Recognizing that a stylish electric urban runabout is essentially a mobile luxury good, the Motobecane Motivo seeks to make interaction between man and machine equivalent to a fancy set of luggage or a nice piece of furniture. The leather suitcase occupying the traditional tank/engine area is, in fact, the battery pack. It detaches into an easily portable form that wouldn’t look out of place being taken upstairs into a snooty office or posh apartment eliminating both the biggest complaint about electric bikes — they’re hard to recharge — and the biker stereotype.
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Our favorite part of the Motivo is actually the way Spanish designer
Miguel Ángel Iranzo Sánchez has incorporated old-fashioned tactility
into a thoroughly contemporary concept. Items like the wooden grips,
cork saddle and leather battery case are immediately evocative of
function and a classic sense of blue-blooded adventure, we’d love to
see something similar incorporated into a future café racer or street
tracker.
The Motivo would look perfect complemented by a functional tweed riding
suit from Nick Ashley or Dashing Tweeds, allowing riders to eschew
traditional biker chic in favor of something more civilized.