The London-based start-up Skarper is launching a new interpretation of the retrofit drive on the market. The Skarper motor drives the bike via the rear disc brake and can be easily "clipped" onto any bike with a suitable mount to turn it into an e-bike.

The 202 Wh Skarper battery is fully charged in less than 2.5 hours and has a range of up to 60 km. Thanks to a series of sensors and control algorithms, the motor reacts intelligently to the terrain and provides immediate assistance when required, with a choice of assistance modes. To equip the bike with the Skarper drive, only the rear brake disk needs to be replaced with the in-house DiskDrive™ disk. This ensures the power transmission of the system, but continues to function reliably like any other disc brake, even if the drive unit is not mounted on the bike. Furthermore, a small connecting piece must be attached to the chainstay to secure the system.

The Skarper drive unit, which weighs around 3 kg when complete, will be available from 2023. The company will soon be taking pre-orders from those who want to be the first to use the disc brake drive system.

An off-road version of the drive is currently being worked on and will be presented in the course of 2022.

skarper.com