Last Fall I had the opportunity to see one of the global Formula-1 races — this one held in Austin, Texas. Turns out Austin is home to the only F1 track in the US – and every year in November (I think it is usually about that time) – a bunch of advanced automotive fans converge in the city to see the latest in super car racing.
The 2014 race was based on 6-cylinder gasoline engines with surprisingly SMALL displacement – only 1.6-litter volume (which is about 1/2 of my car’s engine displacement) but between the gasoline engine and the electric assist motors, the 2014 F-1 race cars were achieving in the range of 780-hp !!!
Turns out this technology — the electric assist motors — is now finding its way into bicycles – specifically electric bicycles. The UK based and manufacturing in the UK company Brompton is leveraging partnership with F-1 engineers to design and produce pedal assisted electric bikes.
Electric bikes are no new news for sure. You can see below statistics of the sales of those in several key regions:
Find more statistics at Statista;
As you can see China specifically has huge sales of electric bikes – but from my personal experience (having lived in China for a number of years) those bikes are pretty bad – they are more of a scooter – and something to use as a moped rather than a bike…
Now with the entry of the F-1 and Brompton designs
Given the amazing technology in terms of carbon fiber body elements and electric assist motors that were driving the overall power plant for the F-1 racing cars, I think this particular bike designs will be nothing but boring.
So now the combination of cool design, (although somewhat uncomfortable ride given the small wheels) and F-1 technology, I am very curious of the upcoming capabilities and would love to be able to test ride one very soon.