Chapter Eleven: Cat's out of the bag and patent infringement (mostly editorial content)

Well Allan has made it public.

New elationebike items coming soon!

I've known about and been looking forward to trying these for some time now but promised to keep it on the QT. I'll be doing an upgrade conversion with these new parts (to be covered in this blog) to the Blast, beta testing, and providing feedback for continuous improvement just as soon as the new design parts become available. That's why I have not altered my current set up and why I have not posted anything in a while. I did make a few hints but didn't really spill the beans. It seemed pointless to duplicate the work that Allan was doing and more importantly funding.

When it comes to the subject of patents I am firmly behind the designer getting exclusive rights for some period of time (if they desire) to defray the expense of developing it and more importantly protect the use of that idea. Ideas are the one thing that a person can truly create and these creations should remain the property of the ones who conceive them, deserving of defense from theft. Sounding like John Gault here I know.

It's no secret here that through our business dealings Allan has become a long distance friend of mine, and I freely admit to a certain bias towards him. But I also feel defense of intellectual property is what funds and encourages future development. All I can say is if you are going to purchase this type of conversion kit and want better gear selection, motor mounting and power just wait and see what the new kit looks like. There is nothing wrong with the existing unit for many applications, mine is just more demanding in the specific area of hill climbing or I would not change it.

If you decide to purchase I would urge you to buy it from the designer and patent holder especially if you want to see more improvements, not just knock offs. When I purchased my kit from him he was offering a 10% discount to forum members, but I decided to forgo the discount to help him get started.

Support the developers and you will see better products become available.

Support the copycats and things will remain static.

This ends "The Fountainhead" 101 class for today.

Climbing off my soapbox now and looking forward to reporting on all the new elationebike items.

See you next time.