Why Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy supports Skarper in making every bike an e-bike

As one of the most decorated track cyclists of all time, Sir Chris Hoy may not seem an obvious candidate to support the burgeoning e-bike movement. It is commonly said that e-bikes are not real bicycles.

But that’s exactly what the six-time Olympic gold medalist has done, investing in a young British startup that has built a clip-on contraption that makes it easier to convert a balance bike to an electric bike and back again with minimal effort.

Skarper, as the company is called, has raised 12.8 million pounds ($16.3 million) since its founding in 2020, with Hoy contributing to an early seed tranche. While the click-on e-bike system was originally slated for launch in 2023, the first production batch was only shipped to a few hundred people last week, with the remaining pre-orders planned for the coming months.

TechCrunch chatted with Hoy as he took delivery of the first official Skarper shipment (certainly a benefit for investors) to learn why this could be the next big thing in the world of e-bikes – even if you’re pure e-bikes prefer pedal power, as someone of Hoy’s stature certainly does.

“I’m probably not the type of person you would imagine as an e-bike advocate, but when I tried my first e-bike years ago, I got it,” Hoy told TechCrunch. “When you see that you’re still cycling, you’re still using your body, but you get this ‘invisible hand’ pushing you forward, then you get it. And you realize that in certain situations you would much rather ride a bike with pedal assistance than a bike without pedal assistance.”

The benefits of electric bikes are well known. A commuter may not want to arrive at the office drenched in sweat, which is why motorized assistance for uphill journeys is an attractive alternative. Added to this is the lower environmental impact of zero emissions compared to other motorized modes of transport, while e-bikes can also handle heavy traffic with aplomb, cutting through lines of cars, weaving through parks and other areas normally closed to motorized vehicles.

And some people simply can’t ride a fully self-driving bike, whether for age or health reasons.

But not everyone wants to buy a dedicated e-bike, especially if they already own a bike. And this is where Skarper comes into play.

“Too good to be true”

Shortly before retiring from cycling in 2013, Hoy launched his own range of bikes in collaboration with British retailer Evans. With that project on hold, Hoy said he was already thinking about e-bikes before Skarper came along.

“I’m a big fan of e-bikes and have been thinking about building my own range,” said Hoy. “But I saw that and thought: Why would I want to build an e-bike when this is the solution you need?”

Hoy was first introduced to the concept during a mid-pandemic Zoom chat with Skarper CEO Eon Brown and COO Uri Meirovich. He was presented with the idea of ​​attaching a unit to the rear disc brake of a bicycle to make it electric, with the added benefit of being instantly removable.

“I was there from the beginning – that’s when I got an image, an idea, and it almost seemed too good to be true,” Hoy said. “I thought, how on earth is this going to work, how are they going to deal with the heat and vibration and generate enough power to power the bike?”

This was one of Hoy’s big questions at the beginning: How would this work from a physics and structural perspective? A normal bicycle is not built the same as a motorcycle. And with most other e-bike conversion kits on the market, although they are often front-wheel drive too, you have to mess with the wiring and wiring, which completely changes the feel and balance of the bike.

Skarper is designed for bikes with disc brakes and a 160mm brake disc, but it is possible to adapt other types of bikes if you have a little technical know-how. The kit consists of a DiskDrive rotor with integrated gearing that replaces the bike’s existing disc brake rotor on the rear wheel. This also serves as a mounting system for a plug-in electric motor.

Anyone can install Skarper’s e-bike drive system themselves, but the company has also partnered with a network of installers to do the work for free.

While conversion kits for electric bikes have been around for a number of years, Skarper is all about ease of use – not just clipping in and out, but also minimal disruption to the bike itself. In fact, co-founder and COO Uri Meirovich emphasizes that it Skarper is not about “changing” or “converting” a bike.

“We’re here to make it better,” Meirovich told TechCrunch. “Traditional conversion kits permanently change your bike and often compromise the original design and ride quality by replacing critical components such as the bike’s wheel, running cables everywhere, or attaching a battery to the handlebars or elsewhere, compromising the bike’s balance and appearance .” .”

So in a way it’s about having two bikes in one. This means that someone who owns a beloved road, mountain, hybrid or gravel bike does not have to compromise on the integrity of the original design and quality.

“Like all great ideas, it’s very simple when it’s already part of the bike – a disc brake that can already withstand enormous forces, enormous torque (rotational force), and enormous amounts of heat,” Hoy continued. “So this is a good starting point for powering the rear wheel while taking advantage of the structural rigidity and integrity of the frame. From a technical perspective, I think it’s a nice solution.”

Once mounted, the Skarper unit can be removed in seconds. However, you can also deactivate the e-bike function by turning it off or activating “pause mode” by backpedaling three times if the rider does not need electric assistance for a while. This can also save battery.

The Skarper system takes 2.5 hours to fully charge and provides a range of up to 50 km (31 miles) at a top speed of 25 km/h (15 miles/h).

Great design

Skarper employs around 22 people, including more than a dozen engineers from industrial, mechanical, electronics, software and testing sectors. In addition, the company worked closely with Red Bull’s Advanced Technologies team, which is behind the Red Bull Formula 1 racing team.

However, Hoy himself was involved in the design process from the beginning.

“My contribution came from the perspective of a cyclist – that is of course my area of ​​expertise,” said Hoy. “It was just about how it rides and how it feels. Does Skarper affect handling? What can we get away with in terms of size, weight or shape? I would be a kind of test pilot – I would take the device and use it properly and test it and apply it in different scenarios and situations.”

There’s no getting around the price, though: at £1,500 ($1,900), Skarper isn’t cheap by any means. But it’s not intended as an inexpensive way to purchase an e-bike, nor is it intended as a device that will only be used once in a while

“Let’s say you have a £1,000 e-bike: the quality of the components, the brakes, the gears, the tires, the materials used in the frameset, the saddle – everything about it is ‘budget,'” Hoy said. “It’s the cheapest thing they can make to keep the price down. Skarper is essentially the highest quality engine you can get, and you make it your pride and joy. And if you look at how often you use it over the course of a year, it will prove to be very economical.”

There is also the issue of security. An expensive standalone e-bike is a tempting proposition for thieves, and we’re even seeing startups emerging from this trend to help victims get their stolen bikes back. With Skarper, a user can of course attach it to their $5,000 road bike, but they can also attach it to a pile of junk to give it a little extra oomph and then take it off again when they get to their destination.

“I imagine someone who has an old, dingy bike that they’ve had for years or maybe they just bought on eBay – something they like to leave locked outside their office,” Hoy said. “No one will bother stealing it or even looking at it twice. But then they can attach it to it and convert it into a really high-quality e-bike.”

Currently Skarper only delivers to customers in the UK, but Meirovich confirmed that orders to mainland Europe will begin in mid-2025, followed by the US. What is noteworthy is that the model that will ultimately be launched in the United States will have a higher top speed than those in the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU), since the United States has a maximum speed limit of 20 miles for this type of vehicle per hour applies.

“Skarper has received well over 100 distribution requests from around the world, including major retailers in the U.S. and major players in most European markets,” Meirovich said, adding that few changes were required to fulfill international orders. “Minor changes are required to comply with EU and US regulations and we are in the process of obtaining these certifications.”