Sinclair C5 of Liverpool, which planned to sell 1,000 of them to an Egyptian businessman for use on a university campus while another 1,500 were intended to be sold in the UK. Many reasons have been suggested for the failure of Sinclair Vehicles and what Dale calls "the jigsaw of the C5's disappointment". One of the receivers of Sinclair Vehicles, John Sapte, suggested that Sinclair had taken the wrong tack with its marketing of the C5: "It was presented as a serious transport, when perhaps it should have been presented as a luxury product, an up-market plaything." Ellar's director Maurice Levensohn took
Sinclair Zike miniaturisation" but stated that "a quick test ride suggested the Zike is too unstable and lacking in power to make a cyclist feel secure on the nightmarish roads of London." Similarly Nik Berg for "Auto Express" noted that the Zike was lightweight and portable, but expressed concern about the lack of power and stated that "potholes should be avoided at all costs—the tiny wheels just get swallowed." Sinclair Zike The Zike, or Sinclair Zike, was a lightweight electric bicycle invented by Clive Sinclair and marketed by his company Sinclair Research Ltd in 1992. It was a commercial failure, selling only