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Eskute Wayfarer Review, 2021

eskute wayfarer electric bike review

Eskute Wayfarer Review: Overview

The Eskute Wayfarer from the UK is a fully equipped town bike with a frame-integrated battery and a great price of £999.

There aren’t too many e-bikes of any description at this price that we’ve reviewed, let alone ones like the Wayfarer which come with hard-wired lights, sturdy pannier rack, full mudguards, front suspension and electronic horn.

It’s clearly designed to be easy to use and comfortable, with low-step frame, plush saddle and adjustable handlebar stem.

The spec is of course budget and you wouldn’t expect anything else at this price, but features well-respected names from the Bafang rear hub motor to the Shimano derailleur gearing.

On paper it looks superb value but how would it measure up to our real world testing?

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[Read more…] about Eskute Wayfarer Review, 2021

E-bike News: New E-bikes from Rad Power Bikes, Dahon, GT and Norco

rad power bikes radrover 6plus electric bike review

It’s great to see e-bike companies doing all they can to offer ever better e-bikes and it’s interesting to see just how they go about it. For Rad Power Bikes it’s about making just about everything on the bike a bit better or easier to use as typified by the RadRover 6, just announced. For Dahon it’s about bringing mid-motor power to the world of small-wheeled and relatively lightweight commuting style folders – something not often done. For Norco it’s the combo of the most powerful motor and the biggest batteries out there whilst Italy’s Bad Bike think the e-bike could be used to repopularise sidecars. It doesn’t matter so much exactly what each company’s take on what’s needed in the e-bike market is – what matters is that they all want to make the next model of e-bike better than the last one…

In this week’s news:

  • RadRover 6 redesigned from the ground up
  • Dahon Unio E9 – lightweight mid-drive e-folder
  • Norco e-mtb range with EP8 power and bigger batteries
  • Bad Bike’s e-fat bike with sidecar
  • GT’s new BMX inspired street e-bike, the Performer
  • Askoll makes big claims for its mid-drive
  • Cytronex now offering bigger, bluetooth-enabled bottle battery unit
  • Bike path surveying with an electric buggy
  • E-bike sales in US and UK compared – is lack of infrastructure holding e-bikes back?

[Read more…] about E-bike News: New E-bikes from Rad Power Bikes, Dahon, GT and Norco

Rad Power Bikes RadRover 6 Plus: A New Torquier Motor and New Frame

RoverFarmer

Rad Power Bikes announced the RadRover 6 Plus today, a complete redesign of their flagship electric fat bike that boasts a torquier motor, a new frame and a boatload of other new goodies.

The new RadRover 6 Plus represents a leap forward for the Seattle-based e-bike company. It’s the first time, according to Sr. Project Manager Tom Mount, that the company has been able to develop the majority of its drive system — the motor, controller and battery — in house.

“The new Rover 6 represents really a ground-up redesign of that bike,” Mount said. “It really represents not only what we’re investing in development and technology, but a bike that is really growing and changing as we are as a company.”

The new RadRover 6 is the first bike released since Rad raised a $150 million investment in February 2021; money that gave the e-bike company the financial bandwidth to better fund their in-house design and development efforts.

The Electric Bike Report staff hasn’t gotten to ride the new Rover yet (stay tuned, we should get the bike soon), but based on some sneak peaks and what we are told the new e-bike can do, it appears that investment is paying off.

[Read more…] about Rad Power Bikes RadRover 6 Plus: A New Torquier Motor and New Frame

SmartBikeWheel Review, 2021

Smart Bike Wheel Conversion Kit Review

SmartBikeWheel Conversion kit Review: Overview

Electric bike conversion kits have always seemed a little complicated; the domain of tinkering hobbyists more than happy to solder wires and precariously strap batteries to traditional bicycles.

So when I unboxed our review model of the SmartBikeWheel e-bike conversion kit, I was pretty sure some pieces were missing.

Instead of a mess of wires and a modular drive system, the SmartBikeWheel is just a wheel. Aside from that, all I pulled from the box was a small clutch of tools, a 160mm disc rotor and a small handlebar phone mount. That’s it. A little less than what I was picturing.

