Tired of “arriving at work hot and sweaty,
having to change from cycle to office clothing, getting dirty chain grease on
his pants, fixing a messy flat tire, having to bicycles stolen within six
months, and being heckled for riding ‘one of these funny looking fold-up bikes’”?
Richard Thorpe was. So he designed and built a bike to fix those problems. And
you, what did you do?
To be fair, Thorpe is an educated and
experienced race car designer. And yet, something was lacking in his life. So
he quit his job at McLaren and started working a new, greener form of
transportation. He’s dubbed this bike-redux the GoCycle, which he designed in
his London flat. This “new class of powered-two wheeler” uses an electric
‘turbo boost’ system it ranges between 6 and 20 miles, with the variable being
how much you’re willing to help. The idea here is that you can take a bit of
stress out of your daily ride by getting some assistance on those troublesome
inclines (thus reducing the number of times you have to arrive at work ‘hot and
sweaty’).
Another business faux-pas is having chain
grease on your pant leg but the GoCycle has you covered there as well;
literally. This also prevents bikers-pants which see your pantaloons reduced to
shreds in ill-conceived attempts to pedal with your pant leg down.
The GoCycle has only recently debuted in
the U.K. but will be coming stateside in the near future. As for the price,
GoCycles are available to purchase for a hefty £1,198 ($1,950 US). However,
leasing is actually another option the company is offering. And due to certain
tax benefits, it can actually work out that the British government actually pays you to
bike.
If you’re even remotely interested be sure to check out the Flash-y GoCycle website which provides detailed information on the individual components via a nifty interface.
Seems interesting..I would love to take a test ride for sure…especially on the inclined surfaces just to see what this wonder cycle can do.