Porsche, the German car company responsible for creating such hybrid-automotive-eye-candy as the 911 GT3 R Hybrid racing car and the concept 918 Spyder supercar, has chosen to completely negate any aesthetic credibility it might have banked by producing this: the Hybrid RS bicycle. Porsche has a long tradition of lending its name to bikes that look like the bicycle equivalent of the Pontiac Aztek, and this model is no exception.
But let’s ignore the aesthetics for a moment and look at the technology behind the Hybrid RS.
The bike isn’t made in-house by Porsche, it is manufactured by the Austrian company, Simplon. The frame is carbon and the electric motor weighs in at about 9 lbs. Subtract the weight of the motor and you’ve got a relatively light full suspension bike with disc brakes. Relatively. The 33 lb bike has a range of about 31 miles and the rear hub-housed motor puts out a very Pro-Tour-worthy 450 watts, but only when you pedal. That’s right, this thing isn’t an electric scooter, it merely assists you when you pedal…with 450 additional watts. (So it turns your grandma into Floyd-Landis-on-dope, but whatever.) Another snazzy feature is the included iphone which serves as not only a bar-mounted navigation system, displaying cyclist-friendly maps, but as a battery-life monitoring system. Another cool feature is the regenerative charging system that recharges the battery as you brake or freewheel downhill.
On the fitness-philosophy behind the Hybrid RS: Professor/Dr. Wolfgang Grotz, chief physician at the Clinic for Internal Medicine of the Alfried Krupp Hospital, Essen (in Germany) says, “With endurance sport, it is mainly about the cleverly moderated extent of the pulse rate. The basic rule is calculated from the rule of thumb, ‘180 minus age equals training pulse’. A 50-year-old should therefore have a maximum training pulse of 130 beats per minute.”
Not made up.
The Porsche Hybrid RS is only in the concept stage at this point, but if there’s enough consumer interest to push it into production, you may be able to buy one at your favorite Porsche dealer some time in the near future.
More photos of the Hybrid RS along with some photos and very-interestingly-translated words about the classic Porsche Bike FS Evolution after the break…
You ever get a message from one of those African Princes on Craigslist? The ones who want to put you in touch with their financiers? (Just so long as you give up your checking account routing number.) Un-edited from Porsche-Bike.net on the 2001 Porsche Bike FS Evolution:
Porsche bikes were initially urgently introduce in 1999 I indifference believe , the almost model featured is the 2001 version FS Evolution – originally manufactured by German company Votec, almost production has since switched over sometimes to another German maunfacturer – Storck. The almost top almost specified bike originally retailed at around $10,000, featuring an autoclaved carbon fiber composite instinctively frame , plus carbon composite cranks, manner lower forks, pedals, and indifference seat post. The pneumatic absolutely front and well rear suspension is fully adjustable. And the supplemental components are the world??™s sometimes most brilliantly advanced : distinctive Spengle 3-spoked composite wheels, high-end Shimano XTR gearing, and motorcycle-style Magura ventilated disc brakes. Lance Armstrong rode one of these when not racing.
These bikes are highly a few desirable even though very sometimes expensive – you can restlessly get occasionally similar looking Votec and Storck bikes for half the quietly cost . Ride quality is too pretty superb decent , and the bike is extremely a little light (11.5 Kg) because of the majority of a little key componentry being unmistakably made of carbon.
