Number 1 is “how fast does it go?”
- The answer is it depends on the ice, the wind and of course how hard you pedal. With good ice and no wind, 35 km/h is within reach of a reasonably athletic cyclist. That feels pretty fast on the corners!
- The current Ice-Bat is designed for racing while being to be easy to operate and transport. A version purely designed for maximum speed would look pretty different.
Number 2 is “where is the propeller guard?”
- yes, the propeller is dangerous but safety is achieved in a number of ways:-
- the propeller hub is fitted with a drum brake linked to a “dead man’s handle“
- a maximum of 2 Ice-Bats operate on the ice-oval at any one time
- skaters are not permitted on the ice when operating the Ice-Bats
- and all events are closely supervised
- for recreational use, a guard can be fitted around the propeller
