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There’s a lot debate across the aesthetics of electrical bikes. Ought to they comply with conventional bike design norms, or ought to they benefit from their radically totally different drivetrains to tread new floor? This sharp prototype from NUEN MOTO in Vietnam does each, and we’re right here for it.
NUEN MOTO is {an electrical} bike startup with its roots firmly on the earth of design. Co-founder Gia Nguyen first launched NUEN as a design studio, then added an attire label and a {custom} bike enterprise. Now, they’re trying to launch their first manufacturing electrical bike.
You’re their first prototype, the NU-E. However it’s not fairly the identical bike because the one which they’ll finally be taking to market. The NU-E was constructed as a proof of idea, and as a check mattress to assemble rider suggestions and make enhancements.
“We’re centered on designing and constructing the sleekest and most progressive electrical bikes for the Vietnamese and Asian market,” says Gia. “We’re a group of true bike fans, skilled builders and engineers from Vietnam, Sweden and the USA. We’re actually obsessed with constructing a motorbike that we’d like to trip and be happy with.”
The most important {custom} piece on the NU-E, and the focus of its design, is its modular aluminum chassis. It cuts a svelte silhouette whereas offering sufficient structural bulk to negate the necessity for added bodywork. Its higher line mimics the form of a gas tank, but it surely’s not pretending to be one thing its not.
Gia reviews that the preliminary design got here collectively in lower than a month—however then the actual work started. The group’s sketches shaped the idea for a full CAD rendering, which was used to 3D-print a mockup of the chassis. As soon as it was refined, the ultimate items had been CNC-machined in aviation-grade aluminum, then assembled.
Complementing the bespoke body is a smorgasbord of high shelf elements. Customized yokes maintain a set of race-spec forks from Okay-Tech Suspension up entrance, matched to the 17” wheel from a Triumph Trident 660. A modified Yamaha R1 swingarm does responsibility on the again, related to a EMC shock by way of {custom} linkages.
NUEN picked Swedish-made ISR braking parts for the construct. The set consists of twin six-piston calipers up entrance, a four-piston caliper on the again, and ISR grasp cylinders all-round.
NUEN additionally fabricated a set of covers to encapsulate the central space of the bike, which is the place the battery and controller are housed. The one different actual bodywork is a modified BMW S1000R entrance fender, and a tidy tail bump behind the full-length leather-based bench seat. Oh, and a surprising set of rear wheel covers, impressed by the turbofan rally rims of the 80s.
The group added new clip-ons, fitted with push button controls and Hookie Co. grips, plus a Quad Lock telephone mount, as a way to use your smartphone as a dashboard. Ending touches embrace a transparent quantity board, a small rear wheel hugger, custom-made foot controls, and an LED taillight that’s Frenched into the tail.
As for its drivetrain, the NU-E makes use of a rear hub motor with a rated output of 6 kW (nominal) and 10 kW (peak), good for a most pace of 150 km/h [93 miles]. Its battery is sweet for a minimal vary of 100 km [62 miles] of freeway driving. However NUEN estimates that it may handle 200 to 300 km [124 to 186 miles] within the metropolis.
These numbers don’t imply an excessive amount of although, as a result of NUEN are already engaged on the subsequent prototype—which is prone to function a vastly totally different drivetrain.
Gia picked this explicit hub motor as a result of it served the minimalistic design that he wished. And since this construct isn’t road authorized, he’s solely been testing it on the race monitor. So the rear wheel weight penalty that could be a hinderance on rougher roads, hasn’t been that noticeable on the groomed monitor floor.
It additionally helps that the bike weighs simply 160 kilos [353 lbs]. Regardless, NUEN are planning to put in a mid-mounted motor on the subsequent NU-E, with a better energy output.
If they will pull that off with out ruining the NU-E’s neo-futuristic Scandinavian vibe—and add some lights to it—they may simply have a winner on their palms.
NUEN MOTO | Instagram | Photographs by NUEN and Rafik Duy at Revons Studios
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