Bike

i have a bike that is right in the spirit of the prius, and all it needs to charge it is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the rider!

 

I, too, use a conventional-drive bicycle as my primary transportation for commuting to work.

I also participate in an active email discussion list (massbike) where there are a lot of people who use bicycles for transportation. Among "transportation-oriented cyclists" the TidalForce products would be widely ridiculed, not because of the electric drive, but because they are not designed to be practical. Judging from the photographs, none of their models come standard with a rack, lights, or fenders (although a light is available as an accessory). The "gear box" uses exposed gears and a derailleur instead of an enclosed hub. So they are just fair-weather (but "high-performance") toys.

This topic ought to be moved to Fred's, by the way.

 

I saw a bike hybrid online that gets 185mpg. It hasn't been released yet and I lost the link but it really impressed me.

 

there are cigarette lighter > 120V AC, only thing to worry about is how long it takes to charge a segway, and wether you'll blow a fuse or drain the really small 12v battery

we had one of these in the van last year
it was fine with the xbox, but once you added the portable TV there wasn't enough juice to run the starter motor, so we had to turn on the TV after the car started

 

Theoretically you could build or buy a 12-v charger for the Segway. It would probably take days, if not weeks to charge. And it would not be free, because in the end, all the energy produced by the Prius comes from gasoline, unless you buy it on top of a mountain and charge it by regeneration on the way down, but even that is a one-shot deal. And even then, all you're doing is recovering some part of the energy used to transport it up there to begin with.

But with everyone wishing there was a way to grid-charge the Prius, you're marching against the flow when you want to Prius-charge a Segway.

You can, however, charge your cell phone from the cigarette lighter, and there's a mod to keep one of them powered when the car is off. Be careful not to drain your mini-battery, though.

 

P.S. I've never actually seen a Segway, but it seems like one of the most useless inventions in the history of the world. It can't take stairs or curbs, and I don't believe it's safe at faster than a brisk walking pace. If you drive it on the street it's gotta be awfully dangerous, and if you drive it on the sidewalk you're a menace to pedestrians. So you need a good flat surface with no steps, curbs, or potholes, and no traffic or pedestrians.

A bicycle is safer, faster, and cheaper.

 

I forgot to name the device, it was called an inverter, I don't remeber the brand, but don't get the cheap one, that was part of the reason it was killing the van, get the next up from the cheap one, or better, we got ours at walmart, it had two household outletts and the worked like a charm (once the car was started)

so don't get the cheap one, don't turn its switch on untill the prius boots and you'll be golden, the performance will equal that of your house charger lines, but they will be noiser from going from DC to AC produces a step curve rather than a sine wave

If they have the one in stock that claims a simulated sine wave or a real/true sine wave, that is the best for your money

 

Daniel, I don't know if you know it, but I have a Segway. I ride it to work everyday. 5.5 miles each way. Then charge it at work and costs only 5 cents to charge. It is NOT the most useless invention. Why don't you go and try one somewhere and you will understand. It DOES go up curbs and stairs. It is very safe at its top speed of 12.5 mph. Thinking it is dangerous is just stupid until you have evidence that it is or have tried it and fallen off. Segway LLC has taken many precautions to protects the operator. Half of my commute is sidewalks and it does great on them. California's laws about Segway say that you are a pedestrian when you are riding a Segway.

 

How can I carry bikes on my Prius?

 

With this.

 

I think there are some cities that specifically disallow Segways on sidewalks. Presuming they can happily motor along at a poky 'people pace' of 3 mph, I see no reason they would not be safe on a sidewalk. When the foot traffic is light, you could speed it up a bit. I guess that would be my biggest concern, you're silently motoring along at 12 mph (~17 ft/second) and someone steps out of a shop.

I imagine the location is important, perhaps they are more a pain than a value on highly crowded sidewalks with people going in and out of shops, people going in both directions, hurrying to get around the slow person in front of them.

In any event, I expect you are a safe and sane Segway driver and kudos to you for doing your part for the environment, both with the Segway and Prius!!

 

Lots of ways. Many bike racks will fit, get one that rests the weight on the rear bumper ( I have a Saris Bones that fits both my wife's Subaru wagon and my Odyssey, should also fit the Prius, very adjustable for angle). Or you can get the Coastal Tech receiver hitch and use one of the many receiver hitch bike racks. I would decide on the rack first, the hitch second. Coastal has both 1 1/4" and 2" hitch models.

I think I've already mentally spent a $1K or more on "adders" to the Prius I don't even have yet

 

Thanks for your reply but I have tried the Saris rack and the side clips dont fit because the tail lites are not flush with trunk. Need to look into hitch. Dont know if roof rack will work as Prius slopes back so much. Has anyone out there successfully found a solution to my dilema? JK

 

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If you check out the link I posted above, there is a picture at the bottom of the page showing the Prius carrying two bikes on the hitch.