10:21 "This makes a ton of sense for most city centres" I used to ride a recumbent and actually it was much better in the country than in the city. In the city a conventional bike is better because you can see better (head higher than cars), you can hop up kerbs if need be, and you are a more manouverable. Stopping at junctions on a 'bent is generally harder/less comfortable than on a normal bike. In the country where you have many fewer junctions, and there is less traffic craziness and more wind, the lower drag comes into its own and the disadvantages become unimportant.
Has to be a really upright bike like the Dutch ride. And the parking issue for long bikes in the city. Unless the city has cargo bike parking spaces, which really only some European cities have but they ride upright bikes.
hi xxwookey, I fully agree with your assessment of conventional recumbents. However, I have to point out that the Electrom is not a conventional recumbent. The electric assist is a game changer when it comes to riding a recumbent in stop-and-go city traffic, and the Electrom cockpit places the rider at eye level with other motorists so they can see and be seen. but yes, the Electrom is also great in the country.
@@electrom_LEV Fair enough. And in a city with decent bike infrastructure most of the 'disadvantages' don't really matter. It's places where you have to cycle with the traffic and hop kerbs where a recumbent is less than ideal. I do like that rain-cover for the legs as that removes another disadvantage of 'bents: a very wet groin when it rains :-) And of course the electric counters the fact that they tend to be heavier bikes so it does look fun to ride. I hope you do well with it.
Well done Fully Charged for showing something a bit left field. I see a few people have mentioned velomobiles in the comments. I have 2 velomobiles, 1 with e-assist and 1 without. They look a lot more cool than the Electrom 1. The longest ride I have done since fitting 250W e-assist to my Strada velomobile last year is 80 miles and I still had half of the removable 36V 19.2Ah battery left when I got home.... so range is comparable with my Corsa-e but I have the option to double my range by carrying an extra battery if I want. Velomobiles are fast and efficient on the flat and downhill (60mph is not impossible if you are brave enough and conditions allow it) but slower than a normal bike uphill due to the extra weight (25Kg or more for non-assisted - my e-assisted Strada is about 40Kg but was over 30Kg without the motor). Adding e-assist makes it faster than a normal bike everywhere and much more comfortable and fun. It has good luggage space but I have a tow bar and trailer for when I need to carry a bit more. It is a true car alternative for many journeys. Velomobiles are very aerodynamic so don't require much power to go far or fast. My non-assisted velomobile has a Cd of 0.08.... considerably better than the 0.219 of the new Tesla model 3.
I would suggest searching RU-vid for 'Velomobiles Efficiency' and watching the video by Velomobile World to see why velomobiles make sense, either with or without e-assist.
all I can see is the Sinclair C5 in the design of this bike, apart from height, length, and stability only having 2 wheels compaired with 3, but the plus side is the battery range in the passed 40 years.
Its the exact same idea, only the engineering is 100x better, as well as the tech available. And the time period too. In the 80s people were more than happy to commute in cars with cheap fuel.
Looking really nice compared to early versions.. Chains, should be set up with maintenance free belts for that price range. I also always thought it should have a full rain cover option. Cheers
@@ruslbicycle6006 I think a properly set up belt is no maintenance. You are right about cost, most manufacturers go to or stay with chains to save cost. Repairable chains are, but a belt on a bike I think if you rode it 10 miles a day, every day for the rest of your life, I doubt it would wearout. Cheers
Brilliant design, & it was fantastic seeing VanCity in the background Love all those trees, + the water by False Creek. Such a wonderful place to go for a bike ride
Getting ever closer to what I want. I wonder how this would be registered in the EU and UK? I like that they support right2repair, indicates that they might be a decent company.
Very impressive. But I think it's great that you own it and don't hide it. That's why you're one of the best! Oh my God, It's amazing what you can achieve. Love everything you did with it. Glad you're back, love the videos Looks really nice compared to the original versions
I'm just loving e v e r y t h i n g in this video.............. The electrom vehicle, design, features, look, concept and the professional coolio presentation.. Thinking of geting one!
Was thinking this is defo' a Kaneda bike vibe 😅 My battery would be flat in 5 mins with the green glowing leds I would be trying to power to look woooooooosh
I'd say it's a "both, and" thing. A trike would be a great idea. The bike is a great idea. Doing both would be good. The low center of gravity means it would be pretty stable with two wheels in the back, the axle near the seat. I've built a chopper trike with a similar seat height as this and you could keep decent speed in turns. It was about 36 inches, a bit under a meter wide. As a bike rider, it was pretty uneventful when I pushed it to tip onto one rear wheel because it was predictable and easily controlled. This platform has a slightly lower seat than mine, I think, so even better. Even cooler would be a tilting trike but that's tricky on a lot of fronts.
