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quietkat and jeep e-bike - via quietkat on instagram.PNGMilitary bikes make comeback in e-bike form, featuring handlebar-mounted gun holders
While bicycles were popular military tools in the two World Wars and later favoured by the Viet Cong to ferry supplies, their usage has been limited in the 21st century... that could be about to change, with a number of high powered electric bikes including a collab between QuietKat and Jeep being shown off at the world's biggest arms fair in London this week.
> Find out all you need to know about e-bikes by visiting our sister site eBikeTips
iNews reports that several exhibitors at the controversial Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) show, a biennial defence and security trade exhibition held at London's ExCeL Centre this week, were showing off military-optimised e-bikes that will likely prove most useful for special forces. It's thought that all of the bikes on show have handlebar-mounted gun holders, and could be used to get behind enemy lines during combat.
iNews claims that Denmark, the UAE and one other European country that is a NATO member have purchased bikes already, and some of those were versions of the powerful Jeep E-Bike, made by QuietKat.
With huge tyres, a range of nearly 100km and 1000 watt motors, the military version of the Colorado-made Jeep/QuietKat bike has a portable solar panel for battery charging while on a mission, as well as the rifle holder. The UAE are currently testing it for desert combat, while it's claimed that a folding version has been requested for Danish paratroopers. The FBI is also working with Jeep, but the Ministry of Defence haven't confirmed if they have bought any military e-bikes for Britain's armed forces.
Will there be an e-bike boom in the military to follow on from the huge increase in popularity amongst civilians? Bosch has predicted that half of the world's bikes sold by 2025 will be electric, and it's the huge increases in battery technology that is thought to be the reason why armies worldwide are beginning to see e-bikes as viable combat vehicles.
QuietKat's Duncan Horner told iNews: “These bikes are really the SUV of e-bikes.
“They have been built very much with the needs of a military application in mind – the ability to be completely off-road, to carry heavy loads and be silent.
“It is ideal if you need to go those final miles where you can’t use a larger vehicle but still need the assistance of a machine.”
Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.
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65 comments
I've just read through the comments and I'm a bit confused.
Now, I read an article about bikes being used by the military.
Not an article about the military.
Not a jingoistic support-our-boys article and not an all-soldiers-are-eeeevil article.
Did Jack change his text at some point after he published?
The text is always changing - it's all about the intertextuality.
At least the rider is wearing a helmet, i wonder if they do a MIPS version?
The Swiss have had military bicycles for over 100 years, with the original going for over 80, the last but one, while shockingly heavy, did have ceramic rim brakes.
XT 7 speed on that one, Alfine igh on the present. Moving from the above mentioned ceramic rims to discs, but magura hydrolics on both.
The Swiss military is very defensively minded. I don't think they have invaded anyone for quite some time.
I even saw a documentary several years back when they were designing a more humane bullet.
This story confirms what I have long suspected: there is no practical way to mount a chain case on the chain and/or seat stay for derailleur systems, otherwise they would have invented one for the military even though fashion conscious consumers wouldn't buy it. I would!
I hope they haven't used the same freehubs as Hunt, no sneaking around with those!
Chain and derailleur in the (sandy) desert - does that work?
Yes, but not for long.
Honestly thought that road.cc was better than uncritically celebrating military hardware.
Shame.
"Speak softly, but carry a big stick." It was wise then and it's wise now.
I share your distaste for glorification of the military but I see no celebration here, just straightforward reporting of relevant bike-related news.
Well we would be in a pretty poor way without any military
There's no celebration here, just reporting on some news about bikes. I have described the DSEI show as 'controversial', which is true but might also give you a very mild flavour of my own personal feelings towards it. But that isn't what the article is about.
Fair point Jack. Just slightly jarring to see this sort of thing on a website I usually consider quite on point, morally.
I'd say even, what is admittedly, factual reporting of carryings on at the annual trade show for tools for maiming and murdering is essentially promotion and glorification.
Maybe next we could have a feature on the 'top 10 bikes used by racist police forces' or something.
