chas58 said:
What is modern?
I love Troy's design. .
Strongly agree. In fact, I was lamenting the fact that he couldn't go MORE classic and use a fully lugged frame (with the special headset, of course). If simple, straight handlebars are more "modern", then I'd agree with that. I'll always vote for simple handlebars for mounting mirrors, reflectors, lights, cycle computers and smartphones. A smartphone interface and app would be nice, but those kind of things tend to blow up the price.
Troy's got an interesting idea that's still fresh. Of course the Sondors is a fat bike equivalent - there are plenty of those on the market right now - but nothing that's like a fixie with the batteries embedded in the down tube. Troy's concept to keep the bike as lightweight and bike-like as possible is important. "Pedal-ability" is crucial. I've even considered a build using a lightweight road bike with a small motor and battery just to see what's possible at the light end of the ebike spectrum.
I'd say the most head-on competition he's got is from the Faraday Porteur and Faraday Porteur S: https://www.faradaybikes.com/launchporteur-s/
However, you could argue that there are enough differences in the product that there's little or no overlap in the target market. I doubt a diehard fixie fan is going to even give the Faraday a second look. Plus: Holy smokes at the price of the Faraday: $3k. For what it is, that's more than I want to pay.
BTW: what we see in the kickstarter is only the fixie version. He's got a "Signature" and "Touring" versions planned and I'm loving the ideas of the tourer. A 250Wh battery on a touring bike might be just fine if the bike is relatively close to the weight of an actual touring bike!
I imagine a Surly Disc Trucker sporting an Alfine 9 speed hub on the back, a Schlumpf up front and Troy's system. Hell, just thinking about it makes me want to slap a BBS02 on a touring bike and see what happens....