The final blueprints of an electric concept bicycle by industrial designer Fredrik Rudenstam for Nishiki is underway, and it looks like it has a bright future in the bicycle community. With its new system that is powered by a lithium-ion battery, it has added power when the necessity arises that allows you to ride faster than usual and farther with the least amount of leg work.

The electric concept bicycle is founded in the principle of an all carbon frame, which employs the NuVinci rear hub that instantaneously switches according to your cadence, power and speed. The automatic engagement of the switching is due to the use of ball bearings in changing gears rather than the traditional sprocket system. This allows its rider to use all the gears available in any given situation.

The Nishiki ebike has an integrated battery giving Rudenstam the initiative to provide an added integrated LED light up…

Read More…

Gruber Assist motors became the center of a controversial subject in the cycling world, which is being referred to as “mechanical doping”. Although allegations over claims that Fabian Cancellara was using a secret motor to assist him on both his victories at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix is up for debate, the concept of motor-assisted bicycles show merit for non-competing cyclists.

Gruber describes its product as an “invisible ascent aid”. The motor can be placed inside a seat tube of 31.6 mm in diameter. A battery pack must accompany the motor which can be placed in the carbon frame. A NiMH battery can be used since it is cylindrical in shape and it can be concealed easily if needed. The electric motor offers 200 watts of power and a performance advantage for duration of 100 minutes max.

For cyclists who ride for exercise and recreation, the Gruber Assist motor can…

Read More…

Venturing into the bike enterprise is the automotive giant Bosch with their first ever, new electronic drive system e-bike. It will be spec’d by Cannondale. Bob Burbank, general manager of Cannodale said that it will be marketed firstly in Europe. It will be showcased as a high-end Cannondale bike at Eurobike on its debut.

Both companies have collaborated on its engineering and design for more than a year and came out with an advanced performance and technology driven e-bike system that promises to be unique from anything else in the market. Cannondale and Bosch partnership is not exclusive. Bosch is looking to selling its drive system to other makers of e-bike.

Burbank declared, “We didn’t want a me-too product or slap on a current system, ‘Hey Cannondale’s got an e-bike.’ We wanted to work with a partner to make a system that would stand out.”

Rainer Jeske, head of Bosch Powertrain Systems,…

Read More…

The future of e-bikes seems murky in America when compared to other locations such as China and Europe, where the car and motorcycle are quickly taking a backseat to the electric-powered bicycle.

Consider this situation in China, where Zhou, a regular family man uses his e-bike to travel the city streets and pick up some groceries at the store. Along the way, he meets and joins up with hundreds of other commuters who are riding on e-bikes, too. His wife also uses the electric bike to do some errands, and his son has bought another one to use for work.

Now compare that scene to this one in America. Paul uses his e-bike to ride around town, buying supplies and doing some errands. He does this every day, but it’s a rare thing for him to see another e-biker on the road. What’s more, the strange guilty…

Read More…

The Copenhage Wheel is a prototype bicycle wheel designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the famous MIT. It basically turns any bicycle into hybrid, self-powered bike. The wheel was unveiled in the Danish capital Copenhagen, coinciding with the UN conference on climate change. The wheel utilizes technology similar to that of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) used by Formula One cars. MIT’s SENSEable City Lab director Carlo Ratti explains how the wheel works: “When you brake, your kinetic energy is recuperated by an electric motor and then stored by batteries within the wheel, so that you can have it back when you need it. The bike wheel contains all you need so that no sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted with the blink of en eye. In a…

Read More…