Interesting New Tech: GeoOrbital Wheel Turns Any Bike Into An Electric Bicycle

Michael Burtov has been thinking of a way to re-invent the wheel. His concept was to put an electric motor in a wheel that can easily bolt on to an existing bike and turn it into an electric bike. No tools needed. It’s pretty slick, with a removable 36V battery integrated into it (it doesn’t spin) and a controller that attaches to your handlebars. They claim it can be done in 60 seconds, and from the video demonstration, that looks accurate.

It’s throttle-only, and they claim it will accelerate to 20 MPH in 6 seconds, with a range of over 20 miles. The wheel weighs in at about 20 lbs and the motor is rated at 500 W. The looks are so different that it will definitely turn heads. They even have a foam tire to keep it from ever going flat.

He admits he’s not an engineer, so he’s hired talent for that, including Dakota Decker from Space-X. Five generations of prototyping later, they have a wheel that’s ready to be produced. They put it up on Kickstarter to raise the needed $75,000 to get started. With 43 days to go, they have already raised over $263,000, way over their goal. They design and build them in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hope to keep them there. The first ten people to pledge $649 or more will get a wheel, and all of those are already spoken for.

The production version will cost about $900 and will fit any bike, as long as it’s made to use 26″/700C wheels.

You can check out their Kickstarter campaign here, and their website is geoo.com.