12k?? I could make one for about a quarter of the price. 2k for a new donor tadpole. 600 for the motorised crank and 400 for an 11 speed hub and wheel.
There are so many problems with this. I live in Budapest and I work as a bike delivery man. So I know how biking in cities are like. First: this is huge. The best part in cycling in cities is that it's practical. You can easily fit through very tiny spaces. You can slalom between cars in a traffic jam. You can easily turn it around if you have to and you can park anywhere. This "bike" is just too long and too heavy to do any of these. Especially too long in european cities where there are narrow streets. Second: the aerodynamics just doesnt make sense. I can easily do a 20-25 km/h average speed for a day with a regular bike. With an electric it's an easy 30 even 35. Maybe it's more aerodynamic but it's heavy af and the wheels are too thick and the diameter of theme is too small. You have to add more energy to make a wheel go if it's smaller. Third: it's bigger than a haul bike but it doesn't have the capacity. So a deliveryman cannot use it. So it's too big for cities, i'm pretty sure it almost has the same range and speed as a better ebike. So the only people who could use it are people in the country side who use it once or twice a year for a trip. But it's too expensive for a hobby like this. Honestly I have no idea why would anyone buy this. There much better and more cost effective options for using a bike.
I see this as more of a novel way to travel to remote places in the countryside (20-150km). There will be people that do this a lot and for those, thats an awesome EV! Hope it'll sell ;)
@@torashuPanda781I have a recumbent electric motorcycle that I built more than 30 years ago. Since I fitted a modern lithium battery holding about 13KWH it can do about 500 miles/800km on one charge, at 55mph/90km/h. Although in well over 100,000 miles/160,000km I have never made an insurance claim the insurance company (Aviva) has just withdrawn all cover for business use of the vehicle, and I cannot find another insurance company willing to insure it at all.
Kinda crazy, but it’s the vehicle I need. At times I’m doing 150k a day on my bike for for work, regular e-bikes won’t make it. That thing my off grid system could charge in a day. I expect it’s expensive, the Ferrari of e-bikes, but there’s huge capacity for sales of similar and more rugged versions. We need to make byway systems for light mid speed systems like these. And yes Vancouver is gorgeous, I just spent July there. It’s a great clean transport system. Their bus’s have been electric for 60 years.
I mean, srsly, this is an amazing vehicle! But I would love it to cover you from (light/moderate) rain. (At least optional.) I hope we see many more bikes like this in the future! Love the concept for sure! :D
The price is okay. Sure, cheaper would be nice but my neighbors just shelled out $8700 for a 30% discounted Yeti e-bike - oh wait, they both bought one. And that's on top of other high end road and MTBs. My friend Nils in Aachen, Germany went car-free for the whole family, investing instead in high end e-transport bikes to move their two kids and a nifty velomobile. Point is: If you can manage not to own a car you have a ton of money left for bike transportation. Just think of the insurance, licensing and repair bills you don't have. And for those instances where you need a car many Germans now use car sharing rentals. I did when I spent a year there but it turned out it was rarely needed.
I'm suspecting Ricky has never been on a recumbent before? 8:05 Not sure why he wouldn't trust bicycle tyres in general? I've had much scarier moped tyres than bike tyres, but obviously there is a big quality range in all tyre sizes and it is worth having some better tyres than 'cheapest' at least anywhere where it rains.
Buy a 7k Surron Ultra Bee 85kg light EV motorcycle or 6k 2025 KTM Duke 390 or 5k Triumph 400X Scrambler or 6k Suzuki SV 650 (nearly indestructible reliability) over the Electrom1.
@@GingerPiston these are also cool, especially the Carver with the tilt technology. Certainly leans closer to what I had in mind. I mean I think a design like Akira with the range of touring motorcycles.
@@THEREALZENFORCE these are mostly very traditional in design and not impressive. It's cool if you want a tiny bike that doesn't look like an ev or the future, but I want more
Enjoyed the video Ricky! Recumbent trikes and velomobiles (which are usually trikes underneath) have covered a lot of this territory already. No kickstand, aerodynamics addressed, and weather protection available with fairings or full body coverings. Feels like the designer here might be reinventing the wheel.
