Question 1

Why?

There are lots of reasons to buy a DryCycle:

Fun - DryCycles are a really fun vehicle to ride, book a test ride and see for yourself!
Save Time - It depends upon your personal circumstances and the route options available to you but commuting using a DryCycle could easily save you time. Sometimes just being able to use cycle paths and cut through traffic will make your commuting time less than it was in a car, but even if that isn't the case, if you also factor in the time it would have taken you to visit a gym or do other exercise to the same level as DryCycling on your commute, then you'll most likely save time by using a DryCycle.
Be Healthy - People are more aware of their health than they have been in the past and many wish to stay healthy for longer. Organisations such as the British Heart Foundation make it clear that a good way to do this is by cycling regularly, but the 3 most cited reasons for people not using bicycles more are: Safety, Weather, and Not having enough energy to get to their destination. We remove all of these obstacles with the DryCycle though and enable people who want to get healthier through cycling.
Use Cycle Paths - The Mayor of London has committed to spending £169 million on cycling infrastructure in the five years to 2023. The PM announced £1 billion to be spent on cycling and walking infrastructure in February 2020. There are already a number of cycle paths, depending upon where you live of course, which can help to get you through build up traffic more quickly.
Crash Protection - We are aware that Cycle paths are not available everywhere so the DryCycle is designed as much for use on the Road as it is a Cycle path. Safety of our customers is paramount, which is why the unique frame and bodywork of the DryCycle has been designed, and crash tested, to show how safe a DryCycle rider is from other vehicles. We are the only pedal cycle to have crash tested our vehicles at a professional crash test facility (to the very best of our knowledge) and shown them to provide a very good level of safety in two likely impact scenarios.
Increased awareness - Electric Vehicles (both Cars and Electric Assist Pedal Cycles) are becoming more popular and more widespread meaning that there is more realisation of the solutions, and fun, that is possible with an Electric motor and Lithium Ion batteries.

Answer

Solar panels are great, the world needs more solar panels and other green energy, but we don't think putting those resources onto a DryCycle is a good idea, here's why: The amount of range added over the course of each typical English day would be less than 20% of the battery total. This is by the time you factor in angle of the sun, cloud cover, shadows from passing buildings, trees and other things that create shade whilst in an urban commuting environment, average daylight hours throughout the year etc. Solar panels are far more efficient and frankly better used, when they're placed on the roof of a building that's at a near perfect angle to the sun (as opposed to constantly moving around on a vehicle), and isn't subject to overhead shadow casting objects, except clouds. We also live in a country with very readily available 3 pin plug sockets for charging needs, and where the national grid can be up to 50% renewable energy on any given day and the amount of renewable energy is ever increasing in proportion, so it's better if solar panels are put on houses or solar farms, rather than vehicles, read on if you want to find out why. Here's a video of a very sophisticated sun tracking tilting trailer on an E-Bike if you'd like to see what we mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSMugd-wGD0. Whilst it's very impressive, even in the sunny climate where this is filmed, it certainly doesn't add enough power to constantly feed the motor and the cost is prohibitive, the maker puts the figure of developing this trailer in the mid 6 figures on his website! Which brings us onto cost and weight. Adding solar would not make financial sense. Consider that if you travel the full range of 50 miles a day for all 365 days in a year, which is over 18,000 miles per year, then your electricity costs would be just £55 (at 15p per kwh), for the entire year. We don't think that solar panels would add 6 figures to the cost of a DryCycle, as the trailer maker has spent, but maybe £750 for the most sophisticated electrics (not cheap chinese, but parts specifically developed for moving vehicles tath can cope with smoe moving shade across panels) intelligently engineered into our vehicle is possibly about right. At that up-front cost, and assuming that you were able to harness enough solar energy each day to make that 50 mile trip (not a safe assumption), then it would take almost 14 years to financially pay itself back when riding 18,000 miles per year. We suspect our customers are more likely to do about 6000 miles per year though, in which case pay back comes at 42 years, or rather it doesn't pay back at all as the parts won't last that long. So financially it makes no sense. But, (unlike the DryCycle itself, which after 2310 miles of riding offsets its manufacturing CO2 costs when you ride it, rather than an average car) adding solar panels doesn't make environmental sense either. If money and resources are being spent on solar panels then they would be far more effectively placed on the roof of a building, or in a solar farm in a field where they won't be shaded so often, will be angled efficiently towards the sun all the time, and so will produce more energy over the lifespan of the panels. If you were looking to tour across vast wastelands in your DryCycle without access to electricity, then it would be different, an independant source of power to be able to make it to your destination on the other side of a desert or similar would be very useful, no matter the financial or environmental cost, but this is a commuter, our customers can plug it in every night and quite possibly at the office whenever they need to as well, to readily available and cheap electricity. If the reason for wanting solar is to increase the range then 20% each day from solar isn't very much, and the added weight/cost of solar panels is better invested in additional batteries, which is why we sell additional batteries if you need them. If the motivations for wanting solar panels is to ensure the use of green energy, then you may want to consider swapping over to a green energy electricity supplier. There is a bit of a case for wanting a tiny solar panel and charge controller to keep the battery topped up to account for the 2.5 watts power drain that the Alarm and GPS constantly pull from the 870 watt hour battery, for those customers who may want to leave their DryCycle unplugged for more than a couple of weeks, for instance parked outside at an airport car park (it would need to be parked outside and not under cover of course), but we really don't expect many of our customers to want to be able to do that.

