FLIT first ride: This is the folding electric bike Brompton should have built
At the Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam last week, I got my first look at (and first ride on) the new folding electric bike known as FLIT. As it turns out, there’s a new ultra-compact British folding e-bike in town.
When it comes to UK-based folding bikes, most people already know of Brompton. The super-tiny folding bike riding on little 16-inch wheels has been the darling of the compact folding bike space for decades.
Brompton’s folding bikes are iconic, combining classic bicycle design with modern engineering principles to create the perfect tiny folder. It’s a bike that packs up compactly and then opens back up to ride pretty darn well, at least for a 16-inch narrow-tire bike.
But when Brompton joined the modern era and electrified their bikes, the same design decisions that made the original bike so effective were also a hindrance to advanced e-bike components. That resulted in a bike that looked like it was wearing an eBay conversion kit with a battery in a shopping bag, not to mention a front wheel motor that limited power and traction.
Enter FLIT: another British folding bike, but this time designed from the outset for electric drive.
Because the company started with electrification in mind, they designed the bike with a wide enough central frame tube to support the 36V 6.4Ah battery hidden away inside the tube. A custom-designed battery shell allows the battery to be easily removed for charging by first sliding out the seat tube.
Next, the use of a rear motor instead of a front motor also allows for much more peppy acceleration. The 250W motor may only be rated for 35 Nm of torque, but in my test ride of the bike, I was impressed with just how potent that power felt. Surely the inclusion of a torque sensor helped, but the rear wheel drive is key to being able to dump all of the available power as quickly as possible.
By comparison, Brompton’s front motor has reduced traction and can spin the tire in loose terrain or when climbing hills, meaning Brompton engineers had to dial back the power ramping to slow down the application of torque, minimizing that tire slip effect.
FLIT had to make some of their own sacrifices as well, underlying the fact that folding bikes are often rolling compromises.
For example, the optional fender set includes a super funky rear mudguard that telescopes and folds in three pieces. It’s certainly odd, but the advantage is that it allows the folded bike to roll on its rear wheel instead of small plastic roller, which is better for pushing the bike around on uneven ground like bricks or cobblestones.
And the bike is also single-speed, lacking the internally geared hub you’ll find on Brompton’s folders. Many commuters appreciate the option to switch gears, which is extra helpful on inclines. On the other hand, the single-speed design removes a potential failure point as well as a maintenance concern, plus it reduces the overall weight of the bike.
At just 14 kg (30.8) lb, the aluminum bike is fairly light for lifting, but that rolling feature is nice for longer pushes, such as along subway platforms and through train stations.
FLIT’s current model, the FLIT M2, is on sale for £1,999, with that promotional pricing marking down from an MSRP of £2,499 ahead of deliveries beginning later this year.
It’s probably not a bike that I would buy for myself, mostly because I enjoy the higher power of North American e-bikes and the comfort of fat tires (though the FLIT does have elastomer-based rear suspension). But if I did regularly need a small folder as a regular car or train commuter, this would absolutely be on my list. However, my wife rides a 250W folding e-bike to work every day, so perhaps this would be on her list.
And sorry, Brompton. I don’t mean to take potshots at you. You’ve got a great folder, and have for decades. But this is what happens when you design a bike from the ground up with electrification in mind.
But that’s the beauty of today’s e-bike market, which has more options than we can count. Different strokes for different folks!
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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