Not many people would have expected this: Coboc, a pioneer of lightweight and slim e-bikes, presented the Light SUV Concept at Eurobike — the first bike from the brand to use a mid-drive motor from a third-party supplier. This is the just introduced SX drive from Bosch, which together with the 400 Wh battery ensures a low system weight.
Up to now, Coboc has consistently relied on a compact hub motor in the rear wheel, which provided a particularly natural riding feel with a low weight thanks to a specially developed motor control and a torque sensor. With their first eCycle from 2014 — which we had in the test here — they were thus pioneers of a whole new class of lightweight and slim e-bikes, which have since become extremely popular.
In the future, both model series will now run in parallel at Coboc: on the one hand, the very light models with hub motor will continue, and on the other hand the somewhat heavier (but still comparatively light) SUV bikes with mid-drive motor.
The now unveiled Light SUV Concept weighs just 17.9 kilograms — which is quite remarkable in view of the complete equipment! Because the bike comes with suspension fork, fat MTB tires, mudguards, lighting system and luggage rack and thus leaves little to be desired. Especially since the drive with up to 55 Nm torque should provide more than enough power.
Due to the new e-drive, the frame design is inevitably somewhat more voluminous than on the familiar bikes with hub motors. But the straight-lined silhouette and the front section of the top tube with its logo badge also refer to Coboc’s design language here. Coboc has come up with something special for the cover of the charging port: it is integrated flush with the frame and equipped with a magnetic lock.
The battery itself is firmly installed in the frame, which according to Coboc contributes significantly to the low overall weight of the bike. Here one remains true to itself, because already in the past was never given at Coboc the possibility of a removable battery.
More detailed specifications for the models in the Light SUV series will not be available until next year, nor will their prices. However, we can assume that the new models will be placed at the upper end of the current lineup. We can only hope that the cool paint job on the prototype will make it into series production by then — because it also makes the bike a real eye-catcher!
