Ongoing advances in all-electric drive trains have opened up some radical design possibilities for e-bikes, and while many of the electric motorcycles we've seen stick to a conventional layout, others are definitely looking to push into territory where only highly-customized bikes dare to tread - Britain's Agility Saietta, Canada's Lito Sora and now out of Japan - the zecOO.
Designed Kota Nezu of Znug Design, the zecOO was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in March and is reportedly headed for small scale production.
The zecOO immediately grabs you with its single sided swing-arm, hub-center steering and long, raking (if not practical) windshield, but the performance specs aren't quite as bad-ass as the low-rider aesthetic. The bike makes 55 to 85 miles (88 and 136 km) on a single charge, has a 75 mph (120 km/h) top speed and takes six hours to charge ... so while it's not exactly in the superbike club, it still stands-up in the all-electric crowd.
The price stands out to - the zecOO is expected to cost around 6 million Yen (US$70,000).
Source: Znug Design via BikeEXIF
Just seeing that drive belt is making me whince. If you're going to make an electric bike with big bulky wheel assemblies, who not push ahead and opt for a wheel hub motor instead?
As for those single-sided swing arms - I assume they add essentially zero to the functionality? Just an expensive gadget that's only there because someone thought it would look cool.
Or sony's engineer who designed their inventory system and forgot that once the inventory ran out, it didn't reorder because none were being shipped. 10k high end TVs and power amps sat on repair shops around the country for 3 months before they reordered.
Back to the cycle, it's a show bike/art that happens to be electric and marginally driveable. Nice front end though. I'm going to do some center hub steering suspensions for mine and this look good. The rest of the bike, no thanks.