This tiny e-bike weighs just 12kg and folds away in seconds

An electric bicycle that folds up neatly is one of the greatest ways to solve the last mile problem. Unfortunately, a lot of commuters write folding e-bikes off because of their reputation for being heavy, uncomfortable, and bulky. Some are even awkward to use and difficult to ride. A group of UK-based entrepreneurs hope to change all that with the A-Bike Electric, an innovative vehicle which they claim is the lightest and most compact electric bicycle ever built.

The A-Bike Electric weighs only 12kg, which means it's light enough to take on a bus or a train, carry up stairs and get through busy crowds. The bicycle has a range of 15 miles (25km) and uses a brushless front hub motor and 24V removable lithium battery to reach a top speed of 12.5mph. The battery can be recharged via USB, and takes 2.5 hours to juice it up. Although the wheels have a diameter of only 13 centimeters, a dual-chain system allows for a normal pedaling action.

The bike's inventor, Clive Sinclair, who introduced a non-electric version of the A-Bike in 2006, has already exceeded his £40,000 crowdfunding goal through Kickstarter with 26 days left from the campaign. The smallest rewards tier is set at £5 (around $8), but only donations of £449 (approximately $700) or more will actually net you the vehicle.

[h/t: Creative Boom]

Comments

Gilbert Legrand turns mundane stuff into delightful characters

Gilbert Legrand doesn't see the world like the rest of us. You see a scrubbing brush, he sees an Apache chief. You see a a pair of scissors, he sees smooching lovers. The French artist's imagination is so wild and unrestricted that he can turn the most ordinary objects into unexpected sources of delight. I just spent half an hour lurking on his website, and you should, too.

The Salimbaa

Here's a strange tribal instrument I never heard of before now. Originally from the Tinananon tribe of southern Philippines, the bowl-shaped Salimbaa is made of metal and wood, has 30 bronze wound strings, and is played using two small sticks. Caleb Byerly, who makes lost/extinct musical tools in his North Carolina workshop, has an interesting story on how he made his first Salimbaa. WATCH: More details about Caleb and his craft over at Our State .

Italy's True Movie Poster King

What you see here is the hand-crafted magic of Renato Casaro, the late Italian designer who practically defined an era of cinematic cool. His work wasn't just advertising; it was art. Casaro's journey into becoming one of the most recognizable poster artists wasn't by chance; it was a pure obsession. As a kid, he was fascinated by billboards, trying to mimic the styles of Norman Rockwell and Angelo Cesselon. Think of a teen so determined that he was drawing right onto the walls of a local cinema just to snag a few free tickets. Casaro created posters for a lot of Spaghetti Westerns. His big break came with A Fistful of Dollars in 1964. The movie starred Clint Eastwood and was directed by Sergio Leone. The poster didn’t just promote the film; it helped make it a global hit. Naturally, Leone came calling again, commissioning posters for My Name Is Nobody (1973) and the epic crime saga, Once Upon a Time in America (1984). A Casaro poster is easy to spot because of his uniqu...

finding cain

Search This Blog