Search Results for: Propella

If it were still needed, this week’s news shows proof of the huge difference in approach to e-bike design by many manufacturers in the US and European markets. The QuietKat Lynx (from a Colorado-based company) looks ultra powerful and ultra capable, with its huge 2 speed hub motor and software switching to allow it to be used in different conditions where different legal rules as to power and speed may apply. Weight considerations are clearly secondary to all this as this definitely won’t be a light e-bike.

By contrast, Italian company 3T has a lightweight racing bike background, so it’s no surprise they have come up with a 26.5lb electric gravel bike. Assist is limited to the max Euro-allowance of 15.5mph and there is no throttle and no means of varying the top speed for different legal regimes. It’s clearly aimed at those with at least some inclination towards sporty bike riding – very possibly ‘converts’ from the world of non-assisted cycling. The bikes are about as far apart as assisted two wheelers can get and offer vastly different pros and cons, but both call themselves e-bikes; that breadth of design is one of the beauties of the e-bike world.

In this week’s e-bike news:

• QuietKat Lynx – a super capable full-sus e-bike with dual speed motor
• Propella’s latest lightweight w/ torque sensor
• 3T’s new e-gravel bike weighs 26.5lbs
• E-quad delivery vehicles to be legalised in NYC bike lanes
• Driven’s Clever Orbit Drive Seeks Equity Crowdfunding
• Yet more on the Van Moof bankruptcy saga

[Read more…] about E-Bike News: QuietKat Lynx, 26.5lb 3T Ultra Boost & Lots More!

As a website with mainly US readers and also a good proportion of European ones, EBR tends not to report so much on what is happening directly in Asia. But a couple of smaller news stories this week demonstrate just how things change – and also perhaps how they stay the same.

Firstly we report on a couple of motor systems on display at the 2022 Taipei Cycle Show that show how more advanced and more reasonably priced motors might be making their way to western markets soon. For years the east was known for making basic – but often very effective – budget hub motors typified by the likes of Bafang. But good quality Bafang mid-drives are now appearing on more and more e-bikes in western markets.

And now Hyena looks to be developing lightweight hub motor systems with frame integrated batteries – perhaps similar to Mahle – and KHGears are looking to produce a downtube motor system – perhaps similar to Fazua – for western e-bike markets. No doubt these new systems would look to undercut their western developed counterparts on price. Yet at the same time as eastern companies increasingly target the west with evermore sophisticated motor systems, the Deloitte report we look at shows, ironically, how China’s own e-bike market still dwarfs that of the US and Europe combined as it has done for many years.

In this week’s e-bike news:

• Van Moof’s all-new 5-series e-bikes
• Swytch’s new pocket sized battery
• Canyon to use bigger battery and all-carbon frame in 2002 Spectral:ON
• Himiway Pro Escape battery capacity increase
• New motor systems shown by Hyena and KHGears at Taipei
• Japanese electric flying machine makes a public appearance
• Market overview from the US, Europe and China

[Read more…] about Ebike News: Van Moof New 5-series, Swytch Pocket Battery and Much More!

A couple of graphs might not seem the most exciting start to an article looking back at 2021, but the two below (presented at the recent 2021 People for Bikes E-bike Summit) nicely sum up the continued popularity of e-bikes in the US.

Both show the amazing success of e-bikes from 2020 and the continued upward direction of both units sold and dollars spent. It’s difficult to pin down the exact reasons why the trends levelled off a little in 2021 compared to 2020 but surely two main factors were pivotal.

Firstly, although the Covid pandemic was clearly far from over, many who wanted to start travelling by e-bike to avoid close contact with others and / or get some exercise had already done so. Secondly the initial boom led to ‘supply chain difficulties’, or in other words a shortage of e-bikes so that all those who wanted to buy one simply weren’t able.

It’s also interesting to note a decline in non-electric bike sales in 2021 as a backdrop to the continued rise of e-bikes – perhaps shortages again playing their part here.

If the amount of investment capital, which poured into e-bikes in 2021 in unprecedented amounts, is anything to go by then the future looks mighty rosy for e-bikes. In the US Rad Power attracted over US$300 million over the course of 2021 which they say makes them the “most funded electric bike company in the world.” The new funding will be used to expand the company’s logistics capabilities, open new distribution centers and expand its mobile service program and in-person retails stores.

This looks set to continue into the future – especially if Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation (containing tax credit proposals) and the government’s proposed Infrastructure Bill (money for more bike lanes and the like) comes into law. These are both topics EBR has looked at in 2021 and ones we will take another look at in a forthcoming article on what 2022 might bring.

[Read more…] about Looking Back at the 2021 E-bike Year