Category: Electric Bike

Himiway has sporty riders in its crosshairs with the launch of a range of new e-MTBs.

California-based e-bike brand Himiway has always been about affordable and practical electric bicycles. The brand was present at CES 2024, and for the first time, showcased a selection of high-performance models aimed towards enthusiasts looking to hit the trails aboard a powerful and sporty two-wheeler. It’s clear to see that Himiway is upping its game in terms of build and features, as the bikes it showcased at CES are equipped with carbon frames and high-end components. Let’s take a closer look.

The new X5 Pro and X5 Ultra undoubtedly stole the show. Both built as long-travel enduro electric mountain bikes, the X5 series rolls on 27.5-inch wheels shod in Schwalbe Tacky Chan and Magic Mary tires for maximum traction on rugged terrain. The bikes care also equipped with high-end RockShox suspension and Sram Code Ultimate brakes for maximum performance. As mentioned earlier, the bikes’ carbon frames keep weight low and rigidity high, while a powerful Bafang M500 mid-drive motor delivers 500W of nominal output and 95 Nm of torque.

Up next, the Zebra and Cobra Pro cater to riders looking to go anywhere in style and comfort. These fat-tire adventurers are perfect for tackling sandy, muddy, and even snowy terrain, as they feature a powerful 1,000W motor which delivers a top speed of 28 miles per hour. Most notably, the Cobra Pro gets a fancy full-suspension frame, triple crown fork, and chunky 26×4.8 tires. Meanwhile, the Zebra focuses more on accessibility with its low step-through frame, but nevertheless, promises go-anywhere capability thanks to a suspension fork and knobby Kenda Krusade tires.

Last but not least, Himiway also showcased the new A7 Pro, a bike that promises maximum urban comfort thanks to its accessible, step-through frame, and full-suspension setup. The mid-drive motor offers impressive performance, while its 48V, 720-watt-hour battery pack promises impressive range on a single charge. Furthermore, riders can fine-tune ergonomics by way of a height-adjustable stem. Lastly, urban security isn’t left out of the equation thanks to a built-in wheel lock. Specifics such as the motor’s power output and claimed range figures for this model have yet to be announced.

As of this writing, Himiway has yet to announce the pricing of its new models. However, if their current model range is anything to go by, we can expect these new models to command quite an attractive price tag while boasting some thoroughly premium components and features. With that said, be sure to stay tuned for more details as we bring you the detailed specs and features of each model as we find out more about them.

Explore New Horizons with BeTriton’s Amphibious E-Bike Trailer

The surge in e-bike popularity has inspired enthusiasts to push the boundaries of outdoor adventures. BeTriton’s latest innovation, the Z-Triton, revolutionizes this concept by offering an amphibious e-bike trailer that seamlessly transitions between land and water. This new model builds upon its predecessor’s features, delivering an enhanced experience through greater versatility and compatibility with a wide range of e-bikes.

Enhanced Features and Specifications

The Z-Triton trailer is designed to attach effortlessly to most e-bikes, particularly those with powerful motors like S-Pedelecs, which can reach speeds of up to 28 miles per hour. Its compact width of 1.4 meters (4.5 feet) might pose challenges on narrow bike paths, but the boat’s spacious dimensions of 2.4 by 4.5 meters (7.9 by 14.7 feet) provide ample room for two adults. The boat is powered by a 2,150-watt electric motor, achieving speeds of up to five miles per hour, and features dual 1,440 watt-hour batteries that offer a range of about 15 miles when fully charged.

Practical Considerations and Pricing

The BeTriton Trailer is tailored for use in inland and shallow coastal waters, adhering to European category D recreational boat standards. With a capacity to carry up to 260 kilograms, it accommodates the e-bike, batteries, luggage, and two passengers comfortably. While its base price is around €9,900 (approximately $10,807 USD), the complete package with additional features such as sleeping mats and storage options costs €12,300 (about $13,427 USD), reflecting its premium nature and advanced capabilities.

The Chiller e-bike by ChillFab represents a leap forward in electric bike design, combining high-quality craftsmanship with advanced technology. As an artisan creation from ChillFab, a division of the custom bike maker Butcher Garage, each Chiller is meticulously hand-built, ensuring that every bike is distinct and refined. Constructed from lightweight yet sturdy 6061 aluminum, the Chiller is designed to handle urban streets and rugged trails with equal ease, providing both durability and a smooth ride.

