Priority launches Skyline e-bike with high-end Pinion gearbox, Gates belt drive, and surprising price
Priority Bicycles just pulled the wraps off its most advanced electric bike yet, and it’s got some serious hardware under the hood – or rather, in the bottom bracket. Say hello to the absurdly high-end for a direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-bike, the Priority Skyline.
The newly launched Skyline combines the company’s signature low-maintenance design philosophy with one of the most sophisticated drivetrains in the bike world: a Pinion C1.12i Smart.Shift gearbox, paired with a Gates Carbon Drive belt and 750W torque-sensing rear hub motor.
And if you’re thinking that sounds like a US $6,000+ setup, you wouldn’t be wrong. That Pinion gearbox alone probably costs half the price of the bike or more when sold as a standalone unit. But somehow, Priority has managed to bundle it all together, even including integrated lighting, hydraulic disc brakes, a 720Wh battery, throttle, front suspension, and commuter-ready accessories. And all of that for just $3,999 (or $3,699 with a limited-time launch discount).
And referencing a $6,000 figure makes sense when you look at other brands. High-end German e-bikes like Stadtfuchs and Waldwiesel.E that also use this drivetrain cost between $5,600 to $6,500, to put things in perspective. Are they the same thing? Of course not. Don’t be insulting. Those bikes are half as fast and with a third the power of the Skyline.
But none of this should really come as a surprise. This combination of bike-shop-level quality and direct-to-consumer pricing is classic Priority, a company that continues to carve out its own niche in the e-bike world (as well as the pedal bike world, for those with more stamina than I).
While most D2C brands cut corners on components to hit budget price points, Priority has built a reputation around spec’ing top-shelf parts like belt drives and internally geared hubs, and delivering them at prices that feel like they snuck past a spreadsheet somewhere.
But this time, they’ve outdone themselves.
A drivetrain you’d expect on a high-dollar Euro e-bike
At the heart of the Skyline is that Pinion C1.12i Smart.Shift system. If you’re not familiar, think of it like a car transmission for your bike. The sealed gearbox sits at the crank, offering 12 electronically actuated gears across a massive 600% gear range. It of course lets you shift at a standstill, while coasting, or even under load, but there’s so much more to it than that.
What really sets it apart is the automatic shifting technology. With Pinion’s Pre-Select feature, you set your ideal cadence and the bike handles the rest, changing gears between pedal strokes to keep you spinning at your sweet spot. No more gear mashing or hunting for the right sprocket. There’s even a Start-Select mode that resets your gear when you come to a stop, so you’re always ready to accelerate smoothly when the light turns green. And it’s doing all this behind the scenes without you ever knowing it.
Plus, since it’s paired with a Gates Carbon Belt Drive, the whole system runs whisper-quiet, grease-free, and nearly maintenance-free. This is the same tech you’ll find on expensive European trekking bikes, but here it’s part of a package that’s priced like a mid-tier commuter. Except that this bike is anything but mid-tier.
Real power, real-world rideability
Backing up the drivetrain is a 750W rear hub motor with both torque-sensing pedal assist and a thumb throttle for when you just want to cruise. The system delivers smooth, intuitive acceleration up to 28 mph for full class 3 performance, with impressive responsiveness thanks to the torque sensor and the gearbox’s finely spaced ratios.
The hub motor might sound like a strange choice for a higher end e-bike, but they’re becoming more common as higher end motor makers create attractive models for bike companies to choose from. These types of sophisticated gearboxes like Pinion’s take up the typical mid-drive motor’s place in the bottom bracket, leaving a rear hub motor as the best option. You pay for it in extra rear weight, but you make up for it in the pleasurable ride feel that the drivetrain provides.
And the Skyline isn’t just about power, it’s about control. That means hydraulic disc brakes with motor cutoff, wide 650x50c Maxxis tires, and a suspension fork with 80 mm of travel to soak up potholes, curbs, and unexpected detours.
Battery range should be solid too, thanks to a 720Wh downtube-integrated battery, giving the bike a clean, streamlined look while offering ample juice for long commutes or weekend rides.
