Optibike's OB1 hybrid electric mountain bike: yours for a cool $13,000
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:17AM
posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:17AM
Sure, it won't stabilize itself, it doesn't sport a cute wicker basket, and it has a five figure price tag, but the 2009 Optibike OB1 is on sale now -- and if you're a typical Engadget reader, you're probably considering four or five of them for you and your family. Designed by award winning bike designer Jim Turner, this lithium-ion battery-powered hybrid features a GPS, fully integrated PDA (to keep track of the vehicle's performance), two hours of battery life, and -- for those of you who like to kick it old school -- pedals. You know, for pedaling. Be sure to order yours now -- only twenty-four OB1s will be manufactured this year.
[Via Style Crave]
[Via Style Crave]
$13k??!?!
Not in this economy.
For $13,000 you shouldn't have to push your own pedals. At that price I shouldn't have to steer with the handlebars either.
Looks like a prototype for what ObamaGorePelosiReid will have GM making in Detroit. Coming soon to a showroom near you...
OB1? What ever happened to using the good old fashioned force to push those pedals?
Lame! You beat me to it!
fuck yeah bro - use the force
My bike trail riding ideals just cried out with agony!!!!!! DEAR GOD SAVE US ALL
I can't be the only one who finds the name of this bike entertaining. "Help me OB1..."
Is it just me or does that bike look out of place in that picture?
That takes all the fun out of riding...
Not only it takes all the fun out of riding, it also costs as a CAR!!!
So they bring exercising indoors with the wii and take it away from good outdoor activities like mountain biking. God bless america.
"fully integrated PDA (to keep track of the vehicle's performance"
You mean your feet? Aka your body performance? Aka How out of shape you are that after the battery dies out (after two hours) you have to actually exert energy to keep moving?
Yea, I'll pay 5 figures for that. I can easily spend low 3 figures and rig up something that will actually benefit you in the long run.
Also, anyone notice that the 'integrated GPS' seems like just a normal portable GPS system? I'll use my Garmin Nuvi, thanks.
Aren't most electric scooters cheaper than this anyway? I think that it defeats the whole purpose of a bicycle.
buy a nice bike for a grand, and a scooter for 3 grand, and pick which one you want to ride that day.
this should be called Obese1
like seriously how fat and sessile r we gettin in this country...
That comment makes perfect sense because obese people are looking for motorized bikes. I don't know about you, but I've seen scores of 'em.
If we're talking about societal ailments, let's discuss how people no longer find it necessary to make an effort to type coherently on the internet. I'm sure this post of full of errors, but damn, man, damn.
like seriously how lazy r we gettin in this country...
apparently not fat and sessile enough.
Being of the typical engadget variety I can say that this is not quite for me, i prefer the hot air balloon ride with a cool bottle of water in my hand watching the desert from the most beautiful vantage point of all.
I'm buying two of these today. One for me and the other for my Gold Diggin Wife.
I would much rather spend around $8k on a motorcycle like this than spend $13k on a bicycle with a whole 2 hr battery life and gps (which only cost about $200-$300 for a decent one) and integrated PDA to keep track of the pedal strokes you will have to put in after the batteries die. Impractical and you probably couldn't take it on a real bike trail. Shave off about $10k from that price tag and i MIGHT be onboard.
http://www.cycletrader.com/find/listing/photos/93999506/ the $8k bike
ZAP already makes an electric bike, and it costs $500. I don't think its quite as fast or has as big a range, but for 1/26th the price, i'd say the lazy among us have a much better deal.
http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-bikes/zap-powerbike
Keep in mind that the suspension fork on this OB1 is a nice little unit made by Fox that is worth at least $600 on its own (and if you knew anything about mountain biking, you'd know that Fox forks are worth every penny).
That being said, this thing is just silly. Sure some of the components are nice (like the above-mentioned fork) but the frame and wheels are painfully reminiscent of 1996. Bike tech has come a looooong way since then. And anyone who would spend thousands of dollars on a mountain bike (I'm guilty on multiple counts) would hate to have such a bulky, top-heavy, unbalanced bike that is going to get you laughed off any and every trail.
Electric bikes: great idea for commuting.
Electric mountain bikes: insulting to real mountain bikers.
I've ridden an optibike, don't own one, and don't work for the company, and it handles like a real mountain bike and can most certainly be used on real single track. The price is a bit high, but a bike like this makes commuting 20+ miles daily to work well within the range of an average individual.
Before completely bashing an innovative product perhaps people should take a look at what's actually being accomplished here. No other bike on the market has the battery life, speed, not to mention actually look decent. EVERY other pedal assist bike looks like some socially challenged key punching cave dweller slapped pieces from their stripped down inkjet to their 87 huffy.
This has to have been invented by an American.
Why not just stick a petrol engine on it, and be done with it?
Here in the states, we call that "freedom fuel," not "petrol." Commie bastard.
1995's bike design called – http://www.users.bigpond.com/cool386/trek/trek.htm
How ugly this is
Hahahaha.
I saw the pic of the OB1 and the Y-bike was (obviously) the first thing that came to mind. Admit it though, in 1995, you wanted a Y-33, or the Gary Fisher with identical geometry.
Stupid, expensive, lazy-ass and FUGLY.
Come on, fat boy, PEDAL TO THE METAL...
$13K?!?! WHAT THE....that bike looks like something out of the attic with additional ugly parts to it. For $13K i think i'll invest in a used Toyota Prius...this way I can still go places EVEN WHEN IT'S RAINING OUTSIDE!
Consider buying four or five of them for each of the family?? thats $65k! I will buy TWO brand new Toyota Prius's and guess what, I can carry those 5 member of the family X 2!
Crazy, that thing is fugly to the core. i wonder how much it costs to replace the battery after it wears out.
"Crazy, that thing is fugly to the core. i wonder how much it costs to replace the battery after it wears out."
I forgot that you could ride you Prius on bike trails. The above statement applies to the Prius as well.
There's biking and there's GHEY...
This is the later...
....too easy.
ahhhh, I'll take a Harley at that price
and still save.
@Cuddy
I don't really see a GSXR 750 qualifying as a mountain bike. However, if you want to take one up or down a step narrow dirt mountain trail by all means let me know how it works out for you.
That's good to know there won't be a storage house of these things piling dust.
Problem with most of you guys , you probably cannot see the pedals below your beer gut. Most decent mountain bikes cost upward of $10K , Intense, santa cruz , Maverick, Trek to name a few. you probably think bike begin with raleigh ???? .
Oh and by the way as an ex downhill competitor I know how to ride and would beat any of you downhill and uphill on any bike ........
Dumbass, my Bianchi SASS cost me 320 and will smoke any of you fakers.
My $80 NEXT bike from Walmart will smoke all of your asses.
@ Cakey
Douche
So the rich can experience in painless effort offroad biking. If i ever see one of those smut-peddalers out in the wild they better hope the batteries arent flat.
You all can think and say what you want, but you shoul dnot knock it until you try it.
I have an Optibike 800Li, cost me $8.2k, that I got for commuting. From June 2 to Nov. 2 I logged over 3000 miles with 45 mile round trip commutes. I added aero bars and an extra throttle. Top speeds on flats are 32-33mph. This is a hill buster. My average speeds for the commutes were 24-26mph, including stops, traffic and weather. These are real numbers. Avid Juice carbon disk brakes, Fox Talas forks. The bike is solid going downhill at 35+mph. SHow me a roadie that can average 25+mph with a backpack and lunch.
It is power-assist, not lack-of-power sit on you ass-is t. I peddal hard for an hour to work and back. After two days and 4 hours of riding, and I want to go moderate, I can back off and allow for more assist, and still average 22-23mph.
On the Optibike website, there are reps listed around the country that offer test rides.
It's green, American made, and top of the line.
Average 25-35kph? I average over 30kph commuting on my dh rig (and for $3k less than your "electric assist") (commuting over 20km each trip) Show me an "electric assist" mtn bike that can average 50+kph I may consider getting on board with the price tag.
Darryl,
Please read more carefully, the averages are 24-26 MILES PER HOUR. or 38.6-41.9 kph.
Top cruising speeds on flats : 32 Miles/hour, 51.5 kph. Can you maintain that speed?
Range with full throttle and pedalling hard - 38 miles, 61km, at 25mph, 40 kph.
