Background & Opportunity
Our flagship bike models, the D35 and ST, has all the features and is the lightest eBike in its category. It is the perfect blend of characteristics for people looking for a comfort ride for recreational, touring or commuting.
For the same reasons that some people prefer sport cars over SUV, which on paper offer more features and convenience, we believe there’s also a crowd looking for a sporty ride. A crowd looking for the lightest bike possible that can easily be carried around in condo staircases, public transits and more; yet looks and behave like a regular bike in order to whip around the city.
From our market research, there’s currently nothing on the market that meets these requirements at an affordable price.
eCity Bike Goal
We challenged ourselves to design a bike that puts aesthetic and pleasure first, yet does not sacrifice on motor performance and our beloved torque emulation software. The main criterion was to design around our Lynx 20 seatpost battery. This battery is UL 2271 certified, offers incredible reliability and has a large 461Wh capacity. The battery being inside the seatpost, it made it much easier to disguise this eBike has a regular bike. The other advantage is that the battery weight is nicely centered around the bottom bracket, thus increasing handling.
eCity Bike Key Requirements
- Stylish: Everything on this bike has been studied and optimized to make it appealing: the shape of the tubes, the paint, smooth welds, etc.
- Streamlined: Moreover, we wanted the bike to be as streamlined as possible. For examples, we designed a headlight directly integrated in the bike frame and made sure all the cables are hidden and routed internally. This also has the benefit of protecting the cables when commuting in the rain.
- Lightweight: Our target is a sub-19kg bike.
- Sporty: The geometry has been optimized to offer a sporty position and maximize power output from the rider. The rigid fork brings agile steering and increased road feel compared to our D35 suspension fork. The frame has also been designed around 40mm wide tires, which have little rolling resistance, but enough traction and puncture resistance. All this makes it a perfect bike to use on any road; however, it is not designed for off-road use unlike the D35.
- Performance: The rear-hub motor offers the same performance as the D35 motor, with a regulation-capped 32 km/h assist and a maximum of 500W.
- Fast: On top of the motor performance, the bike is designed around 700c profiled rims and a narrow handlebar, which makes up for a very fast bike. The bike is also equipped with mechanical disk brake, for optimal and safe speed control.
- Options: We also designed the frame to accommodate front and rear fenders, along with a rear rack for panniers. There’s even a water bottle mount for long adventures.
Constraints/Risks/Assumptions/Uncertainties
