Tony Ellsworth launches new belt drive, carbon fiber electric bicycle


World-renowned mountain bike builder Tony Ellsworth, of Ellsworth Bikes fame, is back with a brand new electric bicycle brand known as The Ride Bikes. And its first model eye-catching model, the Radiant Carbon, just launched today.

The Radiant Carbon is a commuting and cruising-oriented e-bike that comes with a slew of fancy features on top of an out-of-the-box carbon fiber frame design.

Tony has spent decades building high-end mountain bikes for top riders. He recently set his sights on building an electric bike brand based on top-shelf local manufacturing and high-end components.

As Tony explained:

“I have a real desire to pack all of the quality and all of the features that I personally would want, that would deliver to my expectations in every bike I design. And after doing it for 30 years I’m pretty in touch with the quality pieces and all of the quality features that could go into a bike model.”

The Radiant Carbon features a unique carbon fiber frame design with a single support fork and a single asymmetric chain stay and seat stay at the rear.

But you won’t find an old-fashioned chain cranking past that chain stay. Instead, the Radiant Carbon uses a Gates Carbon Drive belt system rated for an incredible 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of use.

The belt-drive links a 500 W and 60 Nm Shimano mid-drive motor to a NuVinci optimized Enviolo continuously variable transmission in the rear hub. The use of an internally geared hub means no hanging derailleur and no noise, which also compliments the silent belt-drive.

As a Class 1 e-bike system, that Shimano drive will power the bike up to 20 mph (32 km/h) on pedal assist, but does not have a throttle.



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