B’Twin are launching an innovative new bike called the B’Original that’s designed to be versatile enough to ride both on and off-road and to be easily customisable. The B’Original is a full-suspension bike with the rear shock hidden away inside the frame.
Nine different patents cover the bike and its associated accessories. You can customise it as you like using B’Twin’s B’Clip system which, as the name suggests, uses clip mechanisms with no tools required.
For example, you can choose from a vast number of swappable B’O covers for the frame (the middle section and the chainstays) and chainset, allowing you to change the look of the bike.
They simply snap into place. Decathlon call these One Second Clip items because… well, you can work that out for yourself. You’ll even be able to go online and have those covers 3D printed in different shapes and textures for more customisation. You could design a cover with an integrated holder for your smartphone, for example, or to hold a particular mini-pump.
Other accessories, such as mudguards and a kickstand, clip into place just as easily thanks to some very neat design features. You can also add a luggage rack with a baby seat that clips on and off the top, choose from a selection of bags, or use B’Twin’s collapsible box to carry stuff in.
The pedals flip up and the handlebar folds flat for easy travelling and compact storage, the bike going from 70cm wide to 15cm wide in seconds, and the quick-release skewers and V-brakes are super-easy to open and close when you need to get the wheels on and off.
Here's a quick video presentation explaining the key features of the bike from the Oxylane Innovation Awards from before Christmas, Oxylane being B'Twin's parent company. The B'Original was one of 10 products shortlisted.
The B’Twin B’Original will be available for £269 from Decathlon (www.decathlon.co.uk) when it is launched in April. It will initially be available in 70 stores worldwide, one in the UK – Surrey Quays Road, London – with all-store availability from September.
Mat has worked for loads of bike magazines over 20+ years, and been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. He's been road.cc technical editor for eight years, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a past winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer.