Yamaha ‘Pas With’ electric bike

Photo credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images

The crew at Bike Hugger spotted an interesting concept bike that is currently on display at the Tokyo Motor show. Earlier this year, you may have read about the Yamaha PAS e-bike line, which the company developed specifically for the Japanese market. This new “PAS With” concept e-bike looks completely different from those welded aluminum frame models though, with a futuristic frame made from…carbon, plastic, sheet metal, bondo…who knows what? My assumption is that the prototype was created for the purpose of drawing attention at the show, and will not hit the market as shown… but again, who knows?

If anyone has more information about the Yamaha “PAS With”, leave a comment to fill me in. If nothing else, I am glad to see an electric bike drawing attendees’ attention from the cars at an automotive show.

Update 12/14: I’m passing along a bit of additional information about this concept bike. Thanks to Taku for this comment:

PasWith folded via http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp

“I couldn’t find any info regarding a release date. One interesting thing is that this power-assist bike uses a motorized hub in the front. This probably explains that cable in the front.

There’s a promotional video on YouTube, but it doesn’t have any technical information on the bike. You can see the guy folding it though.

The link in the article points to Yamaha’s PAS site for currently available models and has no further information regarding this model. But their ‘special’ site developed for the Tokyo Motor Show has a small blurb, and more importantly a few more pics (The PAS With is like a 1/4 of the way down).”

Posted

November 30, 2011

Electric bike, Shows & Events

James

Tags:

auto show, concept bike, Electric bike, electric bikes, Yamaha

Comments

7 responses to “Yamaha ‘Pas With’ electric bike”

Andy

November 30, 2011

Looks like they tried to incorporate a front shock like one you posted earlier. Though I’m not sure what that cable is that leads into it.

I’m not a big fan of single sided forks. Likely it would have to be built pretty beefy, and weigh more overall. That last thing semi-folding bikes need is more weight. Looks like they have the same concept with wheel size that the Soma mini bikes do. Sacrifice some comfort and available of standard size parts for the ability to fit it in a slightly smaller space.

Reply
1. Androo
  
  December 10, 2011
  
  I’m curious about your outlook on single-sided forks, and if you’re going on intuition or if you’ve really thought it out. Since bending stiffness increases proportional to the square of a tube’s diameter, a single-sided fork with a large diameter thin-wall tube can theoretically quite easily weigh less than a two-bladed fork, especially if the axle is structural integrated into the single fork blade, which is not possible on a standard fork. Obviously, this requires fork-specific wheels, but that’s much less of an issue on a folding bike, where it’s unlikely owners will be swapping out different wheelsets, unlike road or mountain bikes.
  
  Look at the Cannondale Lefty – it is at the same time one of the lightest and stiffest suspension fork designs on the market. I think way more bikes should have single-sided forks…tradition and compatibility are the only things keeping people away. And since when does the modern bike industry care about compatibility?
  
  Reply
Amoeba

December 1, 2011

Obviously it will either be incredibly slow, or when the roads are wet, riders will possess fashionable (or not) ‘go-faster’ stripes front and back.

Reply
Jon Karak

December 2, 2011

I’ve been trying to get my hands one one for my wife. Is there a U.S. distributor? The best I could find was a Japanese online store, but it would have to be literally shipped across the Pacific.

Reply
H Kingsbury

December 5, 2011

How can we build a base of support to get Yamaha to release their ebikes and market them in the U.S.? Wouldn’t NYCEwheels or some other well established ebike retailer be a natural fit for such fine ebikes? Those Japan released models seem so smart in every way. With that fabulous through the gears rather than a hubmotor setup! Great battery technology. And very smart styling and functionality. Get them marketed here and I will be among the first lined up with my dollars to purchase.

Reply
Taku

December 14, 2011

For what it’s worth, here’s some more info, from Yamaha’s website, on this bike.

First off, it’s a concept model. I couldn’t find any info regarding a release date.
One interesting thing is that this power-assist bike uses a motorized hub in the front. This probably explains that cable in the front.

There’s a promotional video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puI_YK1hxfU) but it doesn’t have any technical information on the bike. You can see the guy folding it though.

The link in the article points to Yamaha’s PAS site for currently available models and has no further information regarding this model. But their ‘special’ site developed for the Tokyo Motor Show has a small blurb, and more importantly a few more pics.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/motorshow2011/sp/index.html (The PAS With is like a 1/4 of the way down.)

Hope this helps. Great site, btw. I will definitely be coming back.

Reply
1. James Thomas
  
  December 14, 2011
  
  Taku, thanks so much for the links and additional information about this concept bike! I’ll update the post to pass it along to anyone who might have missed it here.
  
  …and I’m glad to hear that you like the site. Definitely do plan to keep coming back.
  
  Reply