Raising and Marketing the Big Bird

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When we took it for a spin, we understood. It feels like this:

We are pedaling the nicer-than-we've mountain bike just as if it were a normal bike. Nothing is unusual, except it's not our old falling-apart Schwinn Hollywood Deluxe one-speed with coaster brakes. It's just a nice bike. That's a pleasure by itself, so we start to pedal faster. Suddenly, a little kick makes us start to pedal even faster. It's not really a mechanical kick; there's no engine noise. It just feels like all that spinach we've been eating just paid off. Suddenly we are pedaling pretty fast uphill and not feeling the hill. We feel somewhat godlike, moving faster with less effort, and very, very happy with the wind in our hair.

It works like this: The rear wheel of Velocity is equipped with an electric motor and a continuously variable transmission. The bicycle literally "feels," by means of electronic sensors, exactly what you are doing with the pedals. "It supports you by enforcing your own actions," says Kutter. That's why the machine's assistance seems so subtle, so natural, you are unaware you are being assisted. Cruising speed for your average slightly-out-of-shape cyclist is 35km/h (22 mph). The motor runs on solar electric or standard electric batteries stored in a case in the triangular space above the pedals. The batteries last through two hours of pedaling before they need to be recharged, and recharging takes two hours. You can recharge on the road, as the battery case opens up easily.

So, where can you get one? If you're a millionaire you can import yours from Kutter in Basel, Switzerland, for around $4,000 (Michael Kutter, Burgweg 15, CH-1058 Basel). But, then again, you could wait until the struggling inventor gets a company to manufacture and distribute his invention for him, and watch the price fall dramatically into the acceptable range. MOTHER is counting on retiring the Schwinn the day Kutter calls with the news, which may be sooner than later. He is rumored to have been spotted carrying a bag of Basel's famous almond spice cookies and an electric bicycle to a meeting in Los Angeles. He was hush-hush, but we know he'll find a distributor. Who could resist a product that makes humans act like gods?

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