Specialized shocked the bike world when it announced it would resurrect its defunct Globe brand for an all-new lineup of e-bikes. Here’s how the company went about designing an e-bike for maximum cargo-carrying capabilities.
After a year-long struggle, the boutique maker of stealthy electric bikes finally gets it right.
The four-year, $65 million project has everything — and nothing — to do with the automobile.
It took four years to build, but Amsterdam’s underwater bike shed in front of Central Station is set to open on January 26th with space for 6,300 privately-owned bikes and 700 more spaces for bike-shares. Parking is free for 24 hours, then €1.35 (about $1.46) for each additional day.
The struggling scooter company merged with Bird Canada, an independently owned micromobility business from up north, in a deal that valued it at $64 million. As Oversharing’s Alison Griswold notes, the deal was less of a merger and more of a reverse-takeover.
The big question is whether the proudly Canadian Bird Canada team is right to believe that it can turn Bird Global around and get it to profitability. The merger release says the goal is for Bird to reach adjusted EBITDA profitability on a full year basis in 2023, and presumably for straightforward EBITDA profitability to follow after that. The immediate infusion of $4 million in cash should give Bird Global some breathing room, with more to follow assuming the transaction is completed.
[oversharing.substack.com]
As noted by Oversharing’s Alison Griswold, the scooter sharing company is so strapped for cash that its hounding current and former customers for literal pennies. People are understandably pissed off. Bird, which admitted last month to overstating its revenue for two-plus years, is rapidly running out of cash and may not have enough money to stay in business. Has anyone checked the couch cushions?
Rad Power Bikes, the number one seller of e-bikes in North America, discovers that when it comes to power, stability, and fun, three is the magic number.
47 percent of Europeans surveyed by Shimano now cite cost-of-living as the primary reason to use an e-bike in 2022, compared to 2021 when the primary motivator (39 percent) was avoiding covid on public transport. Government subsidies and increasing environmental concerns are also helping to spur the adoption of e-bikes, which already outsell regular bikes in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Bird issued a “going concern” warning last night, disclosing that it may not have enough money to keep going for another 12 months. The warning came hours after the scooter company admitted to the SEC that it had overstated its revenue for two years and that its financial reports from 2020 and 2021 can “no longer be relied upon,” And its stock price is still trading under $1-per-share, putting Bird at risk of being delisted. What a crummy week for the scooter sharing pioneer.
[Bird Global, Inc.]
Cargo bikes can save our cities from the pollution and snarled traffic created by delivery vans, and replace the family car to get the kids to school on time. They can also host a rave.
The Lectric XP 3.0 is a thorough update to the XP 2.0 with improved motor, brakes, and suspension to accommodate a second rider up to 150lbs. Introductory pricing starts at $999, but jumps by $75 for the comfy passenger package, and another $200 if you want the long-range battery. It’ll even accommodate a pet trailer for an extra $170.
52 percent of all new bicycles sold in the Netherlands are now electric, followed by Austria (45%), Germany (43%), Belgium (39%), and Switzerland (38%), with numbers expected to continue to rise, according to Bike Europe. Subsidizing the purchase price has helped spur adoption in some countries like France.
Micah Toll reporting for Electrek on a second e-bike that has a frame defect causing it to split in two:
I would have loved to see them include all of their future e-bikes in that $10,000 guarantee, though, as that would make them extra sure that any new e-bike gets sufficiently tested on the way out of the factory.
How can anyone trust this e-bike brand after two serious recalls in six months?
The city authorized $9 million to finance incentives through 2024, but that money is already nearly exhausted. More than 4,100 Denver residents have redeemed vouchers worth more than $4.1 million — way more than the $400,000 city official expected to spend. All residents are eligible for a $400 (or up to $1,200 for low-income residents) off the purchase of a new e-bike. Federal officials, take note.
The popular YouTuber just put up a great video outlining all the various ways of getting around New York City (walking, running, subway, his signature Boosted Board) and lamenting how none of them are really compatible with having kids.
So he pulled the trigger and got an electric cargo bike. Specifically, the Enurau MAX-CARGO, if I’m not mistaken, which can be had for the very attractive price of $1,699. Casey calls it “the most perfect means of transport,” and I tend to agree!
LiveWire has completed its merger with a blank-check company and will make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange today. Harley-Davison CEO Jochen Zeitz called it “a proud and exciting milestone for LiveWire towards its ambition to become the most desirable electric motorcycle brand in the world.” Hopefully it also manages to avoid the cash crunch of other EV SPACs, like Canoo, Arrival, Faraday Future, and Lordstown.
Motorcycle owner Douglas Sonders has a cautionary tale in Jalopnik today about the iPhone 14’s new crash detection feature. He was riding his LiveWire One motorcycle down the West Side Highway at about 60 mph when he hit a bump, causing his iPhone 14 Pro Max to fly off its handlebar mount. Soon after, his girlfriend and parents received text messages that he had been in a horrible accident, causing several hours of panic. The phone even called the police, all because it fell off the handlebars. All thanks to crash detection.
Riding a motorcycle is very dangerous, and the last thing anyone needs is to think their loved one was in a horrible crash when they weren’t. This is obviously an edge case, but it makes me wonder what other sort of false positives we see as more phones adopt this technology.
Super73’s tribute to mountain-biking pioneer Tom Ritchey has my inner American engorged with flag-waving desire. The “ZX Team” edition features a red, white, and blue colorway with custom components fitted throughout. Modern MTBers might scoff at the idea of doing any serious trail riding on a heavy Super73 e-bike, which is fine: this one-off is not for sale.
You can, however, buy the Super73 ZX it’s based on (read my review here), which proved to be a very capable all-terrain vehicle on asphalt, dirt, gravel, and amber fields of grain.
Earlier this year, Specialized announced a new sub-brand called Globe dedicated to building high-quality electric utility bikes that are designed specifically to replace car trips. We still don’t know what these bikes will look like, but today the company released its brand statement in the form of a poem, which is cute. Specialized promises it will have more to say on September 27th, so mark you calendars.
