Update: The McLaren Bike website is now live and provides a bit more detail. The most powerful bike will offer 161Nm of torque and costs $11,950. The website describes the motor as “custom-tuned” and driveside photos suggest they are using a Shimano motor.
McLaren Automotive, known for producing some of the fastest and most expensive supercars on the planet, is lending its name to a set of electric mountain bikes. Singletracks received a press release yesterday ahead of the announcement, and while the release is heavy on superlatives, it’s light on important details.
McLaren claims to have “the most powerful trail-legal mountain bike,” which here in the USA anyway, suggests it’s a class 1 e-bike. Indeed, the release notes the bike is limited to 20mph, though it doesn’t specify if it’s pedal-assist-only or if there is a throttle.
Of course, the tech-obsessed know that the word powerful refers to power, rather than speed anyway, and on that metric, McLaren tells us their motor is capable of delivering 852W of peak power. Singletracks sent a list of questions to a media representative asking about maximum torque, among other specs, but did not hear back as of press time.
It’s unclear if the motors being used in the McLaren Extreme and Sport electric mountain bikes are exclusive to the brand’s bikes, and if so, what makes them more powerful than motors from Bosch or Shimano. The release does mention drivetrain and brake components from SRAM and Pirelli tires. McLaren plans to offer four eMTB models, including two 29er hardtails and two full-suspension, mixed-wheel bikes.
The press release references McLaren’s “electrified lightweight McLaren Artura hybrid supercar” and says their forthcoming, limited-edition eMTB has a “powerful motor” that “enhances their high power-to-weight ratio.” Absent from the release is any information about the actual weight of the bike, leaving us to wonder how lightweight the bike actually is.
And then there is the matter of cost. How much does a McLaren e-bike cost? We don’t know because that information wasn’t included in the press release. The McLaren Artura supercar mentioned in the release is priced at $233,000 and up according to Car and Driver, so our best guess is that the bikes will sell at a premium.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen mountain bikes sporting premium car brand labels from the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, and Mercedes, to name a few. In some cases, the car companies don’t actually make the bikes themselves; they simply license their brand name. Again, we don’t know the exact arrangement between McLaren Automotive and McLaren Bikes. However, it appears the bikes will be available from mclarenbikes.com rather than the official automotive site, cars.mclaren.com.
If and when we are able to find out more about the McLaren mountain bikes we’ll update this article. Read the full press release below.
