Another fxn bike topic?

[bigsharn]

Yes it is, but this one is more about energy conservation than cycling.

Maxwell von Stein has come up with a novel idea to store and use kinetic energy on just a flywheel, click this link for a video (I can't embed Reuters videos here) but the general idea is to have two gearing systems:

One gearing system going from the chainring to a cassette on the rear wheel to propel the bike (like on a normal bicycle).
Another cassette on the other side of the rear wheel then drives a flywheel (for example, on a 32-25t ratio). To bring the flywheel into action, you change the second gearing system to a negative ratio (11-25t). The flywheel then gives the bike a boost of acceleration, making pedalling that little bit easier, being perfect for getting up a hill or overtaking that old bloke that's been holding you up for the past mile.

Now this isn't really a bike topic, as Maxwell wants to apply this technology to motorised vehicles, as a sort of hybrid system that doesn't rely on batteries. I can't see it working on shaft driven vehicles, so that rules out the majority of cars, though using it on scooters and lower powered motorbikes would be an advantage.