Based in Barcelona, Oto Cycles was born in a garage of tinkerers and now makes the most lustworthy e-bikes we’ve seen. The Otor, above, and the Otok (shorter wheelbase, shown after break) take the retro cruiser and cafe racer concept and give it juice.
While the italJet e-cruisers we saw at Eurobike come close, offering a bit more rugged look, the Oto’s are pure speed and style. They use a Samsung LiNiCoMn 36V 10.4Amp battery pack hidden in the faux gas tank and a rear hub motor to keep the lines clean. Range is about 45km to 60km, and they’ll carry you up to 6km/h without pedaling. From there, it’s pedal assist with five levels of boost. Frames are made of steel with alloy rims, handlebars and other components, and the all come with Brooks saddles.
The Otok uses a steel spring style front suspension fork. It has the more upright positioning and uses drum brakes on the front with v-brakes (or horseshoe) on the rear.
The chopper-like Otor is the longer, lower model and gets disc brakes with a rigid dual crown fork.
They come stock with a 250 watt motor, but a 500 watt option is available for both. The Otor also gets a 750 watt motor option. Yes, please! And you can choose from about a million colors. All include an LED front headlamp.
The Retrov is their more traditional looking European city bike, and is available with or without the rear hub motor.