Danno, Sorry I misread your comment, and in response to your reply: I am able to Easily Maintain an average cruising speed of 40-45km/h(on flat), topping out on flat I can reach close to 65km/h (w/ alot of effort), and down hills (on pavement) up to 95km/h (I always start braking once I hit 95km/h maybe I can go faster w/ more hill?) Going uphill (60% grade or 32 degree incline) I can maintain 20km/h. (This is on my hardtail dh rig w/ 8" front wheel travel and very slack head angle. The bike weighs 35lbs complete) Also my range is only limited to how far I am capable of riding (my personal record to date is 150km in 9hrs w/ an average speed of 45km/h going up, down, and on flat) So I still do not see the point in spending over $1500 on an electric "pedal assist" "mountain" bike unless you are unable to pedal a bike without "assistance".
I received my OB-1 a month ago. In the hilly areas of suburban San Francisco, it's meant the difference between me riding for exercise/errands/pleasure and simply not attempting to ride at all (I'm 51 years old). I've had two earlier generation e-bikes - the EV Global LE36V and the Giant LA Free 24 volt. Both are well-executed and great fun, but the OB-1 is a serious hybrid bike that excels in speed, power, quality, and sheer exhilaration.
The OB-1 is a custom-fitted machine, built essentially by hand, in low volume. Getting American skilled craftsmen to create these machines takes money and time, and and the manufacturer is (I hope) earning a fair profit as it builds the market. Every market has its segments, and the fact that American Optibike occupies the top price/top performance segment is perfectly legitimate. The comments from the readers herein seem to miss the point that there are buyers like myself who value quality and innovation and are willing to pay for it.
For some reason I am missing the point or they are. I ride my bikes for the exercise, and the shear enjoyment of doing it myself. I own 2 motorcycles and several cars, when I want to go faster or further etc. I take one of those. Why is it that we are becoming so lazy that my kids think they are good at a sport because they are good at WII or a video game. One of the problems in our country today is we are getting fat , lazy and are looking for the faster, easier way out. We have exported all our jobs, take steroids to be faster, , we put zero down on our homes and watch obesity, diabetes and the like become the norm. I have nothing against innovative ideas but please but them where they belong i.e not in the same category as bikes. I wonder if we can start to run them in the tour might as well screw one more long standing sport, we have done it to the Americas Cup.
Sorry for the rant but this is just another slippery slope for the lazy American - well shit not me I don't need you to carry me up Mt Everest so I can say I climbed it at the cocktail party.
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Talk about missing the point....
Electric bikes such as this Optibike are designed to allow folks to avoid trips in their 2000+ lb automobile or 4000lb+ SUV, not replace recreational cycling for fat **s Americans.
This particular model is Optibike's high end artisan limited edition that costs about 2X their mainstream series bikes and takes the price point to an extreme, something like a limited edition Signature Series Cobra Mustang, I suggest that you consider the standard edition Optibikes before getting too dismissive.
In the context of a $5K or $6K complete Optibike, how many $ per year do you spend on gas DRIVING to and from work or the corner market that is less than 10 or 20 miles from home? If you're honest with yourself you'll likely find that you spend $5K-$10K/year on car related expenses (insurance, fuel, repairs, depreciation etc).
I hear everyone's point about lazy, overweight & out of shape Americans an it's true, but this ped-elec bike could be part of the solution, not part of the problem if we could open our eyes to the possibility of learning to skip a few trips a week with our car in favor of doing some moderate pedaling on a SUPER efficient hybrid electric vehicle such as this.
I love to ride MTB's XC & Downhill, -and I commute to work by bike whenever I can afford the extra few minutes to shower up on either end of the trip I'm now saving up my $ to buy one of the ~$6K Optibikes (with CASH, not credit, dummies) in order to avoid some of my CAR trips, not to replace any of the full pedal powered rides that I do now.
An Optibike is a high-end, long range (add a 2nd rack mounted battery for 100+ miles/charge), reliable, high performance and ultra-efficient American made machines. Comparing this thing to a $500 Zap Chinese special that will fall apart or die in 6 months is like comparing a Chevy Corvette to a Yugo.
Buy American, drive less, burn less OPEC oil, live healthier, get out & around town once in a while without hiding inside your car, this is all good stuff.
Open your minds up a little and you'll realize that our car/suv centric culture is killing us, economically and physically, both as individuals and as a country.