The SmartBikeWheel may seem minimalist, but inside its oversized hub shell is a 36V, 8.7Ah (313.2Wh) battery wrapped around a 250W geared hub motor. There are no external wires or cabling, no display, no controller box and no throttle. Instead of an external cadence or torque sensor, the nervous system of the wheel is a gyroscope and tachometer (also inside the hub) that use changes in pitch and speed to determine how much power should be applied and when. The only equipment you need outside the hub is a smartphone and the SmartBikeWheel app, which functions as the control center for the kit with your typical display readouts — including speed, trip time and distance — plus additional functions and access to settings.

We installed the kit on a 2002 Gary Fisher Wahoo donor bike we bought for $100 from our local bike nonprofit, the St. George Bicycle Collective, a bike that proved fitting for the low-cost and low-effort conversion kit.

To say my expectations for our SmartBikeWheel review were conservative might be an understatement. E-bike drive systems are typically complex and spread out across an entire bicycle, so it was tough to imagine how such a condensed and simple kit could compare to its more elaborate competitors.

Boy was I wrong.

The SmartBikeWheel performed as good or better than many entry-level e-bikes we’ve reviewed at Electric Bike Report. Not only does it climb well, get up to speed quickly and boast stellar battery life, it’s remarkably cheap and simple to install. The SmartBikeWheel is touted as a transportation solution designed to take almost any traditional bicycle — including our tired 20-year-old donor bike — and turn it into an affordable, efficient and capable e-bike.

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E-bike News: New E-bikes from Ride1Up, Fiido, Crowncrusier, MV Augusta and Blix

The relationship between e-bikes and motorbikes figures strongly in this week’s news; whether it’s the influence of very old motorbikes on current designs like the Crowncruiser or the trend for current motorbike companies to get into e-bikes, of which MV Augusta are the latest.

There’s also more e-bike news from the likes of Ride1Up, Fiido, Blix and Rad Power and details of an intriguing move to restrict car speeds in Paris, plus questions about the use and misuse of rental e-scooters.

In this week’s news:

  • Ride1Up’s new highest spec yet model
  • Fiido X specs revealed
  • Crowncruiser – is the future affordable carbon fibre?
  • Motorbike brand MV Augusta gets into e-bikes
  • Blix announces major e-bike upgrades
  • Rad Power rentals across Europe
  • Bosch Tour + riding mode
  • New drivetrain options
  • Paris clamps down on motor traffic speed

[Read more…] about E-bike News: New E-bikes from Ride1Up, Fiido, Crowncrusier, MV Augusta and Blix

LEVA: U.S. e-bike sales should top 1 million in 2021, 3 million in coming years

Tahoe east shire trail

Guest post by: Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association This post was previously published on LEVA’s website and is being reposted here for our audience.

The United States tends to make changes slowly until a tipping point is reached. And then, change can be startlingly fast.

That tipping point has occurred with electric bikes in the last two years. We are on our way to becoming the most profitable and largest western market for electric bikes.

For nearly 23 years, the U.S. electric bike market was tiny compared to the Asian and even the European electric bike market. For each of those years, I would assure my clients, readers, and peers that the U.S. will — eventually — be one of the largest markets for e-bikes and pedelecs.

Growth was slow, partly because the bicycle industry of the U.S. is focused on sport, fitness and recreation, and for years the electric bike has been regarded as primarily a transportation tool. Two wheelers as transportation has been a very small business.

Read more: Bike Mechanics Should Become LEVA Tech Certified, Or Risk Being ‘Left Behind’

But now… the limit on the U.S. market is the performance of the supply chain. U.S. brands will take almost any electric bike they can get and sell it almost as soon as it is received. Unfortunate lead times — as much as two years — are the problem.


[Read more…] about LEVA: U.S. e-bike sales should top 1 million in 2021, 3 million in coming years

E-bike News: Pole Voima, Convercycle Extendable E-cargo, Ducati E-folder & More

Once upon a time Ducati meant just one thing; motorbikes and not just any motorbikes – very, very fast ones. So it’s perhaps a sign of the times – and the way two -wheeled power has become slower and electric in many ways – that this week’s news sees the announcement of another Ducati e-bike. Well, it’s not exactly Ducati, but we’ll get to that later…

Perhaps more innovative are the hugely powerful looking new e-bike from Finnish e-bike company Pole and the amazing extendable e-cargo bike from Germany’s Convercycle, which really do look to be pushing the bounds of current bike technology.

