An e-bike designed by a small Western Australian business has taken out one of the oldest and most prestigious international design prizes – the Good Design Award.
With over 700 entries in this year's award, the retro-style bike known as the "Greaser" claimed top honours despite creators Conrad Lovett and Cedric Sylvestre admitting, "this was our first design that we had ever done, something completely different to what we had ever tried to do.”
As you can see, the bike is designed as a throw back to the vintage boardtracker motorcycle, only this motor has a maximum speed of 25km/h.
“Our bike comes under the Pedalec certification which means when you pedal, the motor is allowed to help you get up to speeds of 25km/h and then the motor will cut out,” Mr Lovett said.
This is good to hear, particularly as Australian governments begin to tighten the grip on rules and regulations around non-pedal assist, throttle powered e-bikes – which are sedentary devices.
“With the Greaser, it’s all about trying to get more cars off the road and getting more electric power into the world that we live in,” said Mr Lovett.
And they're going about it in the right way. By promoting active transport at the same time, the Greaser is ticking boxes for the environment, for the efficiency of our cities, and for the populations' physical and mental health.
And it looks cool too!
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