BaoPham Design’s aerodynamic e-bike is something straight out of the cyberworld of Tron.
Bicycle design concepts have a way of transporting us to our favorite sci-fi flick or parallel universe where everyone hovers instead of pedals. Whether the year is 2140 and we’re zooming through the neon streets of Tokyo to catch up to the corrupt corporate villain or fighting zombies on an electric mountain bike deep in the woods of Georgia, there’s a bike concept to fit the bill. Product designer and 3D visualizer, BaoPham Design recently unveiled their plans for an aerodynamic e-bicycle destined to hit the streets of tomorrow.
The e-bike concept from BaoPham Design features centerless wheels that reduce the rotating inertia found in heavier wheels. Equipped with slim road bike tires, BaoPham’s concept e-bike boasts an aerodynamic build that cuts out the extra drag from air pressure and skin friction to give the bike a speedy ride. Conceptualized with a swift, Z-frame, the e-bike concept from BaoPham Design would host an electric motor located in the bike’s rear-wheel rotor that would be activated once the pedals are moved.
The Z-frame of BaoPham Design’s e-bike would be constructed entirely from metal or aluminum for a sleek look and swift ride. Additionally, the hubless wheels of BaoPham Design’s e-bike reduce the rotating inertia found in wheels with spokes and a hub. The aero bike seems to be rendered in an entirely metallic or aluminum body, including everything from the handlebars to the paper-thin pedals.
3D modeled with Shapr3D and rendered in the KeyShot app, BaoPham Design imagined an aerodynamic electric city bike that enhances the bike’s essential parts and moves past the bulky components of yesterday. While it’s currently only a concept, BaoPham Design’s e-bike might not be hitting the streets anytime soon, it’s not hard to imagine a future cyber world filled with these slick aero bikes pelting down city streets and weaving through traffic.
As this world takes to bicycling again (the pandemic has seen a surge in bicycle-use), the guys at Beno Inc want to finally get e-bikes right. Meet Reevo, an e-bike that ushers in the future of bicycling, with a sleek design, hubless wheels, built-in GPS, and a biometric sensor for antitheft!
Made to practically be the Tesla of bicycles, the Reevo approaches design, engineering, materials, and performance with a completely fresh set of eyes. Designed to be hollow on the inside, the patent-pending wheels put Reevo in a visual class of its own, giving it a silhouette that’s both futuristic and memorable. We’ll get back to the un-ignorable aesthetic beauty of the Reevo, but let’s just dive into its performance and features for a bit.
Reevo can be used as a traditional bicycle, a pedal-assisted e-bike, or a fully electric bicycle powered entirely by the throttle. The US model comes with a 750W motor that allows it to have the 100% throttle feature and a top speed of 25mph. The EU model, however, comes with a 250W motor that assists while you pedal, giving you a boost of speed as much as 25 km/h. The Adaptive Pedal Assist function kicks in when the Reevo detects an incline or riding. Both bike models come with a 48V, 10.5Ah detachable battery that sits within the bike’s sleek frame. Designed to be removable, the battery can easily be popped out when it needs charging, or when you lock the bike, preventing anyone from driving off with it… and that’s just one of the safety features integrated into the Reevo.
The bike’s handlebar even sports a biometric locking feature, which deploys powerful electronic wheel-lock mechanisms that lie hidden within the Reevo’s design, out of reach from bolt-cutters. A motion-detecting microchip lies within the Reevo’s frame too, allowing it to alert you if anyone tries to move it… and a built-in GPS module lets you track the Reevo’s whereabouts from your phone anytime, anywhere. In fact, your smartphone plays an integral role in operating the bike too, serving as its dashboard during the ride. The e-bike comes with a cradle for your phone, allowing you to secure your device in place and use your own map application to navigate. Alternatively, Reevo’s app gives you navigation as well as stats like your speed and e-bike battery level. It also serves as a bridge for future OTA updates for your e-bike.
Reevo’s state-of-the-art engineering and hardware play a strong part in its futuristic appeal, but its sleek, almost Tron-like aesthetic just helps drive the point home better! The bike’s hubless wheels are a work of art in their own right, but where things get interesting is when you notice that the sleek wheels even integrate headlamps and taillights into them. These switch on automatically, thanks to an ambient light-sensor within the e-bike. The headlamps, located strategically on the front wheel, help illuminate the road ahead, while the taillights flashes when you brake, and serve as indicators when you turn. However, if you thought those hubless wheels were appropriately audacious, the Reevo even comes with a carry-bag that fits right into the hollow center of the rear-wheel! A clever alternative to the amateurish baskets that you see on the front of some bicycles, this bag sits perfectly in the negative space of the rear-wheel. It’s features like these, and the sleek headlamps and taillights that really set the Reevo apart, reinforcing exactly why I call it the Tesla of bicycles. A combination of futuristic design and engineering, the Reevo was built to be the natural evolution of biking as the human race finally begins picking up the mode of transportation again. Each Reevo e-bike even comes with a 1-year warranty that covers any material and workmanship, so you know that you’re getting yourself a two-wheeler that’s both futuristic and reliable!
