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(And now, an off-topic public-service announcement.)
It's made of cardboard, so it's fully recycleable. There's no more styrofoam which will spend the next two thousand years on garbage heaps...
The Kranium Ecolution (which I elect as candidate to this year's Naff Names competition), has a honeycomb shape, so it is likely to be less sweaty on your head than something made of plastic that sticks to your skull.
But most importantly, it offers superior crash resistance. The Kranium, which was developed at the Royal College of Art in London, absorbes four times as much crash energy than a conventional helmet. While helmets made of polystyrole have not been improved much over the last decades, the Abus represents a real safety innovation.
The All-Wheel-Drive Biketronic is Fantastically Mad
You may have noticed that I have a notion of an ideal e-bike: lightweight, elegant, uncluttered, simple. But free choice is one of the perks of capitalism, and it will take all kinds of bike to satisfy everybody. So here is my first take on a monster bike.
Of course, the friendly people at Austria's Biketronic wouldn't call it a monster bike -- they say their Evo Pro is "the biking equivalent of a sports car", with "agressive" acceleration to beat the best. You don't need to decide whether you want a front-hub or rear-hub motor: you get both, at 600W each, adding up to 1.2KW. For what it's worth, that is over 1.6 horsepower, on a bike weighing less than 20 KG.
What can you do with all this power? Well, for one, climbing up that mountain that used to take all day is now a breeze -- the Evo Pro easily handles an elevation gain of 1,000 meters, at excessively steep angles.
So what we are taking about is doing things previously reserved for dirt motorcycles.
It does all this without looking strange. Its Li-Ion polymer battery is located within a water bottle, and the bike's electronics are also located inside a water bottle, albeit a smaller one.
(The slightly less over-the-top Biketronic Evo Race)
I tried out the Evo, and it sure is a handful. Of course, you don't need to activate both motors but when you do, they give you a kick comparable to an unbroken horse.
But this is not some made-in-a-garage, overpowered machine; the Evo is quality equipment and I soon found myself enjoying a controlled and immensely powerful driving experience.
All this, for €4,700.00. And the way our society works -- the way people buy 500-horsepower off-road cars to cruise the cities -- you'll be seeing this kind of e-bike on urban boulevards soon enough.
I wouldn't look so sceptical if I were you (photo of Biketronic staff, at Eurobike trade fair, copyright the author)
Here is another previously published article. You could find it here, first:
http://evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=2030
Exclusive interview with Erika Tsubaki at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
An electric bicycle, by Ford Motor Company, shown at a major car show? Why would Ford build an electric bike?
Well, the first answer that comes to mind is: why not? After all, 900,000 bicycles with electric assistance were sold just in Europe last year, with a strong upward trend.
But we wanted to know more about Ford's motivation, and what plans may be in store for the future. After all, Ford's e-bike is a quite gorgeous, desirable machine -- all the more impressive given that it is Ford's first effort in this field.
So in Frankfurt during this year's IAA international motor show, we jumped at an opportunity to have a talk with Erika Tsubaki (who is Ford's Design Manager overseeing the e-Bike project).
Martin: Please tell us about the e-bike project's background.
Erika Tsubaki: Well, Ford of course is a global company, and we have been noticing that in many places, emissions regulations are becoming quite strict. You cannot sell a conventional internal-combustion moped in so many Chinese cities anymore, for instance.
And we have been getting a certain amount of pressure from Ford dealerships all over the world to build something that can lure young people, and urban-lifestyle people, into dealerships.
Martin: The dealers asked for it?
Erika Tsubaki: Yes, that is where it came from. Apparently, Ford's dealers worldwide don't see bikes as something harmful to the auto business, but instead they see e-bikes as an effective supplement to their existing business. Also, e-bikes are perceived as a good entry vehicle to make people comfortable with electric-propulsion technology.
Martin: So it was a logical step to develop an e-bike?
Erika Tsubaki: It was a logical step, where new technology meets new regulations. We also figured it would fit our brand if we did it right.
Martin: And that means?
Erika Tsubaki: That means, our e-bike would have to look different from other e-bikes. You'd have to be able to tell from a distance that it was a Ford product. And it would have to demonstrate Ford's R&D abilities in terms of cutting-edge yet sensible technology.
Martin: When was all this happening?
Erika Tsubaki: The project really began rolling in mid-June. So you could say it took us six weeks to develop this working prototype.
Martin: Six weeks? That's incredibly short!
Erika Tsubaki: Well, we like to think that is what a company with Ford's global development facilities and talents can do, if they put their mind into it.
Martin: So please tell us why Ford's e-bike looks like it does.
Erika Tsubaki: In order to make the bike easy identifiable as a Ford, we wanted to integrate some basic elements of our design language into it. What is quite obvious is the U-shaped, trapezoidal frame that might vaguely remind you of Focus's front.
