Specifications:Battery: 16 ah 36 volt lipo
Motor: Clean Mobile system. 1200 watts built into the bottom bracket
Transmission : Rohloff Read our story about the Rohloff on ebikes here.
weight: 80lbs
Top Speed 30mph (estimated)
Range 20 miles (estimated)
Price $10,000 (estimated)
Austrian based motorcycle manufacturer ktm shows us what the future of high end electric bikes looks like. Although not evident immediately from this photo, this electric bike is utilizing all that technology has to offer to build an extremely efficient, fast and lightweight electric bike.
The motor that powers this bike is built into the bottom bracket and is made by Clean Mobile, the same high end German manufacturer that built the drive system for the Blacktrail Bt-01. The Clean Mobile system is only available on top end very exclusive bikes. The motor on the Egnition puts out 1200 watts a respectable amount. This motor is extra powerful because it effectively has 14 gears running through the Rohloff transmission which is built into the rear hub. It is a real challenge for an electric bike to utilize an electric motor on the same chain line as the human pedaler. The reason for this difficulty is that an electric motor is usually at a high rpm and has to be run through some kind of complicated gear reduction before it is running at an appropriate rpm to match the pedaler. Clean Mobile is accomplishing this somehow in an extremely complicated motor that is built into the bottom bracket. The Egnition is very similiar to an otpibike 1100r in design and performance, but has a much more traditional mountain bike look. WIth a 14 speed transmission its possible to climb steep terrain in a low gear at a low speed without risking smoking the motor as you would in a gearless set up.
Clean Mobile Drive System
From the video below the KTM looks like a powerful bike, and a great climber. The motor noise is somewhat noisy. Listen to the video and judge for yourself.
The battery that powers it is 15ah 36 volt worth of lipo is built into a made to fit case behind the downtube. The transmission for the motor and rider is the german Rohloff rear hub… a 10 speed transmission. Read our story about Rohloff Speed Hub on ebikes here.
Every thing else on this bike is typical high end mountain bike components.
The entire package is an extremely clean solution for an electric mountain bike without sacrificing ride quality and blance by having a heavy hub motor built into the wheels.
Quality and small production levels means high price.
Ktm is building 88 of these bikes in their first production run in mid 2012 and expect them to cost somewhere around $10,0000.
It weighs in at 80 pounds.
Here is a video (in german) where you can get an idea of how loud the bike is and how fast it is:
