simplified even further and now offers the option of integrated Wi-Fi-based technology to remotely monitor the 2011 PiCycle’s performance and track the bike if it is stolen.

Read more...

Pi Installation @ Autodesk Gallery: Robots, Super Bee Cars and Crazy Bike Designs at Autodesk

 

The PiCycle was installed in the gallery just hours before the sustainability summit began. This new electric bike design looks at how materials use could be streamlined as much as possible. The designers decided an arch was the best way to go, and have enclosed all of the electronics and battery for the bike inside the aluminum arch.

Read more...

Ridelust: Electric PiCycle Seeks to Thwart Bike Theft.

If you’ve ever been to San Francisco then you know that these people ride their bicycles. They take them on the train, into restaurants and even into the stores with them. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen more people using pedal power as their main transportation than in this City by the Bay. I mean I thought that New Yorkers rode their bikes, but these west coast granola crunchers take it to a whole new level. One thing that you won’t see in San Francisco however are bicycles that are powered by anything but human legs.

Read more...

Auto Evolution: 2011 PiCycle ST Electric Bike Is Theft Protected

It’s lightweight, eco-friendly, easy to ride and most importantly, theft-proof.

The PiCycle, as it has been dubbed by its creator, Marcus Hays, is all of those things. Set to go on sale in Spring 2011 at the price of $2,495, the fully electric bicycle incorporates a built-in theft-recovery service, which also updates its location on your smartphone.

Read more...


Like Cool: The PiCycle

The PiCycle is an electric bike designed by Marcus Hays, the founder of PiMobility. The electric PiCycle has an inbuilt theft-recovery service, updating its location on your smartphone. It is equipped with PiFi, an embedded wireless technology that streams critical data to the PiCycle owner’s smart phone or iPod Touch via a native application.

Read more...

Gizmodo: The Picycle Bike Frowns In the Face of Bike Thieves

 Kat Hannaford — Isn't this just the most cheery bike you've ever clapped eyes on? Even if technically-speaking that red frame is actually the shape of a frown. Nonetheless! The electric PiCycle has an inbuilt theft-recovery service, updating its location on your smartphone.

Read more...



Bike Rumor: The PiCycle – Electric Bicycle “Literally” Stops Traffic

But while PiCycle may stop traffic on the world’s street corners and is developing a loyal early-adopter following, PiCycle electric bike continues to meet resistance in traditional bicycle distribution channels and because PiCycle has pedals, in traditional motorcycle channels.

The PiCycle: yet another solution to that troublesome “actually moving your body and getting a modicum of exercise” problem. It is alleged to reach speeds equal to urban car traffic — pretend for a moment that italics denote sarcasm — which is a great freaking idea. What the world needs now are more inexperienced cyclists being propelled through urban environments at terrific rates of speed. The people who think bicycles that can go 25 mph with no effort on the part of the rider are a good idea, are the same people who think energy drink/alcohol combos like 4 Loco are a good idea — “I have no judgment, but I’ve got tons of energy…let’s flip that cop car!” Is not all that dissimilar from “I have no idea how to ride a bike at 8 mph…but I’m gonna go 25!”

Read more...