2016 Superpedestrian Update from Interbike

[Ann M.]

Much has happened since Court met with the Superpedestrian creators a little over a year ago, with a lot of focus on simplicity of use.

The founder of Superpedestrian (maker of the Copenhagen Wheel), Assaf Biderman, met with me at Interbike and talked about the formation of his company, it began with a lab and some patents at MIT in Massachusetts (MIT SENSEable City Lab). Their lab is basically working on robotics systems that haven been applied to electric bikes. The all in one electric bike wheel is on sale at a special pre-order price of $950 at the time of this review but will formally retail for $1,200. The wheel takes into account your pedal speed, ride speed, pedal torque, side and front forces and the slope (there are 12 signals). You can operate the wheel with an Android or iOS smart phone but you don’t need to have the app open when riding, it uses a secure connection to activate the wheel (in the last power setting).

 

[Adrian]

Wow. This seems to go way beyond just a motor on a bike. Very cool concept. Interesting to hear how this performs in the wild.

 

[MLWilcox]

Really good to see this update. I believe, as do others, that it is a transformative product bring ebikes to the masses in a "simple" solution.

Their perfectionism seems to have improved the product beyond the original, but has certainly frustrated thir preorder customers.

Since it is one of many ebike solutions I lust after, I am actually preordering one now. Hope to get it by the end of 2016.

 

[Tara D.]

Great news about the Copenhagen Wheel! I love that you can do the firmware updates for the wheel with your phone. I wish I could pre-order one also!

 

[Bike_On]

Much has happened since Court met with the Superpedestrian creators a little over a year ago, with a lot of focus on simplicity of use.

The founder of Superpedestrian (maker of the Copenhagen Wheel), Assaf Biderman, met with me at Interbike and talked about the formation of his company, it began with a lab and some patents at MIT in Massachusetts (MIT SENSEable City Lab). Their lab is basically working on robotics systems that haven been applied to electric bikes. The all in one electric bike wheel is on sale at a special pre-order price of $950 at the time of this review but will formally retail for $1,200. The wheel takes into account your pedal speed, ride speed, pedal torque, side and front forces and the slope (there are 12 signals). You can operate the wheel with an Android or iOS smart phone but you don’t need to have the app open when riding, it uses a secure connection to activate the wheel (in the last power setting).

Impressive qualification testing! These guys have gone beyond a typical testing house.

 

[Deleted member 803]

Court, I saw him as well. This project has been a long time coming. Hope they have great success.

 

[JoePah]

This wheel has been in development since 2009. They keep slipping the ship date year after year.

Their customers must have either given up on the idea or are extremely patient!

 

[MLWilcox]

In the video, Court is told that some Copenhagen wheels have been shipped. Does anyone have information or confirmation of this?

I also want to know if anyone road with an equipped bike and what they thought.

 

[Alessandra]

It seems that at least 3 have been shipped.
A couple of video have been posted on youtube.
But they still do not provide any shipping timing

 

[JoePah]

Copenhagen seems to be pushing their product to a certain demo.. Hope it works out for them.

 

[Ann M.]

Here's an updated actual review that Court did of the Superpedestrian Copenhagen Wheel, check it out!

The Superpedestrian Copenhagen Wheel is a near-silent electric wheel system available in 26" or 700c size, it converts traditional bicycles into ebikes and uses a smartphone app compatible with iOS or Android devices. No wires to deal with (uses Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity), activates with a secure connection to only your account, offers three levels of assist and a regeneration mode as well as regenerative braking (pedal backwards to activate). Has been on pre-order for nearly two years at the time of t his review (no confirmation on delivery date), not compatible with disc brakes (only rim brakes), only available in red color, no smartphone mount included, no way to charge your phone while using it as a display panel.