And yes, all the commuter-ready features are here: full fenders, an integrated rear rack, integrated 500-lumen front light, brake-sensing rear light, and a comfortable sport saddle.
While this certainly isn’t a trail-oriented bike, it should be able to handle moderate trekking duties and gravel trails while still holding a strong position as an everyday commuter e-bike. And while the throttle is obviously there to support the North American need for one, a bike with this kind of beautiful transmission technology should really have its throttle tapped sparingly. The pedal assist on this thing is going to feel so good that I can see the throttle going neglected most of the time.
The Priority Skyline is available now for pre-order, with shipping expected soon. And if you’re even remotely interested, that $300 launch discount runs through August 18, so now’s probably the time to stop gawking and start clicking.
Electrek’s Take
Priority is a fascinating company in the e-bike space. Unlike some of the flashier D2C brands chasing viral hits, they’ve quietly built a loyal following by obsessing over the rider experience, particularly for folks who want a bike that just works, without the mess or hassle of traditional drivetrains. Low-maintenance is their fetish and they don’t do anything else.
I bought my first Priority e-bike back in 2020 and I’ve ridden several models since. I’ve become a huge fan of the brand simply because I haven’t found another company that does high-quality at reasonable prices better than them. Of course $3,699 isn’t low-cost, but it’s very low for what you’re getting with the Skyline. And Priority has solid e-bikes for as low as $1,799 as well, if going this far up-shelf isn’t in the stars.
But the Skyline is their new top-end electric bike and it feels like the culmination of everything they’ve been working toward: clean design, incredible components, real-world performance, and a price that makes you wonder how they pulled it off. Previously, Lectric eBikes was the only brand that could get Pinion gear on an e-bike and make it affordable, yet they only went with the 6-speed, not to mention cut a few other corners. Don’t get me wrong, the Lectric One is an incredible bike, but the Skyline is a full-size, multi-terrain commuter with a true torque sensor, more battery, and higher-end parts.
Is it heavy? Sure. A whopping 68 pounds is a lot. And the total color options of… one, well that’s not exactly tickling my creativity bone. But hey, it comes in three sizes and just how many SKUs can you stock at this price? And the fact that this e-bike has an automatic electronic 12-speed Pinion gearbox, a Gates belt, plus a throttle-enabled and torque-sensing 750W motor – all for under $4K – is borderline absurd. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect from a boutique European brand with a much higher price tag, not from a US company selling direct to consumers.
Priority says the Skyline is meant to “blur the line between rider and bike,” and after looking at the spec sheet, I believe them. This is more than a commuter, it’s a serious piece of gear for anyone who values seamless performance, low maintenance, and a joy-to-ride experience.
I’ll be reviewing this model soon and despite my expectations being sky high, I’m pretty darn sure Priority is going to be there like they always are.
Until I’m back with a review article and video on my experience with the bike, let’s hear what you think of the Skyline. Sound off in the comments section below!
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Environment
The Tesla Autopilot lawsuit floodgates are open, lawyer who beat Tesla is going for round 2
The Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) lawsuit floodgates are open. We are now starting to see trials and settlements arising from crashes that occurred in 2018-2019 as they work through the legal process.
Crashes involving Tesla’s ADAS systems have increased significantly since then, and we expect legal actions to escalate following the groundbreaking defeat of Tesla’s primary defense in a trial in Florida.
The lawyer who beat Tesla in this case is already going for a Round 2.
As we previously reported, a jury in Florida has assigned 33% of the responsibility for a fatal crash involving Autopilot, Tesla’s level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), to Tesla and awarded the plaintiffs, the family of the victim and the survivor of the crash, $243 million.
Tesla is expected to appeal the verdict, but it is still a groundbreaking case that highlights a trend in the legal actions against Tesla over crashes involving its ADAS systems (Autopilot and Full Self-Driving/FSD).
Over the last few years, Tesla has been able to dismiss those concerns as it hides behind warnings to pay attention and disclosures stating that the drivers are always the ones responsible in the event of an accident.
In short, Tesla has always claimed that it bears no responsibility if drivers abuse its ADAS systems.
However, things have been changing over the last year.
