Last
updated
4 Apr 1998
Sinclair is back with electric bike
DAILY TELEGRAPH, 2 December 1991
By A J MCILROY
SIR CLIVE SINCLAIR, the inventor and computer expert who suffered ignominous failure in 1985 with his C5 electric car, has developed an electric bicycle. The industrialist said this weekend: 'My new electric bike will be in the shops for next summer.' He refused to give further details, saying only that all would be revealed in the New Year.
Sir Clive revealed he was working on a 'radical form of bicycle', then at prototype stage.
It is understood the new bicycle is powered by a combination of battery and pedal-power, and that Chloride have been developing lightweight batteries for it.
Charged at home, the batteries' life is extended in use by a generator which operates when the bicycle speeds downhill.
The rider can use battery power to supplement his own efforts on hills. The weight of the machine is being kept down by the use of composite materials, and the batteries are likely to be larger versions of the nickel cadmium variety used in portable phones.