Swytch Technology

With over 1 Billion bicycles already in the world, the biggest potential disruptor for the electric bike industry would if there was some way to turn those existing bikes into electric ones.

Well, London Tech Startup Swytch claims to be able to do just that, with their lightweight and hand-held conversion kit that works on any bike. Their first product raised over half a million dollars on crowd funding site Indiegogo in 2017, and now they are back with a new version that is 50% lighter and 70% smaller, such that it fits in your hand.

This kit has been unveiled for the first time this week (sadly too late for the Eurobike awards), and is launching on crowd-funding site Indiegogo later this month. Customers can sign up ahead of the launch for a 50% discount on their pre-launch page.

We have Swytch on the watch-list to be a strong contender for the Eurobike Awards next year to potentially carry onwards the torch from the winners this year who are:

AER [Adult Electric Scooter]

Proud Winners of the Eurobike award in the startup category, Manchester based Startup AER are actually not a bike company but a Scooter company, which says something about the uniqueness of their product given they have taken home the top prize at a Bike show!

eScooters are somewhat of a hot topic these days, with many questions regarding their safety and stability. AER claim to have solved this problem by developing the first stable and safe eScooter. Oh and did we mention it also folds?

Hats off to them, as the pioneers of perhaps an entire new class of light electric vehicle, they are well deserving of the award. It's currently available only by pre-order, for the very reasonable price of £1,999.

Flit Bike

Move aside Brompton, there's a new kid in town. Cambridge startup Flit bike is making a strong move into the folding bike territory that has been long dominated by the grand-father of folding bicycles. A weakness of Brompton these days the rather high price tag of the Brompton Electric Bike, which starts at £2,595. FLIT claims to deliver the same performance and foldability of the Brompton electric, but for just £1,500 (available to pre-order now on Kickstarter)

It will be interesting to see if FLIT can match the reliability and quality of Brompton in the long term. If so then Brompton had better have a good answer to it otherwise there will be a new king in the folding bike kingdom.

Analog Motion

Another London Startup, Analog Motion are currently mid-way through a campaign on Indiegogo with over £200k raised in just 10 days for their down-right sexy selection of lightweight, affordable eBikes starting at just £480 plus tax and shipping for those who pre-order now.

Many crowd-funding campaigns fail to deliver on their promises, but this is not Analog Motion's first rodeo, their first crowd-funding campaign raised almost half a million dollars for their "AM1" eBike in 2018, which has already been manufactured and delivered. Through that process they've refined the product and expanded the range to include a step-through bike and a mini bike.

And the rest

Other notable Startups from other countries include:

Calamus [Germany] https://calamusbikes.com/

The world’s first UltraBike from Berlin has received a lot of attention in the eBike world, it is a fully specced eBike that is jam-packed with features including a rear proximity sensor to detect when other cyclists or cars are approaching. We hope it’s not all smoke an mirrors though as we went to their stand and the bike wasn’t turning on…

Pocket Pedal [Iceland] https://pocketpedals.com/pages/about-pocket-pedals

The ultimate gadget for road cyclists – a flexible folding pedal adapter that fits in your pocket, and goes over your clip-on pedals turning them into regular pedals.

Convercycle [Germany] https://www.convercycle.com/

 A very nifty bicycle that converts instantly into a long tail cargo bike and back again. Their crowd-funding campaign video includes some hilarious camera work making it look like the bike rides by itself.