Thursday 7th June 2012
PH2: electric dreams
A Segway does the first 100mph lap of the TT...
Michael Rutter made TT history yesterday by completing the first ever 100mph lap of the 37.7 mile TT course on an electric bike. Riding his Segway MotoCzysz electric powered bike, Rutter took off first in the TT Zero race and brought the bike home in a time of 21:45.33 with an average speed of 104.056mph, winning the race. Second place went to John McGuinness on his Mugen Shinden with an average of 102.215mph with Rutter's team mate Mark Miller third with a 101.065mph lap.
Rutter's win will go down well with the team...
Despite the contest being held in damp conditions, the electric bikes managed to set impressive times with Miller the fastest through the speed trap at 132.6mph and all three on the podium breaking the 100mph average lap barrier.
"The greatest motorcycle riders and manufacturers in history are synonymous with the Isle of Man TT Races and I am so proud to be adding the name Segway Racing MotoCzysz to that list. What the team has achieved today is truly ground-breaking and is the culmination of years of hard work," said Rutter, who was unsurprisingly happy as he also pocketed the £10,000 prize for the first 100mph electric lap!
Are electric bikes the future? While they are certainly going to play an important part in motorcycling in the coming years, it is worth remembering that the first petrol-powered 100mph lap was set over half a century ago in 1957 by Bob McIntyre.
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urquattro
Original Poster
540 posts
55 months
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Spectacular from Rutter, as always, glad he proved the engineering and also won the £10k, fine rider and racer, plus look who was second - he always there. 
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J B L
3,030 posts
84 months
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Didn't Rutter said he was going to split the 10k with his techies as well?
I may have got that wrong as I was half watching the podium ceremony last night.
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PaulMoor
918 posts
32 months
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"While they are certainly going to play an important part in motorcycling in the coming years, it is worth remembering that the first petrol-powered 100mph lap was set over half a century ago in 1957 by Bob McIntyre."
It's also important to remember that it took 50 years for petrol-powered bikes to manage that. IMO electric bikes are far more viable than electric cars. Most bikes end up pluged in to charge (on a battery protector) most of the time anyway.
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Frasers172
2 posts
13 months
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How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds?
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Mr Gear
8,508 posts
59 months
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PaulMoor said: "While they are certainly going to play an important part in motorcycling in the coming years, it is worth remembering that the first petrol-powered 100mph lap was set over half a century ago in 1957 by Bob McIntyre."
It's also important to remember that it took 50 years for petrol-powered bikes to manage that. IMO electric bikes are far more viable than electric cars. Agree with that. Also, look at the rate of progress in just these early years. The zero TT will see 110mph laps next year, and a similar improvement again the year after, I would bank on it. The riders say that throttle modulation is perfect, instant and predictable. Weight will come down and power up - ultimately, these bikes will be easier to ride fast than their petrol counterparts in years to come.
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Mr Gear
8,508 posts
59 months
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Frasers172 said: How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds? They do one lap, and no team has been stupid enough to build a bike that needs charging half-way around a lap.
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VidalBaboon
8,863 posts
84 months
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Why do we worship digging up rotten trees and plants from the ground & burn it to get power? It's a bit 'Caveman' isn't it? Lectric's where it's at! Saw my first charging points installed in a carpark in Stoke a few months ago, so change is definitely coming about. I'm all for it! Especially if I can have a Starwars Tie-Fighter soundtrack to go with it  Mr Gear said: Frasers172 said: How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds? They do one lap, and no team has been stupid enough to build a bike that needs charging half-way around a lap. 
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hostyle
1,031 posts
85 months
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Seeing the way I use my bike, an electric one could be an option. I usually go out for a couple of hours, not on epic journeys. So current battery life would be sufficient for me.
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Ruttager
1,945 posts
61 months
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VidalBaboon said: Why do we worship digging up rotten trees and plants from the ground & burn it to get power? It's a bit 'Caveman' isn't it? Lectric's where it's at! Saw my first charging points installed in a carpark in Stoke a few months ago, so change is definitely coming about. I'm all for it! Especially if I can have a Starwars Tie-Fighter soundtrack to go with it Mr Gear said: Frasers172 said: How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds? They do one lap, and no team has been stupid enough to build a bike that needs charging half-way around a lap. They could design a hot swap battery. Old out, new in, off you go. If designed well it wouldn't be much more hassle than filling the tank. Rider might have to get off the bike though.
