Italian design firm ARES is showing off its ARES Super Leggera electric bicycle, which it claims is the lightest electric bicycle in the world.
The 9 kg (19.8 lb) electric road bike was produced in a partnership between the design firm ARES and High Performance Systems (HPS), an advanced engineering company that develops mobility technology.
The heart of the Super Leggera e-bike is a 200-watt motor that is designed to provide a modest electrical assist to riders.
An average human can generate 200 watts of power when pedaling a bicycle, so this certainly isn’t a high-powered solution. Instead, the “Watt Assist” system developed by HPS is intended to provide a slight boost to riders, helping take the edge off of hills by compensating with the assist level of a typical human rider.
While HPS provided the technical know-how, ARES was responsible for the ultralight carbon fiber frame and components. The result is an ultralight electric road bike, as the company explained:
“ARES and HPS have worked together for two years carrying out countless tests in the laboratory and covering many thousands of kilometers on the road, using the experience of former professional cyclists to fine-tune the dynamic qualities of this racing style e-bike. ARES managing the design of the frame and the finishes; HPS providing its expertise on the mechanical and engineering side. The result is a high-tech carbon fiber bike that doesn’t currently exist on the market: the ARES Super Leggera by HPS is a top-of-the-range e-bike weighing just 9kg, a world first.”
ARES claims that the Super Leggera is the lightest electric bike yet, though the design firm may be a few grams off – and it also depends on how you count those grams.
Technically we’ve seen lighter e-bikes, such as the 6.872 kg (15.15 lb) Freicycle electric bike. While that one is probably the lightest e-bike in the world right now, it was a custom DIY build, so it doesn’t really count when discussing production e-bikes.
The HPS Domestique is probably the current lightest production electric bicycle at just 8.5 kg (18.7 lb) and thus edges out the ARES Super Leggera by around 500 grams. But then that weight also depends on whether you count some other key components in the total such as pedals (often a ‘bring your own’ affair in competitive cycling).
ARES has certainly edged out the lightest models in other cycles niches though.
Hummingbird has the lightest folding e-bike at 10.3 kg (22.7 lb), while Trek claims to have the lightest full-suspension electric mountain bike at 15.75 kg (34.72 lb).
ARES is currently planning a limited first run of 24 Super Leggera e-bikes, putting the bicycles just on the production side of the grey area between boutique and custom.
Such lightweight design and limited production comes at a cost though – in this case, the cost is €18,950. Yikes!
That’s a big ask from a company that still hasn’t released a number of other key specs about the bike, such as battery capacity or major components.
But when it comes to the claim of the world’s lightest electric bike, suffice it to say that ARES is definitely right there near the top of the list, even if there are technically a few lighter e-bikes riding around these days.
via: ARES
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