Seeing as we’re doing new Ebikes today, here’s a PROTOTYPE one that came up on Instagram from Starling.

Different.

Instagram Starling page

Obviously it’s an early prototype as they say in the description, so it’ll change a lot, but looks to be quite a different approach from a lot of other makes.

That’s going to be mental heavy I suspect looking at the tubing used. Appreciate it’s a prototype so going to be rough around the edges but that’s properly gopping.

They’re using a completely different motor though from a company that haven’t done ebike motors before so will be interesting to see the outcome of that.

“ That’s going to be mental heavy I suspect looking at the tubing used.”

Apparently it’s 48lbs – either light or heavy depending on the battery size.

I think it looks a lot better than half the ebikes trying to just swell the downtube in an effort to hide the fact it’s an ebike.

I don’t think they’re trying to hide it.
You have to put the battery somewhere innit.

I’d have it as is, only thing I don’t like is the swing arm.

Apparently it’s 48lbs – either light or heavy depending on the battery size.

That’s seriously light if you consider how heavy a Brooklyn Race Link was which isn’t a million miles away. That was about the same weight without the battery!

I think I might have asked this before but eeb? assuming one e stands for electric and the b is for bike, whats the second e stand for?

Anyone else thinking “mud trap”?

Ads678 “expensive”

joebristol

That’s going to be mental heavy I suspect looking at the tubing used.

Impressed that you can gauge weight and thickness of steel just from a picture liek that

Hub gear I assume and single pivot, I quite like the idea. The battery placement just needs a bit of refinement. I also think if they can use off the shelf motor parts then you wouldn’t be stuck with a proprietary system with no support in a few years when it breaks

breadcrumb

I think it looks a lot better than half the ebikes trying to just swell the downtube in an effort to hide the fact it’s an ebike.

Will probably need to be a lot more enclosed and sealed for a production bike though

Ads678 “expensive

🤣

assuming one e stands for electric and the b is for bike, whats the second e stand for?

Nothing. It’s just ‘ebike’ shortened in how you say it, not how you spell it.

Say ebike, but take away the ‘ike’, then write down how it sounds.
Eeb.

It’s Sam Pilgrims fault. 😂

I think that’s what happens when you let your kids draw what they think a bike looks like…

with blunt crayons
in the car
when offroading
in the dark
using their left hand

Something phallic about that motor and battery combo.. sort of like an excited C3PO

If Mad Max ever got into mountain biking the that’s the bike for him!

I saw this yesterday, i know its an early prototype but it needs to get a lot better looking, it looks like they have just stuck a motor on their existing frame, which im well aware is probably exactly what they have done.

I still dont like that thin swingarm, ruins the whole bike for me.

fitting a descent shroud over the battery’s day a lick of paint will go a long way to tidying it up.

@dc1888 good question about the gears. i was wondering if it’s single speed.

I’m a conscious sucker for form follows function, but I really like the way it looks.

LAT

i was wondering if it’s single speed.

It has a shifter, and (I think) a hub gear in that version, there’s another pic below of a different version, which has a derailleur, and doesn’t have the front snowplough

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca4JWbPISl4/

I don’t see any benefit in making that bike in steel. It looks wrong, and any ‘spring’ won’t be making the trails come alive. Fashion over function

If anyone’s interested it says based around Freeflow technologies. Freeflow is young Neil formally of McMartains cycles in the southside of Glasgow(Not so young these days). Neil is the owners son and did an engineering degree. The technology was developed by Neil and MIT.

How it works.

Home

A very clever chap.

I don’t see any benefit in making that bike in steel.

Have you ever had a repair done on an aluminium frame?

wbo
I don’t see any benefit in making that bike in steel. It looks wrong, and any ‘spring’ won’t be making the trails come alive. Fashion over function

Err steel is what Starling does. There’s no benefit other than the normal reasons for using steel in mtb frames.

At this stage I believe it’s an experiment/development mule to test the construction and the drivetrain. The Freeflow drive is considerably more interesting than anything else out there and could reap significant benefits both in packaging and weight over a “traditional” eBike drive and I’d say Starling are the ideal partners to help develop it what with Joe’s aero background and liking to experiment.

For those saying it’s heavy – how heavy is a “normal” alloy/carbon eBike and how much does all that extra styling that tries to cover up the fact that it’s got a massive battery jammed in the downtube weigh? I doubt this is relatively any more than any other alloy/carbon/steel comparison and people often seem to sacrifice a bit of weight for the intangible feel of ferrous.

Somehow the external battery works when underslung low down rather than inside the frame and It’s a lot less ugly than I thought it’d be.

Would love a little go on it.

G

Flip side is that the negatives (weight) of steel are less of an issue, given the big overbuilt alu frames on most ebikes, this probably weighs much the same.

Those Freeflow motors do look interesting.
I’ll mention them to a friend who builds steel frames that is taking an interest in eebs.