BRAKINGNEWS
What Erik Buell did next, project frenzy and high tech chains.
Erik Buell has blazed through motorcycling leaving a trail of innovations, from rim-mounted brake discs to mass centralisation, from underslung exhausts to fuel in the frame. And now the ex-racer is applying his engineering creativity to urban electric bikes.
‘What we see at the moment are either really expensive motorcycles like that stupid Harley-davidson [the Livewire] or cheap Chinese things,’ Erik tells Bike. ‘Credit to the Chinese companies – at least they’re making electric vehicles – but they break down a lot and the sad part is they then get dumped on streets or thrown in rivers and become part of the problem. We don’t want to make throw-away junk to make a quick buck.’
The ‘we’ here is Fuell, a company he’s set up with two business partners. Fuell have produced an electric bicycle – the Flluid, which sells for £3000 ($3995) – and a prototype motorcycle called the Fllow. Erik says this has an urban range of 150 miles, takes 30 minute to recharge at a fast-charger and does 0-60mph in 2.7sec.
As you’d expect, the Fllow has several innovations. ‘It has a lot of patents,’ says Erik. ‘We’re using unconventional motor technology and the way we’re building it into the bike is very different. I wanted flexibility, because there is change coming and if you design a product around a motor that’s buried, you have to throw away the whole motorcycle [the Fllow’s motor is in the rear wheel]. We’re using the cell-type batteries that Tesla use, again because they give you flexibility.’
The bike has enough storage for a full-face helmet and a bag of shopping too: ‘It’s more than just fun. I see a gap where nobody’s working – bikes that are fun but also have utility. That’s where you can make a better product than something with an internal combustion engine.
‘We can make a bike that is affordable, utilitarian and high quality. We can do this. The only thing slowing us down at the moment is lack of investors. Because they’ve invested in Uber scooters they think they’ve already done electric motorcycles. It’s driving me crazy. That’s not what we’re building!’