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You'll soon get the chance to buy Teague's e-bike of the future
If you saw the Teague X/Sizemore "Denny" e-bike last week and voted for it in the Oregon Manifest design contest, pat yourself on the back -- it just won. As a result, what was merely a design experiment will now become an actual retail product built by Fuji Bikes, available to buy in 2015. To bring you up to speed, the Seattle-inspired cycle grabbed our attention with its removable handlebar locking system and electric drive pedal assist. Other techie features include an automatic gear shifter, removable battery, minimalistic "fenders," integrated storage and a full set of lights. Along with the clean lines, that helped it best four other formidable entries and launch it as a product. There's no word on pricing yet, but Fuji said it has "exactly the kind of innovations we hoped would come from (the contest)" and expects it to sell well.
Bike of the future removes the need to shift gears, pedal up hills or pack a lock
Biking in Seattle can be less than mellow with all the hills, traffic and especially that rain. But those things are exactly what inspired the Teague team of bicycle designers to build the Denny bike for the Oregon Manifest bike design project. The model (built by fabricator Taylor Sizemore) sports a minimalist frame, which belies all the tech packed inside. There's an electric motor on the front hub (with a removable battery) to boost your hill-climbing, for starters. That's married with a computer controlled automatic shifter that automatically adjusts to ride conditions for a "hassle-free riding experience." To combat the constant showers, meanwhile, it uses a simple device with rubber bristles to break up the water, rather than a fender.
Faraday Porteur concept e-bike becomes a reality, launches pre-sale on Kickstarter (video)
Last time we saw the Faraday electric bike, it had just emerged victorious from the Oregon Manifest design competition. Designed by Ideo and built by Portland's Rock Lobster Cycles, the retro-styled ride was destined to rot in concept hell for all eternity -- that is until lead designer Adam Vollmer quit Ideo to press the bike into production under the Faraday Bicycles name. Now he's perfected the design, the company's launching a pre-sale on Kickstarter to, er, kickstart the first production run. Don't be fooled by its low-fi looks, parallel top tubes hold a series of lithium-ion batteries which power a front motor, good for between 10 and 15 miles of travel. The two front prongs are the basis of a modular racking system and contain a pair of LED headlamps that activate automatically in bad light. It charges in 45 minutes and weighs around 40 pounds. The bike will set you back $3,500, $300 less than when a second run is produced next year -- significantly cheaper than the current price for the $5,400 Grace One we rode around New York. If you've got some baller-style cash to throw around, you can spend $10,000 on a collectors edition hand-finished by Rock Lobster's Paul Sadoff. After the break we've got video and more details, but be warned -- you might find yourself opening your wallet a little too rapidly.
The Faraday electric bike shows us all how retro the future will be
This ain't no fixie with a minty fresh paint job, this is the Faraday. Built for the Oregon Manifest design competition, ideas factory Ideo teamed up with bike builders Rock Lobster Cycles to produce this retro-technotastic electric bike. Everything futuristic has been hidden inside the frame: those parallel top tubes hold a series of lithium-ion batteries which juice up the front-hub motor -- all controlled from the green box tucked beneath the seat cluster. Those two prongs up front serve as built-in headlights and the base of a modular racking system, letting you swap out various carrying mechanisms like a trunk or child seat with the pop of a bolt. Tragically, the bike is just a concept -- so unless the teams responsible cave into peer pressure and get it into production, you'll have to use old-fashioned leg power to get you over those steep hills. [Image courtesy of Mike Davis] %Gallery-136151%
