Buy direct brand Propain Bicycles has just released a teaser for a new bike called the Propain Ekano, and we think it could be an e-Bike.
Almost every manufacturer under the MTB sun is either working on or considering an e-MTB, and the latest to be rumoured is the Ekano from German bike brand Propain Bicycles.
Propain Bicycles might not be as well known or as common a sight as say Canyon or YT, but the German manufacturer runs the same ‘consumer direct’ sales model and is large enough to run its own WC Downhill race team. We’ve tested a couple of Propain bikes over the years, with the most recent having been the Propain Hugene but could our next test bike from them be an e-Bike?
If you’re a follower of Propain on social media then you may have spotted a teaser for a new model this week. The photo in the post only reveals a small section of the rear triangle, but it also reveals the name of the new model, the Ekano.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2GomIIMvz/
As far as we can tell, Ekano doesn’t have a specific meaning, but the capitalized ‘E’ in the name could be a nod to an e-MTB launch very soon. Along with the teaser photo, the post also says “Pushing Boundaries” which certainly sounds like the type of hype a brand would use around an e-Bike launch.
While we can’t see from the image what type of bike the Propain Ekano will be, we can see the rear end will be alloy and it seems highly probable that this will be a full suspension e-Bike running Propain’s own Pro10 linkage suspension platform, or a variation of it.
We also highly suspect that Propain will run a Shimano motor system, likely the Shimano Steps E8000, that is proving to be highly popular with manufacturers for its compact size, ease of tunability, and compatibility with 3rd party battery systems.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on what Propain is working on and will report further developments as they appear.
