Here's an article I came across recently that has good things to say about the Vectrix: http://www.easyreadernews.com/story.php?StoryID=20033836.
But more important than the Vectrix mention is what the article has to say about safety. There are more newcomers to the world of two-wheeled transportation that read this forum, and I think that the author's words are worth repeating here for the benefit of those who are new, and as a good reminder for us "old-timers":
Yes, But…
Yes, riding a motorcycle is less safe than riding in an Escalade. But knowing the real facts about motorcycle/scooter accidents goes a long way toward helping you prevent that accident from happening to you.First off, the leading cause of serious motorcycle accidents has nothing to do with their power, speed, or propensity to tip over. The most dangerous thing about a motorcycle is that it’s hard to see.
Motorcycles are especially hard to see, apparently, if you are in your car or SUV, waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic so you can turn left. You see the barreling bus, the cement truck, and the Honda Accord well enough to bide your time — they might actually hurt you. So you wait. But an oncoming motorcycle blends in with the gray background jumble of the urban street environment all too well — especially if you aren’t programmed to look for them — and if you’re juggling a latté, a cellphone, a Blackberry and a deposition on that motorcycle-crash personal injury case .
About half of all serious-to-fatal motorcycle accidents happen in that same scenario: a car turns left into the path of an oncoming, legally-ridden motorcycle, and the bike rider, with no time or space to stop or swerve, crashes into the side of the car. Boom. It doesn’t take much speed to make this a very bad experience. In fact, the average speed of impact in these crashes, according to study after study, is below 25 mph.
The next-most common accident is the traditional, late-Saturday-night, head-full-of-beer crash into a tree, phone pole or guardrail. This usually involves a Harley, a long visit at a roadside bar, and an older rider. Motorcycle fatalities have been going up fast in the last few years, and the average age of their riders has been going up with them. Ten years ago, the average rider in a serious crash used to be in his mid twenties, Now it’s 40s to 50s. Hmmm. Let’s see. What kind of motorcycle has been selling like hotcakes recently? Harleys. Who buys them? 40-ish to 50-ish men --- many of them with little or no recent riding experience. What do they do with them? Ride them to bars to meet their buddies on Saturday nights.
What could happen?
Together, these two accident types make up a good 70 percent of the serious motorcycle crashes, in study after study, year in and year out. So, if you can avoid these two crash situations, you’ve found a pretty good way to minimize your risk in riding a two-wheeled vehicle. First, make damned sure that nobody’s going to turn left in front of you, or lurch out of a parking lot into your path, or weave over into your lane on a freeway.How do you do this? By watching them like a hawk. Expect every left-turning car to do it, abruptly, right in your face, at the least-opportune possible moment. Be ready to stop, fast, if an oncoming car even twitches near your path. Don’t enter an intersection unless you know it’s safe. Not by the color of the light — but by the speed and position, of every car, coming from every direction.
I treat every car out there as if it’s driven by an escaped convict, on the run from the cops, who’d just as soon turn me into marinara sauce as say hello. And if a car runs a red light, or lurches into my path, and hits me, whose fault is it?
Mine. Because I was too stupid to avoid getting nailed.
So this two-wheeled thing may take some attitude adjustment. But the good news is that the more motorcycles and scooters there are out there on the road, the more of us start paying attention to them when we’re driving our cars. We learn to watch for them in our mirrors, especially on the freeways. We get to know some of those riders personally, so we realize we’d feel bad if we killed them. We’d realize just how good it is, for us and the world, to have more, not fewer, people moving around on small, light, traffic-slicing, park-anywhere scooters and motorcycles.
And learn to steer with the rear brake locked up. Then you can skid sideways threading the needle between the left turning car and the going straight oncoming cars saving your life. I did it at least three times. If he's turning left, you have to too, and then you will get creamed by the other cars going straight if you cannot do this.
Basically I'm saying, be able to manuver with the brakes full on. The best way is without the front brake. In this situation, your stopping distance even if you use the front brake is still too short. So to get the space, you will need to go into the oncoming traffic, and park it between the turn lane and the traffic lane. But not sideways, so you need to be able to turn while leaving the rubber on the pavement. Most people only know how to go straight with the brakes on. Learn it in the dirt, then save your life with it on asphalt.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
dogman - good advice, something for me to practice.
In my mind this is 100% the right attitude to riding a bike safely.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
Loud pipes and bright lights don't save lives. Brains do. You have to keep yours turned on the WHOLE time you are on two wheels.
1.)Ride like you are invisible and everyone is out to get you.
2.)Keep your eyes peeled for "what if" escape routes.
3.)Never blow through a crowded intersection where you are the only one moving. If you don't have "blocker" vehicles moving with you, slow down to a crawl until you can SEE that everyone is stopped.
4.)Never ride beside a car or truck unless you can SEE the DRIVER in his mirror.
5.)Hold a brake lever on whenever you are stopped so your brake light will TELL people behind you that you are stopped. (add a flashing module if you want to make it more effective).
6.)When riding in bumper to bumper stop-n-go traffic, stay close to the center line instead of the outer lane area. If a car comes up too fast to stop, he will invariably swerve to the shoulder of the road to try to avoid an accident, and may not be able to avoid hitting you if you are close to the shoulder. If you are near the center of the road, even if you can't squeeze up between the traffic, at least he won't have to swerve as far to miss you, and you get a ring side seat to him smacking the guy in front of you.
7) be willing to use the horn frequently because it's a way to get the other people to see you're there, this is especially true for an electric because it doesn't have a loud engine to announce itself. This is something I picked up from my travels in India -- there everybody is honking their horns all the time, and it took awhile to realize the horn honking wasn't a "YOU IDIOT" like most people here treat horns, but instead "Hi, I'm here" ..
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
8 ) Counter steering....
And regarding the article: Nice, less hype than most, but the current Vectrix model/software does not outrun a car off the line, and most are not silent....
Maybe they give bikes with altered software to test riders, that might explain the better acceleration. It would of course be at the cost of range.
That is probably why he reports the range as :
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Man, I love drifting on a bike. I used to do it all the time up in the mountains, where there were hills that kept you sliding through long turns. You go through tires like nothing, though. And it's where I learned to take a fall. ;)
The author of this post isn't responsible for any injury, disability or dismemberment, death, financial loss, illness, addiction, hereditary disease, or any other undesirable consequence or general misfortune resulting from use of the "information" contai
I had to do that once with my Yamaha R6, when a car, coming from the right street, closed my path and I had to quickly change my driving direction.
Here is my dry weather take on this...
SCREAMS every day I walk into the office, honestly! (might be due to the shirt, though, who knows...)
For wet weather there is something much more visible, of course!
The stuff in the photo only gets SCREAMS when I enter the office, the rain gear gets bone chilling SHRIEKS!
My (usually silent) reply: "I made it here despite the traffic, it obviously works...!
Mr. Mik
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!