The idea sounds tempting: an exoskeleton gives your own body an extra boost of motor power, directly to the thighs. What was previously intended primarily as support for running or hiking could now also be used in cycling. The Chinese manufacturer Hypershell is advertising its system explicitly for bicycles. The promise: It turns any conventional bike into an e-bike.

A special cycling mode is designed to transmit up to 1000 watts of power to the thighs via a small motor on the hip joint. In cycling mode, Hypershell claims a range of up to 65 kilometers.

The battery sits like a hip bag on the back of the exoskeleton above the buttocks and has a capacity of just 72 watt hours. Due to the compact design, it is advisable to carry one or two spare batteries with you to increase the range.

The hypershell exoskeleton weighs 2.6 kilograms including the battery and currently costs around 2,000 euros in the top version.

MountainBIKE magazine recently tested the Hypershell X Ultra on the trail. The conclusion: with the exoskeleton, a classic organic bike feels more or less like a light-assist bike in tour mode. The system proved to be a noticeable help on gravel climbs in particular, but was less convincing on technical terrain. Here, the exoskeleton cannot keep up with the mid-motors of modern e-mountainbikes and their sophisticated sensor technology. The full test report is available at bike-x.de

One exciting question remains unanswered so far: what happens when you combine the hypershell exoskeleton with a classic e-mountainbike? From today's perspective, one thing is clear: an exoskeleton is not a fully-fledged replacement for an e-mountainbike, mainly due to the comparatively simple sensor technology. The look of the strapped-on hip motor also takes some getting used to - although there were similar reservations about the first e-mountainbikes.

The most exciting (or worrying, depending on your point of view) aspect is the technological development steps that such systems will trigger. It remains to be seen where the journey will take us - but the exoskeleton is unlikely to become standard on the singletrack any time soon.