The Cowboy Bike is a piece of art promises: It looks incredibly good, is totally connected and will still work in everyday life is largely maintenance – and trouble-free. “We want to make a beautiful wheel,” said Cowboy co-founder and CEO, Adrien Roose to the star. “We want to sell Bikes to exciting price and added value in terms of connectivity.”
In the summer of 2015 Adrian Roose, founded with two partners in the company. “Our idea was: We wanted to contribute something to the urban mobility. What, exactly, we did not know. But you can’t get past E-Bikes. Unfortunately we understood from the Bicycle industry and bicycles anything at all. We were complete novices. We have googled, then we went to fairs and talked with the manufacturers.”
Cowboy Bike minimalist and functional Fullscreen
The interruption of the frame because the belt sits invisibly in the top of the strut.
PR
The founders quickly recognized that older people have been the Early adopters for the new technology E-Bike. The gap in the market for a Newcomer are the younger buyers, because in this group, the major manufacturer of pre-work.
Design is the key
The key, in order to gain their attention is the Design. The frame of the Cowboys reminds you of a sporty City-Racer. The battery sits in the saddle-rod, and it is hardly possible to identify the Motor in the rear hub is also not larger or more prominent than a hub. The Cowboy can hardly be as an E-Bike. To do this, it is “cleared”, the cables run in the frame. There is also no ugly control unit sits on the stem. “As one of the first things we decided, no Screen on the bike to grow, but to use the Smartphone of the people,” says Roose.
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The Cowboy is controlled via an App. If you like, you can attach the Smartphone on the bike. Beautiful and practical it will be, if the Smartphone stays in the pocket. Front and rear lights are integrated in the frame. Here, too, visible cables and the mounting adapter are omitted. On top of that, the rear, red light acts as the brake light.
The Cowboy does not have a circuit, as a result, the Cockpit looks even tidier. Finally, there is neither cable nor switch unit on the Handlebar. “The support works automatically. The torque Sensor sits in the engine, the degree of support is chosen automatically.” The power transfer to the pedals is effected by means of a belt, the power of the engine sets in the rear wheel. The wheel therefore does not require a greasy chain grease.
App controls the wheel
the control center of the Cowboys is an App. An App that sounds today not so special. In the case of bicycles, the decision for an App, however, has major consequences. Who wants a apps to inflation, currently can not use any System of the big players. “Most manufacturers buy ready-made drive systems such as the Bosch. We did not want to. We have started from the front and have been concentrating on the electronics and the connectivity.”
With the App, you can have routes and functions. But it need not be. The Cowboy can use without having to take the Phone in the Hand. The App also acts as a theft protection. It is only through the Bluetooth pairing, the wheel is unlocked. The bike should be stolen, or you just forgot where it was parked, the Cowboy by App to track it, because it has its own Sim card – first of all, it is tracked by GPS, in the vicinity via Bluetooth.
in the light of the national epidemic Fahrradklau however, we think that you should connect the wheel but better.
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With the Sim-card is connected, the Cowboy always. Technical problems with the wheel are transmitted to the Server, at the same time, you always get the latest Software for the control of the wheel – the System updates itself. “Just before we arrived here, our Test Bike-an Update,” explains Roose. In our opinion, this is a great advantage. For such Upgrades, you have to go for the big manufacturers to a contract partner that plays the Update, then, for a suitable fee. You can’t continue with the Cowboy, it’s via Chat, expert help.
low-maintenance concept
The wheel was constructed so that as little as possible maintenance. There should be a Problem, there are already more than 100 local Partner for a repair in Germany. “We have completed the last year of our Proof-of-Concept. In Belgium, since it’s raining just as much as in Germany. After that, we have fixed a couple of problems. Since then, our Controller is fully sealed for moisture.” A very important point for a design wheel of the battery. “Our wheel is to be not only beautiful, but also easy to use – so you have to be able to take out the battery. That was in Design is not easy, but we wanted to.”
the first driving impression of the Cowboy-Bikes
looking Good is one thing – but more important is: How does the Bike? The Cowboy looks uncompromisingly, but far more comfortable than the sporty Look of suggests. The basic posture is slightly leaning forward. The Arm is not sitting but not so deep as in the case of a real Racer. To dislocate even without the neck, it keeps the road in view. Also the coats are bigger than the rims suggest. Although the wheel has no suspension, springs and the rubbers but the biggest shock away. Of course, it remains a City-bike – for bottomless sand trails and rough cobblestones was built, the wheel.