This is typical for Ford's "Connected Design" language which we hope is both clean and strong. It looks good but has a strong functional aspect as well, since the trapezoidal shape makes it easier to climb aboard this bike. We wanted it to have a "cross-gender" appeal: we did not differentiate between male and female versions, so we wanted it to be easy to get onto.
The trapezoid-shaped basic frame was good, because we found that it was strong enough to carry heavy persons weighing up to 110 KG. It was also able to withstand the stresses of electric propulsion.
(A press photo; all other pix are copyright the author)
Martin: We have heard that the Smart e-bike has an additional brace that they had to add late in the day, for safety's sake.
Erika Tsubaki: Yes, we didn't want any add-ons, we wanted the pure design to be strong and functional.
You might notice the bike is strictly black and white. Each color has its own meaning: black is for load-bearing elements, and white for the rest.
Martin: Apart from the easy mounting and dismounting factor, does the design have any other functional benefits?
Erika Tsubaki: Sure: it's extremely lightweight! The frame only weighs 2.5 KG, even though it is not 100% carbon fiber: we use an affordable mix of carbon and aluminum.
Martin: It's quite nifty the way that the battery and the motor are hidden.
Erika Tsubaki: That's a part of our design language -- keeping it clean. A car doesn't showcase its motor; why should a bike?
But there is an important functional aspect too. Bicycle saddles often get stolen. We made the battery a slide-out unit to which the saddle is attached. So you park your bike, take the battery out for re-charging, and your saddle is protected from theft as well as from the elements.
Martin: That's a great idea. And it's impressive that such a compact battery provides a range of 85 kilometers....
I notice Ford claims to have adopted some race-car technology for this bike?
Erika Tsubaki: A part of the Ford brand claim is that our cars are a great drive, so we felt a Ford e-bike needed something to give it a special driving feel, too.
Our bike is the first with patented magnetostriction sensor technology from the world of Formula One. To put it simply, this technology makes the switch-on and switch-off aspect of electric propulsion smoother than on other bikes.
Martin: You mean, the way the motor applies power when you start pedaling, and increases power as you put more of your leg into it?
Erika Tsubaki: Exactly. With some bikes, the power assist is a pretty abrupt sensation. We wanted our bike to appeal both to technology enthusiasts as well as to people who have never ridden an e-bike before, who will probably feel more comfortable when you provide a refined driving feel.
Martin: All this sounds great. When will I be able to buy it?
Erika Tsubaki: Ford hasn't yet decided whether to really market this vehicle. It will depend, among other things, on how the press and our dealers react to this prototype.
After a long hiatus, I'm back to reporting on the European e-bike scene. (I had to attend to a very sick family member for months, but that is over now). First of all, I'll catch up on some bikes I have been wanting to write about since the last Eurobike trade fair.
Elektrobiker is a company located in beautiful and stylish Vienna, Austria. I find their business model significant: they market their bikes as a "Vienna life-style product" -- not so much a utilitarian method of transport as a thing that complements your personal style. It's a bike for people (like me) who formerly owned, or desired to own, a Vespa.
(So all we need now is a movie with a modern-day Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck driving their e-bikes in Rome…)
Remarkably, the City of Vienna supports this kind of green lifestyle decision, and subventions the purchase of any electric bike with €300. In addition, companies can collect 5% of the purchase price of a e-bike if they use the bikes as company transport.
Elektrobiker sell some other companies' bikes (such as the Kalkhoff Agattu), but I liked their own models best. The athletic Gekko is sold in various versions: Beton (for town riding), or Wald (for offroad), and Sand (even offroadier).
Elektrobike's Gekko Beton
They share 27-gear Shimano Deore shifters, a made-in-Austria 11Ah Li-ion battery, and a Swiss-made, pretty powerful 550W rear-hub motor.
Life-style of course is a blah-blah expression that can mean as little as "it caters to Yuppies". Is there any real advantage to this kind of bike?
Yes, I would say so. The Gekko not only looks great, it is also a very solid, sturdy, high-quality drive, with meaty mechanicals and good finish.
I really liked the way the battery is inconspicuously hidden in a pouch under the saddle. This kind of attention to details may sound unimportant, but it is what makes an product by Apple different and more desirable than a generic computer or cellphone.
550W is pretty strong for a bike that weighs around 18KG. (For those who really want to compete with a Vespa, the company offers a 900W version too). I took a "Sand" for a spin and found it entertainingly strong and solid. There is something very attractive about the combination of balloon tires and a strong electric assist; the closest association I can think of is a post-war Jeep -- soft truck tires and a torquey engine.
Chic life-style does not come cheap; these bikes are listed at around €3,000.00. To be a citizen of Vienna!
(Below: press photos of the Sand, the Asphalt and the Wald; all other pictures are copyright the author)
