Jeff Hirsch has designed and built a lightweight (118 pounds!) electric motorcycle called the Comoto, it’s about the size of a mountain bike. In fact, it looks a lot like a mountain bike without pedals and from the photos, you would expect this to be very nimble and easy to maneuver. With a top speed of 40 mph and a range of 30+ miles, Jeff says it’s well suited for police patrol, airports, emergency response, campus and mall security, commuting, trail riding, and other recreational uses.
The monocoque frame is built from the ground up, using only high strength 6061-T6 alloy aircraft aluminum sheet metal. There’s almost no welding to affect the structural integrity of the T6. Charge time is 2 hours.
This looks like it would be fun to ride and the build quality looks first rate. His target markets listed above, campus and mall security, police patrols and the like, do seem to be a great place to take advantage of something like this.
Jeff’s company, Hirsch Design, is planning production early this year. Looks good!
Link: Hirsch Design
golem says
Looks like, finally, someone included the electric engine in the wheel structure. Still, for an urban vehicle, 2 wheel power with smaller, lighter, cheaper engines, seems the more efficient solution.
The target markets listed above seem to be a bad joke. Campus and mall security require extremely cheap vehicles? This looks very expansive(53 kg!)
Chris says
I wonder if it has quick battery switch out capability. This way one could keep a charged pack at work and change it out for a longer (25 mile) commute back home.
Matt says
very nice design. I like everything about it. I wouldnt call it a motorcycle personally but at 40mph its a very fast bike:)
good job!
todd says
Neat. I’d buy one if I had any cash. Legally it would be a motorcycle in California; it has a motor on a cycle. No pedals, not a moped. You could probably ride around for a few years in bicycle lanes before anyone was the wiser without ever registering it or wearing a full motorcycle helmet. There’s always the problem of no lights, turn signals, mirrors, or horn (etc DOT requirements) so this bike would have to be restricted to off-highway duty only if the owner ever wanted to run around legally.
One could easily add a second motor wheel on the front for twice the power as long as the controller and the batteries could handle the amperage.
-todd
Chris says
todd: don’t forget the added benefits of 2WD! Heck, for only a little more weight — whatever a second motor of roughly half to two-thirds the capacity of the rear motor weighs, plus some wiring — you could have an AWD motorcycle that only powered the front wheel when the rear didn’t have traction. That’d be very interesting off-road or in the winter.
cl
Phoebe says
I would end up getting in trouble with one of these.
I want one =)
Tin Man 2 says
Looks like Good Fun, the only question is price. A 30 mile range at up to 40MPH would work for most commuters just fine. I like the fact that it is not trying to look like a Sport Bike, It looks just like what it is. Function over Form works for me. Maybe a couple small fenders in case of puddles would be a good addition.
David/cigarrz says
finally an electric that is not trying to be something it is not. The makers of this will do something the rest of the electric gang are not doing, make money
Burphel says
Looks great except the seat height. I suppose it’s light enough that one-footing it at a stop wouldn’t be bad, but even bicycles let you have a little more clearance than that when you slide off the saddle forward to stop.
I’m short, so this sort of thing frustrates me. Looking at the pictures, I can see losing 2″ on the seat mount alone by redesigning it (you can always make it adjust higher). And if you’re going to be using it on the street, or probably even most Law Enforcement roles, you could easily trim a bit of that gigantic ground clearance. Not everybody’s 6 feet tall, and it just boggles my mind when companies ignore this for no good reason. What PD/campus security is going to buy something like this that a good chunk of their personnel can’t ride safely
J.H. says
Under the seat there is a shock mount that can lower the bike enough for someone one as tall as 5′-3″, if needed. Front suspension can also be lowered 3″
J.H.
fazer6 says
It will live or die on price an legal issues.
I commute daily on a “legal” electric-hub powered bicycle. Range is 30-40 miles top speed ~30mph. All for about $2,000.
Without pedals it will require lights and plate to be street legal, even for law enforcement use.
I don’t think seat height is an issue at 34″, even though I only have a 27″ inseam–Most dirtbikes come in around 38″, most street bike about 32″. At this light weight 34 is just fine, even for street use (were is legal, which would add more weight).
Another big downside, despite its inherent simplicity is the hub-motor. On a bicycle it’s fine, but on a sprung motorcycle all the weight is not only rotating weight, but unsprung weight as well–Handling and grip will be very sorely affected.
Good to see more concepts coming along though, and it does look beautifully crafted.