Answer

It can go as fast as you can pedal it :) or as fast as good sense and the length of a downhill road allows. But probably the answer you're looking for is that the motor will assist you up to a speed of 15.5mph, above which you're on your own. By the way, as with other cycles, the brakes can overheat and become useless on long downhill sections if you allow yourself to get too fast before braking, so please ride carefully.

Answer

It's a great way to exercise whilst travelling without getting rained on or needing a driving license, tax or insurance, whilst still giving you crash protection, a comfortable ride and a motor to give you a lot or a little assistance, but you probably want to know what class of vehicle it is and how you can use it, so... Within England and Wales, a DryCycle is classed as an Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle (EAPC), as defined in the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles regulations of 1983 which were amended in 2015. As with any other EAPC (Although we think the acronym 'EPIC' would be more appropriate), you can use a DryCycle anywhere you would use a normal bicycle. There is no need for a driving license, vehicle registration, vehicle excise duty (commonly, but wrongly, referred to as road tax) or insurance; though cycle insurance is quite reasonably priced usually, so you might want to consider that anyway. The DryCycle can be ridden anywhere a bicycle can be legally ridden, such as cycle paths, on the road, or in bus lanes where a cycle symbol is present - we also checked The Cycle Tracks Act, The Road Traffic Act, The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations, The Pedal Cycles (Construction and Use) Regulations, and other legislation to make sure that you as the customer can actually use your DryCycle anywhere you can legally use a bicycle on public land. In order for your DryCycle to remain an EAPC and legal for use on the road and cycle paths though you must not modify it, and it should be well-maintained and in full working order just like any other road going vehicle of course. Obviously if you were to swap out the motor for something with more power, or you don't change the brake pads as they wear down, by way of examples, it's not going to be an EAPC/road legal any more.

Answer

£14,995 + Options + Delivery. Full details are on the product page

Answer

An unloaded DryCycle, without options, weighs approx. 120kg. The maximum payload for rider AND cargo is also 120kg.

Answer

Yes, there is a 2 year Warranty, details of which are available on our Warranty Page.

Answer

There are 3 batteries in a standard DryCycle. The two 504wh Shimano batteries for the motor and the 870wh battery for the ancillary systems, such as lights, heaters, horn etc. All three batteries are supplied with seperate chargers that need to be plugged into a normal 13 amp plug socket. You can of course use a 4 way plug extension if you only have one plug socket nearby to where you park your DryCycle. You can lock the vehicle with the charging cables running into it with the canopy in the vent position. You can also easily remove the Shimano batteries from the vehicle and carry them to wherever you can more easily plug in the chargers to normal 13 amp wall plug sockets. The battery for the ancillary system though is less easy to remove but has a large capacity, and in any case should remain with the vehicle in order for the alarm and tracking systems to work, so charging this battery is done through the charging socket that is hidden behind one of the removable panels on the rear of the DryCycle. The Shimano batteries that power the motor take about 2.5 hours to charge to 80% from empty, or 5 hours to fully charge. The ancillary battery takes 3-4 hours to fully charge.

Answer

Shimano (the Drivetrain batteries) batteries will last 1000 cycles with no significant power loss. Lifos (the Ancillary battery/ies) will last 2000 cycles

Answer

The DryCycle comes with Schwalbe Marathon Plus 47-406 (20 x 1.75) tyres as standard. These tyres are ideal for the DryCycle as they have a 5mm puncture resistant latex coating to help prevent punctures whilst riding, they have low rolling resistance compared to other tyres for greater efficiency, they also have reflective sidewalls to make the DryCycle more visible at night and they are also 'E-Bike ready' for speeds of up to 50km/h. We pair these up with Schwalbe inner tubes with Schrader valves. We use Schrader valves as these are the same type as used for cars and most bicycles, and so can be quickly topped up with tyre inflaters that are widely available. Schwalbe tyres and inner tubes are also widely available from various good quality bicycle stores when the time comes for you to replace them.

Answer

On a DryCycle a lot of the parts that are likely to need maintenance are bicycle parts, such as the chains, gears, motor, batteries, brake pads and discs etc. So these can be purchased either from us at normal retail prices, or from other shops if you prefer. Other bicycle shops may fit them for you or you can bring the vehicle to us for fitment of any replacements for worn out items and we will price the job reasonably. Other moving parts such as bearings can be purchased from bearing shops online, the owners manual will make it clear the size of bearings needed in the various locations where bearings are used. Generally, the parts that are specific to the DryCycle such as the frame and bodywork are unlikely to require maintenance within a reasonable time after purchase, but may become damaged through misuse or crash damage. If damaged then simply tell us / send us photos of what damage has occurred and we can quote to repair it.

Answer

The most popular colour chosen for cars around the world is white*. White is a sleek and contemporary colour and also reflects light better than any other colour to help the DryCycle be visible and keep out heat on hot sunny days, that's why we've selected white as the colour of all DryCycles, with wheel surrounds, other highlights, and the canopy being a sparkling silver colour which has reflective flecks in it and gives a great contrast to the white bodywork. (*The most recent report on global car colours from BASF shows that 41% of cars are white, 16% black, 13% Grey and 9% are silver, with all other colours making up the remaining 21%. So with our grey and black interior, black wheels and wing mirrors, silver canopy and trims, and white bodywork we think we've got these most popular colours well represented on our DryCycles.)

Answer

Most likely yes! The DryCycle comes with two USB charging ports as standard run by the ancillary battery, so as long as you can get a USB charging cable for your phone you should be able to do this. This is the purpose of those USB ports really, so that you can charge your phone on the go and run any apps such as sat nav on your phone whilst riding.

