The Visiobike is a new crowd funding option that brings together top shelf components on a carbon fiber frame and perhaps the best cycling app we’ve seen.
Aesthetically speaking, we prefer a slightly more traditional looking frame like the Specialized Turbo, but beyond that, the Visiobike brings everything together in one of the best packages around. It starts with a custom, EU-made carbon fiber frame fitted around a MPF motor and massive Panasonic batteries. Power assists your pedaling efforts and is driven to a NuVinci infinitely variable transmission hub, which you can slow with the Magura hydraulic disc brakes. All well and good, but it’s the electronics that put it over the top…
The bike has a built in computer controller that’s multi-version Bluetooth compatible to work with older and newer smart phones. It turns your phone into the dashboard, letting you unlock the bike’s drivetrain and view your speed, adjust the amount of motor assistance and view ride stats. The dedicated app even builds in Google Maps for navigation and real time tracking. The icing on the cake? An integrated rear view camera sends video to your phone and loops three minutes of recording in case of an accident. It’ll then save the footage and alert emergency services and a friend, providing an alert with GPS location.
It also uses your phone’s ambient light sensor to automatically turn on the bicycle’s integrated lights. The bike itself also has a GPS/GSM chip onboard that lets you know where your bike is. That’s great if you forgot where you parked or if it gets stolen.
Other theft proof measures include an automatic mechanical lock on the rear wheel, a built in motion sensor with alarm and blinking lights, a SMS text notification of movement and disabling of the electronic features without the smartphone code. Visiobike’s founders are so confident in these countermeasures that they provide one year’s theft insurance at no charge.
Two motor options are available, a 250-watt and 500-watt, the latter moving you up to 45km/h (28mph). Rear hub options are the NuVinci 360 manually shifted system or the electronically controlled, automatic NuVinci Harmony that shifts on its own to maintain the desired effort level.
Want one? It’s on IndieGogo now with the usual variety of smaller pledge perks. Here’s what it takes to actually get a bike:
