Fly Free Introduces Classic / Desert E-Bikes

Long Beach, California is home to a new e-Bike company: Fly Free Smart Motorcycles.

The Fly Free with classic lines of a mini-cafe racer, one of the bodywork options over the basic architecture of the bike. [Fly Free]

Details are scant, and the website gives little information, but there’s mention of a crowdfunding campaign to get the company going, although I couldn’t find links to that either. But based on the company’s social media outreach, it appears it’s going after the same market as Gloria Factory in France, with a focus on customizability, for a hip, young, urban audience.

Some Deets

Two Fly Free models have been introduced, the Classic and Desert. Eighty different color and accessories options will be available, according to the company. The bikes will use one or two battery packs as ordered, and offer two settings: one with 50-mile range reaching a top speed of 40 miles per hour (one battery) and the other one with 100-mile range that can reach the maximum speed of 50 miles per hour (two batteries).

Ready to explore the trails at Joshua Tree: the street scrambler body kit is reminiscent of contemporary alt.custom versions of the Yamaha DT80. The small scale and very high ground clearance should make for a fun trail bike. [Fly Free]

The powerplant is based on a 3kW electric motor with three choices of speed modes: Eco, City and Speed. As usual with the new crop of commuter/iPhone friendly e-Bikes, there’s a USB port to keep your devices charged, so you’ll never be out of juice when an Instagram moment beckons. Fly Free says it will offer an app that adjusts their motorcycle’s functions, that works on both Android and IOS.

A full battery charge will take about eight hours and, according to Fly Free, after 700 cycles the removable battery still maintains 70 percent of its initial capacity. That should equal many years of regular use, unless you’re a weed/pizza delivery person in Venice Beach, in which case, the batteries might need more love.

The Fly Free Smart Desert e-bike has the best potential for sell-through, based on its adventurous stance and comfortable riding position. [Fly Free]

Verdict?

The challenge for every emerging e-bike company lies with delivery, cost, range and service after the sale. While we applaud all efforts made to get more e-bikes on the streets and in the dirt, we need to feel confident a new company will have our back after purchase, and might be around longer than next year. We’d love more information on how Fly Free will provide service after sales.