In this week’s news:

  • The Pole Voima – an e-mtb unlike any other
  • Convercycle now shipping – it’s both a regular e-bike and an e-cargo bike
  • A new, more affordable Modmo e-city bike
  • Ducatic extends its e-bike and e-scooter range
  • Blubrake’s new smaller, lighter ABS braking for e-bikes
  • Ridepanda bags big investment

[Read more…] about E-bike News: Pole Voima, Convercycle Extendable E-cargo, Ducati E-folder & More

Are Electric Bikes Cheating? We Asked the CEO of Bianchi USA

are e-bikes cheating

Though they’ve been embraced by nearly every major bike manufacturer and have all but saturated every corner of the U.S. cycling market, the debate over whether electric bikes are cheating is alive and well.

Bicycling has long been a sport with an elitist bend; tradition is sacred and it’s a staunchly held belief among many that you must suffer — at least a little — on the bike in order for your experience and effort to count. E-bikes don’t mesh well with that ethos, as if adding a little help to a person’s own pedaling somehow degrades the simple pleasure or utility of riding a bike.

Sound melodramatic? It absolutely is. Cycling is a sport full of people confusing endorphin highs with philosophical enlightenment; people who’d rather indulge in a morning of self-flagellation via bicycle than go to therapy.

But that view of e-bikes is slowly changing. In Europe, where e-bike sales are quickly encroaching on sales of traditional bicycles, e-bikes have gained considerable traction as an alternative transportation solution and as a more inclusive way to get more people of more backgrounds and fitness levels interested in the sport. There’s strong signs that the U.S. bike market is just a few steps behind. In 2020, fueled by the COVID-19 bike boom and a renewed interest in getting outside, e-bike sales in the U.S. grew 145 percent and outpaced traditional bike sales which were up 65 percent, according to market research figures published in the New York Times.

Many industry insiders all-too familiar with the bike industry’s boom-bust cycles are holding out hope that e-bikes, and the non-cycling public’s interest in them, hold the keys to a more economically sustainable future.

It would seem that e-bikes are here to stay.

[Read more…] about Are Electric Bikes Cheating? We Asked the CEO of Bianchi USA

Ebike News: Fiido X, Nukeproof and Veloretti plus Bird’s New E-bike

Fiido X Folded

What’s important on an e-bike to you? In the early days the answer might simply have been a motor and battery that work well and last. For the vast majority for reputable companies these questions are really taken as given.

Nowadays the focus has moved to a whole host of new questions and really it boils down to how many ‘extras’ you want or need, as exemplified by new e-bikes featured this week. Do you want a quick fold and good size battery, like the Fiido X has? Or maybe off-roaders want top performance form the latest mid-drive out there and tech specs that will stand up to toughest mtb performance, typified by the Nukeproof’s new Megawatt e-mtb….then again you might want a low maintenance but high tech city bike with retro chic and anti-theft technology, typified by Netherland’s sleek looking Veloretti machines.

In this week’s news:

  • Fiido to crowdfund innovative e-folder
  • Nukeproof’s new Shimano EP8-powered e-mtb
  • Veloretti combines e-bike chic with high-tech
  • First Indian e-bikes come to Europe
  • Bosch’s new and quite pricey domain name
  • Bird gets into e-bikes
  • E-bike share boom in the US

[Read more…] about Ebike News: Fiido X, Nukeproof and Veloretti plus Bird’s New E-bike

Bianchi E-Omnia Premier

TUSTIN, Calif. — In electric bikes, Bianchi this week went from zero to 100.

The 133-year-old Italian bike manufacturer on Monday formally released its full lineup of e-bikes to the U.S. market, a lineup centered around the e-Omnia triad of e-bikes that includes a touring model, city model and full-suspension eMTB.

Bianchi dropped a total of six new e-bike models during the premier event, including several high-end performance variations that you’d expect from a company known best for its thoroughbred race bikes. Those included an all-mountain eMTB called the T-Tronic, the ultralight (~26 lb) E-Aria electric road bike and the aluminum-framed E-Impulso electric gravel bike. But, while the company’s heritage of competition and speed was on full display, center stage of it all was the E-Omnia family and its focus on form, function, safety and sustainable everyday transportation.

“This is the beginning of a shift at Bianchi,” Pat Hus, CEO of Bianchi USA said at the event. “We are a company that’s been a road race company for years and years and years. We’re not stupid though; we know the market is changing and we know we need to be in the e-bike space, and this is just the beginning of that.”

[Read more…] about Bianchi E-Omnia Premier

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