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Driving Impressions

The Sinclair C5 in all it's beautiness

So, how does it drive ? Nice question... now i know !

First thing: it's NOT a sports bike, it's NOT a mountain bike, it's NOT a light vehicle and it's not a go-cart. If you can't go with your bicycle you won't make it with the C5; Everywhere else it's ok, not faster, not easier... but with a Sinclair C5 to make the difference !

Speed: it has no gears, so once you reach the cruise speed just keep it ! the phun part is that with it's aereodinamic body you need very few power to keep going on !

Said that... i can confirm that driving it it's AMAZING! for the first time in my life i'm pedalling while i'm seated ! i can pedal and corner and continue pedalling without worring ! it's a bicycle-reivented !

Yes, you have to keep pedalling! this vehicle if bio-electric: it has inside the dash a strenght-o-meter of the power requested by the motor; you know how much you are pushing, you know how much is giving the C5 for you = a tandem between you and the motor = a perfect eco-friendly drive, blowing easy the concept, isn't it ?!

It's fun fun fun ! trust me ! The C5 you love it or you consider insignificant...

My first drive was held on the 1st July 2007, i did a 2 hours trip around my town: here in Italy the landscape is difficult for low power device: it's all hilly, "ups" and "downs" one after the other, if you go with the bicycle you are either staying low for speeding downhill or standing up pushing to climb. So...

For the first ride i tried all the flats roads i could imagine! and everywhere people was just slowing their cars to see me, people was turning their heads, they were asking questions, somebody was falling from his bicycle while looking at the C5... or they were simply interested by seeing something.. 22 years old ! they couldn't belive it was so old ! :) it was like a 2 hours live show :D

But then it was time to come back home, and i needed to put it under stress... and IT succedeed !

Keepeng a steady pedalling, you only need the motor power to increase a little your velocity, then coast and pedal as much as you can, then another push by the electric motor and so on (i mean keep the motor for 10 seconds at least). You will jump over hill with some fatigue, but it's a standard task for a bike.

I was reading of that way of driving but i wasn't sure about it, with a motor you have to keep the motor run otherwise you'll stop. With the C5 it's no more like that, it's a push-&-coast operation.

You have to learn a little how to drive it, consider that the steering bar is under your legs, it's really sensible and about the stability.. well, you have to pay more attention than riding you average bicycle! cornering at too high speed leads the vehicle to loose ground on the inner rear wheel and scraping the opposite front body corner.

But wait ! with your bicycle you use all your body to steer and so on, here you can't !

However after 2 hours of run in my paved garden in front of the house i fully mastered the art of cornering on 2 wheel ! :>

Yes ! and i'm not going on motor speed, i'm just pedalling, you gain speed, then with much care you turn the bar and.. feel the wheel gripping on the floor! and keeping pedalling you really feel the "grasping" of the grounded tires, or the free run of the drive wheel.

Uphills, if you use a sportsbike what's so ever, you can shift gears and get a low steady pedalling rate, meter after meter you get up at your rate. With the C5, instead, you have to keep a rather high speed of pedalling, so you won't stress too much the motor and this may pose a threat to it's confort... but again: you gotta the bike, now you push !

Brakes: uhhm... don't trust them ! in case of emergency... i dunno know, just try to adapt your speed according to the road, don't get too fast downhill, don't turn too late simply because it won't turn ! turning radius is the same of a car..

About gears, it's somewhere too heavy at the start, and immediately too short to keep accelerating, i think it's a good balance between short and long ration, keep in mind you have the motor ready to help you, barely it's another pair of legs :)

Consistence: you have a bike, you ride it and you feel it as an unique piece, you hear only the chain to be somewhere detached from the frame, but not that much. With the C5... well, yes, it is made of many different pieces, sticked togheter by different means, sometime a screw, other time just a plastic "finger or clip"... and while you cycle you hear all these pieces that "sounds".. you are aware of them and you think if you have fixed right that piece or the other and so on...

Bumps ! the bycicle has a narrow shape, you can easily turn around obstable and avoid holes with few effort. With the C5.. you have 3 wheel, the size is large, about 70cm (and more) and avoiding holes and so on is somewhat difficult. Plus, on the bike you just stand up while hitting something under the wheel, with the C5 you just stay seated and... absorb! sob ! there are no shock assorber... and after every bump you hear all the pieces of the C5 "clicking" togheter (as a CAN full of coins...). As a suggestion, release the motor during bumps, it will release stree over the plastic transmission...

So, in the end, you run at quite speed (25km/h), you are low on the ground, more confortable than riding a bike, relaxed, you can enjoy the landscape without stressing the back of your neck. It' perfect if you have to go to work in a 5-7 km trip, best for a day out cycling with your meal, better to get noticed by everyone on the road.

Definately, get a C5 !!! (if you have room for it) ;)

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