MezzoLew

Not sure if this has been discussed before ... must be true as it was published by USA Today!!

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/...JiD0pDjs0VdTKc

bargainguy

Not the first time we've seen this. Remember the Lee Iococca e-bike?

What really happened here: GM had a partnership with BionX, a manufacturer of electric hub motors and batteries, to develop a mid-drive (crank) motor. BionX had a good rep for hub motors. It was being used in several Trek electric bikes, and was also sold as a stand-alone kit DIY for conversions of standard and folding bikes. But BionX went belly up this year, leaving a lot of folks on the hook - including those that had invested in their technology and system.

So now GM has some leftovers from the BionX departure, and they're planning to use them. I wish them luck. There is a reason BionX went belly up - they had a hard time competing with cheaper Chinese import hub motors. Bosch and Panasonic have the lead in developing mid-drive motors, so whatever GM brings to table is several years behind unless they have something truly revolutionary. We'll see.

fietsbob

Stylish, yes.. Mid drive... OK
probably jobbed out to Taiwan, they do good work, in volume, for decent money.

that's why so many contracts go there..

tds101 

Definitely needs a rear rack,...

BCATC

I wonder how difficult it'd be to get parts for this bike. Assuming it's a 16" folder that has a 74mm front hub, I've yet to find a front disc hub in that size. Looks decent though.

downtube

On bicycleretailer.com dealers are claiming the GM deal caused BionX's bankruptcy. I don't understand where these claims came from.

Does anyone have details?

Thanks
Yan

ttakata73

I am pedal bike guy myself, but there's a $10k prize for a brand name that can be trademarked for these new bikes. I was thinking Nexus but Google owns that one so I gave up. I hope this bike happens so more car manafacturers like Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda compete. If the big players sell more bikes to more people then hopefully bike infrastructure and laws will be better.

MarcoPag

I see a nice bike with a short seatpost-low saddle.

downtube

A longer seatpost or telescoping post are possible. I agree one that it would need a few minor changes.

Thanks,
Yan

Dahon.Steve

Interesting.

So this is the bike that bankrupted BionX. One of the issues was that Bionx entered into an agreement to build these bikes in Canada for 1K! Are you kidding me?? Since when did Bionx make anything cheap? A bike like the one pictured with mid-drive will cost over 1500 USD easily.

Nightdiver

No. Just the motor system and battery would have theoretically cost ~$1000.

downtube

There is a difference between retail price and OEM price. I think $1000 OEM is a reasonable rate for BioniX, assuming they could scale manufacmanufacturing.

Obviously something did go wrong.

Thanks
Ya

fietsbob

I was thinking BioneX fell due to its own market competition challenges

The company that is making the GM branded bikes
went to the company estate sale ..

anyone got 1st hand information? probably not..

Contract copies?






.

tds101 

BioniX went belly up due to their inability to be competitively priced against the newer companies out there, as well as the lower pricing of cheaply manufactured ebikes. The market has been getting oversaturated,...even electric kick scooters.

Nightdiver

There are publicly available documents related to the whole mess of Bionx, its parent company (Magna/Stronach), and GM. Whether the actual deal between GM and Bionx is the ultimate reason for declaring, is up to speculation. Who knows the real reasons for the decisions that happen inside of companies.