[HN Gopher] Sinclair C5
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Sinclair C5
Author : jszymborski
Score : 27 points
Date : 2026-01-10 20:31 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| leke wrote:
| Way ahead of its time. Some kind of rain cover and maybe flip the
| wheel combination around and it would make a sweet ev for the
| bike lanes.
| ikidd wrote:
| >The driver sits in a recumbent position in an open cockpit,
| steering via a handlebar that is located under the knees. A power
| switch and front and rear brake levers are positioned on the
| handlebar. As a supplement to or replacement for electric power,
| the C5 can also be propelled via bicycle-style pedals located at
| the front of the cockpit. The maximum speed of an unmodified C5
| is 15 miles per hour (24 km/h). At the rear of the vehicle is a
| small luggage compartment with a capacity of 28 litres (1 cu
| ft).[5] As the C5 does not have a reverse gear, reversing
| direction is done by getting out, picking up the front end and
| turning it around by hand.
|
| Well, hard to believe this was a flop.
| bluebarbet wrote:
| Presumably this is sarcasm but the C5 as described seems
| basically to be an _electric recumbent cargo bike_. That is, a
| vehicle that is fairly common today in big northern European
| cities, used for deliveries and sometimes even family
| transport.
| esperent wrote:
| Looking at the photos and trying to understand how a person would
| comfortably drive it, I figured I must be missing something.
|
| So I looked up photos with a person inside and no, it really is
| that bad [0]. Pure form over function.
|
| Uncomfortable, yes. That's bad enough. But you hands are far back
| under your center of gravity. Any crash over a few km/hr is going
| to result in a faceplant because there's no way you'll bring your
| hands forward fast enough. Top speed of 24km/hr is enough to
| cause serious... death by head trauma.
|
| [0]
| https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/g...
| appplication wrote:
| C5, named after the vertebra most likely to snap in a low speed
| collision with a moderate caused pothole.
| riffraff wrote:
| It's a recumbent trike, this sort of design seems to still
| exist today, so presumably it works somehow.
|
| https://www.rad-innovations.com/blog-our-news/about-recumben...
| pjmlp wrote:
| Quite common to spot them in Germany or Netherlands.
| 3ple_alpha wrote:
| Execution could have been a bit better but ultimately it's really
| hard to make electric vehicles with 1980s battery technology.
| Just about the only successful EV of the era was the golf cart
| and that's very niche.
|
| Electric moped was right idea but some 30 years ahead of its
| time.
| aaronrobinson wrote:
| This is the same guy that created the ZX81 (that I learned to
| code on) and the ZX Spectrum. He changed my life.
| WillAdams wrote:
| Wasn't it possible to store these by standing them on end?
| Angostura wrote:
| If I recall correctly they _did_ did one niche application. Some
| people used them to trundle up and down the decks of oil tankers
| (a bicycle would seem better to me).
| bitwize wrote:
| Sir Clive's Dymaxion Car. Doomed to similar failure. I love it
| for that reason alone.
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(page generated 2026-01-10 23:01 UTC)