Well, the world continues to wait .. excitedly ..
Before saying anything further and suffering the wrath of the Bafang Extremists (Yes, Don't worry, anything bafang makes is the best in the world and anyone who says otherwise is wrong - if you need to expand, you could join with the Yamahaha's "our fails don't count as fails" group), I have almost ordered one of these myself. When I went to register though the emailed registration link bombed out which wasn't really a good sign, so I gave up.
The Cyon, Siryon and Hydra all look like incredible bikes with some interesting design ideas, exciting geometries and lots of great features.
But, we still don't actually know very much.
Normally there's a bit of an Embargo before bikes are released, then we have information, reviews, comparisons. In this case, we have some pictures and a few short videos, many of a bike ridden by a man so capable he could make the next bike from Tesco's/Walmart/ShopRite/Suning.com seem like the best bike in the world.
The weight is impressive but arguably the other interesting things about the bike are the technology behind it, but we don't know much.
The frame : ALPHA BOX. Colour schemes are cleverly thought out and the more you spend, the nicer your bike looks.
The rear suspension : TWIN LEVITY - which is effectively a simple but elegant progressive linkage system, or a clever way to reduce the number of bearings in the rear and then add them all back in again.
The rear triangle: The Gullwing or broken boomerang design looks visually stunning.
The Motor : EON DRIVE ! Supposedly 60nm.... Personally, I think this is going to be more like an SL motor than an EP8 RS motor. Weight is the same as the Mahle, though the Mahle in theory his scope for more power based on the physical build. It's claimed to be silent, the ones where you can here it in a video though don't appear to be - though these could be prototypes and we know there are delays which they're unprofessionally pointing at Bafang.
I think like with many of these things, most people won't be disappointed. It becomes a thing of passion and we accept it for what it is and hopefully enjoy it. The hardest thing will be balancing performance in assistance terms with performance in range and altitude terms.
The Battery : Aurora . 360wh or 350wh depending where you read it on the website, but most likely 360wh. 51v system with optional, not yet available, 250wh range extender. Again, we don't really know much about this. Claiming to have an 80% rapid charge in 80 minutes, but will this have an impact on battery longevity. Will it charge when it's hot straight after use ?
The Display "Smart Dashboard" - obviously the guy with the Dictionary of Exciting names was out of the office that day. I'll go with "SuperNova Display" (© Zim Industries) for the future as it's far more in keeping with the naming convention and "Smart Dashboard" sounds like a very cheap mobile phone with a not very exciting display application running on it. Arguably the heart and sole of this bike .. but again, we know very little .. Any questions asked about it always receive the reply "YES, it can" .. so either they're still developing it and just add in what people ask about, or it's total pants and you're just talking to someone from marketing.
This is basically the next exciting bike we're all waiting to see .. what does everyone think ?
Before saying anything further and suffering the wrath of the Bafang Extremists (Yes, Don't worry, anything bafang makes is the best in the world and anyone who says otherwise is wrong - if you need to expand, you could join with the Yamahaha's "our fails don't count as fails" group), I have almost ordered one of these myself. When I went to register though the emailed registration link bombed out which wasn't really a good sign, so I gave up.
The Cyon, Siryon and Hydra all look like incredible bikes with some interesting design ideas, exciting geometries and lots of great features.
But, we still don't actually know very much.
Normally there's a bit of an Embargo before bikes are released, then we have information, reviews, comparisons. In this case, we have some pictures and a few short videos, many of a bike ridden by a man so capable he could make the next bike from Tesco's/Walmart/ShopRite/Suning.com seem like the best bike in the world.
The weight is impressive but arguably the other interesting things about the bike are the technology behind it, but we don't know much.
The frame : ALPHA BOX. Colour schemes are cleverly thought out and the more you spend, the nicer your bike looks.
The rear suspension : TWIN LEVITY - which is effectively a simple but elegant progressive linkage system, or a clever way to reduce the number of bearings in the rear and then add them all back in again.
The rear triangle: The Gullwing or broken boomerang design looks visually stunning.
The Motor : EON DRIVE ! Supposedly 60nm.... Personally, I think this is going to be more like an SL motor than an EP8 RS motor. Weight is the same as the Mahle, though the Mahle in theory his scope for more power based on the physical build. It's claimed to be silent, the ones where you can here it in a video though don't appear to be - though these could be prototypes and we know there are delays which they're unprofessionally pointing at Bafang.
I think like with many of these things, most people won't be disappointed. It becomes a thing of passion and we accept it for what it is and hopefully enjoy it. The hardest thing will be balancing performance in assistance terms with performance in range and altitude terms.
The Battery : Aurora . 360wh or 350wh depending where you read it on the website, but most likely 360wh. 51v system with optional, not yet available, 250wh range extender. Again, we don't really know much about this. Claiming to have an 80% rapid charge in 80 minutes, but will this have an impact on battery longevity. Will it charge when it's hot straight after use ?
The Display "Smart Dashboard" - obviously the guy with the Dictionary of Exciting names was out of the office that day. I'll go with "SuperNova Display" (© Zim Industries) for the future as it's far more in keeping with the naming convention and "Smart Dashboard" sounds like a very cheap mobile phone with a not very exciting display application running on it. Arguably the heart and sole of this bike .. but again, we know very little .. Any questions asked about it always receive the reply "YES, it can" .. so either they're still developing it and just add in what people ask about, or it's total pants and you're just talking to someone from marketing.
This is basically the next exciting bike we're all waiting to see .. what does everyone think ?