Motorsport teams are always on the lookout for new ways to part fans from their hard-earned cash. Whether it’s branded baseball caps, swanky sunglasses or mini replica helmets, they’re experts at it. And now, the Mercedes Formula E squad has a new line of electric bikes desperate to deprive you of a few thousand dollars.
The range of four electric bikes has been created in partnership with bicycle builder N+ Works. The collaboration between the bike maker follows a similar partnership with the Mercedes Formula 1 team to build a bougie road bike inspired by each year’s F1 racer.
Now, N+ has worked together with the Mercedes EQ team to create four electric bikes, which start at $US3,450 ($4,789).
The range includes the Formula E Team eBike, the Silver Arrows eBike, the Silver Arrows Sport eBike and the Championship Edition eBike, which was designed to honour the squad’s win in last year’s Formula E World Championship.
All four bikes feature aluminium frames and forks, hydraulic disc brakes and carbon belt drive. They also include a display integrated into the handlebars to show your speed and battery level, which is pretty neat.
Also, N+ claims that all four bikes can recharge in three and a half hours, despite their varying battery sizes.
The “budget” Formula E Team eBike has a range of 64 km and will hit 32 km/h thanks to its 250W motor and 7ah battery. The Silver Arrows eBike adds more battery, up to 17ah, which increases the range to 75 miles and the price to $US4,500 ($6,247).
3The Sport eBike will set you back $US4,950 ($6,872) and lives up to its name with a bigger 500W motor that helps power it on to a top speed of 40 km/h.
However, this pales in comparison to the Championship Edition eBike, which offers front suspension, a dual motor setup and twin 10Ah batteries that can power it up to 28mph for up to 75 miles. This $US5,800 ($8,052) bike is also the only model offered as a single-speed, while the other three include a constant-variable transmission.
All four of these e-bikes look like a lot of fun. They have very sleek frames that hide the fact that they’re electrically-powered pretty well. I’m a fan of their styling.
They might not pack in tech directly lifted from the championship-winning Formula E team, but it’s a pretty neat collaboration that has spawned some very nice looking bikes.
It’s a shame the colour options aren’t more inspiring. It’s a choice between black, silver or black and blue. But maybe next year when the team is rebranded in McLaren orange we might get a jazzier colour palette.