Just in time for Christmas, outdoor retailer Alpkit’s Sonder bike brand has partnered with Skarper to sell click-on e-bike kits. The removable rear-mounted electric-assist units are available both on their own or as part of a package including one of Sonder’s Camino gravel bikes.
“Our riders value simplicity, reliability, and adventure,” said Sonder Product Manager Neil Sutton. “Skarper’s neat, removable drive keeps a Sonder feeling like a Sonder, while adding the confidence to go further. It is a natural fit for how our community rides.”
While Alpkit already sells complete gravel e-bikes (dubbed El Camino), this is the first time any UK major bike brand (as far as we can remember) has sold a bike with an aftermarket motor pre-installed. And for a lot of riders it’s going to make sense.
Unlike other e-bike conversion kits, Skarper’s tech doesn’t change a thing about the underlying bike — other than a bespoke “DiskDrive” disc brake rotor and a Bluetooth sensor on the cranks. The Skarper unit clicks onto the adjacent chain stay and delivers pedal-assist electric power to the rotor, turning it into a complete electric bike.

Skarper reckons the latest version of the drive delivers 76Nm of torque which automatically ramps up or down depending on your input and elevation. The rider can set it for one of three modes — Eco, Cruise, and Turbo — using a button on the unit or a connected app, and a really smart addition is that you can turn the assist off or on by back-pedalling three times.
Obviously it’s a bulky solution and not one that you’d want to take over a rock garden, but this is where the tech really finds its niche among gravel bike riders. Take the Skarper off and you can hit those firetracks with your mates, reattach the unit and it’ll power you through the inevitable hungover commute the next day. Gravel bikes, with their numerous lugs and fittings, tend to make practical urban bikes when they’re not being bashed about in the great outdoors.
Sigma Sports is among the retailers that already stock Skarper kits, and it’s available directly from Skarper itself, but a big advantage to selling via Alpkit is that customers can try it out in person at any one of the outdoor purists’ 10 stores around the country.
“Even in Eco the boost is instant and pretty good,” ebiketips’ Rebecca Bland said when she tried it out. “From a performance aspect, it’s hard to fault. It’s not particularly noisy, the power transfer is quick, and from an ease of use perspective, it’s simple.”
Alpkit is now selling the Skarper kit for £1,495, or in a package with a Camino gravel bike starting from £2,649.
