Clever, but why does every maker of these things assume one wants to have his iPhone sitting out in the weather?

In answer to the Skud 'why the smartphone?' It's all to do with a piece of marketing hype called 'The Internet of Things.' The 'IoT' does have some very useful applications but it has many more totally useless ones designed purely to sell 'Tecno-Toys' to the Wanna-be crowd.
Electric bikes should not need smartphones to control basic functions and the sensible user would be well advised to avoid smartphone enabled e-bikes like the plague!

Agree totally ..
What happens if you loose your phone or get it stolen while out and about..you then loose your transport too.
Having an app or USB port if further setting tinkering is required or for data downloading is great..but to make it as an integral part of the bike is just plain wrong.

Hi everybody, Marko here - founder of Visiobike. If it rains,simply put your phone in your pocket, everything still works because of Bluetooth connection :) So much tech is built into Visiobike that only a smartphone can handle it! Plus, nobody really wants the bike to have its own detachable control unit, right? What a hassle. This way we leverage installed tech: everyone carries a mini supercomputer, so why not use it? We see smartphone as unlimited potential for improvement of ebike features regarding safety and security in particular! Over a decade ago, people used to wonder why cars need onboard computers, remember? Now, Audi has nVidia and Google maps in their cars, and all manufacturers control complex systems, gather data, and push firmware updates through onboard computers. :)
And I agree that IoT is largely hype... but if you can track your bike and push OTA through the cloud, you shouldn't really care what tech is called, right?

@Visiobike: cars have *on-board* computers, they are not dependent on a piece of random hardware that might become lost, stolen or forgotten. Put that phone mainboard *inside* the frame with a weatherproof screen on the handlebar - problem solved! Make it tweakable by blutooth (as has already been suggested) if you wish, but let the computer be integral to the piece of hardware it controls!

Yeah.....for $5,300 I would expect this bike to last me several years. That being said, the same BlueTooth protocols in use today will definitely not be around as long as I would expect this bike to last. Also, have you heard about texting and driving? Fiddling with your smartphone while riding in traffic is a sure fire way to get smashed. Sure, you can put it in your pocket but if you do, what is the benefit of having it connected to the bike? Overpriced, time-limited, DANGEROUS!!!!
Maybe e-bikes would gain mainstream support if the makers quit trying to put all this stuff into the bike and instead focused on reducing costs to a level that consumers could afford.

Good answers, Marko. Thanks for the explanation!

what happens if the phone battery runs down? mine would last about 30 minutes in always-on mode.. wle
[The phone is powered by the bike's battery -Ed.]

Interesting stuff going on in Croatia... first the Greyp electric bike ( www.gizmag.com/rimac-greyp-electric-bicycle/29069/ ) and now this.

So when the hacker world decides it's a fun sport to remotely control the power (or lack thereof) of your e-bike...hilarity ensues!