Bicycles

Haibike’s 2019 Flyon e-bike range packs beauty and brawn

Haibike’s 2019 Flyon e-bike range packs beauty and brawn
Haibike Xduro Nduro 10.0 is the big daddy of the new Flyon range and comes in at €8,999
Haibike Xduro Nduro 10.0 is the big daddy of the new Flyon range and comes in at €8,999
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Haibike Flyon: twin taillights and speed ring sensor
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Haibike Flyon: twin taillights and speed ring sensor
Haibike Flyon: TQ 120S high-torque mid-drive motor
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Haibike Flyon: TQ 120S high-torque mid-drive motor
Haibike Flyon: skid plate protects the motor
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Haibike Flyon: skid plate protects the motor
Haibike Flyon: Skybeamer LED light comes in several flavors including a 5,000 lumen monster
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Haibike Flyon: Skybeamer LED light comes in several flavors including a 5,000 lumen monster
Haibike Flyon: LED screen
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Haibike Flyon: LED screen
Haibike Flyon: exploded
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Haibike Flyon: exploded
Haibike Flyon: full suspension frame variant
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Haibike Flyon: full suspension frame variant
Haibike Flyon: full suspension frame
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Haibike Flyon: full suspension frame
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Haibike Flyon: twin tail lights are very nicely integrated
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Haibike Flyon: twin tail lights are very nicely integrated
Haibike Xduro Adventr 5.0
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Haibike Xduro Adventr 5.0
Haibike Xduro Adventr 6.0
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Haibike Xduro Adventr 6.0
Haibike Xduro Allmtn 10.0
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Haibike Xduro Allmtn 10.0
Haibike Xduro Allmtn 5.0
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Haibike Xduro Allmtn 5.0
Haibike Xduro Allmtn 8.0
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Haibike Xduro Allmtn 8.0
Haibike Xduro Nduro 5.0
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Haibike Xduro Nduro 5.0
Haibike Xduro Alltrail 6.0
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Haibike Xduro Alltrail 6.0
Haibike Xduro Nduro 10.0 is the big daddy of the new Flyon range and comes in at €8,999
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Haibike Xduro Nduro 10.0 is the big daddy of the new Flyon range and comes in at €8,999
Haibike Xduro Nduro 5.0
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Haibike Xduro Nduro 5.0
Haibike Xduro Nduro 8.0
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Haibike Xduro Nduro 8.0
Haibike Flyon: different colors for different assistance levels
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Haibike Flyon: different colors for different assistance levels
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Built around carbon frames with integrated, air-cooled Yamaha batteries, as well as the high-torque 120-Nm TQ 120S mid-drive motor, Haibike's 2019 Flyon range features hidden wiring, beautiful displays and one monster of a headlight. They're expensive, but boy are they pretty.

The German company's 2018 Xduro and Sduro bikes looked pretty tight, but their clip-on batteries gave them a bit of a "we made a bike and then converted it to an e-bike" sort of feel. The same cannot be said for the completely revised 2019 Flyon range, which have all been built from the ground up as fully integrated mid-drive pedelecs.

The frames are full carbon units, in hardtail and full suspension variants, with twin tail lights built into the rear triangle. The 630-Wh, 48-volt BMZ batteries are now fully integrated into the downtube, cooled through honeycomb air intakes in the headstock and removable through a lockable mechanism. All electrics, mechanicals and hydraulics now run through the frame, giving the bikes a very nice clean look.

Haibike Flyon: Skybeamer LED light comes in several flavors including a 5,000 lumen monster
Haibike Flyon: Skybeamer LED light comes in several flavors including a 5,000 lumen monster

A nice-looking display changes color to indicate which pedelec support level you're running, and there's a remote thumb throttle in markets that'll allow it.

The heart of the matter is the motor, and Haibike has decided torque is king. All Flyon bikes will run the TQ 120S mid-drive motor, which makes 120 Nm (88 lb-ft) of torque on its highest setting – far more than any of the other major mid-drive motors on the market.

Mind you, it's a mid-drive, and it'll be power-limited per whatever market it goes to. More torque will give you access to a wider range of gears for a given hill ascent, but it's not going to end up doing more work per se than a less torquey motor if they're both rated to a particular wattage.

From what we can tell on the TQ website, it seems these motors will come in 250-, 500- and 920-watt configurations from the factory. But these may simply be software limitations to fit market regulations, which makes us suspect there might be some way to uncork the lower-powered variants if you're the kind of devious person who'd think of such a thing.

Haibike Flyon: different colors for different assistance levels
Haibike Flyon: different colors for different assistance levels

The motors will be protected with a small skidplate, which prevents damage if you whack it on rocks, as well as keeping dirt and mud out of it when you're riding off-road.

The other real star of the Flyon range is the Skybeamer LED headlight, which offers 150, 300 or 5,000 lumens of egg-cooking brightness, with manual or automatic brightness levels including low and high beams to prevent you from blinding oncoming bikes on the trails.

Haibike Flyon: twin tail lights are very nicely integrated
Haibike Flyon: twin tail lights are very nicely integrated

There are 10 models in the new Flyon range, covering enduro, mountain, trail and adventure style riding. Prices range from €5,000 to €9,000 (US$5,860 to $10,550) depending on levels of specification. These are not cheap bikes, but, like the Stromer bikes, they cater to a growing premium segment in the market that seems to want outstanding integration and a very clean design.

Source: Haibike

View gallery - 21 images
3 comments
3 comments
Daishi
Many first ebikes had the battery cases that essentially replace the water bottle with a battery. A handful of companies like Radpower bikes and Haibike use the design that just bolts the battery to a flat face on the frame in a "dolphin" style case. Reention makes a side standard system removable side mount battery where you click the battery in place through the side of the frame and can release it with a key. I think Juiced bikes uses that system but it feels like a well thought out secure solution where the battery doesn't move around. The modern treks seem to have an opening in the lower frame that the battery sits in that's similarly convenient and secure. The Flyon is sexy but I feel they didn't need to install the battery fully inside of the lower frame. There is a happy middle ground where the battery sits securely into the lower frame but can still be easilly removed. The only real advantage I see with fully integrating it into the downtube is that you can't easilly tell it's an ebike looking at it.
Yman
state of the art in every way, except the crude, clunky, noisy, fragile derailleur. If you spend this sort of money, you should get an ebike specific auto shift hub, or infinitely variable transmission.
ljaques
$9k for a bicycle? <thud> And it looks like they add $1,550 for the rear suspension. Are those batteries replaceable, or do you have to buy a new $6k frame?