Sleek, lean & discrete: eBikes looking like a regular bike are trendy

Small is better. With awesomely small light motors, concealed batteries and pure, elegant lines, light & stilysh eBikes are on a hot streak!

Features and advantages of the new extra-light eBikes

• Incredibly small and light motors
• Less torque
• Much lighter
• Easier to carry on your car
• Lighter frames and components
• More elegant and stylish
• Less energy consumption, implying  lighter and cheaper batteries
• Increased eBike durability
• Better thief protection
• Looking more athletic
• They perform better with the motor off

Incredibly small and light motors

Light ebikes weigh from 1.375 kg to 2 kg, with torque ranging from 23 to 60 Nm. As a result, their assistance is reduced, requiring more muscular effort, compared with an eBike weighing 23 kg and delivering assistance with 85 Nm of torque.

Astoundingly small for an eBike motor: the HPR50 from TQ.

Less torque

Such small and light motors deliver 60 Newton meters of torque at the most, like the Fazua 60, down to only 23 Newton meters for the lightest Mahle. We can roughly estimate that the power of any bike corresponds to its torque divided by its weight. The same simple formula can be applied to human beings, muscular force divided by body weight resulting in bike riding thrust. The relevance of this equation increases with the steepness of the climbs.

Much lighter

At around 10 to 18 kg, such eBikes are much more agile, allowing swifter and sportier handling. Especially on challenging tracks, the lighter the eBike, the better sensations and even performances. Being more than 7 kg lighter on average than most electric mountain, city, road and trekking bikes, they provide better handling and therefore safer riding.

Easier to carry on your car

Whether you use a trailer, a bike rack or simply your car trunk, loading an eBike weighing more than 23 kg (the average weight of eBikes) can be quite uncomfortable and even harmful for your back, depending on your age and physical condition. Any bike weighing around 12 kg can be carried by very simple and inexpensive bikeracks. Even the most expensive and robust bike racks can affect your driving, since they hang more than a meter beyond the back of the trunk, a burden causing an unpleasant behavior of your car in curves and bumps. If you carry two eBikes or more, general weight can become a real problem.

Lighter frames and components

Carbon frames are very light, but somewhat fragile. That’s why they withstand much easier lighter eBikes. Components also can be lighter if they don’t have to bear more than 20 kg. For instance suspension forks with 130 mm travel can be sufficient on an eMTB weighing less than 15 kg, whilst heavier ones demand at least 150 mm of travel to master the shocks of the most challenging trails.

More elegant and stylish

Aesthetics are a question of personal taste, nevertheless lean, pure lines are preferred by designers and the public.

Less energy consumption, implying lighter, cheaper and easily “disguised” batteries

Being lighter, these eBikes ensure almost the same performances with less powerful and therefore more energy efficient motors. eBike energy consumption is not a big deal, costing at most 0.2 cents of dollar per kilometer. Still, if you are to charge your bike battery with your camper or even your car battery, or even with a solar panel on the go, you will appreciate the sobriety of a smaller one. These light eBikes are often equipped with 250wh batteries, which can deliver ranges equivalent to those of 500Wh batteries on heavier eBikes.

Increased eBike durability

Less weight means less stress on shock absorbers, tyres, dampers, and all the drive components: motor, battery, chainrings, cassettes, hub gears, and especially chains. Even brakes wear more slowly.

Better thief protection

We now that thieves preferably target eBikes, because of their value. Indeed, the closer a thief needs to near a bike to distinguish whether it’s electric or not, the less he is likely steal it. Now, a distance of more than 20 m already renders very difficult to notice that these new lighter eBikes are electrically assisted.

Looking more athletic

For some eBikers it can be tempting to pretend that they can perform astoundingly well on their bikes thanks to their muscles only, since many people would mistake such eBikes for regular bicycles.

They perform better with the motor off

Last but not least, being much lighter, they are much more performant and pleasant to ride without assistance, as a normal bicycle.

Their disadvantages

Prices: these light, small and sophisticated motors, together with extralight frames and components, somewhat inflate the prices of light e-bikes. Top of the shelf extralight eBikes cost on average roughly 20% more than their comparable heavier siblings.

Here are some examples of elegant 2023 eBikes astoundingly light, yet quite performant

Some Colnago, Pinarello, Bianchi, Orbea eBikes feature a  Mahle System X35+ Ebike Drive, with a torque of 40 Newton meters and 245Wh of battery capacity.

New Swissrider by Thömus, one of the lightest urban eBikes, sports a weight of barely 11.5 kg, with a  Maxon Bikedrive Air (torque of 30 Newton metres) & a choice of battery capacities of 250Wh, 360Wh and 426Wh.

The Scott ebike novelties for 2023 are sometimes equipped with a TQ with the HPR50 motor.  Its weight-to-power ratio alone, at 1.8 kilograms with a maximum torque of 50Nm, speak for itself. Sometimes they even have a Mahle X20 motor, with torque of 23 Newton metres, at exactly 1.375 kilograms.

Haibike breaks new ground with light e-MTB Lyke, with the 60 Nm Fazua with the Ride 60, weight: 1.96 kg (motor) and 2.3 kg (removable battery). A bit heavier, at 18 Kg.

The Trek Fuel EXe e-mountain bike, with the above-mentioned  TQ HPR50, (50Nm motor at 1.8 kg & 360Wh battery at 1.88 kg), weighs 18.6 kg.