By Simon Philips, WheelyGoodTech @ the Eurobike International Cycling Trade Fair 2019
LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2019 / Once a year the whole cycling world turns its eye on Friedrichshafen Germany, for the world’s largest international bike show. This year, that eye has turned specifically to look at the world of Cycling Startups. For the first time ever an entire hall of the show has been dedicated to the most innovative and disruptive Startup Tech from the world of bikes.
And if having the most Startups represented was the competition, then British companies came in second place (just behind Germany, who have somewhat of a home advantage). Four UK Startups are here showcasing their products, one of which (AER) has been announced Winner of the prestigious Eurobike Award in the Startup category.
See the full press pack with images and extra information on all the British Startups here at Eurobike.
So who are these Startups, where are they from and how did they get here?
Watch this video for a great rundown of what we saw going on in the Startup area.
Find out more about these British start-ups:
Swytch Technology
Download Full press pack:
With over one billion bikes already in the world, the biggest potential disruption for the electric bike industry would be if there was some way to turn existing bikes into electric ones.
Well, London Tech Startup Swytch claims to be able to do just that, with their lightweight and hand-held conversion kit that works on any bike. Their first product raised over half a million dollars on crowd funding site Indiegogo in 2017, and now they are back with a new version that weighs just 1.5kg and fits in your hand.
This kit has been unveiled for the first time this week (sadly too late for the Eurobike awards), and is launching on crowd-funding site Indiegogo later this month. Customers can sign up ahead of the launch for a 50% discount on their pre-launch page.
We have Swytch on the watch-list to be a strong contender for the Eurobike Awards next year to potentially carry onwards the torch from the winners this year who are:
AER [Adult Electric Scooter]
Proud Winners of the Eurobike award in the startup category, Manchester based Startup AER are actually not a bike company but a Scooter company, which says something about the uniqueness of their product given they have taken home the top prize at a Bike show!
eScooters are somewhat of a hot topic these days, with many questions regarding their safety and stability. AER claim to have solved this problem by developing the first stable and safe eScooter. Oh and did we mention it also folds?
Hats off to them, as the pioneers of perhaps an entire new class of light electric vehicle, they are well deserving of the award. It's currently available only by pre-order, for the very reasonable price of £1,999.
Flit Bike
Move aside Brompton, there's a new kid in town. Cambridge startup Flit bike is making a strong move into the folding bike territory that has been long dominated by the grand-father of folding bicycles. A weakness of Brompton these days the rather high price tag of the Brompton Electric Bike, which starts at £2,595. FLIT claims to deliver the same performance and foldability of the Brompton electric, but for just £1,500 (available to pre-order now on Kickstarter)
It will be interesting to see if FLIT can match the reliability and quality of Brompton in the long term. If so then Brompton had better have a good answer to it otherwise there will be a new king in the folding bike kingdom.
Analog Motion
Another London Startup, Analog Motion are currently mid-way through a campaign on Indiegogo with over £200,000 raised in just 10 days for their down-right sexy selection of lightweight, affordable eBikes starting at just £480 plus tax and shipping for those who pre-order now.
Many crowd-funding campaigns fail to deliver on their promises, but this is not Analog Motion's first rodeo, their first crowd-funding campaign raised almost half a million dollars for their "AM1" eBike in 2018, which has already been manufactured and delivered. Through that process they've refined the product and expanded the range to include a step-through bike and a mini bike.
And the rest
Other notable Startups from other countries include:
Calamus [Germany] https://calamusbikes.com/
The world’s first UltraBike from Berlin has received a lot of attention in the eBike world, it is a fully specced eBike that is jam-packed with features including a rear proximity sensor to detect when other cyclists or cars are approaching. We hope it’s not all smoke an mirrors though as we went to their stand and the bike wasn’t turning on…
Pocket Pedal [Iceland] https://pocketpedals.com/pages/about-pocket-pedals
The ultimate gadget for road cyclists - a flexible folding pedal adapter that fits in your pocket, and goes over your clip-on pedals turning them into regular pedals.
Convercycle [Germany] https://www.convercycle.com/
A very nifty bicycle that converts instantly into a long tail cargo bike and back again. Their crowd-funding campaign video includes some hilarious camera work making it look like the bike rides by itself.
See a list of every startup exhibiting at this link:
https://www.eurobike.com/de/programm-highlights/highlights-business-days/start-up/?
Contacts
| Oliver Montague | ||
| Work: +44 7876317783 | ||
| [email protected] |
Links
aerelectric.com
SOURCE: Swytch Technology