E-bike News: Fiido’s Familiar Looking T1 Cargo, Eovolt E-folders Up Quality & More!

Back in late November EBR reported on the arrival of Giant’s carbon-framed, high tech Trance X Advanced E+.

Now comes the 2022 updated Trance X E+ with alloy frame. Like the Advanced carbon version it uses the sub-6lb, 85Nm SynchDrive Pro mid-drive, co-developed by Giant and Yamaha and the top of the range E+1 model gets a huge 750Wh battery (the two lower spec models get very respectably sized 625Wh batteries).

US prices haven’t been announced yet but in the UK Trance X E+ models range from £4,699 to £5,699. All three models get new RideControl Go switches on the top of the top tube and a new RideControl Ergo 3 bar remote.

Cycling Industry News reports on the Freeflow mid-drive from Scotland and how it is being trialled by a number of smaller brands, including the interesting looking Twmpa wooden bikes.

It looks a lightweight and well-integrated system and CIN say ‘By the time you are reading this the system will be in production and likely have passed its final validation testing with a view to enabling manufacturers to purchase the system from February. At a time when the order books with some major motor suppliers are essentially closed, Freeflow’s appeal to UK bike designers in particular will naturally grow.’

EBR will keep you posted on its progress – three are few very lightweight mid-drive systems about so it will be interesting to see if Freeflow can give the likes of Fazua and Specialized/Mahle a run for their money.

German language reports suggest that a plastic e-bike may be a reality by the end of the year – in prototype form at least. Plastics manufacturer Igus is planning a bicycle that does not require a metal frame or wheels. It is made of recycled plastic. To date the Cologne-based company Igus has only produced bearings and other plastic parts for component manufacturers such as SRAM, Magura or Crank Brothers.

It is to be hoped that the Igus fares better than the Itera – an all plastic bike produced in quite large numbers in the 1980s but now consigned to the Museum of Failure due to the large number of breakages they suffered. Its history hasn’t stopped Dutchfiets trying to commercialise the idea in present times – their bike is pictured above.

Bike Europe reports on ‘the creation of a new vehicle category in the French traffic code. The new so-called ‘cyclomobiles légers’ or light mopeds…’

In terms of vehicles now legalised to travel on public roads in France, there are, in theory, a new range of vehicles but as one industry commentator notes in the article “The initiative seems to be aimed at accommodating e-scooters with a saddle and e-bikes without pedals. Unfortunately, there are hardly any legal vehicles to populate this category.”

Add to this the fact that the vehicle must be type-approved (an extra and very significant cost for manufacturers) and you can see why the new law appears to be of little practical help to anyone. As the article again points out, Vässla is one of the few manufacturers that has a type-approved e-bike without pedals on the market and thus complies with the new traffic code in France.

Currently private e-scooters in France are allowed but subject to fairly complex rules (unlike the UK where they are banned with only authorised hire schemes allowed to operate them).

Confused? So are we….

Bikebiz reports ‘The latest changes to the Highway Code are a “hugely important step” towards making the roads safer for everyone, Cycling UK has said.’

The changes to the leading authority on rules of the road in the UK are currently heading through parliament and if approved will see changes such as a new hierarchy of road-users (ensuring quicker or heavier modes of travel have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others on the road) and motorists being encouraged to adopt the ‘Dutch Reach’ – opening the door next to them with the opposite hand so they look over their shoulder, meaning they’re less likely to injure passing cyclists and pedestrians.

Cycling Industry News reports that ‘PON.bike has announced that it will open a new manufacturing facility in Lithuania by 2024, which could reach an annual output of 600,000 bikes. The new parent to Cannondale and longer-term umbrella for Gazelle, Kalkhoff, Focus and Urban Arrow, among others, will hire in the region of 300 to 500 staff in the future to manage expansion of its production capability, adding to its global workforce of around 2,400.’