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It’s taken a while, but now e-bike motor systems have become hugely capable and e-bikes are so popular they can inspire their own one-off designs, the traditional bike categories of road, e-mtb and city bike are being blurred at the edges. Take the new ‘SUV’ design from Giant we cover this week – it’s got elements of hybrid, mountain bike and tourer about it, plus modern e-bike features that are hugely practical and which don’t feature on many non-electric bikes (ie the belt drive and stepless hub gear combo). Clearly, no longer are e-bikes just a traditional bike with motor and battery bolted on, but ones where motor systems and many other features like gearing and lighting are fully integrated into the electric design.
In this week’s e-bike news:
- Giant’s Stormguard E+ – an SUV of e-bikes
- Bosch launches Kiox update and withdraws Android version straightaway
- UK’s Peddle launches four new e-bikes
- Renault Mobilize Duo arriving in the UK
- Silicon Valley money for Aventon
GIANT LAUNCHES ITS FIRST FULL-SUS ‘SUV’ E-BIKE
At first glance this new e-bike looks very possibly German and very possibly Riese & Muller, a company that pioneered this kind of very well-engineered go-anywhere, do-anything style of e-bike in Europe.
In fact it is the Giant Stormguard E + launched at the International Motorcycle Show in Milan recently. In short, it’s meant to be extremely useful and very low maintenance, with off road tires and full suspension combining with a belt drive and Enviolo stepless hub gearing.
It’s worth exploring in a bit more detail as there are a number of features a bit different about the Stormguard+. Firstly that purpose-built rear suspension configuration, called StableLink is not only designed to give a super smooth ride, it also acts to isolate the rear wheel from the rear rack, meaning more stability and safer handling and less shocks for your cargo as well (the rack is rated for a 44lb / 20kg) load.
Secondly the EnergyPak Smart 800Wh battery system is Giant’s first (and one of the first of any brand we know of) to use the new, larger 22700 cells type – there are 40 cells in the battery in common with many other e-bike battery designs, but as these are larger capacity they give a larger range and, theoretically at least, more robustness to regular charging and discharging. It will power Yamaha’s most powerful mid-drive motor.
Finally there is a striking-looking, handlebar stem integrated full-color display known as the RideDash Evo with an option to be connected to your smartphone and allowing you to transfer your navigation data from your smartphone to the display.
There will be E+ 1 and E+2 models – both having the same basic design but with the former having a higher component spec. At the time of writing availability was limited to continental Europe with respective prices of 7,999 and 6,499 euros.
BOSCH LAUNCH THEN IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW KIOX 300 NAVIGATION UPDATE
It was only a matter of days ago that Bosch eBike Systems added a new navigation function to its Kiox 300 display, claiming to bring clearer instructions to the way that direction prompts were displayed as well as integration with outdoor route app, Komoot amongst other new features. Updates were free to those with compatible e-bikes via Bosch’s eBike Flow app.
However, Bosch appear to have overlooked problems now happening in real world use with online reports saying systems using over-the-air updates (OTA) update that were imported via Android version 1.9.3 of the Flow app caused connection problems and a total loss of drive power in some cases. If you have had these problems you are asked to reinstall the Flow app. iOS users have apparently not experienced problems and so can use the updated features.
NEW UK BRAND PEDDLE LAUNCH FOUR NEW E-BIKES
New UK brand Peddle has just announced four striking-looking e-bikes. All are 15.5mph assist pedelec Euro-spec machines. The four models are:
Peddle Goa compact, small-wheeled design with a foldable handlebar and pedals and a claimed 46lb / 21kg weight. Features rear hub motor, 360Wh frame integrated battery and seven Shimano Tourney derailleur gears and mechanical disk brakes. RRP £1599.
Peddle Step is a step-thru-framed city bike with a comfortable riding position and the same hub motor system and battery as the Go. Claimed weight is 49lbs / 22kg and RRP £1799. The Ride is the diamond-framed version of the Step.
The Pro has a Motinova mid-drive (not a brand we’ve heard of before) with a claimed 75Nm of torque coupled with a 630Wh battery. It’s no lightweight at 73lbs / 33kg and it retails at £2599.
Each e-bike comes with a Yale security lock, handlebar cover, mini pump, mountable cup holder, spare mains charger, multi-tool and a BikeRegister security tag. Apparently Peddle has been set up by Exertis, which you might not have heard of, but is a very sizable B2B technology distributor.
WILL THE RENAULT MOBILIZE DUO TAKE OFF IN THE UK?
Ebiketips over in the UK reports how ‘Renault’s light electric vehicle brand is going down the subscription road for its 28mph four-wheeler the Mobilize Duo’.
Whilst it’s clearly not an e-bike, it has an e-bike style speed limit and if it really takes off it could signal that car buyers are happy to buy smaller and slower – which can only be good news for bikers and e-bikers out there on the roads.
Ebiketips continues, ‘Renault has launched a separate brand, Mobilizeto sell light electric vehicles (LEVs) and run charging stations. Intriguingly, it sounds like the plan for its first vehicle, a low-speed ‘mini car’ known as the Mobilize Duo, is to make it available to customers on a subscription basis.’
The article also shows an image of an interesting-looking concept vehicle, the Solo, a ‘semi-seated’ three-wheeler with a 16mph assist limit.
SILICON VALLEY INVESTS IN AVENTON
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reports:
‘ TheInformation.com, a tech trade title, is reporting that Sequoia Capital’s China wing has made a recent investment in the e-bike brand Aventon. The investment would value the company at $590 million, according to the report, which cites two anonymous sources. The article did not specify the amount of the investment but said Aventon was valued at $200 million earlier this year, likely referring to a significant investment made by China’s Gao Rong Capital in March…….Sequoia Capital is one of the best-known Silicon Valley venture capital firms, with investments in Apple, Google, Cisco and many other tech firms.’
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