The hybridization of motorcycles and bicycles is a big part of the story when it comes to future two-wheelers. These aren’t concepts any more, manufacturing is going full tilt, and all sorts of electric two-wheelers are found on the streets of Europe.
Pictured is the ELMOTO LOOP, a product of GOVECS, one of the primary electric scooter manufacturers in Europe. The wheel sizes and ergonomics of the ELMOTO LOOP are more motorcycle than scooter, although in profile, it looks very much like a modern mountain bike.
From our perspective, the ELMOTO LOOP points to a future where motorcycles are extremely light when stripped to their bare essentials … here, a battery, hub motor, chassis, suspension and brakes — altogether weighing a claimed 130 pounds, or roughly 1/3 of the weight of the lightest street legal motorcycles when fueled up.
The ELMOTO LOOP is far from a practical motorcycle (it is focused on use as a delivery vehicle in crowded European urban areas), with a top speed limited to only 28 mph and a range of roughly 58 miles, but more power and more range don’t have to add that much weight to a minimalist design like this. For urban use, a bike capable of 45 mph or so could be all that you need.
The ELMOTO LOOP (also capable of carrying a passenger) is not currently available in the United States. You can find full specs for the ELMOTO LOOP here.
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Electric cycles, leaning heavily to the bicycle side make all the sense in the world. A fully highway capable electric motorcycle which is barely capable of getting out of town,and then back makes no practical sense. They may be a hoot and I would love to have one but that isn’t going to happen with me or most. The electric full power motorcycle awaits that long awaited great leap forward in battery technology. I don’t suggest holding your breath.
I am considering one of these. $1500 bucks
https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrover-electric-fat-bike
The truly winning element here is the design. Wow. Really. The ergonomics look right. Just barely feefy-enough to withstand some abuse, yet super simple and light enough for both flickability and range. If this were finished-as AND marketed like dirtbike with moped legal capabilities – they’d sell like hotcakes in the US and beyond. Knobbies. High front fender. Some light mud guards. Under $5K and I’d buy one. An accessory range of lightweight carbon fiber goodies could increase margins for mfg, too. Sorry. Rambling now. 😉
“A hint of how light electric motorcycles can be”? While I am a fan of electric cars, pick-ups, SUVs, and of course motorcycles, this thing cannot be regarded as an electric motorcycle as far as I’m concerned. It’s an electric bicycle without pedals.
130lb is light but the top speed is also light. Zero FX3.6 is 251lbs with a full tank (LOL), can crank out 70mph, and is available in North America. As an urban delivery vehicle it rocks. 0-50 and all you did is cross the intersection. They aren’t perfect, no motorcycle is, but electrics are a blast in the city. I didn’t buy mine to save the environment, I don’t believe any of the hype, I bought it because the fun factor was off the chart for me. I might have preferred the KTM EX500 that was the second runner up but I doubt it.
I went to Zero’s website and checked out your bike. Really cool! It’s a lot cheaper than I expected.
It’d be perfect for the RV crowd.
Lets not confuse this with a real full size motorbike, it is designed for delivery services in congested cities, I’ve always said that e bikes are best suited for utilitarian duties. That being said, I took my Alta super moto downtown once where I live and talk about having a ball, of course mine would snap off silent wheelies at 40mph but get it out on 40+ mph roads and range became a problem.
This is definitely a bicycle without a crank. That hub motor can’t be anything larger than 750 Watt, about 1 horsepower, maybe 1000 Watts. You can buy all sorts of hub motor wheel kits to turn any mountain bike into an e-bike – or buy one already assembled for a grand. I don’t know what makes this one special.
They claim that this bike at 130 pounds is only 1/3 the weight of the lightest street legal motorcycles. My Yamaha XT250 weighs 291 pounds wet while this electric bike at 130 pounds times 3 equals 390 pounds. That is still 100 pounds away from being only 1/3 the weight as they claim and I’m sure there are other street legal bikes out there that are lighter than the XT250.
