Flit, Cambridge's self-folding electric bike, on way

A team of designers, engineers and cyclists based at the Allia Future Business Centre in Cambridge is completing the final touches for the launch of a folding electric bike which could revolutionise life for the city's commuters.

The Flit, which travels 25 miles on a single charge, takes 10 seconds to fold and weighs just 14kg.

Alex Murray, managing director and co-founder of Flit, met fellow co-founder Dave Henderson while studying in Beijing. Alex told the Cambridge Independent: “The whole team at Flit is really excited to be launching our first electric bike this summer.

"After living in big cities from London to Beijing, we were tired of traffic jams, overcrowded public transport, and polluted roads, so we developed a folding ebike that is designed to make getting around cities as flexible and free as possible. Our ebike achieves this by weighing 6kg less than typical folding ebikes and by folding down to a fraction of the size, all without sacrificing ride quality. This means that you can ride comfortably in the city but still combine it with other types of transport, like trains, for longer journeys.

"We've spent three years in R&D and preparing for manufacturing, having been supported along the way by the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School, the Allia Future Business Centre, the Enterprise Europe Network, the Department for Transport, and the Design Council. We're going to be offering test rides in Cambridge and London over the coming weeks.”

Flit’s ebike weighs 6kg less than typical folding ebikes and folds down to a fraction of the size without sacrificing ride quality. This means that you can ride comfortably in the city but still combine it with other types of transport, like trains, for longer journeys.

The pre-launch publicity drive is going well, says Alex. "We had a really awesome week exhibiting at Silverstone over the weekend as part of the Fully Charged Live event with almost 200 test rides. This has given the team a big boost ahead of the test rides in Cambridge at the end of June."

Sign-up details here: the first public trial is on June 29. Prices are yet to be announced.