Source: Raleigh Vektar Appreciation Society (Facebook)
Bike seen on 1985 Raleigh Vektar (r/RetroFuturism)
Some info from The Raleigh Vektar | The Bike Comes First:
The Vektar, the worlds first computer bike, was launched in 1985 long before we had health and safety laws. Equipped with ‘micro chip technology’ the rider could see how fast they were going, how far they had gone and how long they had been riding for at the touch of a button. The head’s down display ensured that you would ride into the back of your mate or a kerb as you fiddled with the control panel.
If that wasn’t enough you could listen to the radio on one of the three AM preset stations either while riding the bike or parked up hanging out with their pals. Later models came with a MW tuner giving even less crappy sound quality.
The main feature though was the advanced warning and alarm system. Once you had chosen one of the eight sounds from the ‘revolutionary sound generator’ on the top tube mounted control panel, you could use the handlebar mounted controller to terrorise old ladies as you rallied around the housing estate.
Ah yes. The bike I always wanted, but never had.
Same. I wanted one of these so badly. Saw it in a paper ad shortly after seeing BMX Bandits at the movies. Peak 80’s right there.
Looking on bright side, if you’d got it, all your pocket money would have had to go on D-cell batteries.
a little bummed this wasn’t actually an electric bike but just a bicycle with some electric bits glued on
yes, although rechargeable battery technology was not as far along back then as it is today, the first electric car was actually built before the first gasoline one (in the early 19th century!!)
they became more commercially viable in the 1890s but then the fossil fuel industry took off and crushed it… sigh…
I don’t think battery tech that was really practical for anything other than low speed, around town travel was actually practical until lithium ion batteries- those early electric cars and trucks only went short distances at a few miles an hour, where as gasoline cars were comparatively light and started going very fast/far very early.
Had we not had any alternative to electric, I have no doubt tech would have advanced faster in that area, but combustion was just so much more practical in so many ways that it was the better option at the time. It’s still true for a lot of use cases today- we need significant improvements to energy storage to make many classes of vehicle practical in all-electric (planes, freight trucks, trains, ships, heavy machinery, anything remote, anything that can’t have hours of downtime charging) to name a few.
They had lithium ion batteries in 1985. You could get lithium ion backed DRAM for the ZX-81, “keeps data for 10 years”. Nothing like enough power to move a bicycle or anything.
It looks like a slightly more grown-up version of the “Street Wolf”, which was a kids BMX with a pretend gps/map/computer console on it, and a real “plays annoying sounds” feature inside.
Of course, I’m only calling it annoying in retrospect. At the time I was envious of the cool kid down the road, whose computerised-scanner and siren sound machine was essential in defending our street from bad guys.
Power pack = 6 D batteries I bet.