Gosh Mister, you sure told them.
And I’ll bet that there is an old mini-bike from the 1970’s running around somewhere with a Briggs and Stratton 3hp motor, that weighs even less than an XT250.
lol, and I would still prefer that 1970’s mini-bike over this what-ever-they-call-it.
Ditto.
After reading of the pollution caused by mining and recycling the required batteries, and pollution generated in the making of electricity, to say nothing of the lack of range, lack of charging stations, and time required for recharge, cost to replace batteries, and rate at which such bikes become obsolete, my lack of interest in e-bikes only grows. For ’round town errands they seem reasonable, except for cost.
When people make statements like “pollution caused by mining and recycling the required batteries, and pollution generated in the making of electricity”, they ignore the fact that batteries are used for years and years before needing to be replaced or recycled and that petroleum extraction and combustion causes orders of magnitude more pollution over that same time period. Also, electricity generation can be very low impact if you use renewable means such as solar, wind, or water to produce it.
Except this compares more to mopeds (and bicycles) in size, weight, and performance. It might be a good idea and a good bike, but not especially light-weight.
How many have 1 moving part.
“…it looks very much like a modern mountain bike…” Yes and no. The dual triple clamps mimic a downhill bike. But front travel looks less than any downhill bike, and even more so the rear travel.
The bars look to be about 4-6″ too narrow for a mountain bike; shorter width bars cause front end oscillation (personal experience). Bicycles have pedals, which this lacks. Wheel diameter looks like 24 inch; mountain bike wheels average 27.5 to 29″ now, though down hill bikes may have 26″ wheel diameter, some maybe even smaller.
The tires have a tread more pavement oriented, though that’s also sometimes a “sand” tread for low PSI tires. The front disc IMO is way undersized for a 2-wheel vehicle of this weight. None of these points are necessarily criticisms.
Ditto, the all upper case make/model is major stupid.
See, when I read, “it looks very much like….” I assume that there are some differences between whatever two things are being compared, NOT that you cannot tell the two things apart from each other. Oh, wait. You were just trying to impress everyone with your expert knowledge of modern mountain bikes, weren’t you? Sorry. My bad. Carry on.
Thanks for agreeing with everything I posted.
Sure doesn’t look like it weighs that much. I like it.
I don’t want to read another thing about this thing until they change the name. I’m not even willing to type it. The all caps spelling is obnoxious.
I’d rather have an electric bicycle so I wouldn’t be stranded if the battery dies
I’d rather have an electric bicycle so I wouldn’t be stranded if the battery dies.
I’d rather have an electric bicycle so I wouldn’t be stranded if the battery dies.
pedals
The 28 mph top speed is not limited by technology but by government regulations which delineate the boundary between e-bikes and motorcycles. If you want your vehicle to go 45 it will have to meet the full set of MC regs like antilock brakes, lights and signals, licensing, insurance, safety, age and drivers license class restrictions, TUV certification of all components, etc. etc. You may find the cost, complexity, performance and weight will no longer be so attractive compared to current ICE motorcycle offerings.
The bike already has lights, turn signals and disk brakes. Many scooters satisfy 28+ mph regs.
I think your observation about speed limit/regulation is correct. This is meant to take the place of a typical 50cc urban scooter, which has become a depressed market in Europe (also due to regulation, I hear).
This could be made faster, but it would be at the expense of range.
There are some interesting choices here. I don’t see a retail price on this but I’m sure it’s pricey compared to a traditional scooter and that’ll always give potential customers pause. That headlight is the most expensive E-bike headlight I am aware of, for instance. It retails for over $300. There are many lights that would be plenty adequate that cost less than 25% of what that one does. Could’ve saves some scheckles there..
As you can see from the link this is (European) class L1e vehicle, electric moped, motor vehicle, not an e-bike. Mopeds don’t need anti-lock brakes (some motorcycles don’t either). Otherwise they have similar regulations to motorcycles.