Answer

The DryCycle is primarily designed to park in cycle racks rather than car parking spaces, at less than 1m wide you should find it will fit between sheffield stands in a cycle park quite easily, or you can simply leave it on the pavement in a place where it won't obstruct other people. If you leave it in a car parking space then you will be occupying that space, even if only a little bit, so presumably would need to pay the parking charge for that space.

Answer

Care should be taken when washing a DryCycle to avoid scratching the plastic or breaking apart joints and seals which can be easily broken apart by pressurised water. Pressure washers should never be used. Warm water and a mild car wash along with a suitable non-scratching car washing mitt should be used with a bucket of water to gently rinse it off.

Answer

If you want more than the standard 50 miles of range it's very easy to add range with a DryCycle, you simply need to carry more batteries. With a car if you wanted to add another 25 miles of range you would need to install a lot more batteries as a car will typically use about 250 watts per mile of range, so 25 miles equates to an extra 6.25kw of batteries. An extra 25 miles of range for a DryCycle requires only 500 watts of additional batteries as a DryCycle only uses about 20 watts of energy per mile. The reason why this is important is because it's a lot easier to lift up and place a 4kg 500w shimano battery, or 2 if you want a range increase of 25 or 50 miles, into your DryCycle boot space than it is to lift up and somehow connect to your car another 50 or 100kg of batteries to get that same range increase. With the DryCycle of course you can very quickly swap out an empty battery for a full one that is being carried in the same boot space. The level of efficiency per mile of the DryCycle, being 12.5 times better than a car, is what makes carrying extra batteries to significantly increase range a perfectly simple and practical solution. So thankfully with a DryCycle you can have a 100 mile range vehicle for those few days where you might really want a long range vehicle for road tripping and are happy to pedal for 6+ hours a day. But also, for most days, when you don't need that extra 50 miles of range, you also won't need to push along that extra 8kg of weight. Another option is to simply pedal harder and lower the power assistance setting on the motor to increase range as well. To explain this, when we talk about the DryCycle normally having a 50 mile range we are always meaning with the motor in full boost mode over what we consider a relatively, but not completely flat, urban setting. Lower power assistance settings will increase range, but require you to pedal harder to maintain speeds, which is of course part of the appeal of the vehicle as a means of adjusting how much exercise it gives you on any particular journey. So you really have a lot of flexibility in range with a DryCycle. Please be aware that range will change with various factors, such as: rider and cargo weight, wind direction, elevation changes, tyre pressures, road surface, etc.

Answer

Yes, it's an Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle, so can be used anywhere you can legally ride a bicycle. with the possible exception of some bus lanes, as you can only use a bicycle, or DryCycle, in bus lanes that have a bicycle symbol on the signs denoting the bus lane.

Answer

There is a legal requirement in the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended). which states that pedal reflectors must be 'plainly visible' to the front and rear of any pedal cycle. This applies between the hours of sunset to sunrise, loosely night time, although the term 'night time' generally gives a half hour grace period after sunset and before sunrise, which the law regarding lighting and reflectors on pedal cycles does not, so that is why we're not simply saying at night time. So what this means, is that unlike any other currently available enclosed pedal cycle you can still legally use your Drycycle, even when the sun is not above the horizon :)

Answer

As standard all DryCycles come with two air heaters/fans mounted under the front windscreen. These heaters give 300 watts of heat fairly quickly into the cabin. In tests we've shown the cabin air temperature increases by 10 degrees within 5 minutes of turning on the heaters, and since these heaters are directed at the windscreen they are also effective at demisting/deicing. You are able to turn on these heaters and still lock the canopy of the DryCycle, so that you can leave it defrosting on a cold winter morning. We also offer optional Heated Handlebars, Heated Wing Mirrors and Heated Seats, so you can be really toasty inside your DryCycle if you want to be, but remember you will be exercising as well!

Answer

As standard all DryCycles come with scratch reistant UHVC 3000K coated polycarbonate, which is also hygrophobic, so that water beads off it easily. If you're looking to clear your screen more quickly or want to be able to wash away road debris or bird droppings whilst driving then you'll want the optional windscreen wiper and washer system. The wiper is operated via an overhead switch with a continuous wipe function. The washer function is activated from a steering lever mounted push button and has a powerful twin jet nozzle for effective cleaning of the screen whilst on the go. With a 1.2 litre capacity the washer bottle is a very good size and mounted conveniently to make refilling simple.

Answer

If you want to cool down whilst riding the DryCycle the first thing to do is to open the canopy in it's vent position to let air flow through the cabin. There is a secondary windshield to help prevent rain from coming into the cabin if it is raining when you do this. If that's not enough to keep you cool you can also turn on the fans that are positioned in the dashboard, if that is still not enough then you can also remove the front footwell access panels, and finally you can even fully remove the canopy if you want to, using the quick release fixings. Please be aware that you will need to leave the canopy at home or elsewhere if you remove it, as it does not fold for storage in the vehicle. So there are lots of options to keep cool whilst riding, although air conditioning is not amongst them.

Answer

We didn't want to restrict our customers choice of beverage by having a set size of cup holder. Some people want a water bottle, others will want a cup of coffee or a supersized coke, so when looking for a solution to hold a drink we thought the best option was to let our customers decide. The two yellow handles on the dashboard are the same diameter as bicycle handlebars, and there are many different cup holders available in various shops or online stores that can be mounted onto bicycle handlebars, or these handles. So for just a few pounds you can choose whichever beverage holder suits you best, and start every morning with a refreshing drink of your choice :)

Question 2

Will it replace my car?

We think it’s more likely to replace your gym membership than your car, but for any car journeys it does replace it will also save your wallet, as the fuel costs for a DryCycle are only about 15 pence per 50 miles, yes, personal transport really can be that efficient! And great exercise!

