This past Sunday was a historic day for two reasons. First, with the date of 02/02/2020 it was the first palindrome day in the last 909 years. Second, Jeep managed to not only get Bill Murray to appear in their Groundhog Day commercial, but they got him to ride an e-fat bike with a basket to hold an actual groundhog (complete with tiny helmet).
First YT bikes got Christopher Walken to do a spot for their new Jeffsy, and now Bill Murray is doing ads for Jeep with a tiny cameo by a new full suspension e-fat bike? Has the world gone mad?
Fortunately not, and TBH, I could watch that commercial all day. Nice work Jeep (and Bill).
Putting our love of Bill Murray aside for a second, let’s talk about that bike. Officially, it seems to be a collaboration between Jeep and Eagle, Colorado based QuietKat bikes. While the bike hasn’t been released yet, you can sign up for updates on the Jeep E-Bike mini site.
If you look closely at the commercial though, the bike that Bill is riding doesn’t actually look like the Jeep e-bike shown above. The battery layout is wrong, and it lacks the inverted suspension fork. Instead, the bike Bill is riding looks a lot more like the current QuietKat Fat Tire Ridgerunner. Our guess is that since the Jeep E-Bike isn’t ready for the launch yet, it probably also wasn’t quite ready for the commercial either. If we’re to take the photo from the Jeep e-Bike mini site as a representation of the final design, we can expect a battery that’s integrated into the downtube on this fat tire, full suspension, electric beast.
According to the teaser, the bike will feature up to a 40 mile range with a 750w electric motor. Like the Fat Tire Ridge Runner, the bike appears to roll on massive 26 x 4.8″ CST Roly Poly fat bike tires and fairly basic looking rims. Claimed weight on these tires is 1800g a piece, and if they’re shipped with a tube, that is a lot of rolling weight to be pushing around – which puts the 40 mile range figure in perspective. Even with the improved battery configuration, this will probably not be a light bike considering the Fat Tire Ridge Runner checks in at 65lbs. Hopefully this thing can break the 60lb barrier?
Rear suspension is provided by their Fire-Link system, but travel numbers are not provided. Pricing is also unannounced, but we’d have to guess it will be more than the Fat Tire Ridge Runner which is currently priced at $5,999.
Sadly, unlike the Tesla Cybertruck e-bikes, it doesn’t look like mounts for a flamethrower or crossbow will be offered.
