Van Dessel Cycles was presenting at CES 2019 and I got to speak with the founder and president Edwin Bull as well as the VP of sales and development Rob Venderveur.
There were two models on show:
The Passepartout uses an external battery pack that comes in two sizes (high and low capacity). It's easily removable and tips out to the left. Edwin suggested that it could offer up to 75 miles of range per charge when using the 36 volt 12 amp hour battery pack. The Captain Shred has an internal battery and the bike frame is full carbon fiber. It wasn't clear how easily that pack could be removed or whether it would come in different capacities. I noticed that the display panel on the Passepartout showed four levels that begin with Auto, which offers 30% to 300% output (similar to the Bosch CX drive system with eMTB mode). The Panasonic motor seemed smooth and fairly quiet (there was still some electronic whirring but not as high pitched as some competing systems). I was told that they were working on a carbon fiber cover for the motor and reinforcing the carbon fork as well as adding bottle cage bosses to it, which would compliment the bottle cage and rear rack bosses. Apparently they are working on a removable LCD display for the final build and I asked about Micro-USB but it didn't sound like that was a feature. The Passepartout will come in a full size run and two builds with different spec components.
Van Dessel was founded in 1999 and the name comes from the founder's mother's maiden name (her last name before marriage). The founder, Edwin, has been a bike racer who began making his own frames at age 15. The company is based in New Jersey, because that's where Edwin is from. Edwin said that the Panasonic failure rate is only 0.3% which is super low. He did a demo ride using a Wahoo Trainer with virtual ride video interaction that was pretty cool.
A Univega commuter electric bike was also on display at the Van Dessel booth because it's a sister company. These models were built around the Panasonic XO mid-drive motors with 80 newton meters of torque vs. the lighter and more powerful GXO.
Official website with more press materials such as pricing and photos at https://www.vandesselcycles.com/media/
There were two models on show:
- Passepartout gravel bike (available in May 2019, $6,500 estimated price)
- Captain Shred carbon fiber full suspension racing bike (estimated arrival in the second half of 2019) meant to compete in the UCI e-mountain bike category
The Passepartout uses an external battery pack that comes in two sizes (high and low capacity). It's easily removable and tips out to the left. Edwin suggested that it could offer up to 75 miles of range per charge when using the 36 volt 12 amp hour battery pack. The Captain Shred has an internal battery and the bike frame is full carbon fiber. It wasn't clear how easily that pack could be removed or whether it would come in different capacities. I noticed that the display panel on the Passepartout showed four levels that begin with Auto, which offers 30% to 300% output (similar to the Bosch CX drive system with eMTB mode). The Panasonic motor seemed smooth and fairly quiet (there was still some electronic whirring but not as high pitched as some competing systems). I was told that they were working on a carbon fiber cover for the motor and reinforcing the carbon fork as well as adding bottle cage bosses to it, which would compliment the bottle cage and rear rack bosses. Apparently they are working on a removable LCD display for the final build and I asked about Micro-USB but it didn't sound like that was a feature. The Passepartout will come in a full size run and two builds with different spec components.
Van Dessel was founded in 1999 and the name comes from the founder's mother's maiden name (her last name before marriage). The founder, Edwin, has been a bike racer who began making his own frames at age 15. The company is based in New Jersey, because that's where Edwin is from. Edwin said that the Panasonic failure rate is only 0.3% which is super low. He did a demo ride using a Wahoo Trainer with virtual ride video interaction that was pretty cool.
A Univega commuter electric bike was also on display at the Van Dessel booth because it's a sister company. These models were built around the Panasonic XO mid-drive motors with 80 newton meters of torque vs. the lighter and more powerful GXO.
Official website with more press materials such as pricing and photos at https://www.vandesselcycles.com/media/