A DryCycle won't necessarily completely replace your car, it may be more likely to replace certain car journeys.

The most likely type of journey we think DryCycles will be used for is commuting, since in 2017 (latest figure available at time of writing), 88% of commuter cars had only a single occupant (source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/nts09-vehicle-mileage-and-occupancy), and the average distance commuted was only 9.1 miles (source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/nts04-purpose-of-trips), which is an easy distance to cover with a DryCycle.

Of course you can use your DryCycle for other trips as well, such as popping to the shops or any other local trips that you take on your own.

Obviously, cars have more seats and can travel at a higher top speed, which is especially useful for out of town transportation, so there are plenty of times when a DryCycle isn’t enough, so owning a DryCycle doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be selling your car.

It may be able to replace a second (or third) vehicle in some households, it may also replace a bicycle of course, but avid bicycle/car enthusiasts may not be so keen to get rid of their weekend wheels, so it certainly doesn’t have to. See the next question for the Environmental impact of your choice of vehicle/s.

Question 3

Will the DryCycle be the future of transport?

Cycling is great, with the DryCycle it's even better!

Over millions of years people have evolved to exercise in order to get where they are going. Our bodies work best when they're being used for regular movement. This, and other lifestyle choices, is what keeps the plaque from building up in our hearts and artery walls, so wouldn’t your transport be far better if it were also better for your health?

There is joy in movement as well, and numerous studies have shown that regular exercise can have a positive effect on people’s moods, so, rather than being a drag, your daily commute could be used to start you off in a happier mood each day. Book a test ride and experience the fun for yourself.

This is really the crux of what the DryCycle is all about, having fun whilst exercising, and being motivated by an easy goal, getting to your destination, as part of having a healthier life. All the other design aspects stem from this main impetus.

The reason why it is a pedal cycle is because this is the only type of movement allowed by law for a road legal vehicle with an electric assist motor. It’s also great of course that a pedalling motion targets not only the largest muscles in the body, but also the muscles that are intended to be used when travelling and are naturally resistant to fatigue.

Cycling is a low impact movement for the joints, meanwhile your arms are needed for steering so it would be hard to come up with a better exercise for motion than cycling anyway, even if this legal restriction did not exist.

We also want the vehicle to be comfortable and suitable for all weathers which is why there is a fully enclosed body, and of course open-air pedal assist vehicles already exist in the form of EAPC bicycles.

The reason it is crash resistant is because the number one reason given in numerous surveys about why people don’t cycle more is because they feel unsafe on the road with other vehicles, so we really wanted to overcome this hurdle that was putting people off cycling.

So give it a go, book a test ride and try it for yourself, treat yourself and tell your friends!

Question 4

Is it crash worthy?

Yes, we crash tested at Millbrook Proving Grounds.

But you may be wondering why we crash tested it the way we did and what our thoughts were when designing it.

We researched the types of accidents that most commonly occur with cyclists and designed the structure around the cyclist accordingly.

The more statistically likely accidents are as follows*:

83% of all KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) accidents were involved in a collision with another vehicle. 0.2% of all KSI accidents were involved in a collision with another pedal cycle. 0.7% of all KSI accidents were involved in a collision with a pedestrian. 16% of all KSI accidents did not collide with anything, so were presumably single vehicle accidents where the rider fell off the bicycle on their own.

We think our 4 wheeled stability will certainly help with this 16%. The 83% would likely be helped by the framework and rubber padding surrounding the rider, and the 0.2% & 0.7% would likely be helped by the rubber padding at the front of the DryCycle.

69% of all KSI accidents were involving a car or a taxi.

Out of that 69%, the main type of accidents were where a car was turning left or right whilst the cyclist was going straight ahead, or the cyclist was turning right whilst a car/taxi was going straight ahead.

The crash tests we have carried out are: a side impact with a car colliding at 20mph into the side of a DryCycle (people tend to break before impacts and just as cars are only crash tested up to 40mph, 20mph seemed a suitable limit for our vehicle); and a frontal impact where the Drycycle collides into the side of a car at it's top assisted speed of 15.5mph, to replicate these most common accidents. You can see the video of these accidents and a write up about them here

Another accident type reported was ‘vehicles passing too close to the cyclist’, this resulted in 25% of the KSI accidents involving larger vehicles. We imagine that these may be where a cyclist has been hit by a bus or lorry mirror. This is one of the reasons why we have a wide and tall rollover hoop behind the rider to take the hit in any such incident, as well as offering rollover protection.

The majority of KSI accidents involving larger vehicles were from a lorry turning left at a junction and a cyclist being on the left hand side of them whilst the lorry turned into them.

We’re not saying a DryCycle would necessarily survive that scenario, but it’s sensible to stay away from lorries that may turn left at junctions if at all possible no matter what you're driving, and in any case a DryCycle is a large bright white object that should be easier for a lorry driver to see than a bicycle.

Car dooring, where a parked car’s door is opened into the path of a cyclist was also mentioned in the report but no statistics given as to the percentage of KSI accidents this resulted in, so whilst we have considered this in the design we don’t intend to test it, due to cost, we do think it very likely that a DryCycle will fair better than a bicycle in such a scenario.

* The statistics are from Transport For London PPR 445 report. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/nts04-purpose-of-trips

This report is from 2009, but it is often referred back to in seemingly more recent reports as there seems to be a shortage of data in terms of the types of accidents bicycles are involved in. Due to this unfortunate lack of data we also looked through hours of Youtube bicycle crash videos to see what types of accidents occur. Doing this was actually very helpful when designing the DryCycle as it allowed us to see the types of accidents that might occur and the way in which the vehicles reacted in those accidents.

In all of the crashes we watched on Youtube we would have been far happier to have been in a DryCycle than on a bicycle. If you fancy doing a similar mental exercise in comparative safety try searching YouTube for 'bicycle crash test compilation' and watch videos of Russian cyclists crashing into vehicles, or just falling off their bicycles :)

Question 5

What maintenance does it need?

The chain requires oiling every 2,500 miles, or 3 months, to give smooth operation, you could do it less often, but the wear on chain and sprockets will be increased and the vehicle will be less efficient. Though this is more frequent than the oil changes needed on on cars, this compares very favourably with bicycles or motorcycles as our drivechain is fully enclosed and so not subjected to road debris that those other cycles suffer from.

Oiling the chain is a simple procedure that you can perform with easily available and inexpensive 'dry conditions' bicycle chain oil and merely involves tipping the DryCycle on it’s back and applying oil at the designated locations, so it's not as big a job as an oil change on a car anyway.

The forward/neutral/reverse gearbox does require oil changes, but since it is a sealed unit this is even more infrequent at every 5,000 miles, or 12 months, you’ll need to unclick the undertray to do this and unbolt the gearbox.

Unlike motorcycles we have sprung chain tensioners on every section of chain so that you won’t need to tension the chains ever, with motorcycles this is a job you should do every 500 miles, so this is a big advantage of a DryCycle over a motorcycle in terms of maintenance, you will need to replace the chains and sprockets once they wear out or break of course, this is where oiling the chain helps to make the chains and sprockets last longer.

The electric motor is a sealed unit and does not require maintenance, it will eventually need to be replaced/refurbished when it wears out. Likewise, the differential is also sealed and does not require maintenance but after several thousand miles may need replacing. If either of these items breaks during the warranty period and this wasn't down to misuse or any other issue caused by the rider then the replacement will be fitted under warranty. The same is true of bearings, which are also sealed, and unless subject to misuse will be replaced by us if they fail within the warranty period.

Tyres and brake pads and discs will naturally need replacing by the customer as they wear out, we can do this for you at a reasonable cost, or you may find a local bicycle repair shop to do it as it's a simple enough job. The front pads are accessible through the front wheels, accessing the rear pads requires removing the undertray, which simply clips on and off, and can be done with the DryCycle resting on it's back. The tyres can be replaced using an axle jack to hold the axle up and without the need to remove the wheel, as it is only held on one side.

Almost all of the fixings are made from stainless steel and the frame is plastic so that corrosion isn’t really an issue, and any parts that corrode within the warranty period unless subjected to misuse will be covered.

The frame has been tested for strength and fatigue, so within the warranty period unless a Drycycle is subject to misuse, eg off roading on uneven terrain, jumping, or overloading the vehicle, issues with the frame should not arise.

Question 6

Will it save the environment?

A DryCycle relases almost 25 times less CO2 per mile (10 grams) than an average car (248 grams - sources given below), so on a per mile basis if you are choosing between riding a DryCycle and a car then the DryCycle is a clear winner.

If you plan on keeping your car as well though you may be wondering how many miles you would need to ride in a DryCycle to repay the CO2 released in making that DryCycle in the first place?

The things we need to know when considering this are:

How much carbon dioxide (CO2) is released in the manufacturing of a DryCycle?
How much CO2 is released per mile from riding a DryCycle? (This needs to be a power source to consumption calculation as it is an electric vehicle.)
How much CO2 is released from the manufacturing of an alternative vehicle, in this case a car?
How much CO2 is released per mile from driving the alternative vehicle (car)? (This needs to be a well to wheel calculation to be comparable with the DryCycle power source to consumption calculation.)

The answers to those questions are shown immediately below, if you want to see how we worked out those figures then just scroll further down to see our workings out.

CO2 released in manufacturing a DryCycle is 550kg (550,000 grams)
CO2 released per mile in riding a DryCycle is 10g.
CO2 released in manufacturing an average car is 6.9 metric tonnes (6,900,000 grams)
CO2 released per mile when driving an average car is 248g.

So, if you were to buy a Drycycle instead of a car, then immediately from mile 1 a DryCycle is a better option as it has taken almost 6.4 metric tonnes less CO2 to make it and will release 96% less CO2 when you ride it.

But what if you’re keeping your car AND buying a DryCycle? Let’s face it cars are useful.

The question then becomes how many miles do you need to cover in your DryCycle, rather than in your car, in order for the CO2 savings per mile to offset the initial CO2 released in the manufacture of the DryCycle.

This calculation is written as follows:

‘Initial co2 released from manufacture of a DryCycle’ + (‘χ number of miles’ x ‘co2 released per mile from riding a DryCycle’) = ‘χ number of miles’ x ‘co2 released per mile from driving an average car’

We need to solve for χ, so let’s put the figures in.

550,000g + (χ miles x 10g) = (χ miles x 248g)

χ = 2,310 miles.

So, in a little over 2000 miles, a distance a DryCycle will cover easily, a DryCycle has offset all the carbon dioxide released in it’s manufacture and from then on it’s a vehicle that releases 96% less CO2 per mile than a car.

So, as long as you cover at least 2310 miles in your DryCycle, instead of a car, in your length of ownership of your DryCycle, (and let’s face it, why would you buy it if you’re not going to use it at least that much), then a DryCycle is definitely an environmentally good choice.

Workings Out:

How much CO2 is released in the manufacture of a DryCycle?

