FLIT’s new folding e-bike comes with a free pound of caviar and a side of satire

In the increasingly posh world of premium folding electric bikes, one British company is putting its tongue firmly in its cheek – and maybe a few fish eggs on your toast – to highlight what it sees as the absurdity of e-bike pricing.

FLIT, a Cambridge-based folding e-bike maker, just announced a new bundle deal pairing its lightweight FLIT M2 e-bike with a half-kilo tin of high-grade caviar. The price? £5,800 (that’s around €6,700 or US $7,800) – the same as a certain newly launched titanium competitor across town.

The not-so-subtle jab is aimed squarely at Brompton’s just-released Electric T Line, a beautiful machine to be sure, but one that comes with a premium price tag despite only being about half a kilogram lighter than FLIT’s own M2. That’s a £3,300 price difference — or, as FLIT puts it, about £7 per gram of weight saved.

“If that’s the going rate for weight savings, we figured we’d throw in something else that sells for £7 a gram,” said FLIT co-founder Alex Murray, referring to the delicacy from Fortnum & Mason’s, a luxury caviar. “Given the cost of living right now, we decided to give commuters what they’re clearly calling for: a folding e-bike and a tin of caviar to power their ride.”

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Humor aside, FLIT is making a serious point about premium e-bike design and the seemingly crazy price inflation in the high-end electric bike market. The FLIT M2 weighs just 14.5 kg or 32 lb (that’s with the battery) and was engineered from the ground up as a purpose-built e-bike – not a retrofit of an existing frame. It uses aerospace-grade adhesive bonding instead of welding and is hand-assembled in Cambridge. The result is a compact, cleanly integrated bike that folds down small without the need for pricey materials like titanium.

And while it might not be carbon-fiber light or titanium-trimmed, the M2 still packs good commuter specs: 250W rear hub motor (the legal limit in much of Europe), 230Wh integrated battery, hydraulic disc brakes, and a 50 km (31 mile) range. Plus, it starts at just £2,499 (approximately €2,900 or US$3,400). That’s roughly the price of two M2s and a weekend away, compared to the high-end rival they’re not so gently poking in the ribs.

FLIT says its goal is to make fast, flexible urban mobility more accessible. And while they’re clearly having fun with the marketing, they’re also making a solid case that you don’t have to choose between high-end engineering and a reasonable price tag.

“Oh, and I’m serious about the caviar,” added Murray. “Call us.”

Electrek’s Take

Alright, this is pretty silly, but I like the point they’re making. And it’s worth pointing out how this isn’t just an exercise in comparing a budget bike to a premium bike. The FLIT M2 is very much a high-end bike in its own right. I test rode an earlier version last summer and called it “The e-bike Brompton should have built” at the time.

The engineer in me appreciates the exotic materials in Brompton’s latest machine, but as a city commuter with rent to pay, I just can’t fathom the price tag. So if a well-made and equally performing folding commuter e-bike can do the job for less than half the price (or the same price with a bucket of expensive caviar thrown in), that gets my attention!