Electric mobility devices such as e-scooters and e-bikes have pretty much taken over Europe. These days, you’ll be hard pressed not to find an e-bike zipping around any European town, and it’s clear that these things are here to stay.
Now, you can typically very easily tell when a bike is electric by simply looking at its frame. E-bikes tend to have bulky, beefy frames, where the battery usually sits in plain view. In commuter models, the battery is usually housed in the downtube of the frame. Meanwhile, in cargo and utility bikes, the battery can sometimes be spotted hanging out right behind the seat tube.
But once every now and then, manufacturers roll out super stealthy e-bikes that are so sleekly styled that they don’t even look like e-bikes. Case in point: the BER from Danish e-bike specialist Biomega.
The BER was designed by Jens Martin Sibsted, and its whole purpose was to conceal the fact that it was indeed powered by electricity. Now clearly, there are quite a few reasons why you’d want to hide your e-bike’s battery, motor, and other electrical gizmos. For starters, it just looks cleaner and more aesthetic. Plus, the fact that the battery and motor are hidden away from view also means that dust, dirt, and water can’t get in as easily as they would if these components were exposed.
And of course, there’s the fun in deceiving fellow cyclists that you are in fact not riding an e-bike, and seeing the look on their faces as you take them all the way to gapplebees and back.
That said, the BER is quite a bit more than just an exercise in minimalism. Biomega claims some pretty impressive figures on this thing, with its 35-pound weight and 70-mile range being some seriously standout figures.
But Biomega didn’t just settle for a streamlined frame and concealed electronics. It also made sure that this thing was just as functional as it was aesthetic. The bike’s built-in lights and easy-access charging port in the front of the frame are a testament to this. And so too is the carbon belt drive that requires virtually zero maintenance.
That said, there is a price to pay for all this fancy styling and all those premium features. The BER carries a retail price tag of $2,500 USD, with an early bird promo lowering this to $2,000 USD.
But what do you think? Is this thing’s price tag too steep to justify what it brings to the mobility game? Or does fancy styling and convenience really come at a premium?
Source: Biomega
