The little queen is back in the braid. Since a few years the bike found its letters of nobility, with manufacturers that focus on the design, the beautiful… Coleen, a start-up bayonnaise, is fully in line with this trend. “We have created Coleen there are four and a half years, at the time of the launch of Tesla,” says Audrey Lefort, co-founder of Coleen. “We wanted to make a beautiful product, reproducing the codes from the car’s vintage, no plastic parts”. The result is a “sleek, mixed and timeless”. The bike is unveiled at the ces in Las Vegas and pre-sales will be launched at the end of the show. The first bikes will be available this summer. The start-up has commenced production. It has benefited from the support of the region’s New Aquitaine, Bpifrance, banks, and has just finished a fundraising of 1 million euros, crowfunding and with private investors.
To arrive at the design of their bike, the two co-founders of Coleen are inspired in the first draisiennes with their framework to a cross. But that one is not mistaken there, its retro look, hides an electric bike and connected latest. The battery is housed in the frame. She withdraws with a system for Keyless, requiring it to approach its smartphone to the bike, allowing you to either unlock the bike, is to remove the battery to recharge it. And if the smartphone is discharged? Coleen has thought of integrating a USB key to the framework: just plug in the phone. Of course, it is not necessary that the battery of the bike is also discharged…..And there remains the possibility to manually unlock the bike. He embarked as a GPS location system, to find his bike in the case of “borrowing,” or to share his journeys with his friends.
from 4,700 euros
For the technical aspects, Coleen displayed weighs 18 kg, a reasonable weight for an electric bike, for an average autonomy of 100 kilometers. The maximum speed with the electric assistance is 25 km away, as is the legislation. Coleen is equipped with a battery of 48 Volts, the transmission is by belt and not by a chain, which requires less maintenance. It is equipped with hydraulic disk brakes, and tire balls. On the handlebar, the display screen is in color, indicating the selection, the speed, the autonomy, the number of miles travelled… All the data that are also found on the application.
Coleen has already anticipated the move after that, with a version that will be able to reach 45 km/h. This model comes in the category of mopeds light, for which the wearing of a helmet is mandatory, and requiring a registration, a rear brake lights…
The start-up aims the label origin France guarantee, with its bicycles are developed and manufactured in France. The battery is manufactured by Neogy, near Bourdeaux, the engine in Novengine, in La Rochelle. The upholstery is done in Voltaire, a props builder of luxury located in Bidart, and to the frame and carbon fork, to Bayonne. Of course, all this has a price: the bikes will be sold from 4,700 euros. Coleen seeks a high-end clientele, saying the practice “a reasonable price” for this level of quality. Audrey Lefort also plans to launch a range of accessories, starting with the crucial basket to hang on the handlebars, heated grips,…
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