Here’s the secret electric bicycle Boosted was making before bankruptcy

Boosted was a key leader in the premium electric skateboard market before the company’s untimely demise two months ago. As it tuns out, Boosted was apparently working on much larger projects, including a pair of electric bicycles known as the Boosted Bullet and P2.

Expanding beyond electric skateboards had been a clear goal for the company since as early as 2018.

That’s when Boosted raised $60 million in venture capital funding to develop “vehicle-grade light EVs.”

At the time I had predicted that a Boosted electric scooter was next on the product sheet, which turned out to be correct when the Boosted Rev dual-motor electric scooter was unveiled last May.

But little did we know that a Boosted electric bicycle was in the works. Or as it turns out, two Boosted e-bikes.

But thanks to a video recently uploaded by Sam Sheffer, we’re getting our first glimpse of the previously rumored bikes.

The bikes can be seen in an internal product line-up graphic, and are referenced as the Boosted Bullet and P2 electric bikes.

The Boosted e-bikes appear to based on non-folding frames that ride on 20-inch wheels, almost BMX style. It’s not a common setup in the e-bike industry, but it’s one we’ve seen from another California-based e-bike company recently.

There’s a hub motor in the rear wheel and a rim brake on the front wheel. Rim brakes are almost nonexistent in the e-bike industry at this point, having been eclipsed by mechanical disc brakes on lower-end and medium-quality e-bikes and hydraulic disc brakes on nicer e-bikes.

When I test rode the Boosted Rev last year with Boosted CEO Jeff Russakow and CTO John Ulmen before its release, the duo explained that they were so confident in the strength of Boosted’s regenerative braking that they almost didn’t even include physical hand brakes on the Boosted Rev scooter. In the end, they included a single disc brake to provide an added sense of security and confidence for riders, though I noted in my test ride that I didn’t even use the hand brake because the regen braking was strong enough by itself. So the Boosted e-bikes were likely headed in the same direction, with physical brakes serving as something of a backup to main regenerative braking.

The only significant difference between the Boosted Bullet and P2 e-bike models appears to be the addition of a larger battery on the Bullet e-bike. The Bullet was likely intended to have a removable auxiliary battery that could be charged off the bike, while the P2 could have sported a non-removable battery.

Actual photos of the Boosted Bullet e-bike prototypes provide more details. A chain drive appears to be chosen over a belt drive, and the handlebars appear to house a pair of embedded headlights. It’s hard to see the throttle due to the angle of the pictures, but it almost looks like the bikes are missing a throttle. There certainly doesn’t appear to be a twist throttle, and there is no tell-tale paddle from a thumb throttle. However, it is possible that Boosted employed their signature knurled wheel throttle, which is much lower-profile than most e-bike thumb throttles.

The photos also show that the rear brake lever lacks a cable, indicating that the rear wheel likely used only regenerative braking without any mechanical braking.

Sheffer’s video also shows prototypes for new Boosted electric skateboards and a rendering of a Boosted electric scooter that we have never seen before — one that varies significantly from the released Boosted Rev electric scooter. You can see the entire video below.

It’s unfortunate that we never got to see how these Boosted electric bicycles would have fared in the market, especially considering the explosion in e-bike sales we’re currently witnessing during the COVID-19-related lockdowns.

But at least the bikes didn’t completely fade into obscurity, thanks to former Boosted employees apparently leaking their photos. If we can’t actually get a Boosted e-bike, at least we can get a glimpse into what an alternate future would have looked like if they had made it onto the road.

What do you think of the Boosted Bullet and P2 e-bike designs? Let us know in the comments below.

via: the Verge