\n<\/aside>\n<\/p>\n
“You can let everyone know that people said it’s a really nice-looking bike.”<\/p>\n
I’d never received comments like that when testing previous e-bikes, but I got compliments several times when out on the Vintage Roadster, and it’s easy to see why. The bike is gorgeous, evoking classic motorcycles of a century ago, straight down to a battery shaped like a two-cylinder engine.<\/p>\n
For me, it constantly called to mind the opening scenes of Lawrence of Arabia<\/em>, which show Lawrence speeding off on one of those classic machines. Those who have seen the movie know that the scenes end with his death in a motorcycle crash. This brings me to my mixed feelings about Vintage’s e-bike equivalent of a supercar. I was introduced to the Vintage after I reviewed a Super73 e-bike, about which I expressed some concern over how easy it was to accelerate the bike to a very illegal (and potentially dangerous) 50 km an hour. Vintage’s sales pitch for the Roadster was basically “we have one that goes even faster.”<\/p>\nNaturally, I had to try it out.<\/p>\n
A super e-bike<\/h2>\n Supercars are a high-priced mix of performance and design. The former means the car is overprovisioned for most reasonable uses, while the latter involves the designers thinking of everything<\/em> to make sure that customers who fork over ungodly amounts of money never come across any annoyances. Given that definition, the Roadster is definitely the equivalent of a supercar.<\/p>\nWe’ll come back to the performance, but for now, we can say that the Roadster definitely qualifies as overprovisioned. And with a price tag just shy of $7,000, it’s not cheap. To put that price into context, however, ultra-lightweight carbon fiber bikes with high-end components can cost well above $10,000, and those bikes require you to do all the work to keep them moving.<\/p>\n\n Advertisement <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\nJust like buying a supercar, choosing the Roadster requires you to determine whether the design and performance are good enough to justify the price gap between it and more utilitarian options.<\/p>\n
As mentioned above, many onlookers felt the design was compelling. Vintage went all-in on the classic motorcycle look; the handlebars, headlight, and seat all feed into the aesthetic. Both the battery and the shock-absorbing front forks are special designs meant to enhance the motorcycle-like appearance as well. The optional rear rack matches the color and styling of the bike perfectly.<\/p>\n\nenlarge
\/<\/span> The kickstand and pedals stand out from the motorcycle aesthetic, unlike the rack, which is more subdued and blends in with the curvy design.<\/div>\nJohn Timmer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Vintage also included some nice design touches beyond the aesthetics. Since the forks extend up to the handlebars, a sharp turn could cause a bump to the frame itself, so Vintage has wrapped leather straps around the forks to cushion the frame (the straps match the leather grips on the handlebars and the leather seat).<\/p>\n
Is this a “they thought of everything” design? It’s close, but not quite. Obviously, the pedals and kickstand detract a bit from the motorcycle vibe, and on the Roadster, their bright chrome stands out from the dark paint on the frame. The rear light is just a row of red LEDs embedded in plastic. And rather than coming up with a circular, motorcycle-like display for speed, battery, and assist level (as Super73 did), Vintage went with a generic rectangular LCD that the designers tried to make inconspicuous. But these are pretty minor deviations from a carefully thought-out aesthetic; this is an utterly gorgeous bike with many thoughtful design touches.<\/p>\n
But that beautiful design brings up a question. The Roadster is a fantastic machine for running errands, but will you feel comfortable leaving something that looks like it belongs in a design museum sitting outside a Home Depot? (This may be another parallel it shares with supercars.)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Timmer “You can let everyone know that people said it’s a really nice-looking bike.” I’d never received comments like that when testing previous e-bikes, but I got compliments several times when out on the Vintage Roadster, and it’s easy to see why. The bike is gorgeous, evoking classic motorcycles of a century ago, straight …<\/p>\n
What do you get when you cross an e-bike with a supercar?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102939,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/vanmoofs-new-a5-and-s5-e-bikes-are-harder-to-steal-and-smoother-to-ride\/","url_meta":{"origin":101866,"position":0},"title":"VanMoof’s new A5 and S5 e-bikes are harder to steal and smoother to ride","date":"October 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a breezy three-kilometer ride on VanMoof's A5 e-bike around Battersea Park in London. Starting from VanMoof's flagship London store, the company's CEO, Ties Carlier, took the lead. He shot off on the more typically framed S5 (), while I got to grips with the boost and controls on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97492,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/trek-domane-slr-is-companys-newest-and-lightest-electric-bike\/","url_meta":{"origin":101866,"position":1},"title":"Trek Domane+ SLR is company’s newest and lightest electric bike","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Trek has just unveiled its lightest electric bike to date, the Trek Domane+ SLR. The stealthy e-bike is designed to slot right in alongside non-electric bikes without sticking out. Trek Domane+ SLR Weighing in at a mere 11.75 kg (25.9 pounds), the Trek Domane+ SLR is the company's lightest electric\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"trek domane+ SLR e-bike","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/trek-domane-plus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13737,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/is-this-fsa-prototype-the-future-of-road-bikes\/","url_meta":{"origin":101866,"position":2},"title":"Is this FSA prototype the future of road bikes?","date":"July 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FSA has revealed a prototype at Eurobike 2022, which the brand says looks to the future of road bike design. Matteo Palazzo of FSA says the bike was going to be presented at Eurobike 2020, but it wasn't revealed at the time due to the disruption caused by Covid. Palazzo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/21\/2022\/07\/fsa-prototype-bike-2-9cc7a2f.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50410,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/field-test-the-commencal-meta-sx-is-a-bruiser\/","url_meta":{"origin":101866,"position":3},"title":"Field Test: The Commencal Meta SX is a Bruiser","date":"August 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"PINKBIKE FIELD TESTCommencal Meta SXWords by Alicia Leggett; photography by Dave TrumporeIt's big, it's metal, and it's the least expensive bike we tested. The Commencal Meta SX looks pretty interesting on paper, with its mixed wheel sizes, 1286 mm wheelbase, and robust frame. So what does the new Meta SX\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8668,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/honbike-u4-offers-a-unique-belt-drive-electric-bike-that-looks-slick\/","url_meta":{"origin":101866,"position":4},"title":"Honbike U4 offers a unique belt-drive electric bike that looks slick","date":"July 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Electric bikes are great for a lot of things. They get you where you're going faster than a traditional bike, cut through traffic faster than a car, and are more fun than both. But the downside is that they can often be rather chunky looking. Some are even downright chonks.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/electrek.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/black1-copy-edited.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-14-at-4.38.53-PM-760x380.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}