Tesla recently settled a wrongful death lawsuit involving a crash on Autopilot that happened in 2018, and now, it has lost a trial over a crash that happened in 2019.
In the trial, the plaintiffs managed to get around Tesla putting all the blame on the driver and show the jury that its marketing and deployment of Autopilot contributed to drivers misusing a system that fails to perform as advertised.
We already reported, based on the transcripts of the trial, that Tesla misled the police and the plaintiffs, a family trying to understand all the factors that led to their daughter’s death, in trying to retrieve critical Autopilot data that helped better understand the crash.
Next, the evidence in the case is going to be made public, except for some redactions from Tesla, which is likely going to be of interest in dozens of other legal cases involving Tesla’s ADAS systems.
In an interview with The Verge, Brett Schreiber, the lead attorney in the Florida case, revealed that he is also leading another wrongful death case against Tesla, Maldonado v. Tesla, currently pending in the Alameda State Superior Court, which is expected to commence by the end of the year.
In this case, a Tesla vehicle on Autopilot hit a pickup truck on the highway, killing fifteen-year-old Jovani Maldonado, who was a passenger in the pickup truck. His father was driving him back home from a soccer game.
This crash also occurred in 2019, but it is only now being brought to trial. The legal process takes time, and we are only now beginning to see the legal repercussions of crashes involving Tesla Autopilot, as well as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system.
With more vehicles in the Tesla fleet and more mileage using ADAS features, crashes involving those features increased significantly between 2020-2025. This means more legal trouble for Tesla.
Schreiber claims to have an even stronger case with Maldonado v. Tesla. In the Benavides case in Florida, the “Autopilot defect” part of the case was more about the fact that the driver shouldn’t have been able to use the system on non-highway roads.
In the Maldonado case, the crash occurred on the highway, where Autopilot is intended to be used, but it didn’t stop for the pickup truck in front of it.
The facts are a stubborn thing. And we get to tell those same facts with a better Autopilot defect theory. And I get to not only juxtapose Musk’s lies in that case, but I juxtapose them with the testimony that I didn’t have in Miami. I’ve only had this case for a year. I worked the Maldonado case from the beginning. And in that case, I have testimony from all of the senior Autopilot leadership: Sterling Anderson, CJ Moore, Andrej Karpathy. And I show them those same quotes that were played to that jury in Miami. I said, “When Mr. Musk said those things, was that a true statement about production vehicles at Tesla?” To a person, they answer: Absolutely not.
Schreiber claims to have testimonies from Tesla Autopilot executives and engineers around the time of the crash that contradict what CEO Elon Musk was saying to the public about Autopilot.
Once these testimonies are entered as evidence, they could have important implications for dozens of other cases involving Autopilot.
Electrek’s Take
Obviously, avoiding loss of lives should be a priority, but I think it’s clear that Tesla doesn’t care at this point. But even from a business standpoint, it doesn’t make sense.
One of my foremost criticisms of Tesla’s self-driving efforts from a business standpoint is that they are a bigger liability than a value creator.
Tesla has clearly misled the public for years, leading them to believe that Autopilot and FSD are more than they are: level 2 driver assistance systems.
Schreiber explained it well here:
[…] there are two Teslas. There’s Tesla in the showroom and then there’s Tesla in the courtroom. And Tesla in the showroom tells you that they’ve invented the greatest full self-driving car the world has ever seen. Mr. Musk has been peddling to consumers and investors for more than a decade that the cars are fully self-driving, that the hardware is capable of full autonomy. And those statements were as untrue the day he said them as they remain untrue today. But then they showed up in a courtroom and they say, No, no, no, this is nothing but a driver assistance feature.
This creates a significant liability in accidents involving people who believed Tesla’s misrepresentation. However, it also poses a substantial liability to claim that their cars have “all the hardware necessary for unsupervised self-driving” when that is not true.
We are likely talking about tens of billions of dollars worth of liability.
From a purely business standpoint, it might have made sense if Tesla had been first in autonomy and taken a large part of the market, but it’s not what’s happening.
Tesla is still far from achieving unsupervised self-driving at scale, while this liability is still building up.
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You know how the old saying goes: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Well, Toyota’s new strategy is just that — it’s teaming up with China to lower costs for its upcoming EV models.