Equipped with a Shimano EP6 mid-drive motor, the Chiller delivers impressive performance with 85 Nm of torque, making it adept at conquering steep hills. The bike features a 504-watt-hour battery, offering up to 44 miles of range in Eco mode, while Shimano’s Nexus internally geared hub ensures seamless shifting for a smooth cycling experience. With hydraulic disc brakes and a unique motorcycle-inspired saddle for enhanced comfort, the Chiller not only performs well but also offers a stylish and practical solution for modern urban travel. Available in spring 2024, the Chiller’s price of around $5,128 reflects its premium build, with additional costs for accessories such as mudguards, lights, and a luggage rack.

When you order a pizza, chances are you want it fresh and hot. I mean, what’s worse than a rock-hard pizza that’s gone cold after sitting for hours in traffic while waiting to be delivered? Interestingly, Domino’s Pizza has come up with a way to beat the traffic and keep pizzas warm and fresh on the way to customers.

Electric bicycles being used for delivery services are nothing new. However, Domino’s new e-bike looks like it’s been pulled straight out of a sci-fi movie set in some futuristic world where, as it would turn out, pizzas are still a thing. It’s called the dxb, and it’s an electric bike designed for one job and one job only: deliver pizzas while keeping them warm and fresh. The way the dxb does this is remarkably simple, while at the same time complex.

The large compartment at the back isn’t just any old pizza compartment. It’s a mobile oven. That way, freshly baked pizzas are warmed on the way to their customers’ homes. This means that you quite literally get an oven-fresh pizza delivered to your doorstep. Mmm, all this talk about hot pizza is making me hungry.

But wait a minute, what if the route to my home necessitates passing through some hilly terrain, as well as the occasional hop up and down the curb? Not to worry, as Domino’s dxb is fitted with so-called “space age suspension” to keep your pizza nice and comfy on the way to you. According to Domino’s the bike’s suspension reduces G-forces by up to 67 percent! Now, I’m guessing that this suspension system is housed internally in the rear storage compartment/ oven, as I only see a suspension fork up front that actually handles suspension duties for the bike.

Apart from the cool oven and “space age suspension,” the Domino’s dxb is pretty much a standard e-bike. It rolls on 20-inch wheels shod in street tires, and gets a downtube-integrated battery pack that presumably also supplies power to the rear-mounted oven. Specs about the power of the motor, as well as the bike’s overall range haven’t been revealed, but whatever the case may be, it’s clear that this two-wheeler is designed for in-city use only.

Now, if you live in the US and are just getting excited to see this two-wheeler deliver your next pizza, I have some bad news for you. The dxb is expected to hit the roads in Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (DPE) markets. The US is unfortunately not part of DPE’s coverage. Nevertheless, DPE covers more than 2,800 stores in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia.

California-based Haro Bikes has been a prominent player in the cycling industry for decades now. The brand has been developing all sorts of bikes to cater to the needs of all sorts of cyclists for years now, and now that electric bicycles are picking up steam, the brand shows no signs of slowing down. Compact e-bikes are all the rage when it comes to urban mobility, and Haro looks to join the game with the new Skwad LT.

The Skwad LT takes the form of a compact electric commuter, and boasts decent performance and a versatile platform. Rolling on 20-inch wheels sans suspension, the bike is strictly an on-road explorer. It does, however, make the most of its compact dimensions by providing some cargo-hauling capabilities. More specifically, it makes use of the AtranVelo System to mount all sorts of bags, baskets, crates, and bags.

On the technology front, the Skwad LT is powered by a compact hub motor with a nominal output of 250 watts. The battery is housed within the downtube, and plays a major role when it comes to giving the bike a low center of gravity. It’s a 36-volt, 300-watt-hour unit that promises up to 28 miles of range on a single charge. The bike incorporates a motor cut-off safety feature that automatically stops the motor when the brakes are applied. Speaking of which, the bike makes use of hydraulic disc brakes for confident stops.

When it comes to standard components, the Haro Swad LT gets Shimano goodies consisting of a Shimano Altus eight-speed drivetrain. The bike’s cockpit features a BMX-inspired two-piece handlebar, while the Haro Base Line BMX-style stem provides ample control and leverage over the bars. Riders also have the option to connect their phones to the bike’s computer, providing weather updates, battery monitoring, diagnostics, and even navigation and battery life calculations depending on your route. Furthermore, the system offers route changes depending on your current battery status.

