Sinclair C5
Theo Schmidt (tschmidt@mus.ch)Thu, 18 Apr 1996 09:33:45 +0100
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herald a new concept in private mass transport. Sir Clive Sinclair, Mensa
member and rich due to proceeds from his computer inventions, spent a great
deal of money developing this vehicle in 1985. Lotus designed the pressed
steel chassis, the attractive half-fairing was then the largest
thermoplastic object wordwide, the C5 already had an integrated battery
manager for the 250W electric drive, and a major public relations effort
made the C5 well known throughout Britain. All this coupled to an
unbeatable price (499 British Pounds, I believe), and a distributor and
servicing network already organised.
But it was a flop. Sinclair had not contracted British HPV experts to
design the human power side and the vehicle was designed by automobile and
electronic engineers. It thus had children's pedal cranks, a
non-adjustable, sweaty seat and a single gear. The motor drive also had
only a single gear. Fun to cruise around the block, it was too
low-performance to cope with conditions on real roads, especially hills,
and was soon regarded as a toy by car drivers and cyclists alike. What also
happened was the predictable public reaction to its perceived safety,
regarding the C5 as a kind of plastic coffin. Sinclair's PR department
didn't react even though a government study by the Department of Transport
concluded that the C5 was not a dangerous vehicle and was probably better
than standard bicycles. In the event, jokes made the round and the C5 made
Sinclair bankrupt.
This was tragic as Sinclair had really hoped to revolutionise transport in
the same way as computers (he had mass-produced the first computer which
can be called a home PC) and had been brave enough to stake his money in
his ideals, a most uncommon trait. However, having spoken to some of the
engineers having designed the thing, I could see the seeds to failure: they
didn't seem to beleive in the concept themselves and didn't use the C5
privately (except for racing) for fear of looking silly.
A few dozen C5s were imported into Switzerland and some converted to proper
road-going trim at many times the original cost. However this rather spoilt
the design and also didn't catch on.
Anyway Yvon, you can probably pick up a C5 somewhere (in fact I know of one
in France), but they probably command collector's prices now. Thus it would
be a shame to do anything with it, better convert a proper HPV tricycle.
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Incidently, Sinclair also made an assisted bike somewhat later, which I saw
but wasn't able to try out at a show. It weighed only 11kg including
batteries and appeared a bit flimsy.
Theo Schmidt <tschmidt@mus.ch>
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