ErinJWade, I agree that Velomobiles are cool, but most are biased toward light weigh and aerodynamics as the main concerns. When you add electric power, the skinny tires and lightweight parts become less roadworthy. The Electrom has been designed from the ground up to be electric assist and as such is much more roadworthy a velomobile. Additionally, velomobiles are not great in the city as they are hard to see in traffic, and they suffer whenever to road gets rough. A big part of our determination to keep the Electrom on two wheels was the need to maneuver around potholes and other obstructions. On a two-wheel vehicle, the rear wheel follows the front, so it is very easy to steer around obstacles. Three-wheel vehicle drivers have to get three different tires around the obstruction.
One of the problems with electric bikes is the 32km/h or 20mph speed limit for most jurisdictions. A good velomobile can overcome that using only human power...unless you have to start and stop all the time.
Fabrizio, good to see you have got this project to the production model. That is seems so obvious to many is a very good sign. I'm certain that other cities in North America will quickly adopt infrastructure that will make this a viable product for many more people.
Never a fan of carbon fibre being used for things like this. Sure is lightweight but it's so labour intensive that it's never going to come cheap. Probably goes a long way to explaining the $12,500 price tag.
Can it not be shorter, yes I'm spoiled by my EUC having a wheelbase of 0 and being able to turn in place but I can't imagine this being as maneuverable as a bike. I would like it as a long-distance motorcycle if it had more power being so aero makes sence on the highway.
For sure ! For a little more than half that price I could buy a brand new all the bells and whistles Honda 650 duel sport motorcycle . And I couldn’t even imagine what you could get for that price in another country.
OK $12,500 won’t get you a Livewire but there’s plenty of choice of mopeds and motorbikes in the $5,000 to $12,500 range. Throw in that electric bikes are even cheaper and all are better suited to city life and it just feels a bit of an expensive niche product.
It's like literally a handbuilt prototype having its production scaled up. Economies of scale reduce price over time, this is a guy in a garage trying to push an industry and the world forward. Give me a break. If you can't afford it you can't afford it.
I keep looking at this and two issues come to me that could be addressed. Long wide V handlebars like my Burley Koosah would reduce cost, make steering very easy, and reduce fatigue. Some safety modification to the fairing in case of a crash.
4:53 i assuming that you are comparing this to like 1000cc motorcycle and i think that's kinda poor example. i think this is much more comparable to like 50cc motorcycle and those weight around 50-100kg maybe.
He didn’t properly explain the transmission, it is very clever. There is a low direct drive, but as soon as you get a bit of speed you are pedalling a generator.
I disconnected the brake sensor from rear brake so I could engage rear brake stabilising and not interrupt motor power on my ebike, perfect for small speed adjustments...both brakes will always get pulled anyway when more stopping power is required
The price isn't even that insane for the stage it is at. Way out of my price range still, but if it starts to compete with other recumbent e-bikes, this will definitely the winner!
Thanks Ricky!! Vancouver is definitely an amazing city although I prefer Victoria just across the way via the ferry but what an amazing bike or is it e-bike.
The Sinclair C5 needs to be updated. The motor control was just an on-off switch, and if you switched on without first pedalling up to a jogging speed you had a very high risk of breaking the transmission. Electronic speed controllers that could limit maximum current to a safe level were just appearing on the market at the time when the C5 was introduced, but they were then too expensive to use in it.
This would be perfect for touring remote places like New Zealand where you often go 150km between settlements. Or across North America's plains with its demoralizing head winds.
So someone watched Akira one too many times and decided to make a bicycle? 🤣 Jokes aside its interesting but i dont really get it. Why do i need a streamlined bike when most bike trips are for local running around, say less than 10 miles. Not sure weight/lean angle matters that much when you are stationary, and thats only an issue when stationary seemed like a little odd comparison made to a motorcycle. Oh and the idea that theyd ever get this down to a price thats "single figures" as you suggest in the vid description like $9 or less sounds ridiculous to me 🤣
I wouldn't ride that around central London, you need both decent slow speed control and fast getaways in city traffic and this appears to have neither! It's an interesting design, but I think it would be better suited to touring or deliveries in less dense areas. I'd have no problem with taking one of those for a camping weekend somewhere.
In Central London either buy a 7k Surron Ultra Bee 85kg light Ev motorcycle or 6k 2025 KTM Duke 390 or Triumph 400X Scrambler or Suzuki SV 650 (nearly indestructible reliability).
Slow speed control is a matter of practice - and maybe a bit of refinement of the steering. Fairly clear from the video that he hadn't entirely worked out the boundaries of the bike. Fast getways... that's probably practice too. I doubt an experienced rider would use the stand much - though I'd have to try to be sure. By far the biggest problem in a city is the length, not necessarily so much when riding but when parking - anything longer than a standard upright (bike with trailer, tandem, cargo bike, my speedmachine...) creates challenges as it doesn't as easily fit in bike spaces and that thing is *long*. Actually there are cases when that length maybe a problem navigating gates and things too... one can't alway limbo - but again the same constraints apply to the list of bikes as above.