When it comes to pricing and availability, the Haro Skwad LT commands a fairly attractive price tag of $2,399 USD – a fair price, considering it’s from a brand as reputable as Haro. You can find more information on the Skwad LT, as well as other bikes in Haro’s model range, through their official website.

VanMoof, a Dutch e-bike specialist, has been on headlines of the bicycle industry several times in recent months, and not exactly for a good reason. You can read the story about the brand’s bankruptcy in several of our previous articles, but in essence, the brand’s highly proprietary technology resulted in a lot, and I mean a lot, of bikes breaking down. Due to the sheer number of unrepaired bikes, the company was forced to close its doors.

Back in September 2023, it was announced that VanMoof was to be given a second lease on life. This was provided by Lavoie, McLaren’s subsidiary devoted to electric mobility. Now, the company has stated that the first batch of revived VanMoof bikes are set to roll out soon – pointing to a possible bright future for the Dutch e-bike brand. Of course, the resurgence of a problem-laden brand will not come without major restructuring, and indeed, this is what Lavoie has in store for VanMoof.

As part of the reset, VanMoof is expected to undergo a thorough reorg, consisting of internal restructuring in the hopes of delivering a sustainable and reliable product to its end-users. Lavoie is anticipated to roll out revisions to VanMoof’s design and production, emphasizing quality over quantity, as well as revamping the company’s points of sale and authorized repair shops.

It’s in terms of service that VanMoof hopes to redeem itself. An article by German publication E-Bike News states that Lavoie is eyeing a shift in strategy for VanMoof, focusing on service improvements, enhanced availability of spare parts, as well as, and possibly most importantly, the partnership with third-party service providers to cater to a wider user base.

Now, while all these anticipated changes are indeed promising, the report states that previous warranty claims under the former management may not be resolved under the restructuring. Of course, this raises concerns for recent customers of the brand, who had hoped for some resolution following Lavoie’s claim of VanMoof. Nevertheless, production restarts are reportedly in the pipeline, and the upcoming models are said to be enhanced with improved technology. Will VanMoof be able to redeem itself in the e-bike world? We’ll have to wait for the new batch of bikes to hit the road to find out for certain.

At this point, it’s no secret that e-bikes are pretty cool. They’re practical, affordable (most of the time), good for the environment (again, most of the time), and most of all, fun. That being said, e-bikes aren’t without their faults. Their easy maneuverability and minimal security systems make them prime targets for theft, as well as folks riding unauthorized e-bikes on city streets.

Unsurprisingly, the authorities have taken notice of this, and are now making use of e-bikes to catch crooks on e-bikes. Talk about fighting fire with fire. A recent report by our friends at Electrek highlighted that police departments incorporating e-bikes into their fleet of patrol vehicles is indeed a growing trend. It makes lots of sense, really, especially in dense urban settings where crowd control and maintaining peace and order can be quite a challenge on foot, or on a standard bike for that matter.

It’s been reported that there’s a rise in crackdowns on private e-bike use in multiple jurisdictions, particularly when it comes to non-street-legal e-bikes, or e-bikes that have been customized to go much faster than they were designed to. Naturally, these unauthorized e-bikes or heavily modified machines pose a threat not only to the safety of the rider, but to other road users and pedestrians alike. These non-street-legal bikes aren’t equipped with the necessary components to be safe on the road – such as lights, turn signals, or mirrors.

Electrek highlights that specific bikes such as the Sur Ron and Talaria electric two-wheelers have been spotted several times on public roads. The manufacturers themselves make it clear as day that their bikes are not street-legal, and intended for off-road use only. Furthermore, the report states that new regulations in certain jurisdictions, in particular Washoe County, Nevada, are now prohibiting e-bikes from riding on bike paths, instead mandating road use alongside cars and other traffic.

On top of this new ordinance, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office has employed electric bikes for its patrol duties. The department is making use of six Recon Power e-bikes specifically for patrolling and enforcing proper bike path usage by electric bicycle riders. Instead, bike paths must be used specifically by non-electric bicycles.

Indeed, these growing restrictions against e-bikes may be deemed as necessary by some, however, advocates for this type of mobility are wondering why governments don’t just invest more heavily on infrastructure designed to embrace this growing means of mobility. Personally, I think it’s always about striking a balance – continue developing bicycle-focused infrastructure, while at the same time implementing reasonable rules and regulations surrounding the use of e-bikes, especially high-power models.