When it comes to the future of urban mobility, car manufacturers, mobility service providers and urban designers will be very quick to tell you about their glorious and promising visions of the future, which they claim will save the world. Most of the visions sound great – but are they really?
Sustainable, networked, autonomous, intelligent and safe – this isn’t just the portrayed future of mobility but also of cities. It’s great that we’ve got crowds of idealists and engineers tinkering on this, but that’s no reason to sit back and wait for new, supposedly redeeming technologies.
The future of mobility isn’t something to be invented. It must be lived! Urban mobility and coexistence require the right mindset, the right habits and routines. Any vision for the future, strategy and technology are all only as good as their actual implementation and use. That right there is the crux of the matter: as humans, we’re good at trying to solve the problems of this world through new technologies. However, we must ask ourselves: are we really solving problems, or could it be that we’re simply creating entirely new ones? Instead of outsourcing our responsibility and sustainability ideals to ultra-smart and hyper-connected devices and hoping for the next game-changing innovation, we would do a lot better by making the most of what we already have. Fortunately, the future of (sub-)urban mobility already exists!
The Highlights of this issue
- Big City Life on 20/24 inches – 4 hot compact ebikes on test
- E-Moped Shootout – Pin it to win it
- Inside the world of Brompton – A behind-the-scenes look at the iconic British folding bike brand
- Why do cars no longer smile? – Legendary automotive photographer René Staud on the past, present and future of mobility
- Ebiking in Amsterdam – DOWNTOWN Urban Getaway powered by WINORA
- Super Commuter Made in Europe – The ÅSKA Super Commuter All-Road Adventurer in review
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All the bikes in this issue
Flyer Upstreet 1 | Qio Eins Family | Riese & Müller Tinker | VanMoof X3 | CAKE | BREKR | Cyklær E-Urban | Serial 1 MOSH/CTY | Advanced Reco | Åska Super Commuter All-Road Adventurer | Brompton | Winora Yakun R5 Pro | Winora Yakun 10 | Winora Yakun 12 |
What’s this issue got in store?
They’ve become so integral to big city life, it’s hard to picture it without them: compact ebikes are becoming increasingly popular, and rightly so! Hardly any other urban ebike is as fun, practical and intuitive to ride as these small-wheeled city slickers. But for whom is a compact ebike the right choice?
Electric mopeds are an interesting and exciting alternative for bridging the short- to medium-distance gap. And what used to be dirty and loud is now sporty, elegant and, above all, quiet. So, we took a closer look at two brand new e-mopeds and put them to the test for you!
In this world, there are bikes and there are Bromptons. The influence this iconic British brand has had on the cycling world is hard to overstate, with everyone from Boris Johnson to Kate Moss, Radiohead to Phoebe Bridgers being seen on one. But what is it about these tiny wheels that means Brompton has both enduring style and the ability to tap so easily into subcultures?
Hardly anyone has accompanied the development of the automotive industry more closely than René Staud. He’s still regarded as the star photographer of the automobile world, the Peter Lindbergh of cars, and has had every important car in front of his lens over the past 50 years. We visited him at Staud Studios to talk about automobile design, dying icons, dominant behaviour and the future of mobility.
Looking to get away from the clichéd take on Amsterdam with its red-light district, cafes and canals, we took to ebikes to create this edition of the DOWNTOWN Urban Getaway powered by WINORA. With the help of clued-up locals, we discover hidden gems and hard-to-find spots that go under the radar of suitcase-wheeling tourists, drunk stag dos and even many locals.
Commuting and adventure – the name of the ÅSKA Super Commuter All-Road Adventurer sounds promising! Better yet, the brand want to be kind to the environment and developed a special manufacturing process for the full suspension s-pedelec. Read on to find out more about ÅSKA’s unique approach!
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Words: Julian Schwede Photos: Various
