A flood of new ebikes coming from Japan ?

[Dewey]

Also, interesting note that Bridgestone makes a lot of front hub driven ebikes.

They tend to brag about their re-gen system, I guess front hub was the most efficient way to recoup braking energy.

ブリヂストンの両輪駆動は、走りながら自動充電 | ブリヂストンサイクル株式会社

ブリヂストンの両輪駆動は、走りながら自動充電。ブリヂストンの電動アシスト自転車の機能やラインナップをご紹介するページです。

www.bscycle.co.jp

The website says the ones with a front hub motor are “dual drive” bikes with both a mid-drive and a front hub motor? wonder how good the controller is at keeping the two motors in sync, and what the power draw is like from two motors?

A blog post on the manufacturer site Source: https://www.bridgestone.co.jp/blog/2016101201.html

 

[Dewey]

Interesting article from Bike Europe on changes in production for the Japanese bicycle and ebike market, reportedly in 2018 both Yamaha and Panasonic moved their entire ebike production out of Japan to Giant's facility in Kunshan, China. It's unclear if that also includes the Yamaha models sold in the US as the article points out the capacity opened up due to the EU & US tariffs on Chinese ebikes.

 

[Dewey]

It's my understanding that Yamaha has been building their own models in Taiwan.

Thank you, that jibes with their pricing.