We need to know how much CO2 is released in order to make a DryCycle in the first place. There’s a lot of assumptions involved in calculating this, as we don’t have the resources to do this in a more in-depth way, but here goes.

The aluminium frame for the DryCycle is welded together from lengths of aluminium tubing just 3 miles down the road from the final assembly factory, the plastic body panels are currently made next door to the assembly factory, but may be made about 20-30 miles away in the near future.

We mention this to show that there is not a lot of travel involved in getting the main bulky parts transported to final assembly. Having said that, the smaller parts: the motors, batteries, wheels and other small drivetrain parts, come from Japan and China, so these more compact components do have to travel quite a distance, but thankfully these are much more compact components, so the CO2 released in their transport is comparatively low.

Overall we consider that this is likely to be comparable to the way in which cars are made per kg of material in the finished product, albeit that the amount of materials involved in a DryCycle is only a tiny fraction of that involved in building a car.

So, we’re going to work out how much CO2 is released when a car is made and then scale that back proportionately by comparing the weight of the car and the weight of the DryCycle, the materials are quite similar so this should be a reasonable way to do this.

First then we need to know how many metric tonnes of CO2 are released in the making of the ‘average’ car. A report from the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership https://www.lowcvp.org.uk/assets/workingdocuments/MC-P-11-15a%20Lifecycle%20emissions%20report.pdf puts the figures as follows:

Standard gasoline car 5.6 metric tonnes

Hybrid Vehicle 6.5 metric tonnes

Plug-in Vehicle 6.7 metric tonnes

Battery Electric Vehicle 8.8 metric tonnes

The ‘average’ of those figures is 6.9 metric tonnes.

So, when an average car is made 6.9 metric tonnes of co2 is released due to it’s manufacture.

We want to scale this back based on the weight difference between a DryCycle and a Car to find out how much CO2 is released when a Drycycle is made though.

We know that a DryCycle is about 120kg, so we now need to know how heavy an ‘average’ car is.

According to https://cars.lovetoknow.com/List_of_Car_Weights the average weight of cars varies from 1354kg for compact cars, to 2460kg for large SUVs, these are American cars by the way, I couldn’t find a UK based source for the average car weight, so let’s be conservative and say that the average weight of a car in the UK is 1500kg, feel free to do your own research on any of these numbers of course, but we think this is a very reasonable 'average' figure.

The weight of a DryCycle is approx. 120kg, so there is 12.5 times less material by weight in a DryCycle than an average car.

Now that we know the weight difference we can divide the 6.9 tonnes (6900kg) of CO2 released when an average car is made by 12.5 (because a DryCycle is 12.5 times lighter) and we end up with a figure of 550kg of CO2 released when a DryCycle is made.

2. How much CO2 does a DryCycle release per mile? (this needs to be a power source to consumer calculation)

There are various sources for average CO2 emissions for UK grid electricity, we found this official source, https://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn_383-carbon-footprint-electricity-generation.pdf, albeit this is from 2008, which means that the CO2 released per kwh at todays levels is lower, so we’re being conservative.

This gives a figure of 0.5kg per kwh of electricity. More recent online caluclators give figures of 0.35 or 0.28 kg per kwh of electricity but they don’t look as official as the report we’ve cited, and in any case with the efficiency of a DryCycle these differences don’t alter the result very much anyway.

So, a DryCycle will travel 50 miles on boost mode on it’s total of 1kwh capacity batteries. So we need to divide 0.5kg by 50 to get a per mile CO2 release for a DryCycle. This works out at 0.01kg per mile, so about 10g per mile.

3. How much CO2 is released in the manufacture of an alternative vehicle, an average car?

We’ve already done this calculation in point 1 above, it was 6.9 metric tonnes.

4. How much CO2 does an average car release per mile (this needs to be a well to wheel calculation)

Here is a survey that shows that oil extraction, refining and transportation of the fuel add between 15-40% to the CO2 emission figures of any car https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6405/851.summary.

Knowing this percentage increase will allow us to give a well to wheel figure which is more representative of the CO2 released by a car’s engine when driving a fossil fuelled vehicle than just official CO2 emission figures for the vehicle alone, since the fuel needs to be extracted, refined and transported before it ever gets to the car to be burnt by the engine, and CO2 is released at each of these stages.

According to the SMMT https://www.smmt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/SMMT-New-Car-Co2-Report-2018-artwork.pdf, the average CO2 emissions for all cars (including electric and hybrid) for 2017 was 121grams of CO2 per km.

If we take the average of the 15-40% addition (27.5%) to make this a well to wheel figure, then the average CO2 emission is 154 grams of CO2 per km. We tend to think in miles here in the UK, so this equates to 248 grams of CO2 per mile.

Question 7

Will it save me money?

Beyond it just being a fun vehicle to ride, we think the main benefits from a DryCycle are in time saved by cutting through traffic and using cycle paths, and in getting exercise to improve overall health. Whether or not it 'saves' money may depend on the value you place on these things.

If you consider the health improvements you can compare it to the cost of a gym membership. If you use a DryCycle on a regular basis then you may not need to go to a gym regularly, this assumes that you would go to a gym for cardiovascular workouts rather than muscle building as clearly a DryCycle won’t bulk you up like weight lifting will.

This comparison applies regardless as to whether or not you currently pay for gym membership as it is an equivalent amount of exercise and will have an equivalent benefit for your health, this is making assumptions that you use it regularly over a decent length of journey and push yourself physically fairly regularly in order to get your heart pumping faster rather than always letting the motor do all the work of course. We think that cycling home faster where you have a shower waiting for you is the best way to do this, but you don’t have to do this every day, just like you wouldn’t visit the gym every day. If we assume that an average gym membership costs £50 per month, then you’re saving £600 per year by using your DryCycle.