Toyota’s new EV strategy will use China to cut costs
The world’s largest automaker will tap into China to gain an edge in the global market. Toyota is already sourcing parts from Chinese suppliers to build EVs overseas.
According to Nikkei, Toyota is expanding the use of parts and other EV components from Chinese suppliers for its production base in Thailand.
The facility is Toyota’s largest production hub in Southeast Asia. Japanese brands have historically dominated vehicle sales in the region. However, low-priced EVs from Chinese brands, such as BYD, are quickly winning over buyers with more advanced tech and features.
In Thailand, Japanese brands have accounted for roughly 90% of new vehicle sales. In the first five months of 2025, Japan’s market share dropped to just 71%. Meanwhile, Chinese brands saw their share rise to 16%.
Several sources note that Toyota has already begun sourcing EV components from China to use at its Thailand facility.
Toyota plans to launch more affordable electric vehicles at the hub as early as 2028. According to the company, it plans to reduce costs by about 30% by sourcing parts from China.
By using local suppliers, Toyota has already sparked hope in China with new EVs, like the bZ3X, seeing strong initial demand. Starting at just 109,800 yuan ($15,000), Toyota’s electric SUV was the best-selling foreign brand EV in China in May, its second month on the market.
A Toyota executive confirmed (via 36kr) that “we also plan to develop electric vehicles with lower costs by making the most of parts from Chinese manufacturers, just like the bZ3X” in Southeast Asia.
The bZ3X is produced by Toyota’s joint venture, GAC-Toyota. It’s about the size of a Tesla Model Y, but half the cost in China.
During its EV Tech Day event in June, the company announced new partnerships with “car industry bigwigs,” like Xiaomi, Momenta, and Huawei.
Toyota also broke ground on a new EV plant in China for its luxury Lexus brand last month. It’s the second wholly owned auto plant in China from a foreign automaker, following Tesla.
Electrek’s Take
Can Toyota compete with China using parts sourced from the country? It will help, as shown with the bZ3X. However, with Chinese brands like BYD producing everything in-house, including the batteries, it will still likely have the advantage.
Toyota is promising to launch a series of lower-cost, more efficient EV batteries, but that could still be a few years out.
With the new US tariffs on imports from Japan, Toyota is doubling down on local production to minimize costs. It also opened its first overseas battery plant in North Carolina earlier this year, which will power Toyota’s EVs, HEVs, and PHEVs in North America.
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A new patent hints at the name of Ford’s upcoming midsize EV pickup. Ford could be reviving an old nameplate for what it’s promising to be a “breakthrough” electric vehicle.
Ford’s next EV pickup could take the Ranchero name
After the F-150 Lightning, Ford’s next electric pickup could arrive as the Ranchero EV. Ford filed a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under the name Ranchero on August 5, 2025.
Although details are slim, the application is for motor vehicles, specifically trucks, vans, utility vehicles, and electric cars.
The trademark, first found by Ford Authority, comes just over a week after CEO Jim Farley said the company would reveal “plans to design and build breakthrough electric vehicles in America,” on August 11.
Ford is expected to outline plans for its advanced new EV platform, promising to cut costs while drastically improving efficiency.
The first vehicle based on the platform is expected to be a midsize EV pickup, which many believed would arrive as the electric Ford Ranger. Ford has already revived several iconic names in Europe with electric versions, including the Explorer, Capri, and Puma.
Will the Ranchero be next? The Ranchero was ahead of its time, combining the style of a coupe with the utility of a pickup truck.
Ford sold from 1957 to 1979, calling it “More than a Car, More than a Truck.” Its success actually led GM to develop the Chevrolet El Camino.
The company opened its new EV Design Center in Long Beach, California, this week, where it will bring the midsize electric pickup to life. It’s expected to arrive in 2027. Ford’s “skunkworks” team, led by Tesla’s former engineer Alan Clarke, has grown over the past year with former Tesla, Rivian, and Apple employees
What do you think? Would you buy an electric Ford Ranchero? You might be able to soon. We will learn more on August 11 during Ford’s event. We’ll keep you updated with the latest.
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