Faraday’s Stylish New Bicycle Will Change How You Think About E-Bikes

Urban commuters are getting more and more comfortable with the idea of biking around, but in places like San Francisco, that can be a drag. Electronic bicycles have emerged to help people get where they’re going, even in incredibly hilly environments. But many e-bikes are ugly, due to huge motors and battery packs that end up being placed in odd places around the frame.

Faraday Bicycles hopes to change that, with a bike that was built to be stylish, functional, and a lot of fun to ride. We got a preview of the company’s first bike, which will be shipping soon to customers who pre-ordered it. With a motor on its front wheel and batteries actually stored inside the frame, the Faraday bicycle is built to look just like a regular city commuter bike.

The first iteration of the Faraday bike was designed while founder Adam Vollmer was at IDEO to compete in a contest to create the ultimate city bike. But what started out as just a side project was spun out into its own company.

Faraday has come a long way since then. About a year-and-a-half ago, the company ran a successful campaign on Kickstarter, and has sold several more pre-ordered bikes in the meantime. Behind the scenes, the company has been working to put the final touches on its prototypes and preparing to put them into production soon.

What you see in the video is pretty close to what will end up being shipped to the community. It has a 350-watt motor, which works out to about three times your power.

The company pre-sold about 200 of the bikes at a price of around $3,500. Starting in March, Faraday expects to be shipping out to those who pre-ordered, and then hopes to ship a second production run in the mid-to-late summer. Check out the video above for more details!