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The Microbike & Zeta Webpage.
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This page is dedicated to both the Microbike folding cycle, and to the Sinclair ZETA power unit.
The Microbike is manufactured by a company in Berwick upon tweed, England, called Brilliant Bicycles. It is not a machine that you simply buy in a shop. A folding collapsable cycle, may be required for a number of reasons, so the company does not have one fixed specification. You discuss your needs over the telephone, and the company custom-builds the bike to fit your particular requirements.
The cycle folds down to a size of 40x48x32cm. Depending
on your chosen spec, the bike can weigh as little as 9.5kg. If you,
for example, had to regularly carry it on train journeys (a lot of train
operators in the UK do not allow anything but hand luggage), then the weight
would be important. I wanted a folding bike so that if I visited a
boring local rally in my Bubblecar:>>
http://www.roldroyd.karoo.net/cursor/cursor.htm,
then I could bugger off home or to a mates house, and not be stuck there
all day long. Because the furthest that I ever plan to carry the bike
is the bottom of my garden, the weight was fairly unimportant. This
allowed me to go for a far higher spec, which includes:-
For the same price, I could have had a 5 speed derailleur system fitted; But I felt that a derailleur is always vulnerable to damage from knocks, and knocks it would certainly receive on the parcel shelf of a bubblecar, as my microcar driving friends will testify.
The bike is comfortable, and I remain impressed. Not being one that likes to pedal; I have fitted an accessory...
The ZETA is short for Zero Emission Transport Accessory. It is an electric power unit designed to assist the rider of a pushbike.
The
ZETA unit is situated above the front wheel of the bicycle. Its rechargable
battery supply is just behind the seat. A speed of up to 15mph can
be achieved, with a range of about 10 miles, although you can easily add
a second battery.
The ZETA mentioned so far is in fact the new design: The ZETA II. The original version is shown in the picture. As can be seen, this version drives the rear wheel. The new version came about, because of two problems with the original.
To charge the battery on this version; it was necessary to either take the bike up to a power point, or remove the battery from the casing. None of which were very satisfactory. The other problem was that if you wanted to pedal faster than the unit was capable of, or freewheel down a hill, the units gearing would physically keep your speed down. The new version has a lifter lever fitted to the handlebars, to remove the drive when required.
The left red lever on the handlebars is the power on/off lever.
The right is the lifter. It is a very simple affair that is
designed to pull a cord that manually hinges the Zeta unit up and away from
the tyre. It may be simple, but it's actually very
effective.
This is a picture of the ZETA in its raised position. As can be seen the drive is via a toothed rubber belt that presses against the tyre. This is a very clever innovation, in that the pulley wheels do not touch the tyre. So any vibration caused by the tread on the tyre, is absorbed by the belt. It also has the advantage of putting more surface area into contact with the tyre thereby reducing slippage. Anybody who remembers the old autocycles of the 1950's will remember the problems with direct drive.
So how does it perform? Well, it will whizz you along the street without pedalling at around 12mph on the flat. It doesn't like hills though: Even a slight incline will totally kill it unless you assist it. It does make a good job of reducing the effort required on hills, and it certainly adds to the fun of owning a cycle. I like it!
The ZETA II is now obsolete and has been replaced by the ZETA III. This model operates on the front wheel, but is easily removable without tools to allow you to take it with you when you park your bike. The battery is inside the unit as on the original design, so you can unclip the unit and take it into the house for charging. Details are available by following the Sinclair link.
Links:
Brilliant Bikes: http://www.pashley.co.uk/brilliant/brilliant_bicycles.htm
Sinclair Research: http://www.sinclair-research.co.uk/
Planet Sinclair: http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair
Microcar links:
Cursor: http://www.roldroyd.karoo.net/cursor/cursor.htm
Scootacar: http://www.roldroyd.karoo.net/scootacar/telly.htm
Page written by Richard Oldroyd, East Yorkshire, England. Last revision 25th September 2007.
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