That looks like fun. One thing I didn't see on it was any security features, locks alarms, immobiliser etc. How accessible is it for different body shapes? Is there seat and controls adjustment? Great concept though, I need a recumbent bike for my disabilities, I ride an e-bike on a good day but energy would last longer in a recumbent position. Of course I'd need somewhere to store it and a shed load of cash I expect, haven't looked yet! Cheers Ricky, nice report.👍
I have an old Burley long wheel base recumbant that seems way more stable than what you are showing. I could add a hub motor setup and a fairing pretty easily. The riding position on the Burley is great for me except when climbing big hills without electric assist.
I genuinely like the look of the bike and would want to get one. But like most products i see here in the ebike market, i cant seem to find them in the US.
Not a practical for daily use. Lots of space for the 'driver', not so much for cargo like with a real cargo bike of the same size/length. The speed also poses a problem: too fast for cyclepaths and too slow, low and vulnerable for car-traffic. I have seen multiple similar concepts in NL and none are common in daily traffic, in contrast to upright electric cargo bikes that are everywhere.
@@robertjames7781Honestly, I think motorbikes are better reserved for the racetrack. They too easily go out from under people and leave the rider and motorbike speeding down the road in different directions. Most riders I've come across have a tale of coming off at some point. Trikes are a better option for this kind of thing, where you can be going faster than a conventional pedal bicycle.
@@robertjames7781 you can see a motorbike from a car. even when your right next to it. also if you look at the numbers they are several thousands of times more dangerous. we have less than 2000 reclined bikes on the road in the UK and one or two fatalities per year. we have getting on for 2,000,000 motorbikes and some 7,000,000 push bikes. but we only have about 400 or so deaths pre year. when you also consider that some 3,000,000+ push bikes are used by kids. that have little self regard for there own safety. the statistical possibility of being involved in a fatal road traffic accident on a reclined bike is ridiculously higher than on a standard bike. in short they are unfit for common road used.
Very cool concept, however, electric unicycles are still way ahead in term of simplicity, price and weight, i have a Veteran Sherman-S euc that also have a 200km range with 3600wh battery, top speed up to 80 km/h, weights only 97lbs, it's so small that you can fit in any car trunk (i have a Smart Fortwo), it can fully charge in about two hours and cost about 4000$ US Of course it doesnt have huge trunk or wind protection but its so fun to ride !
The low numbers of people riding trikes is proof this design is cumbersome, more complex to transport, carry and set up. What design and engineering improvements would be needed to solve most of why people do not favor trikes?
Love it and I don't think it is extremely expensive for what it is 👍 but certainly too much to appeal the greater public. Unfortunately, with about 150 pounds / 70 kg it seems to be too heavy to be solely muscle powered uphill (with my non-electrified recumbents and velomobiles I get farther than that per day, up to about 300 km).
Parking it in a city could be very challenging, and you cannot are it indoors out of the weather/ sight of thieves/ out of a paid-for or residents only parking area . In addition, it's far less manoeuvrable than a conventional bike. My view is that this bike would be far more practical outside of city centres and in rural areas. How about them making a foldable version, with a soft, deployable weather cover, for ease of parking, more weather protection and better unattended security?
So basically a recumbent moped its got some nice tech to it but I think I'll stick to my regular bicycle and e-bike for now. But it might make a nice alternate to buying a regular motorcycle or scooter.
Buy a 7k Surron Ultra Bee 85kg light EV motorcycle or 6k 2025 KTM Duke 390 or 5k Triumph 400X Scrambler or 6k Suzuki SV 650 (nearly indestructible reliability) over the Electrom1.
@@THEREALZENFORCE I think you're missing that this device's cost per mile is a fraction of a gas vehicle, it's not polluting the air with exhaust that's reducing human life spans and contributing to climate change, it's lighter and easier to move.
@@fizban119 EV motorcycles that cost 2 times less and go further and faster than this expensive EV bicycle vehicule. Surron has these sub 8k EV motorcycles that easily beat this vehicule on price, range, speed from A to B. I have never seen a bicycle beat me on my motorcycle on my daily over 20 kilometers commute to work.
Interesting concept but i don't see a market for it. as batteries are becoming more powerful, a good "normal" bike with an electric support motor will do the job ,. you don't need the streamline (and this will not keep jou dry either.)
