How one of the decorated track cyclists of all time, Sir Chris Hoy may not seem to be an obvious candidate to support the growing electric bicycle movement. Common chorusfinally this is it electric bikes will not be real bicycles.

But the six-time Olympic gold medalist has done just that by investing in a fledgling British start-up that has created a click-activated device that makes it easy to convert a walking bike to an electric bike and back again, with minimal effort.

Fraudwhat is the name of the corporate, has lifted up £12.8 million ($16.3 million) since its inception in 2020, with Hoy contributing to the early seed tranche. While the click-on-bike system was originally considered for a 2023 launch, the primary production run only began last week and has reached several hundred people, with remaining pre-orders placed for the approaching months.

TechCrunch spoke with Hoya after receiving Skarper’s first official shipment (actually a win-win for the investor) to seek out out why this could possibly be the following big thing in the world of e-bikes — even if you happen to prefer bikes with pure pedaling power, which someone Hoya’s height actually does .

“I’m probably not the kind of person you’d imagine being an e-bike advocate, but when I tried my first e-bike years ago, I nailed it,” Hoy told TechCrunch. “When you see that you simply’re still riding a motorbike, you are still using your body, but you get this ‘invisible hand’ pushing you, you understand. And you realize that in certain situations you’d somewhat ride a motorbike with pedal assist than a motorbike without pedal assistance.

The benefits of electric bikes are well-known. A commuter may not wish to arrive on the office drenched in sweat, so motorized assistance while climbing will likely be an attractive proposition. Compared to other types of motorized transport, there is also a lower environmental impact because of its zero emissions, while e-bikes can even effortlessly bypass heavy traffic, cutting through rows of cars, winding through parks and other spaces typically inaccessible to motorcars.

Some people simply cannot get around on a self-propelled bicycle, whether as a result of age or health.

However, not everyone desires to buy a dedicated e-bike, especially in the event that they already own one. This is where Skarper comes into play.

“Too good to be true”

Shortly before retiring from competitive cycling in 2013Hoj actually fired own range of bikes in partnership with a British retailer Evans. Hoy says that after the project was placed on hold, he was already fascinated about electric bikes before Skarper got here along.

“I was a big fan of electric bikes and was thinking about creating my own range,” Hoy said. “But I saw this and thought: Why would I build an electric bike if this is the solution you need?”

This took place during a pandemic-long Zoom call with Skarper’s CEO Eon Brown and director of operations Uri Meirowicz that Hoy first encountered this idea. He was presented with the thought of ​​attaching a module to the rear disc brake of a bicycle to make it electric, with an additional kicker allowing it to be quickly removed.

“I’ve been there since the beginning — then I got the photo, the idea, and it seemed too good to be true,” Hoy said. “I was wondering how the hell it would work, how would they handle the heat, vibration and generate enough power to run the bike?”

That was certainly one of Hoya’s primary questions early on – how would it not work from a physical and structural standpoint? An ordinary bicycle is not built the identical as a bike. Most other electric bike conversion kits in the marketplace require some tinkering with the wiring and cabling, although they often also include front-wheel drive, which completely changes the texture and balance of the bike.

The sloper is designed for bikes with disc brakes and a 160 mm rotor, although other kinds of bikes might be adapted for individuals with little technical knowledge. The kit consists of a DiskDrive disc equipped with an integrated gearbox, which replaces the present rear wheel brake disc on the bike. It also serves as a snap-on mounting system for the electric motor.

While anyone can install a Skarper e-bike drivetrain themselves, the corporate has also partnered with a network of installers to do the work totally free.

While e-bike conversion kits have been around for several years, Skarper’s idea focuses on ease – not only can they be turned on and off, but in addition they cause minimal disruption to the bike itself. Indeed, co-founder and COO Uri Meirovich emphasizes that Skarper is not about “changing” or “rebuilding” the bike.

“We are here to make it better,” Meirovich told TechCrunch. “Traditional conversion kits permanently change your bike, often compromising its original appearance and ride quality by changing critical components such as the bike wheel, cables routed throughout, or adding a battery on the handlebars or elsewhere, compromising the balance and appearance of the bike.”

In a way, it’s about having two bikes in one. This signifies that the owner of a beloved road, mountain, hybrid or gravel bike doesn’t should sacrifice its original design and quality.

“Like all great ideas, it’s very simple once it’s part of the bike – a disc brake that can already handle huge forces, huge torque (rotational force) and huge amounts of heat,” Hoy continued. “So this is a great starting point to drive the rear wheel while taking advantage of the structural stiffness and integrity of the frame. From an engineering point of view, I think it’s a beautiful solution.”

Once installed, the Skarper unit might be removed in seconds, but you may also disable the e-bike’s functionality by turning it off or engaging “pause mode” by backing the pedal thrice if the rider doesn’t need electric assistance for some time. This might also save battery.

The Skarper system takes 2.5 hours to totally charge, providing a variety of as much as 50 km (31 miles) at a maximum speed of 25 km/h (15 mph).

Big project

Skarper employs roughly 22 employees, including a dozen or so engineers from the economic, mechanical, electronic, software and testing industries. Additionally, the corporate worked closely with Red Bull’s Advanced technologies outfit that is for Red Bull Formula 1 racing team.

However, Hoy himself was involved in the design process from the very starting.

“My contribution was from a cyclist’s perspective – that’s obviously my area of ​​expertise,” Hoy said. “It all trusted the way you drive and what you’re feeling. Does Skarper affect driving? What can we get away with in terms of size, weight and shape? I can be a form of test pilot – I might take this unit and really use it, test it, apply it to different scenarios and situations.

There’s no escaping the worth though – at £1,500 ($1,900) the Skarper is not low-cost by any means. However, this is not presented as a budget measure for purchasing an electric bike and is not intended as a tool that will likely be used once in some time

“Let’s say you have a £1,000 electric bike: the quality of the components, the brakes, the gears, the tires, the materials used in the frame, the saddle – everything about this bike is ‘budget’,” said Hoy. “It’s the cheapest thing they can do to try to keep that price down. The Skarper is basically the highest quality engine you can get, and you include it with your pride and joy. And if you look at how many times you use it in a year, it becomes very profitable.”

There is also the problem of safety. Expensive, self-contained electric bike it is a tempting proposition for thievesand we even see start-ups emerging on the wave of this trend that help victims get better stolen bicycles. With Skarper, a user can after all attach it to their $5,000 road bike, but they might just as easily attach it to a pile of junk to present it just a little extra flair after which remove it once they reach their destination.

“I imagine someone with an old, beat-up bike that they’ve had for years or maybe just bought on eBay and that they’re happy to leave under lock and key at the office,” Hoy said. “No one will hassle stealing it and even look twice at it. But then they’ll strap it on and switch it into a extremely high-quality electric bike.

For now, Skarper only ships orders to customers in the UK, but Meirovich confirmed that it would open orders to continental Europe after which the US in mid-2025. It is value noting that the model that can eventually go on sale in the US can have the next top speed than the highest speed available in the UK and European Union (EU), as in the US the upper speed limit for any such vehicle is 20 miles per hour.

“Skarper has received over 100 distribution orders from around the world, including from major U.S. retailers and key players in most European markets,” Meirovich said, adding that several modifications can be obligatory to meet international orders. “Minor changes will be necessary to comply with EU and US regulations, and we are in the process of obtaining these certifications.”