A new firm called Cake is set to launch an electric off-roader in 2017 that blurs the line between mountain bikes and motorcycles.
Founded by Stefan Ytterborn, Cake has yet to officially reveal its new machine, but new patents reveal the first model’s simple styling.
According to its official website at ridecake.com, the firm’s intent is “to speed up the journey towards a zero emission society, while enhancing excitement and fun.”
It goes on to say: “The global motorcycle industry produces a rough 120 million vehicles every year. Most of these run on combustion engines, leaving an ugly carbon footprint every time they are in use. This is the primary reason behind Cake – a technology company that develops high performance off-road motorcycles that run on electricity.”
About the bike itself, it claims “Cake’s light and totally silent motorcycles have uncompromised performance while delivering clear sustainable benefits for both the rider and its surrounding environment – regardless you are riding in a forest, over meadows, on a track, or in a city.”
In terms go goals, the company is clear that it wants to launch its first bike next year and that within a decade it hopes to have a significant 10% market share in off-road motorcycles.
Designs for the firm’s bike show a simple machine that appears to use a hub-mounted motor and carry its batteries in the frame. There’s clearly no intent to make the first bike road-legal, as it lacks lights or any other road-going equipment.
The firm’s lead engineer, David Earle, has a background in mountain bike design. In an interview on the firm’s website he reveals that the Cake bike will sit between mountain bikes and motorcycles, saying “The Cake e-motorbike is like no other production level motorcycle in the world. It exists in a world that there is no support for. The biggest badest downhill mountain bike parts are not big enough for it and the smallest gas motorcycle parts are too heavy for it.”
Cake founder Stefan Ytterborn
In a video on YouTube (click here), founder Stefan Ytterborn explains the firm’s intents, saying: “The gap is amazing. I love gaps, because gaps mean opportunities. I did observe in the off-road industry, that a few players have come a long way in terms of developing very sophisticated electric motorcycles. Both for off-road use and road use.
“I think that there is still a stagnation in terms of their development. They’re stuck where they’ve always been, supporting their current market to traditional motorcyclists.
“They tend to do what they always did, which is bascall putting an electric drive train on a motorbike which has been developed over the years for a combustion engine.
“But due to the different characteristics of the combustion engine and an electric drive train, there are very different consequences in terms of how the perfect ride actually comes out. Again, the motorcycle industry is stuck with the old.
“There’s a gap between what’s going on in the traditional motorcycle industry, with the big brands making electric off-road motorbikes, but they’re still like traditional motorbikes. Then there is the cycling industry with mountain bikes and aid-motors and all that.
“This new format, the optimised format to support the ride with an e-drive train off-road, is a new format that has not been defined. And that’s where we show up. We are developing everything to support and optimise the ride in the format that we are establishing.”
In a second video (click here) he explains his background and the concept behind Cake, particularly crediting Italian electric bike firm Quantya for inspiring the new company.