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Hooli
21,222 posts
69 months
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How ya gonna fit loud pipes?
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hostyle
1,031 posts
85 months
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@Hooli: Superglue, tie-wraps and duct tape!
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WillBrumBrum
581 posts
67 months
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Ruttager said: They could design a hot swap battery. Old out, new in, off you go. If designed well it wouldn't be much more hassle than filling the tank. Rider might have to get off the bike though. Genius - this solves all the issues of electric cars too - can't believe no one has thought of this before! Just have a universal battery in different sizes - one for bikes, one for small cars and one for big cars.
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Cheese Mechanic
1,462 posts
38 months
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Hooli said: How ya gonna fit loud pipes? Thats about right, electric vehicles have about as much soul and charisma as a food mixer.
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Hooli
21,222 posts
69 months
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hostyle said: @Hooli: Superglue, tie-wraps and duct tape! 
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RemarkLima
140 posts
81 months
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WillBrumBrum said: Ruttager said: They could design a hot swap battery. Old out, new in, off you go. If designed well it wouldn't be much more hassle than filling the tank. Rider might have to get off the bike though. Genius - this solves all the issues of electric cars too - can't believe no one has thought of this before! Just have a universal battery in different sizes - one for bikes, one for small cars and one for big cars. There's a ton of patents out there for this kind of thing - and you just pick up a recharged unit from any "petrol" station and leave you old one... For some reason, none of the big players seem willing with this option tho', so there must be some fatal flaw.
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VidalBaboon
8,863 posts
84 months
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WillBrumBrum said: Ruttager said: They could design a hot swap battery. Old out, new in, off you go. If designed well it wouldn't be much more hassle than filling the tank. Rider might have to get off the bike though. Genius - this solves all the issues of electric cars too - can't believe no one has thought of this before! Just have a universal battery in different sizes - one for bikes, one for small cars and one for big cars. All's fine until one explodes and covers the riders gonads in battery acid. Could you imagine the Court case and red tape around it? I don't think it'd happen in our nanny state.
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nogsk
347 posts
37 months
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VidalBaboon said: Why do we worship digging up rotten trees and plants from the ground & burn it to get power? It's a bit 'Caveman' isn't it? Lectric's where it's at! Saw my first charging points installed in a carpark in Stoke a few months ago, so change is definitely coming about. I'm all for it! Especially if I can have a Starwars Tie-Fighter soundtrack to go with it Mr Gear said: Frasers172 said: How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds? They do one lap, and no team has been stupid enough to build a bike that needs charging half-way around a lap. Well, there's the rub. Electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels ( mostly ), some nuclear, tiny proportion from wind and water. Then there's the getting of precious metals to make more efficient batteries etc,. So, electricity isn't necessarily a 'cleaner' power?
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Greenslade
73 posts
17 months
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Frasers172 said: How many laps can the bikes do before needing a battery change? Surely the battery would be flat after one full lap at these speeds? At these speed the batteries last one lap. In practice one of the segways was trapped at 152mph along sulby straight. However the remeainder of the lap was compromised due to the amount of "juice" he used attaining that speed ,( hence on race day he trundles along at just 132)
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Don Veloci
1,130 posts
150 months
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Competition pushes technology so set the next £10k prize bar at 110mph average lap or even 120mph. Or possibly 100mph average for a 2 lap race.
I don't see it being too long before charging points in Cities at public parking or provided by businesses become more common.
Two wheels commuting seem to be well suited to purely electric provided there are suitable charging opportunities at both ends of the journey and charging times are respectable.
I wonder about how much of the average battery can be recycled or the mess involved in production? Not something that crops up in the media spin of our electric future.
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rwindmill
97 posts
27 months
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Cheese Mechanic said: Hooli said: How ya gonna fit loud pipes? Thats about right, electric vehicles have about as much soul and charisma as a food mixer. People probably said the same thing about cars, when they took over from horses!?!?!?! Dont get me wrong, i love the sound of agood engine as much as the next PHer, but when change is required, then it should be embraced. Not shunned because its not exactly the way that the old thing used to be. I imagine that soundtracks for electric cars and bikes will go down the same route as ringtones on a mobile phone. Youwill be able to buy different ones, so one day your car could sound like a rumbling V8, the next like a 4 pot touring car.
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