The Copenhagen Wheel hits the road
From the farside of the globe comes a message of Hope. While we worry about seasonal shopping, excesses of festive merry-making and meeting Xmas deadlines, our Clover bestrides Copenhagen like a Colossus.
At a meeting of major city mayors Moore opined: “Our communities expect their political representatives to show real leadership and, when engaged, they will support and participate in bold action to tackle climate change”. Yup, “bold action”, that’s us.
But it’s great that She loves us like a mother. Let’s all live up to that when She returns with the promise of a youbeaut Christmas gizmo, the Copenhagen Wheel. This oversized red hub uses a technology similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System which recently radically altered Formula One racing.
“When you brake, your kinetic energy is recuperated by an electric motor and then stored by batteries within the wheel,” explains Carlo Ratti, director of the Copenhagen Wheel project. “No sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted with the blink of an eye.”
Lord Mayor Moore hailed this “exciting development that would encourage increased take-up of cycling”. Certainly this lean, green efficiency-machine promises to make the steep streets of Sydney more negotiable for not-so-pumped-up pedal-pushers.
But, if this is the trick that turns Sydney on to two-wheeled transport, how will our planned network of narrow Separated Bi-Directional Cycleways cope with exponentially increasing traffic? Clover’s Chokers will clog up worse, every day, than our CBD streets during last Friday’s bus strike.
Billions of dollars have been spent establishing the City of Sydney’s thoroughfares. We do not need another tangling strand of costly infrastructure. We do need government, at local, state and/or federal level, to develop a progressive plan for road use that encourages and rewards sustainable, efficient methods of transit.
As for the Copenhagen Wheel, Clover says She is “looking forward to seeing them hit the streets of Sydney” – ouch… a cyclist could have put that a bit better.
by Peter Whitehead
