Tragic as many a petrolhead purist might find it, electric cars are at the cutting-edge of motoring, pushing performance as well as efficiency about as far as it will go. But it’s not just the four-wheeled that are embracing electrical power; bikes too are breaking boundaries in the field, none more so than Novus.
You can tell straight off that there’s something cutting-edge about the Novus bike; it would have been rejected as an inspiration for Tron for looking just too futuristic. What you don’t realise at first glance is that it’s not just ‘something’ that’s cutting-edge. It’s everything.
First off, if you’re looking for any superfluous bits of tech jutting out, you can keep looking. Every functional aspect of the bike is hidden within the lightweight carbon composite frame. The monocoque skeleton is both support and design feature while with an extraordinary strength-to-weight ratio, containing everything from the battery to the suspension.
The only part to not be encased by the frame is also, arguably, Novus’ most unique: their wheel hub motor. The powerful engine is integrated into the carbon fibre rim of the wheel, fine-tuned for smoothness and, of course, torque. The result is a top speed of 120km/h, hitting which feels like nothing you’ve experienced before.
That experience can also be fine-tuned to what you want at the time. As well as being able to unlock the Novus via app, you can limit how much power it uses (or take away the limit) and keep track of the specs of your bike and stats of your journeys.
In design, less is more, and Novus has taken that to the logical extreme here without sacrificing forward-thinking technology. On paper, the bike’s specs are impressive; in reality, the pared-back, minimal look is sleek yet unobtrusive. Combined, the two give us a snapshot into the future of two-wheeled speedsters. So far, it’s looking good.
Price: €46,284 EUR (approx. £41,892), more details at Novus.