If you have a 30 minute commute each way, and work out on the way home, then if you include a theoretical additional 30 minutes to make the detour to the gym on the way home, you may end up saving an hour a day for three days a week (most people don't go to the gym more than 3 days a week), by exercising in your DryCycle and not a Gym. So you could also add in 3 times what you consider an hour of your time to be worth each week, or as much as 150 hours over the course of a year, this may repay your DryCycle quite quickly.

In terms of electricity running costs, at the time of writing electricity was typically 15p per Kwh, and the range on is about 50 miles. So the cost per mile is about 0.3p in electricity, which is ridiculously low and surely compares well to whatever you currently use to make your journeys. We can make the comparison with a car that gets 30mpg for example. Petrol costs about £1.25 per litre at the time of writing, there are 4.5 litres in a gallon, so the cost per mile for petrol is 18.8p per mile. That makes the DriCycle more than 60 times cheaper per mile. To put this back into monetary terms, see the table below on the yearly savings at different amounts of mileage:

3000 Miles per Year (equating to less than 60 Miles per week) - £555 saving per year

4000 Miles per Year (equating to less than 80 Miles per week) - £740 saving per year

5000 Miles per Year (equating to less than 100 Miles per week) - £925 saving per year

The average in our table above gives a saving of £740 per year and you would do that number of miles if you have a 5 day a week commute of 8 miles each way, plus a bit of popping out to get the shopping occasionally to make up for any days that you’re not working.

So between gym membership savings and petrol savings you may well save about £1340 per year, plus maybe 150 hours per year that you would have otherwise spent travelling to and from, and being at, a gym.

You might save money in parking costs, for example; if you use a car to travel to a railway station and then commute by rail you might want to use your DryCycle to do the car part of the commute and save parking costs. At £5 per day, 5 days a week for 40 weeks of the year, this could easily be another saving of £1000 per year, you may have a similar situation where you need to pay to park at or near your workplace of course, it just depends upon whether or not you currently pay for parking of course.

You may save money on the Ultra Low Emission Zone or Congestion Charging Zones in London, which could otherwise cost thousands of pounds per year in a combustion engined car.

So, depending upon the alternatives that you would otherwise choose, for some customers the DryCycle might make a compelling ongoing cost saving argument.

This isn’t the end of the story of course.

Another cost is depreciation, which we cannot begin to guess at, because we don’t know how much DryCycles will be worth in years to come as there is nothing remotely similar on the market at the moment. Like all vehicles of course they will in all likelihood depreciate to a greater or lesser extent, there is also a slim possibility that if demand far outstrips our meagre supply, then they may be more valuable for a time, at least until our manufacturing capabilities catch up, this may depend upon how good our marketing is and how much word of mouth is spread by customers and potential customers, so your guess is as good as ours on this, but a good rule of thumb may be that if you want them to be worth more you should tell everyone about them ;)

There is also maintenance to consider, which on a DryCycle should be fairly straight forward, the cost of some bicycle brake pads and tyres, maybe chains and some oil and some other parts, depending upon how frequently you use your DryCycle in the first couple of years will likely cost a lot less than a couple of services on a car.

So a DryCycle might 'save' you money, it really depends upon what you would otherwise be using/doing.

Question 8

Can it be made quicker / faster / more powerful?

We’re limited by law to a maximum continuous rated power of 250 watts for the motor. The motor we use is the top of the range E8000 motor from Shimano, and we are unable (and unwilling) to change the power settings on it at all as it has been set to stay within the legal limits and has complicated software limiting designed to prevent any tampering at all, which is a good thing as it keeps it legal.

At 80Nm of torque the Shimano E8000 is one of the most torquey motors that we are aware of in the EAPC world, so it has plenty of shove to get the DryCycle going, as this motor is designed to be used for mountain bicycles in steep terrain, so is more than capable of pushing a DryCycle along at a decent lick in a relatively flat urban environment.

There is another way to make a vehicle quicker of course and that is to make it lighter, but we're more interested in comfort and safety, and also in using the motor to it's full extent. Since the law prevents the motor from assisting at speeds above 15.5mph we make full use of the power available to add luxury to your ride rather than having a lighter vehicle that could accelerate a little bit faster, only to top out at the same assisted speed of 15.5mph anyway.

Question 9

Why are the front wheels positioned where they are?

Putting the front wheels further forward would mean there would be a wider turning radius. Given that the vehicle is designed to be used on bicycle paths which often have tight junctions and smaller spaces to manoeuvre in general, this wasn’t a compromise we wanted to make.

Our wheelbase is similar to a bicycles wheelbase to make the turning cirlce as small as possible, at just 4m outside kerb to kerb, or just 2m if you're more used to inside wheel measurements. A longer wheelbase would be more stable at speed, but our DryCycle is not designed to travel at high speed so this is of far less importance than the ability to actually make the turns necessary on the cycle network and around stationary traffic that our riders will encounter in every day use.

The other reason for the front wheels being further back than you might expect is due to the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations that requires the pedal reflectors to be visible to the front and rear of the vehicle at all times between sunset and sunrise. The pedals therefore can't be in line with the wheels as we have extended the pedals and fitted reflectors to the ends of them so that they are viewable through the see through sections on the front wings of the DryCycle.

Also, with the front wheels positioned as they are the weight distribution is very close to 50/50, with about 55% on the front wheels and about 45% on the rear wheels.

Question 10

Does it have a glass windscreen?

