Recently I had a chance encounter with the guys from Typhoon, who build intriguing “motor assisted” road and mountain bikes. They had on display a motorised carbon road bike that on inspection shared an extremely close resemblance to one recently discovered in the world of cyclocross.
At first glance I didn’t spot that the bike was modified. It just looked like one of many very sleek carbon road bikes. In fact the weight wasn’t even that bad, I’d guess around 9kg, no featherweight but less than my fully kitted winter bike. Even on close inspection the only clue was a barely visible wire running from the storage bottle into the seat tube. The guys assured me this would be totally hidden in the future and that the storage bottle would be much smaller.
Click on the pic to enlarge. You still won’t be able to tell it’s an e-bike!
This particular pre-production model had a three-speed motor activated by a tiny switch hidden on the bars. Once turned on it kicks in when you pedal, providing up to an extra 250 watts of power in high mode.
Yes, that’s an extra TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY WATTS!
According to the guys they are currently two months away from a proper release, but with the recent publicity surrounding mechanical doping in the pro ranks they brought a couple of examples to the Bike Show to ride the wave of that publicity, so to speak!
At a cost of around 12,000 euros I don’t think you’ll be seeing many on the club rides any time soon, but this undoubtedly proves that the tech is out there, works perfectly and is accessible to the general public.
Now if only I could score a proper test ride…
Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania 
Wow, that isn’t bad for an E-Bike! I don’t like the idea of trying to hide that it’s an e-bike though, and it sounds as though these guys think that’s part of the game. It has a despicable feel to me.
And when did we catch up to the Euro?! We’re only a few pennies behind it now.
The question is how long do you get that big boost for?
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Apparently the F1 drivers use them when riding with the pro cyclist lot out on the continent. That way they can keep up on the climbs and have a bit of fun. The battery lasts around two hours if you use it all the time. You can still ride the bike normally with the motor off (or a flat battery). An extra 250W for two hours, mental. They are all currently custom builds so you can spec them however you like!
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Yeah, I’ve been contemplating how I could come up with the money for one, just so I could beat Manges and see the look on his face… It would only work once but it would be priceless.
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You know what’s ironically funny about the electric assisted Typhoon?
Mechanical shifting… It doesn’t even have an electronic groupset. Chuckle.
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Lovely looking bike. Looks like I need to win the lottery though ;-) x
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