Asus Bike Booster

Asus Bike Booster(asus.com)

165 points by wiradikusuma 3 days ago | 80 comments

bri3d 2 hours ago |

Friction drive e-bike conversions were popular years ago.

They generally:

* Wear tires surprisingly quickly

* Absolutely suck in any form of weather or terrain condition (dirt, rain, etc.)

* Have ~20% less efficiency than any other drive form.

But, they are easy, and they do work.

Fnoord 22 minutes ago | |

Looks like you can't have a passenger anymore either. I like to have my kid on the backseat of my e-bike.

I'm not in the market for this, but I am in the market for making my cargo bike electric. Having to slow down at a traffic light and then start from zero absolutely sucks. It goes very slow, it is rough, and you won't have time. I'd use it just for that specific use-case.

calmbonsai 1 hour ago | |

Yeah. I don’t see weather or theft addressed in this design.

I recall a wheel-mounted rotor system from a few years back that did address theft, tire-wear, and weather, but it suffered from far too little torque and very limited battery life.

neves 5 minutes ago | | |

Can't use with mud guards

rtkwe 29 minutes ago | | |

It looks like their solution is to make it easy enough to install and remove you take it with you. My thought would be security bolts so the pool of thieves is at least limited to people with the right bolt head. Also it has a big battery built in so

tadfisher 52 minutes ago | |

They could have made basically the same thing except with a sprocket to help drive the chain.

Lord_Zero 1 hour ago | |

I had a gas powered goped that worked that way years ago. Had all those problems but it was fun. The second you hit any water the drive shaft would just spin against the tire.

culi 41 minutes ago | |

Personally I also don't see the niche they serve. If I'm going far away I take a train or a car. I pretty much exclusively use my bike to ride to a nearby grocery store or do other close-by errands. If I'm doing short errands like this, I really prize being able to get on and off quickly and lock my bike up quickly. A device like this needs to be taken with you when you leave your bike to prevent theft. It's a whole nother step and a lot of extra weight

edmundsauto 29 minutes ago | | |

Are you elderly, differently able, live in extremely hilly or hot terrain, or only willing to bike if it’s half the current effort?

That plus “already has a bike” is a massive market.

garciasn 29 minutes ago | | |

People who already invested in an expensive traditional bike and want to have the option to add electric support to make trips easier and faster without having to deal with selling their current bike and buying an even more expensive e-bike.

There’s also the fact that many people have bike racks that are fine for traditional bikes but not the additional requirements necessary for some (most?) e-bikes such as weight and strength.

—-

Just because it doesn’t work for you and your specific worldview doesn’t mean others wouldn’t see value in it.

whycome 23 minutes ago | | |

When I read your comment before the article I thought it was some sort of complicated contraption in multiple parts. Instead it seems pretty compact and easy to disengage. I’m not sure what you’re missing in terms of a niche either. Anyone who just wants to ride with less effort but use their existing bike?

LeoPanthera 1 hour ago |

Clive Sinclair designed one of these in the 90s. It actually sold reasonably well, but was limited by the available battery technology of the period.

https://rk.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/vehicles/zeta.htm

yazaddaruvala 1 hour ago |

Ouch, love to see a great product like this. However, hate to see that bike theft wasn’t discussed at all.

“Easy installation” with two screws seems like a benefit to customers except when they come back to their parked bike only to find their expensive mod also had a hidden feature: “easy uninstallation”.

NAR8789 50 minutes ago | |

pitlock pit stoppers?

https://www.pitlock.de/en/set-sichert-2-innensechskantschrau...

loeg 1 hour ago | |

In addition to the theft concerns, it's also not a great product.

user- 1 hour ago | | |

for the non bikers, to help us understand, whats wrong with it?

schainks 1 hour ago | |

This product is for people who live in safe neighborhoods and bike a lot, aka not the average American.

NDlurker 52 minutes ago |

If I ever convert my bike to electric, I'll probably go with this https://www.swytchbike.com/

low_tech_punk 23 minutes ago |

It is decoupled from drivetrain. So, without torque sensor, how does it know when the rider wants to speed up vs. slow down?

analog31 12 minutes ago | |

It says it has a wireless cadence sensor. With that said, torque sensors were an improvement over cadence sensors.

kiddico 2 hours ago |

That might be the easiest ebike retrofit/conversion I've ever seen. I have concerns about the grip in wet conditions but this looks like a great way to get that ebike I've wanted and not put my perfectly good frame to waste.

fwipsy 2 hours ago | |

Similar friction drives have existed for a while. The battery is very small compared to a regular ebike (typically they start at about 300wh.) Also, IIRC the friction drive is not very efficient.

itomato 2 hours ago | | |

Like when wet. Or icy or both.

cowsandmilk 2 hours ago | | |

This one is 158 Wh

loeg 1 hour ago | |

Get a Bafang kit or a hub motor replacement rear wheel instead. At least those systems work well.

