Electric Bicycle Hybrid

Since I posted an article on the OB1 electric hybrid bike I have been looking for similar designs that might work for my commute. My ride to work is long enough, and hilly enough, to make it hard to do five days a week. In the summer I can ride four days in a good week, but when the winter hits, the energy required to do my 20 mile round trip is out of reach.

A motorcycle would force me to go through the congested downtown area, or over two suspension bridges, with steel grates that make riding on wet days terrifying and dangerous. Enter an electric bicycle; I could ride in the bike lanes, and have the power to coast on longer days when my legs are spent. The idea appeals to me, but the options are just now starting to make it onto the market. The bike pictured above is not, as far as I can tell, being sold on the US market yet. The French company that makes it used to make Formula One racing cars. The Matra MS1 http://www.matrasports.com/ has a 60 mile range with a 6 hour recharge time.

With regenerative disc brakes, full suspension, and an LCD screen complete with a magnetic security card to turn it on and off this bike should work well for urban commutes like mine. I don't know when, or if, it will be available in the US, but when either this bike or the OB1 become available in Seattle I will be first in line for a test ride. Giz mag estimates that this bike might be in the 5,000 US dollar range, and the OB1 now retails for just under 13,000 dollars.

Competition and demand should drive down the cost of these new machines, and I would pay in the 5-10K range, since I don't have a car and my aversion to our ancient and slow city bus system motivates me to ride as much as I can.