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One of cycling’s most iconic personalities wants to sell you an e-bike.
Gary Fisher, best known as one of mountain biking’s first pioneers and advocates, has started an e-bike company named Morelle Bikes, he announced last week. Public details about the company’s bikes remain scarce, but preliminary reports from cycling publications suggest that Fisher has ambitious plans.
“Founding a new company!!!” Fisher wrote on Twitter on March 23. “New e-bike battery. Half the weight twice the power, fully recharges in 30 minutes!”
In interviews with a couple of bike publications, Fisher said the company aims to double the riding range of electric bicycles. That’s achievable through the use of battery technology imported from the aerospace marketplace, he told Cycling Electric.
Morelle has already licensed the technology from Ionblox, which claims to offer longer-lasting and faster-charging batteries than anything currently available.
“This technology was originally developed for the aeronautics industry; we are bringing it to e-bikes,” Fisher told Cycling Electric. “Its chemistry and mechanics are the difference. It’s been more than ten years in development and is well protected by robust Patents. Thermal control has absolutely been taken into account, too; we will have UL approval [a safety and sustainability certification].”
Morelle E-Bikes: Details
Fisher shared several additional product details with Bike Perfect, which reported the upcoming e-bikes will have a Bafang motor, SRAM wireless shifting, and Reserve carbon wheels.
Most importantly, the 300Wh battery will weigh 22-25 pounds and offer twice the range of current e-bikes without weight gain. Morelle won’t have bikes publicly available for another year, so we’ll have to wait and see if the product meets these early claims.
“You need to make whatever you’re selling delicious,” Fisher told Bike Perfect. “It has to look and taste so mind-blowingly good people can’t get enough of it.”
But Fisher also has plenty of other plans for the company as well. He wants to offer a cargo bike design that has “everything you’d have in an SUV,” he told Bike Perfect. He’s also got plans to use 3D printing, when possible, and focus on local, sustainable manufacturing.
The company may also offer a subscription model of roughly $100 a month, allowing customers to charge their bikes off a public network, “akin to how Tesla owners can use various locations globally,” Cycling Electric reported.
While these are big claims, Fisher has a long reputation for breaking the mold. He’s made many crucial innovations to mountain bikes since becoming a figurehead in the movement in the 1970s. In 1994, Smithsonian Magazine named him the “Founding Father of Mountain Bikes.”
So, whatever he’s planning next — it’s probably something big. Sign up for email updates through the Morelle Bikes website.
