From high-end hardware to high-stakes crackdowns and life-saving e-bikes, it’s been another relentless week for the industry. Join us as we explore the good, the bad, and the, er, Limey in the world of electric bicycles.
Cult bike workshop launches new e-bike (that doesn’t look like one)
Another week, another dream e-bike. North Yorkshire’s Pace Cycles, which knows how to make some really lovely looking bikes, has released the RCE429, a versatile e-bike that doesn’t look like an e-bike.
“Riding offroad requires the right numbers and pure gravel geometry just doesn’t cut it,” says Pace. “So we blend subtly modified MTB geo’ into our short travel design to give confidence offroad and comfort onroad.”
The bike’s Reynolds 853 tubes and CNC-machined dropouts conceal a lightweight Mahle X20 rear-hub drive unit capable of 65Nm torque and 275 watts peak power. Urban e-bikes are flocking to e-MTB drives, but Pace Cycles is bucking the trend by equipping its e-MTB with a lightweight motor primarily used in road bikes.
The RCE429 starts at £2,379 for the frameset and wheelset, to £5,209 for the complete bike with Shimano XT Di2 Wireless.
Moustache shaves urban e-bike weight to 20kg
Across the English channel, French e-bike specialist Moustache has unveiled the Dimanche 28 Urban. Going against everything I just said, this bike makes use of Bosch’s Performance Line SX motor, a lightweight package that can deliver 60Nm torque.
Moustache describes the Dimanche 28 as a “fast, responsive urban eBike that still feels like a bicycle at heart. Practical where it matters, refined where it counts, and impressively smooth across varied city terrain.”
The bike includes mudguards, a Supernova lighting system, QL3-compatible racks, plus Suntour air forks, totalling 20.2kg, which is actually fairly lightweight for an e-bike in this category.
The Dimanche 28 Urban is available now for £3,499.
From Virginia to Merseyside: the battle against illegal electric bikes
Police are tackling Illegal e-bikes from both sides of the Atlantic.
In Norfolk, Virginia, US Customs seized a shipment of e-bikes that failed to meet federal safety standards. Originating from China, the shipping container housed 35 e-bikes that were “partially assembled and lacked required certification labels and safety markings,” according to US Customs and Border Protection.
“We know that injuries to electric bike riders continue to rise,” said Keri Brady, CBP’s area port director for the Area Port of Norfolk-Newport News. “Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to partner with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to protect e-bike riders and others on the road by denying the importation of noncompliant and potentially unsafe e-bikes.”
Meanwhile, in Merseyside, police officers have seized over 1,200 unregistered, uninsured and illegally ridden vehicles this financial year, including scrambler bikes, electric motorbikes, and other off-road vehicles. The Liverpudlian cops highlight that these vehicles are often used in “serious criminality.”
“We know that these bikes are being used to commit serious crimes across our communities, and every single one we seize removes an important tool from the hands of organised criminals,” said Detective Chief Inspector Amanda French.
E-bikes are saving lives in Arizona
“You know what is scarier than a snake? Heat exhaustion!”
Wise words from the Scottsdale Fire Department. The Arizona city’s currently experiencing soaring temperatures over 100°F (38°C), and heat exhaustion is hitting hikers exploring the McDowell Mountain Preserve’s 200 miles of trails.
To provide a quick response in hostile terrain, the fire department has invested in off-road e-bikes plus ice packs that can provide rapid assistance to hyperthermic hikers on gnarly trails.
“Our e-bikes are game changers,” Scottsdale Fire Department Captain Dave Folio told ABC15 Arizona. “They probably cut off 30 minutes to an hour on response times.”
Lime has a redesign
Scarier than snakes, probably, is the ongoing and remorseless annexing of pavement space by dumped hire e-bikes. However, Lime’s latest e-bikes include “upgraded on-board technology to improve location recogniton accuracy, helping riders more easily find designated parking spots,” according to the bikeshare company.
The new bikes also feature 20-inch wheels (over the original 26-inchers), a modular design so they can be fixed more easily, plus a lower, step-through frame, a repositioned battery, and even a new name: LimeBike.
The LimeBike will launch in Oxford and Milton Keynes this week, followed by London, Nottingham, and the West Midlands.