Pxtl 1 hour ago | | |

I mean I agree but those aren't zero-skill install like this.

mongol 1 hour ago | |

Have a look at Bafang or Tongsheng kits

Zigurd 1 hour ago |

A couple other people here mentioned that theft is an issue. That's yet another reason why folding bikes seemed like the best use case for this. Not as good as a folding bike that's made for being an E bike, but if you've already got a good folding bike and a bit more zip on your commute is what you need, this seems like a interesting product.

angry_octet 2 hours ago |

If I'm carrying around a giant battery I ought to be able to charge my devices from it, but it is silent on that front.

The design doesn't work if you have a mud guard or pannier rack. Also unclear how easily it is detached. Do I have to take it off everytime to prevent casual thievery? How do I take it off to charge inside? Does it have anti-theft bricking?

I'm struggling to understand who the target market is.

rahimnathwani 1 hour ago | |

"How do I take it off to charge inside?"

It has a removable battery so it seems the mechanism is designed to be left on the bike.

mannanj 2 hours ago |

All these sites have hype about AI features like AI Chat. however I use the chat, and it wastes about 3-10 seconds just to load, then I ask for the price, and it fails to understand even the page we were on (edit: "I don't understand what product you're referring to, please tell me the product"). Then I literally paste the page's product from the page into the chat, and it finally wastes my time more and sends a whole essay blob about why it can't tell me the price.

Is this what investors sell to the board about how they are using AI for greater efficiency? Just to waste consumers time even more?

mohamedkoubaa 2 hours ago | |

It's fashionable and it takes strong leadership to avoid fashionable things even when they make absolutely no sense

dalmo3 1 hour ago |

Am I missing something or that thing can be trivially stolen?

theChaparral 26 minutes ago | |

Bicycles in general can be trivially stolen.

amazingamazing 2 hours ago |

Similar things are on amazon today 300-500. Not worth it imho. If you are going to keep it on, convert your bike with middrive or hub motor once.

gedy 2 hours ago |

So ah, can we buy it? What's the price? Not seeing unless ad blockers are hiding something.

VoidWhisperer 2 hours ago | |

According to articles like this one[0], they haven't shared pricing yet - so I guess it can't be bought quite yet.

[0]: https://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoors/asus-made-an-e-bike-c...

righthand 37 minutes ago |

Anything for the world to actually avoid the health benefits of riding a bike. What is wrong with a standard human powered bike? I expect a global obesity epidemic in 10 years as people begin buying/building WALL-E-style beds.

askvictor 34 minutes ago | |

People with knee problems, areas with hills. An ebike is still active movement; sure you're not getting any cardio, but it's immeasurably better than driving. If this (or any ebike) is a thing that gets someone on a bike that otherwise wouldn't be on a bike, it is a good thing. For some it might be a stepping stone, for others it allows them to ride where they can't/won't ride at all.

calvinmorrison 1 hour ago |

They aint new. I had one that was driven by a honda gx35 4 stroke

there was another company named "bee" something that did these (gas as well 2 stroke)

and many early scooters, conversions, that all followed the friction style

tokai 1 hour ago |

I love bicycle tech. Almost everything was invented in the 1890s, and every couple of decades someone tries another old idea.

https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/tour/cyclemotors-motorcycl...

kaladin-jasnah 1 hour ago | |

> Almost everything was invented in the 1890s, and every couple of decades someone tries another old idea.

What about wireless shifting systems like Di2?

lostlogin 1 hour ago | | |

> wireless shifting systems like Di2

Is it really wireless?

The SRAM one is.

d--b 1 hour ago |

some bike vendor told me that the biggest problem with regular to ebike conversion was that regular bike frames were not strong enough to support the additional forces that the electric bike imposed. And it was why the ebikes were much heavier than regular bikes.

Does anyone know if that’s true and if that applies to conversions like this one?

NegativeLatency 1 hour ago | |

Depends on the bike and motor combo. Something like a mountain bike from the last 20 years would be fine, but I wouldn’t try and put one on like a road bike from the 70s or something. Basically anything that’s well built sturdy steel is going to be ok with the common sub kilowatt motors, but there are like crazy ones that will output considerably more power than that.

Also that’s going to be more applicable with a mid drive or a hub motor than something like this.

justsomehnguy 1 hour ago | |

Weight

3.7 kg (including battery)

UltraSane 1 hour ago |

These suck, just buy an e-bike they are awesome.

rumblefrog 1 hour ago | |

These would be great for many places that have storage restrictions on e-bikes, but not normal bikes. So you can easily detach and bring with you before storing it.

saghm 1 hour ago | | |

The idea of being able to quickly switch a bike back and forth between a regular one and an e-bike seems cool. They lost me at the "smart" though...

dominotw 1 hour ago | |

any particular one you recommend in usa

my costco has magnum melody

UltraSane 40 minutes ago | | |

Pretty nice bike. I bought a Evelo with a belt drive and a automatic CVT transmission that is really nice to ride.

uwagar 1 hour ago |

i have a folding cycle and a fat bike. my only two devices still analog and keep me reasonably fit. i dont wanna e-bike them. but if i wanna long distance, this could be nice.

lostlogin 1 hour ago | |

It only gives a boost for 50km.

singpolyma3 2 hours ago |

lol. A friction drive in current year?

numpad0 2 hours ago |

How do these things work legally? Wouldn't the bolt on process count as manufacturing or modifying a motorcycle, depending on where you are?

dsr_ 1 hour ago | |

In the USA, there are more than 52 jurisdictions not including towns and cities and counties, but most (not all) states think of ebikes as being slightly restricted bicycles rather than motorcycles, as long as:

- they have functional pedals (otherwise it's a motorcycle of some kind)

- they require pedal assist at all times and have some kind of power or speed limitation (anyone can use this, or at least it is least restricted)

- they have pedal assist available and have a different, higher power or speed limitation (usually reserved for 16+ or something similar)

- they have a power or speed limitation that makes them suitable for adults only but doesn't require a driver's license or inspection

There are efforts to regularize these, and also efforts to make things more chaotic. For example, New Jersey decided that all ebikes require a new ebike license and vehicle registration. Across the river in New York, no ebikes require a license or registration, and may be operated on any street which has a 30mph speed limit or less... but cities are allowed to make their own rules.

California's laws are mostly regarded by bicyclists as being sensible, at least in every discussion I've seen that didn't feature a twelve year old trying to convince his parents to buy him a 70mph electric motorcycle. See https://thecyclistchoice.com/resources/california-ebike-laws...

SoftTalker 1 hour ago | | |

They should require insurance at least. An ebike can cause serious injury to a pedestrian.

walrus01 2 hours ago | |

In most jurisdictions it's only a motorcycle if it can exceed a certain speed or has a motor over a certain power in kilowatts. Or some combination of both.

recent news: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89nyk4pz74o

IshKebab 2 hours ago | |

There's no restriction on manufacturing e-bikes anywhere that I know of, as long as they obey the speed/power limits. (That's why it says 500W "peak" power - the continuous power limit in the UK at least is 250W but manufacturers just make the "peak" last for a very long time.)

arjie 1 hour ago |

Haha, I like all these adapter designs though my favourite was the Copenhagen Wheel[0]. I saw someone ride one near Mission and S Van Ness and loved it. Sleek device. This particular one in the OP is definitely built for safe societies, right? Definitely not for the North American market, haha!

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Wheel

antonvs 10 minutes ago | |

Basically, the Copenhagen Wheel moved all the complexity of setting up a hub motor drive system - motor, battery, controller, sensors, computer - into the hub shell itself.

Which made it seem neat and clean, but meant it had serious reliability issues, couldn't handle wet conditions[], wasn't really repairable, and was expensive compared to more reliable alternatives with better battery life, etc.

[] The manufacturer apparently stated that "[...bad bearings] can occur when the Wheel is repeatedly exposed to wet conditions. Due to the nature of the problem, this cannot be repaired": https://forums.electricbikereview.com/threads/known-issues-p...

TylerE 1 hour ago | |

It went on sale in the US before the EU. Did you even skim the wiki page you linked?

arjie 15 minutes ago | | |

I see. The way I spoke made it seem like I was talking about the Copenhagen wheel with the phrase “this particular one”. I was talking about the OP device. Obviously since Mission and SVN is in the US I would have assumed it was not the CW but I can see that I was unclear so I have clarified. The Copenhagen wheel is pretty integrated. This one is a thumb screw and off you run with a valuable battery. I wouldn’t buy it here and I bike every day in the city.

People who don’t bicycle in North America won’t quite get it. It’s not exactly Taiwan. Theft is rampant and it’s societally sanctioned in most major cities.