Carl Chatfield home page | Getting from A to B | Electric Bicycles | Mercedes Hybrid
| Update: I've sold my Mercedes Hybrid bike to a friend, as my stable overflowed with bikes and this one wasn't getting the riding time it deserves. It's a great bike and I sometimes miss it. I'm keeping this page here for anyone researching this very interesting bike, or power-assist bikes in general. --Carl, March 2003. |
A German friend of mine brought back a brochure about the Mercedes-Benz Hybrid (all in German), which made a big impression on me just in terms of aesthetic appeal. I recently acquired mine. It is a pedalic, which means that instead of controlling the hub motor with a throttle, it senses the torque I put into the pedals and matches it up to some speed.
It is limited to 300 watts of power-assist and uses a 50/50 contribution to the output, then cuts out at some speed (I haven't determined the exact top assisted speed yet). Given this it feels very smooth and powerful and is almost silent; in fact the light generator (when it's engaged) is much louder than the motor. The Sanyo hub motor uses a toothless motor shaft to a belt drive cog reduction and an internal second stage belt.
Here are the basic specs:
Below are several pictures of my Mercedes Hybrid.
(Click thumbnails to see larger images)
Here is the Mercedes Hybrid just after I assembled it out of the shipping carton. It arrived undamaged, and since it has hydraulic brakes, a belt drive, and an internal hub gear, there's not much to adjust:
Here are some close-ups of the bottom bracket, Union light generator, and the belt drive. I have not had the bike out in rain yet, but so far I have not been able to cause it to slip or derail:
Pictures of the front hydraulic brake and rear rack carrier. The front brake has a quick release, as does the front tire, however the rear brakes and wheel don't--carry adequate tools to remove the rear wheel if you need to repair a flat on the road:
Pictures of the handlebar. On the left is the twist grip control for the light generator, which is quite clever. On the right is the twist-grip shifter for the 3-speed internal hub gear:
Pictures of the battery gauge and on/off switch:
Pictures of the belt drive and rear hub:
Close-ups of the rear hub motor, a Sanyo motor:
Here is my Mercedes Hybrid after I've fine-tuned it to my riding:
Beside normal fit adjustments, I swapped out the 1 3/4 inch "balloon" tires for 1 1/2 inch City Slickers tires, attached an Evolution Mirricycle, and fitted the rear rack with my Klickfix rack adaptor so I can quickly attach my tailbox. I also added front and rear LED blinking lights for better visibility.
Updated
11/07/04
