Kickstarter: Five Bike, a 28lb ebike?

There’s one thing that’s undeniable about ebikes: They tend to be pretty heavy, and the idea of getting stuck at the farthest point of a big loop with a dead battery is, to say the least, unappealing. Every company is trying to change that and make ebikes lighter, but until we make a massive breakthrough in battery tech and are able cram much more energy into the same amount of mass, the only way to achieve that is a change in design philosophy.

While this is still a production prototype, there’s little on it that looks janky or work-in-progress. People sometimes start Kickstarter campaigns with far less.

Enter Five Bike, with their new 12.7Kg (28lb) ebike. It’s built around the same Fazua e-mtb system as the Focus Raven² (if you want to know how a bike with this drivetrain rides, you can read Mark’s riding impressions of the Raven² here). The Raven² has a claimed weight of 14.2kg, or 31.3lbs though, whereas using the same e-innards, the Five Bike has pared everything down to a claimed weight 1.5 kilos lower. The thing about the Fazua system is also that is has a separate battery, motor, and gearbox, and you can remove the motor and battery to ride it as a normal bike. Doing so sheds around 4Kg, which would bring the weight of the Five Bike down to around 9kg, or 20lbs.

Here’s a render of the frame, also showing the Fazua e-bike system. That seatpost is part of the frame, and in photos appears to work with a kind of topper that holds the seat.

As you might expect given those numbers, it appears to be very much an XC oriented bike, being a carbon fibre hardtail with a short travel fork. As you’d also conclude from the not particularly common battery and motor system, it’s a custom designed frame rather than open mold (i.e. generic) frame, and they’ve used that opportunity to give it a few other unusual features too. The stem blends into the top tube in a way more often seen on bespoke frames, and the seat post is integrated into the frame – so if you go for this, it’s probably worth getting a bike fit before brandishing the hacksaw at it… measure twice, cut once, cut in very small increments if you’re uncertain.

Sheet materials not included.

If those features aren’t enough of a hint as to the kind of bike it is, it also has a 70-degree head angle. See below for their video, a few images, and geometry. Five Bike are currently seeking funds on Kickstarter:

Here’s their 29er geometry.

And here’s the 27.5″.

David Hayward

David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly. Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.