Already been done:
https://road.cc/content/news/trek-rejects-calls-stop-supplying-us-police...
I see where your coming from, I didn't have to choose this story out of what was on our list yesterday but to me it jumped out as news that I thought people should be informed about, whether they vehemently disagree with the use of bicycles in the military or not. There is a lot of news we'd rather not write about such as the tragic passing of Chris Anker Sørensen we've reported on today, our aim is mostly to inform not endorse with our news coverage.
Buyer's guides are a completely different kettle of fish however, so while I'm editor we'll definitely not be doing a run down of the best police bikes!
Yeah, for sure, and understood. I like the editorial element of a lot of the original prices, which is why I spend more time here than on the 'other' sites. Road.cc has a bit more personality.
It's a cycling news site. I think you've mistaken it for the Guardian, or Huffington Post.
Alas, Jack's response above suggests there is an editorial approach. Sorry fella.
Whats wrong with celebrating the military and all they do to support the nation?
What am I meant to be celebrating sorry?
whilst serving for over 20 years, I've so far done flood defences , covered ambulance drivers, fire brigade strikes, distributing PPE to hospitals, conducting COVID testing, security and reception at the 2020 London Olympics, driving nurses and care workers living in remote areas to work during heavy snow.
you think all we do is fight wars? You ain't got the first idea what the military do for this country.
if you want to hate the military for Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other conflict in recent history, remember WE don't pick the fight. That's the role of politicians. Politicians you probably voted for .
A specious argument. In signing up to the peacetime military (joining up in time of war is obviously a different matter) you agree to go to war wherever the politicians send you, regardless of the justice or morality of doing so. You can't just absolve yourself of all culpability by saying you're just following orders, you agreed to take those orders.
The British armed forces are predominantly a DEFENCE force. Protecting our borders and our nation from others. That's what we joined up for. A sense of duty and wanting to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I guess you have no sense of duty to understand what that's like. You're probably happy to protest at the very things that allow you to live the very life you lead with the freedoms you take for granted.
When I joined up, the main effort was Bosnia and the surrounding Balkan's region. Peacekeeping and deterring a nation guilty of atrocities like ethnic cleansing. Or do you believe we should turn a blind eye to these terrible acts?
Give it up. You're arguing with the far left. The UK is always the bad guy in their eyes.
Ah yes, the Far-Left™. Identifiable as anyone found disagreeing with the Far-Right®
Yep, bombing ten kinds of hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan certainly made us safer, didn't it? How far away are our borders from theirs? Don't give it a load of bull about duty, some people understand about moral duty, such as the moral duty not to slaughter others in order to enrich a few US oil barons.
Soldiers who fought in WWII were defending our rights and freedoms and I'm immensely proud of those in my family who served and in some cases died. The armed forces now are predominantly used as a tool of vested interests, and I care enough about them not to want brave men and women to be killed defending corporate profit under the cover of "the old lie".
I'm still waiting for Tony Blair to face trial for war crimes
No sure that's arguable. A significant proportion of recent military operations (especially when measured as spending) have been of a distinctly (rightly or wrongly) offensive nature.
Neither do I believe that you can say that all members joined up for those very specific reasons that you state (and I'm not suggesting that you personally didn't) -my experience is that the army is not a homogeneous group, any more than, say, Muslims are.
I think it's unfair of you to suggest that because someone doesn't follow the same life path as you, or agree with you, that they don't have a sense of "duty", especially as you don't define what that means to you, or ask what it means to them
The freedoms that we take for granted (your allegation, not mine) were not put in place by the armed forces, but have been hard-won over centuries usually by civilian action, often in direct opposition to the armed forces of the day - remember, the army doesn't pick its fights, it fights where and who it's told.
Lastly it would be a shame to take a falsely dichotomous view between criticism of military policy, and having empathy for members of the armed services. It is possible to do both.
By that logic, once you vote for a politician you agree to give them the power to start wars regardless of the justice or morality of doing so.
The ultimate responsibility therefore lies with the voters.
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