Serial 1 Cycle Company: A Startup With a 118-Year-Old Mentor
Ebike brand leverages Harley’s deep bench of tech expertise and resources.
Serial 1 Cycle Company’s first commercially available ebikes are set to hit the US market in spring 2021.Serial 1 Cycle Company
Cycle Volta receives a steady stream of press releases announcing the exciting launch of “a bold new innovative” ebike. The electrics come from established bicycle manufacturers, crowdfunded Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns, and passionate inventors.
One intriguing category of ebikes comes from powersports brands with decades of experience with two-wheeled motorized vehicles. Companies like Harley-Davidson, Ducati, and Yamaha are throwing their product design resources behind pedal-assist ebikes.
Each motorcycle-centric brand takes a different approach. Yamaha’s Power Assist Bicycles division launched a line of pedal-assist prototypes at the Interbike trade show in 2017. Last month, Ducati announced the availability of two eMTB models starting this December. The bikes are created through a collaboration between Ducati and Thok, an Italian ebike brand.
These prototypes from Harley-Davidson were previewed more than a year before spinoff brand Serial 1 Cycle Company was announced.Serial 1 Cycle Company
The concepts behind Serial 1 came to life in Harley-Davidson’s Product Development Center skunkworks. Earlier this year, after a strategic change in Harley-Davidson’s long-term business plan, the ebike project was spun off as Serial 1 Cycle Company. The motorcycle company retains a minority stake.
Although Serial 1 is an independent, stand-alone company, the startup can tap into Harley-Davidson’s extensive experience in electric vehicle engineering, analysis, and testing.