We had a chance to get a look at TRed’s BestiaNera Hybrid Streetfighter when the bike maker happened into our EU home city of Prague to debut its custom steel and titanium CrossBeasts with their sponsored pro Czech racer Luboš Pelánek. The BlackBeast is pretty unique – beside the literal horns on the tips of the bars – in that it is the rare combination of a fixed-gear and an e-bike. While that seems about as crazy at first thought as you’d expect from looking at the bike, it actually makes a bit of sense. The e-bike motor & battery, completely enclosed in the rear wheel, work together to both deliver power assist to the pedals and use the wheel braking action of the fixed drivetrain to return energy into the battery…
In addition to being a fixed-gear e-bike the BestiaNera also lays claim to being the first hybrid e-bike to come in under 10kg/22lb. There the simplicity is a big driver, as it’s easy to keep the weight down with all the extra components of more complicated e-bike drivetrains.
The motor itself is in the hub of the lenticular disc rear wheel, with technoogy developed with Zehus. The power supply is a regenerative KERS system that converts braking force back into electrons to recharge the lithium-ion batteries housed in the wheel around the hub or supplies assist power as needed. The e-bike pedal-assist output level gets controlled via a mobile app over a Bluetooth connection and offers 7 assist levels so you can control how much power it adds on. No wiring. No external battery.
Besides simplicity of the e-bike system keeping weight low, Tred adds a light carbon fibre monocoque frame to boot. The frameset itself was built with stiff power transfer for time on the track, so is up to the task of the extra power at the rear wheel.
While braking via the pedals through the fixed drivetrain will both slow you down and recharge your battery, a hydraulic disc brake will bring you to a proper stop quickly if need be. Tred worked to get an aero 3-spoke wheel that uses a modular hub design so they could include a 6-bolt front disc brake.
This ‘sport’ version of the beast gets a set of pursuit bullhorn bars with their own soft rubber horn extensions, but an ‘urban’ build of the bike also offers a set of short flat bars and a height-adjustable stem for a more upright position to tool around town. Tred will even stick on a set of powerful LED lights for visibility day or night.
Even though power transfer is track bike stiff, Tred claims the build in a patented SMAAVS anti-vibration system in the carbon frame that boosts comfort for everyday rideability. The BestiaNera is also available in a lower tech version with either a single speed setup or 2 speed internally geared hub.
The BestiaNera Light+ (which is the simpler setup of the hybrid versions with a spokes rear wheel) has a retail price starting at 6500€. That goes up for this one which is the top Streetfighter, or the Urban+ or Sport+ versions that also get a mix of trispokes and disc wheels hiding the spokes and the rear 250W hub motor.