A glass windscreen would make the vehicle considerably heavier, as we would need to use a laminated screen, and that additional weight would be placed high up on the vehicle and make the vehicle less stable as well as affecting overall performance.

So we use something better, lightweight, strong, flexible against impacts and still very scratch resistant.

We start with a flat sheet of clear polycarbonate, then mould it with just the right amount of heat to the shape we require which adds strength whilst still maintaining optical clarity that is comparable to glass.

We then add an Automotive grade UHVC3000K scratch resistant coating onto the outside surfaces of all the polycarbonate parts on the canopy of a DryCycle. This coating is used on headlight lenses for luxury cars. The polycarbonate itself is an exceptionally strong lightweight material and when coated like this is a very good alternative to glass.

The scratch resistant coating is also hydrophobic, so water beads off the coating.

A windscreen wiper and washer jet system is an optional extra if desired.

Question 11

Does it have a child's seat/passenger seat in the back?

The DryCycle has been designed with crumple zones to absorb impact forces in an accident and reduce the injuries to the rider. Rear shunt type accidents may crumple the rear section of the DryCycle where any additional seat might be placed, so we really don’t want any customers to use the rear cargo area as a child carrying compartment.

Question 12

Is there a trailer, or can one be added?

The DryCycle has not been designed to take a trailer.

Due to the increased weight, adding a trailer may burn out the motor and potentially cause problems with the vehicle's frame, suspension and water proofing.

Question 13

Are there any solar panels?

Question 14

Does it have a throttle?

There is a throttle of sorts that allows you to accelerate up to 6km/h, this is legally allowed for pedal cycles. This means that you can set off without having to push overly hard to overcome the initial inertia required to get it moving, it’s sometimes helpful on inclines or away from traffic lights. After 6km/h the throttle does nothing and you can pedal up to 15.5mph with the motor assisting you. You can then continue to pedal faster without motor assistance to whatever speed you can manage.

If our design incorporated a full throttle, with no need to pedal for the motor to assist you, then it would no longer be classed as a pedal cycle and would need to be registered as a motor vehicle.

Question 15

Does it have regenerative braking?

The type of motor and the rest of the drivetrain make regenerative braking impossible, largely due to the fact that bicycles have freewheeling, so that they don't force your feet to always keep pedalling.

To develop a system that would allow regenerative braking would have cost us a very significant amount of time and money as we would not have been able to buy in a mid-motor from the cycling world.

We estimate that in ideal circumstances the energy gained back from regenerative braking would be no more than 10% for most journeys.

This is a saving that is worth having in a car with an 800kg battery pack as it means another 80kg worth of battery weight is saved. But on our vehicle with only 8kg in battery weight a saving of under 1kg for a vast amount of research and build costs really doesn’t add up.

Some may say that we could easily use in wheel type motors which would allow for regen braking, and then we could just buy off the shelf in wheel bicycle motors, but we use a mid-motor as we need to be able to use the gearing to allow the motor to function efficiently at all speeds due to the weight of the vehicle compared to a bicycle.

We certainly looked into regenerative braking, a lot, but in a similar fashion to solar panels, it just doesn’t make sense on this type of vehicle with the standard parts that are available on the market today, if increased range is desired then it makes far more sense to simply increase the size of the battery, which is why we fit two batteries, and you can buy more, if you would like, they will be mounted in the boot space and then just swap them out as needed.

Question 16

Is it easy to park?

We looked at the cycle park guidelines for multiple councils when considering the width of the vehicle for parking. The vast majority of councils that we looked at showed the required distance between Sheffield stands (Upturned U-shaped bicycle stands) is 1m. They intend that distance to fit two bicycles, one on each Sheffield stand, but the distance is there, and can just as easily be occupied by one DryCycle.

Of course, you can also just park it in a car parking space or even a smaller section of a car park, where ideally you would then secure it to something that is mounted to the ground, depending upon how long you’re leaving the vehicle and how likely you think it is that someone may carry it away in a van if not secured to the ground. You can also lift the front of the DryCycle up so that it rests on it’s back, and doing this reduces the footprint needed to store it from 2130mm x 990mm to 1600mm x 990mm, although you should only do this if the DryCycle is under cover and is not going to be rained on when it is resting on its back.

Question 17

How fast can it go?

Question 18

What is it?

Question 19

How much does it cost?

Question 20

How much does it weigh / what is the weight limit?

Question 21

Is there a warranty?

Question 22

How do I charge it / how long does it take to charge?

Question 23

How long will the battery last?

Question 24

What wheels / tyres are fitted to the DryCycle?

Question 25

How do I get replacement parts?

Question 26

What colours are available?

Question 27

Can I charge my phone whilst riding?

Question 28

Would I need to pay parking charges if I park in a car park?

Question 29

How should I wash a DryCycle?

Question 30

Can I increase the range from 50 miles?

Question 31

Can I ride it on the Road/Cycle Paths/Bus Lanes?

Question 32

Why are there windows next to the pedals?

Question 33

Is there a heater?

Question 34

Is there a windscreen wiper?

Question 35

Is there Air Conditioning?

Question 36

Will there be a passenger version?

The Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle (EAPC) regulations limit all EPACs to one motor, per vehicle, rather than one motor per rider, so one motor shared between two is obviously not as efficient as one motor per rider, and in any case that one motor would not cope well with the weight of two riders.

There is also the issue of where a passenger should be located, if placed behind the rider it is somewhat unsocial, but if placed beside the rider then the advantage of having a slim vehicle that can fit through traffic is lost. So for those reasons we will not be making a passenger version.

There is a simple solution of course if you want two people to ride in DryCycle comfort, just buy two DryCycles!

Question 37