GenWaylaid says
Todd,
Actually there’s a loophole in the California legal definition of a moped. Electric “motorized bicycles” are defined differently in two places in the vehicle code. The more recent definition (section 406b) is written around electric bicycles with a top speed of 20 mph. Section 406a, however, defines a moped as “having fully operative pedals for propulsion by human power, or having no pedals if powered solely by electrical energy” as well as limiting it to 2 hp and 30 mph. Considering that most of the mopeds currently on the roads in California are heavily modified and flaunt those power and speed restrictions, I see no reason why the electric but pedal-less Comoto couldn’t be registered as a 406a moped.
todd says
Good point GenWayLaid, thanks for finding that. But mopeds do require all lighting (turn signals excepted if you use your arms), mirrors, and horn, insurance, and a motorcycle endorsement on your driver’s license. Plus you must wear a DOT motorcycle helmet. If this had simple pedals hooked up to a freewheel hub on the opposite side of the existing chain (and initially governed to 20mph) you could call it a motor-assisted bicycle and anyone could ride it almost anywhere.
-todd
todd says
um, forget the part where I say “existing chain”. Adding a freewheel hub to this bike would be impossible unless the hub-motor was on the front (it’s done regularly) and the pedaled wheel was the rear.
-todd
Davidw says
Most practical electric motorcycle yet. The design simplicity should make for a practical price point for the use intended. Its a motorcycle as designed so should comply with DOT standards (helmets, endorsements, lighting etc.). The lighting requirements could be taken care of with mimimal draw LEDS..
coho says
WANT.
That looks like six different kinds of fun, several of them of questionable legality.
Jimbo says
Is that a unicycle seat?
Looks awesome though, wonder how it would hold up to offroading…
Scotduke says
Nice piece of design and I can see this attracting more customers than existing electric novelties like the Segway for instance. It’d fall into a bit of a legal middle ground here in Europe. It has no pedals so it’s not a bicycle and as it’s capable of 40mph, it’d probably need licence plates as well as a motorcycle licence on the part of the rider. If it was fitted with pedals as well, then it’d come in a different category depending on whether the electric motor was for ‘assist only’ and not controlled using a twist-grip throttle. As a delivery bike for pizza delivery businesses for example it’d be a whole lot cheaper to buy and run than the Honda Cubs (or similar) they use at present though.
Paulinator says
All this discussion about licencing requirements…how is it easier to stick registration on a 3500 pound vehicle with more factory horsepower (not torque – TODD!!!) than a 40 ton transport truck (and top speeds that belong at Bonneville)??? I’ve been watching the news for a while now – and I’ve never heard of innocent fatalities from reckless moped or E-bike street-racing.
Nice looking bike – er – moped – er – motorcycle – er – platypus? I want one because I’m a rebel.
Adrian Button says
What makes this a motorcycle? Surely it’s just a Mountain Bike with an electric motor, pedals removed and marketed as a “Motorcycle.” More of a Push bike than a Motorbike to me.
SteveD says
Very nice as scooter alternative, despite the motorcycle designation. Price will be critical. Under $2000 would be great. Maybe OK at $2500. $5K is the kiss of death.
anon says
Todd beat me to it… Being motorized, and with no pedals, it won’t be allowed on bike/pedestrian paths. That fact, coupled with the total lack street equipment, I’d say lays waste to the claim for ‘commuting’ as a use. Nothing more than a nicely designed toy at this point. But it IS nicely designed, and the hub-motor is a nice touch. I’d think that the kind of people who’d want something like this aren’t going to want to futz about keeping a chain properly lubed.
Mel Beaty says
Can’t tell from the photos if it has the feature, but it should be easy to make the battery pack a snap-in, snap-out affair so you could have a charger at work or at home with a second battery. Extend the commute range. Lights and turn signals could be LED’s for low power consumption.
Steve says
Yes, I know… some folks are actually interested in this sort of curiosa: electric power, alternate fuel contraptions, that air powered thing, “yawn…”
Wanna’ see my beer can ring collection?
todd says
Paulinator, it is easier to license a 3500 vehicle with lots of power because the manufacturer followed the rules and went through the effort and considerable expense of having it certified to comply with EPA, CARB, and DOT. Comoto, apparently, has not. That leaves the customer up to the dicey position of hoping it falls into a non-regulated category such as home-built motor assist bicycles. Since it doesn’t even fit into that category, no fat chance. Really, what’s the difference, as far as the DMV or highway patrol is concerned, between this and a KTM 105 SX?
I’m all for it. I’d love to have one but I’d hate to have it confiscated from me because I rode it.
