Ever wanted the legs of a pro cyclist? Not physically, because that would be weird and illegal, but you too can experience the power output of a pro cyclist with Van Rysel’s FTP², an outlandish e-bike concept just revealed at VeloFollies in Kortrijk, Belgium. Apart from, you can’t actually experience it because it’s a concept bike that’s technically illegal on most roads.
As a concept it’s a pretty cool one, though, making use of cutting-edge tech and aerodynamic design to shave almost every watt possible, and coupling it with a high-power custom Mahle motor to supercharge your pedal strokes.
“With FTP², we stepped outside traditional frameworks to explore extreme performance in a controlled way,” said Wim Van Hoecke, FTP² Project Manager & VAN RYSEL E-Bike Product Manager. “Every component was designed as part of a single system to push boundaries.”
Let’s start with the motor. Primarily designed for mountain biking, the Mahle M40 is a step away from the hub motors typically found on lightweight road e-bikes. With a whopping 105Nm torque and a peak power output of 850W, it’s best suited to those short, sharp bursts mountain bikers need when tackling muddy inclines, but transferring this package to a road platform gives the bike’s non-existent riders the acceleration they need to hit high speeds from a standing start.
At 2.5kg, the M40 isn’t the lightest e-bike motor — it’s almost double the weight of the hub-based Mahle X20, which is becoming increasingly popular as a stealth option on road e-bikes. But the reasoning here is that its power-to-weight ratio enables the extreme speeds that are the FTP²’s raison d’etre. Van Rysel says that the M40 here is “custom;” it’s not clear how, but it does seem that the aerodynamic TT-style frame has given the designers plenty of space to sneakily hide motors and batteries.
Because the M40 is mounted mid-drive, Van Rysel can equip the FTP² with “normal” road wheels, which would not be an option with a hub-based motor. Those wheels are Swiss Side Hadron³ 850s (boy, do these people love their superscript numbers), with deep-section rims for aerodynamics and stability.
Further aero gains are provided via a fully integrated cockpit (with proprietary electronics) and an intriguing “radical shoe-pedal interface,.” which seemingly does away with the pedal and cleat and builds the axle into the shoe. According to Van Rysel, this system brings the foot closer to the axle and minimises power loss. That axle connects to the Sram Red AXS drivetrain via a Praxis carbon crank.
So it’s got the specs where they count, but how does it feel to ride? According to Van Rysel: “By amplifying the rider’s input beyond conventional limits, the M40 enables the FTP² to investigate extreme speed scenarios in a controlled environment, serving as a rolling laboratory for future e-road and high-performance e-bike applications.” They say they used it in a “controlled environment,” but, c’mon, at least one employee has to have taken this for a spin near Van Rysel’s Lille headquarters.
The FTP² is never likely to see the light of day outside the VeloFollies hall — but the tech could trickle down to Van Rysel’s growing range of road e-bikes, and it’s not hard to imagine the company releasing a TT bike with similar features but a lower-power motor. But this is also, importantly, Van Rysel placing a stake in the ground and saying that it’s taking e-bike racing seriously – and perhaps even creating a whole new sport.
“While we haven’t decided if this is the precise direction we will take for our future production bikes, we have certainly created a concept unlike anything done before,” said Van Rysel. “We believe this could potentially spark a new discipline in the sport — a future for e-bike racing comparable to Formula E?”
Of course, we’ve requested a sample of the FTP² anyway…
