Bicycles

Lightweight, stylish ebike makes a play for city street dominance

Lightweight, stylish ebike makes a play for city street dominance
The Movea E-motion has been designed for city and urban riding, and comes with a large detachable cargo rack to the front
The Movea E-motion has been designed for city and urban riding, and comes with a large detachable cargo rack to the front
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The rear hub is home to all of the electronics, including the 250-W motor and batteries
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The rear hub is home to all of the electronics, including the 250-W motor and batteries
The Movea E-motion weighs in at just 12.9 kg
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The Movea E-motion weighs in at just 12.9 kg
The Movea E-motion is described as "shapely, handy and functional"
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The Movea E-motion is described as "shapely, handy and functional"
The rear hub is home to batteries and motor, and other electronics, while a Gates carbon belt drive offers a clean, maintenance-free ride
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The rear hub is home to batteries and motor, and other electronics, while a Gates carbon belt drive offers a clean, maintenance-free ride
The Movea E-motion has been designed for city and urban riding, and comes with a large detachable cargo rack to the front
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The Movea E-motion has been designed for city and urban riding, and comes with a large detachable cargo rack to the front
The Movea E-motion's motor will provide assist up to 25 km/h, and its battery pack should be good for 50 km per charge
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The Movea E-motion's motor will provide assist up to 25 km/h, and its battery pack should be good for 50 km per charge
View gallery - 6 images

The design minds of bike veteran Lars Jensen and Anders Hermansen, who has form working for high-end audio house Bang & Olufsen, have created a "shapely, handy and functional" ebike for the city called the Movea E-motion.

"Nowadays it is no longer just a matter of building a high quality bicycle," said Jensen. "With the changed living and working situation in the big cities, people have completely new demands on transportation for their everyday life. My vision is to bring exactly these requirements in one and to combine them in an environment-friendly, attractive and highly functional means of transport for the city.

"When we developed the Movea ebike, we deliberately and literally started with a blank sheet of paper to incorporate all our design ideas, experience and knowledge of the last two decades into a completely new line of bikes."

The result of those labors is the Movea E-motion, which rocks a 250-watt Zehus rear hub motor for 30 Nm (22 lb.ft) of torque and pedal assist up to 25 km/h (15.5 mph). All of the electronics live in this rear hub, including a battery that promises a per charge range of 50 km (31 mi), and the company says that the battery can be replaced at the end of its useful life too.

The Movea E-motion weighs in at just 12.9 kg
The Movea E-motion weighs in at just 12.9 kg

There's a Gates carbon belt drive for an oil- and maintenance-free ride, and stopping power is supplied by Formula Cura hydraulic disc braking. A wireless remote control unit sits on the handlebar, which shows battery status and power modes, and can be used to activate regen braking. The integrated LED headlight and tail light run day and night, with the system featuring Twin Beam technology that fires two directional beams for any angle visibility.

Using the Bitride app running on a smartphone, riders can lock the ebike over Bluetooth. GPS tracking also features in the app, though the ebike comes with Hexlox anti-theft protection too, where components like the saddle, wheels and handlebars can only be removed using a coded key.

The E-motion tips the scales at just 12.9 kg (28 lb), which is nowhere near the lightest but should make for a relatively easy carry up the steps to the office building. Full fenders help reduce splashing in the wet, and a balanced aluminum cargo carrier can be mounted to the front, with triangle and square shape options available.

It comes in two versions – one with 20-inch wheels and the other with 24-inch wheels – and black or red are your color options. Pricing starts at €3,498 (about US$4,100).

Product page: Movea E-motion

View gallery - 6 images
3 comments
3 comments
minivini
These small e-bikes are becoming an interesting market. I read a blog recently about a guy who routinely drives his Tesla on long trips (like thousand plus mile trips) and carries a folding e bike to make the charging stops more interesting and functional.
Username
4k for a bicycle or 4k for a car(announced in china) ... not a difficult choice. If anybody wants to dominate the streets they need to bring a $500 bike to market.
Rustgecko
As is so often the case, the article states this has a 50 km battery, but gives us no information about the battery so that we can make a decision as to whether that is realistic. Why leave out the wh value of the battery, unless they are trying to hide it?