Masters competitor busted for hidden electric motor

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

winjim

Smash the cistern
It's in the seat tube.

There's not much about fitting on the website, but you need a custom bottom bracket, and I don't see how you can do a lot more than drop the motor into the tube, which then meshes with the gear on the bottom bracket.

The motor shouldn't require a lot of maintenance, but presumably it would drop out if you up ended the bike - having first removed the saddle post.

The motor must also have wires to it for electric power, so you could possibly yank it out using those, although it's not clear to me how the wires are routed.

I suspect you need a saddle post which is open at the top, which would rule out some types of saddle mounts.

Incidentally, the site says 'carbon - on request', so it looks like there may be a way to fit a Vivax to a carbon bike.

http://www.vivax-assist.com/en/product/technology/retrofitting.html
Yes, it is in the seat tube. Silly me for not reading the thread properly.

ETA: Carbon
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
C

Cronorider

Well-Known Member
CYCLING NEWS ARTICLE!! - "Four ways to hide motor doping in a race bike"

Alleged cheater (guilty) makes big-time coverage - just not in the way he expected

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-four-ways-to-hide-motor-doping-in-a-race-bike/
 
OP
OP
C

Cronorider

Well-Known Member
"the Tuscan coast is one of the hot spots for the sale of bikes fitted with hidden motors, with a former professional licence holder reportedly acting as a dealer with one of the leading producers of mechanical doping devices from eastern Europe..."

Well I know where I'm taking my next vacation... wonder how much my new bike is gonna set me back
 

Lozz360

Veteran
Location
Oxfordshire
Does it have to be the seat tube? Stick it on the down tube, and anchor it with a bottle cage.
But how would you insert it? With the seat tube method you could just remove the seat post and let it slide down and connect to a special gear arrangement in the bottom bracket. I can't see how you could do similar with the down teube.
 
OP
OP
C

Cronorider

Well-Known Member
Adapt a bike, buy a bike, steal a bike, buy a frame. Not terribly informative.

The point is these bikes are available for purchase to those who want them - and that these motors can be installed in such a way that they are virtually undetectable. Now do we have to keep going on about how to hide batteries and bolt heads?
 
Last edited:

winjim

Smash the cistern
The point is these bikes are available for purchase to those who want them - and that these motors can be installed in such a way that they are virtually undetectable. Now do we have to keep going on about how to hide batteries and bolt heads?
We don't have to, but it's a bit of fun for those of us who are technically minded. But that article promised four ways to hide a motor, and delivered nothing of the sort.
 
Last edited:

winjim

Smash the cistern
Motor and battery disguised as a bidon. The motor drives the crank spindle via a flexible drill shaft.
Throw the offending bidon away 5k before the finish.
Leaving you, presumably, with a flexible drill shaft dangling out of your frame and some rather expensive hardware to retrieve from wherever you threw it. And what if you're in a group at the point you need to jettison?
 
Top Bottom