-todd
GenWaylaid says
Todd,
Actually, in California mopeds do not require insurance and only require an M2 endorsement (motorcycle written test). A DOT helmet is required, but I think that’s reasonable. I wouldn’t trust a bicycle helmet over 20 mph, anyway.
http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html
For the most part, the lights, horn, and mirrors could be ordinary bicycle parts. The one tricky requirement would be for a functioning stoplamp (i.e. somehow hooked up to the brake levers).
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc24015.htm
Most importantly, registering the Comoto as a moped would allow it to use bicycle lanes. Otherwise, trying to keep up with traffic would put you at top speed most of the time and drain the battery quickly.
Derek Larsen says
heh, it looks like the Turners and GTs i used to sell. i dunno how chain torque affect the suspension (a problem that many companies try to solve with patented linkages.) wait, there’s just a hub motor, like those kits they sell in the back of popular mechanic.
it’s a nice rendition. maybe he’d sell the plans, but given the specs, it’s no better than a person of average health riding the standard police bikes sold today.
WRXr says
Why NOT give it pedals? What is the draw back? If you run out of juice in the woods you can still mountain-bike-it home. Ditto on the roads. Really I see no disadvantage to having a set of pedals and a freewheel attached.
randy says
Another step forward or sideways, it has to be done. One thing that’s happening right now is power storage. Things are being developed that will allow much more power to be carried. Military only now – Too Expensive at the present, but WILL BE commercialized in the not too distance future. At that time it will be worth the expense to make these all electric “motorcycles” mainstream legal.
Lewellyn says
The buyable european version: http://www.quantya.com/
Adam says
When you look at the size of the battery, the fork, brake, shock, motor, controller, charger, and all the parts that go into the frame, he couldn’t possibly build the bike for less than $2k, let alone sell it there. I’d expect the price to be more in the $3-4k range.
lawrence1 says
It would work well in a farm or ranch application.
Bud e says
I love it. The unicycle seat is a great idea too
Paulinator says
When in Taiwan a decade ago, I saw low-end mountain bikes being built, packaged and loaded into shipping containers for 50 bucks each. My local WalMart has a “hub-motored” cruiser selling at 900 bucks. Using that as a bench-mark, I could see this product selling for under $2K. Any claim to environmental benefit would certainly be fraud, however. As it is I’d like to see an environmental audit performed.
Otherwise, Its still cool.
Adam says
True, but there’s a big difference between the components on a $900 cruiser at walmart and this bike. There’s a lot of money in this bike’s components, but the batteries are the big issue here. 72V 20AH is 1440WH. At the best prices coming out of China this would cost at least $6-700, and that’s before you include any of the electronics and BMS to control it.
Controller looks to be this unit: http://tinyurl.com/y8e9dje , which he might get a ~30% discount on? So that’s over $1000 in just the batteries and motor controller alone. This will NOT sell for less than $2k.
Paulinator says
With respect to the motor, controller and batteries, I think the difference is component sizing (current, capacity, etc.) I don’t think the technology or processes are significantly different. With respect to bicycle industry derived components, the scale of production is mind-boggling. The prices we see in botique stores aren’t the same as the bulk costs incurred by assembly houses off-shore.
That said, your opinion is based on current knowledge and not generalizations. So touche’.
Since the battery costs are so severe, I’d recommend that the mount becomes “quick-release” (as stated by others) so that they can initiate sales with a smaller battery. High-capacity batteries and charge stations could be offered as another cash stream. The cost of this technology will predictably drop like a lead ballon over the next few years (or be replaced by something entirely different that the Pentagon has already?).
Adam says
Using a removable battery is actually a great idea because of the reasons you stated and for anyone who lives in a city apartment and wouldn’t want to be lugging a 120+ lb bike up and down stairs to charge it. A 30 lb battery would be much more reasonable. There’s also no question that battery prices will fall. I’m hoping that EESTOR pulls through http://theeestory.com/ !!
Bug says
I can tell you, that the battery on the Comoto is designed to be swapped for a spare in about 3 min. Pack will be approx 34 lbs.
joe says
Looks like a bicycle without the peddle’s. Now if you added a set of those to boost the battery charge and increase the travel distance it would be perfect.
fazer6 says
Without pedals to allow it to use bike lanes top speed needs to be increased to at least 50mph (constant) to make it safe to mix with traffic.
fazer6 says
Very, very similar and already in production (and half the price of the other quantya): http://www.elmoto.com/
zzzz says
fazer6, how is it similar,because it has 2 wheels?
Chris says
I’m not so sure about the vehicles with the motor on the wheel. It would seem to me that you’d get more speed out of one with a transmission. After all the powerful ICE engines would go really slow without a transmission or really fast and take for freaking ever to get there.