That secretive tech/bike company, Forestal, have begun a series of teasers on social media leading to speculation that a bike launch might be over the horizon.
For those of you who haven’t been keeping a close eye on them, Forestal is an Andorran based mountain bike company that promises to release some highly integrated e-MTB’s at some point during this year.
Andi was lucky enough to go and visit Forestal last year where he got to poke around the facilities, see a few top-secret things and sign a pretty hefty NDA preventing him from speaking about anything.
But the secrecy seems to be coming to an end, as Forestal has ramped up its social media game and has been posting teaser images online for the past week.
We’re still extremely far off from seeing the complete bike, but the detailed images that have been revealed so far do paint a picture of an e-Bike like nothing else we’ve seen on the market.
As Andi discovered last year, Forestal don’t intend to simply build a frame then bolt on a few off the shelf components. Instead, everything from the motor, battery, display and even software is being developed in-house. It’s a very Apple-like way to do things and should result in a frame, and drive system built as one promising good looks and lower weight.
But before we get ahead of ourselves let’s first look at these Forestal teasers, which were first revealed on the Forestal Instagram earlier this week.
Forestal Charger Port?
The first teaser posted 7 days ago shows a detail low down in the frame with the distinctive Forestal logo on it. It could be an integrated tool-box, but our money is on it being the battery charge port for the bike.
In the teaser, we can see that the port has two recessed areas for gripping with a thumb and index finger, and judging by the location on the frame it will sit just above the motor.
The image also confirms that Forestal has designed its frame with bottle cage mounts. A feature that is still sometimes overlooked or sacrificed on certain e-MTB designs.
Forestal Assist Control?
Teaser number 2 shows us 5 bright LED lights and what looks to be a thumb control mounted to a handlebar. The LED lights are either to show the rider which mode the Forestal e-MTB is in or how much battery charge is left, while modes can be shifted from one to the other by the circular ring control. If the lights do represent a mode then what could they be? Walk, Eco, Trail, Boost and?
Coil Shock Option
The 3rd and final teaser, so far, shows a detail of the Forestal frame with Andorran flag along with a coil shock piercing the frame. The image is either shot from the rear or underneath but the shock exiting through the frame is something we’ve already clearly seen on the Forestal prototype.
Teaser 4?
Forestal only posted it’s 3rd teaser earlier today, and looking at their timing we don’t expect to see number 4 until Sunday, but what could we see next?
Well, there is a lot that we still don’t know about the Forestal e-Bike. Will it have a display and where will that display be? What size is the battery? How much torque will the motor have? what will it weigh? There are a lot of unanswered questions but it looks like Forstal plans to start answering them very soon.