Chainless

Bike chains are messy and noisy, and can fail when pushed to their limits on powerful ebikes. Where some manufacturers replace them with belts, French e-drive innovator Cixi ditches both in favor of an electronic crankset system, and has partnered with Look Cycle to showcase the technology in the Rover 45 concept speed pedelec.Cixi has dubbed its e-crankset the Pedaling Energy Recovery System, or PERS. Essentially, onboard electronics controlled by custom algorithms set the resistance at the pedal, and the energy is…

A year and a half ago, we broke the news about a wild new drive system for electric bikes that lacked any mechanical connection between the pedals and wheels. The Free Drive system, created by a partnership between German companies Schaeffler and Heinzmann, is now finally entering production. The design essentially turns electric bikes into a different style of hybrid vehicle. In a sense, most electric bicycles are already hybrids, though they’re what is known as parallel hybrids. The…

Web3 encompasses a lot more. It’s a scenario in which the computers think and the users act. The world wide web is undergoing yet another transformation. However, considering that Tim Berners-brainchild Lee’s is now an integral part of millions of people’s daily lives, it may not be immediately evident. The rise of internet use as we know it has been swift and fruitful. Upgrades are thought vital in many aspects of digital platforms in this day and age. Web 3.0 is the result of a decade-long search for a solution that…