Designers: Alec Lim, Andrea Stona, Andrew Ooi, Gurpreet Singh, Ivan Chew & Reeve Kent
The Reevo is a modern hubless e-bike with triple-barrier security and built around a strong, lightweight core with a sleek stealth black finish.
Features & Benefits
Reevo is virtually theft proof, featuring a one-touch fingerprint sensor, and integrated, automatic lock and GPS tracking.
An ambient light sensor detects darkness and automatically turns on and off the ultra bright headlamps and tail light. So you can stay safe no matter when you ride.
Reevo’s built-in turn signals prove that safety can be cool.
Reevo’s hubless wheels are meticulously impact tested in our lab to be safe up to 265lbs. The wheels are triple-sealed from the elements for superb long term reliability.
Living in a big city without a car sometimes means compromise. A trip to the grocery store might take a measly five minutes by car, but it’s another story on foot. That’s why electric bikes have risen in popularity amongst city dwellers. Practically at each intersection, whether you’re in Los Angeles or Paris, rows of charged-up city bikes wait patiently to hit the streets. It’s always tempting to unlock one, with the sun beating down as the walk to the grocery reaches almost an hour. It’s no wonder, Victor Tabares, a designer based in bustling Barcelona, felt inspired to design and produce OOH BIKE.
Since this e-bike retains its pedaling capabilities, most of the standout features from OOH BIKE are integrated into the bicycle itself. Just within the cyclist’s periphery vision, the battery levels are displayed along the top of the bicycle’s frame. Lit-up, neon lights signify the bicycle’s battery levels by the quarter. The front wheel on the OOH BIKE is entirely hubless, producing a metropolitan finished look that gives an otherwise integrated and functional bike some style. Additionally, the spokeless front helps rotate the wheel quickly and with little effort. While centerless wheels are primarily, it seems, an aesthetic decision, they do work well in city environments.
Centerless wheels promote torque, quickening the brake’s response time, so you can stealthily slink your way through your city’s traffic lights and cross-sections. Between the handlebars, a mini screen from Brose Drive, an automotive supplier that develops sensor systems for electric bikes, displays menu options, speed, and other digital information that’s easily accessible during any ride. Whether you’re on the cobblestoned avenues of London or riding along the earthquake-ridden pavement of San Francisco, OOH BIKE’s adjustable seat and integrated cable system make it the ideal, sleek bike for any city dweller.
Hubless wheels sit at the upper echelon of any concept vehicle. Whether a vehicle is sufficiently futuristic is determined by two things… their tires being airless, and their tires being hubless. It’s safe to say that by that standard, the IMNU clock is pretty futuristic, because unlike most clocks that have hands pivoted at their center, the IMNU comes with no such detail. Its uniquely appealing design features hands that float in mid-air, revolving around an invisible epicenter.
Step closer and look at it from the side and the illusion unveils itself. The hands actually pivot at the back, wrapping themselves around the edge and over to the front to create a U-shape that allows them to rotate the way they do, and create the illusion of clock hands floating in mid-air.
That future-friendly detail doesn’t take away from the fact that the IMNU still fits beautifully in homes with contemporary decor. Its marbled clock face and thin sheet-metal hands give it a minimal appearance, while its hubless design still manages to make it pretty big on character… allowing it to be a clock that’s presence you take for granted at first, but can’t stop admiring once you actually notice it.
“Over the top” is a phrase that comes to mind when one looks at the TMC Dumont for the very first time. There’s nothing conventional about the bike. It features two massive 36-inch wide hubless wheels on either end of its edgy, characteristic body that features… wait for it… a helicopter engine. Sitting rather visible on the Dumont’s body is a 300-horsepower Rolls-Royce helicopter engine that literally puts the ‘chopper’ in this chopper!
With looks that could proverbially kill, and an engine that could literally kill, the TMC Dumont is a passion project of retired F1 driver, Tarso Marquez. There’s no way this 300hp bike would ever be street legal (that much horsepower could just as well kill the rider), but I’ll admit that with its Tron aesthetic and absolutely, ridiculously over-the-top build, the Dumont is certainly worth appreciating (even from afar, because there’s no way you can escape the sound of a helicopter engine)! What’s next Tarso, a Lockheed afterburner?
Named after the shape, the Torus fan is a slick, hub-less floor standing wonder of technology. It runs on electromagnetic rails, which explains the lack of a central motor. The very lack of that motor also means the Torus fan is stealthily silent. The electromagnetic rail system means the Torus can run backwards too, pushing air both downwards as well as upwards. Just to top off this uber-cool design, the Torus also comes with goose-neck, allowing it to be aimed in almost any direction. It also has an LED strip on the inside, doubling it up as a pretty nifty looking lamp!
