When it comes to finding the best cycling and e-bike tech then CES 2023 is the place to be, with some real highlights on show this year. Aside from the best electric scooters, the best electric bikes are also the best way to get around Las Vegas, given the traffic congestion while the annual tech-fest is running.
Heybike Tyson: Our top pick
One of the best folding electric bike examples at the show for us is the brand-new Heybike Tyson, coming in March this year. This chunky-looking two-wheeler packs super cool vibes and features a one-piece, magnesium alloy frame. Better still, the Heybike Tyson is fully foldable, meaning the e-bike is tailor-made for people who are short on space.
The beefy tire and wheel combination makes the Tyson perfect for stowing in the trunk of your car and hitting dirt trails at weekends. Equally though, there’s a 750W hub motor powered by a 48V/15Ah, 720Wh battery, which makes it perfect for school runs if you’d rather leave the car at home.
Heybike reckons this newcomer to its range will be good for up to 55 miles on a charge, with 48V charging allowing you to re-juice the battery in around 4 or 5 hours. The Tyson can reach a class 3 top speed of 28mph, which is pretty respectable given the 77lb/35kg weight of the e-bike.
Adding to the appeal is front and rear hydraulic suspension, 7-speed Shimano gearing along with app-enabled Bluetooth and 4G functionality. This means owners can also monitor their bike’s location while the 4G really comes into its own if you use it for GPS navigation when you’re out in the sticks. The Heybike Tyson has got to be our pick of the e-bike new arrivals at CES 2023 and will be available from March.
Best of the rest
Another e-bike brand that grabbed our attention was VTA, which also deals in electric scooters, mopeds, and three-wheelers. This classic-style and very hipster-inspired e-bike is a bit of a head-turner, although looks made more for posing than for any major mileage. A hub motor and disc brakes take care of the starting and stopping bits all the same.
What to do if you’re not on something quite as visually striking, and you don't want to be knocked off your bike though? There's an innovation at CES for that too. C-V2X, or "cellular vehicle-to-everything technology", uses a clever on-bike box the size of a smartphone, which carries a 5.9Ghz radio inside that starts at just $299 if you want to retrofit it to an older bike.
If you're out on your bike and have one of these fitted, the box sends an automatic warning to drivers that there’s a cyclist in the vicinity. The one that comes complete with a rear light and camera setup has to be our pick, although it seems that talks are in place with several bike brands to make the device an integral part of bike purchasing in the future.
It was one of the products being exhibited at the Qualcomm Snapdragon booth and could provide cyclists with peace of mind.
The idea is brilliant in that it can issue warnings to drivers by covering a 360-degree field of coverage, meaning that alerts can cover all sorts of vehicle blind spots. This is especially useful for trucks but is just as practical for all car drivers who might not see you when you’re out on your two-wheeler.
There’s huge potential in this kind of tech and not just for protecting cyclists either. In fact, there are all sorts of possible usage scenarios including school and work zones where road users can be at more risk of being hit by vehicles. It seems like a very sensible way to go. Expect to see a lot more of C-V2X and how it can be used to make us safer in the not-too-distant future.
Unconventional e-bikes
Of course, this being CES, not everything at the show follows that sensible theme. For example, the Icoma Tatamel is a folding electric bike that collapses to about the size of a suitcase. Its Japanese designers have made the bike pretty practical from a power standpoint, as the on-board battery pack can also be called upon to recharge devices via USB.
The tiny little electric bike has an integrated hub motor that provides a top speed of 25mph. Whether or not you’d want to go that fast on it remains to be seen, given that there are dinky 10-inch wheels and a less-than-accommodating saddle. It’s neat though and could work really well on the crazy streets of Tokyo.