The Cowboy is a Single-Speed wheel. Otherwise, the combination of belt drive and Motor in the hub of the rear wheel also do not realize could be. Surprisingly, not much of a difference in approach can be observed compared to a wheel with a circuit. The different implementation of a gear shift compensates for the Cowboy due to an intelligent control of the motor support. Well, to Start off with a seven percent slope is easily possible.
Overall, the wheel comes close to the Ideal of a imperceptible support. The engine pushes strongly, but you don’t hear him and there is no jerk at the Onset of the support. The drive Out from the support area does not happen gently, it’s like a rubber wall. The comparatively low weight of only 16 kilograms, reminds me more of a muscle-powered Bike.
Faster than
on top of that, the Cowboy offers a Feature in the legal grey zone. In the Road the wheel as all the other Pedelecs is limited strictly to 25 km/h, but there is also a mode for paths outside of the scope of the highway code. Then the Cowboy up to a speed of 30 supports. Large manufacturers do not offer a back door. To be fair, one must mention, however, that it is very easy to bypass the speed lock of a Bosch mid-engine complete, and likely to be of the Cowboy is hardly possible. Who wants to illegally drive a Tempo of 40, is likely to have the Cowboy out of luck. For quick Progress in the city of the Cowboy is ideal.
Important: The wheel is only supplied in one frame size. According to the Website it should fit for body sizes from 165 to 195 centimeters. Our impression: Between 175 and 187 centimetres to the right. At 183 centimetres, the Cowboy fit pretty perfectly. Smaller people need to know whether you are going with the straight posture to be happy. Above 190 centimeters, we are more skeptical.
Design wheel with back door
Anyone interested in a Cowboy, will be thrilled by the Design. We liked that you can vary the wheel yet. It is possible that the wheel with Luggage rack (rear) and mud flaps. It has its own protection are to be developed in sheets, but in the market there are numerous models that blend beautifully with the Design.
Because the Cowboy is in the default tone matte black, components can be individually adapted. You could mount a tilted, or a wider or bent Handlebars. Or the seatpost and replace it with a steamed or height-adjustable model. A wheel should break, you could replace easily.
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All of this will be very difficult, if a wheel such as the Canyon continues Commuter on a special color, such as Gunmetal. In comparison to many design wheels with E-drive, the Cowboy is a killer feature: The battery is integrated behind the saddle rod and can be removed. Some send wheels to make the battery in the invisible. But this is the only way, it is possible that wheel off in a basement and the battery in the apartment to recharge.
Our conclusion to the Cowboy
The Cowboy is a practice-oriented Design wheel. The design concept is still relatively open, so that individual adjustments are possible. In the urban environment, the sporty wheel is ideal. For long tours, off-road driving or mountain Biking, it is not made.
a Direct competitor of the Cowboys, the wheels of VanMoof, which are also distributed over the Internet. During the presentation, the VanMoof was celebrated with enthusiasm, we were not thrilled because of the rather low-quality components, in spite of the great Designs.
in fact, the Cowboy makes everything better, what we have at the time, the VanMoof criticized. A typical example of this is that the second attempt succeeds and sometimes better. The belt drive speaks for itself, the Cowboy has a brake, a high-performance hydraulic Disc. Even the grips are from Brooks. Here was not stingy on the components, in order to Finance the fancy frame. The Motor in the rear wheel is conceptually always better than a drive of the front wheel. But, above all, the battery can be taken out. In the City is a basic requirement for a practical operation. In addition, the Cowboy is a 1999 Euro is also significantly cheaper.
compared To a “normal” E-Bike there are two disadvantages. The Cowboy is not suitable for unpaved roads. For really long trips, and you are not equipped with the 360-WH battery instead of the usual 500 WH. Only enough for about 50 kilometers.
you can also read:
VanMoof Elictrifed S – Trenoli Attiva – E-Bikes in comparison – Design-pieces against practitioners
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Not only seniors, but also young driver to buy an E-Bike. You the allowed speed of 25 km/h is not enough – you tune your Bike your email. The is fun and easy, but it can be dangerous.
Gernot Kramper
