Ariel launches all-new superlight Dash e-bike

It’s little wonder that car companies are starting to take a long, covetous look at the e-bike market. For one thing, there is plenty of crossover: performance-orientated OEMs have become exceptionally good at making things strong and lightweight, and (in the last few years) they’ve discovered many insightful things about batteries and electric motors, too. Also, the e-bike market is supremely lucrative and many of the same people who buy high-end sports cars (i.e. middle-aged men) are the ones partial to the idea of an expensive electric bike. Hence McLaren’s sudden interest, as we revealed last month. 

Now Ariel is getting in on the game, which, incredibly, kind of makes sense. For one thing, it already offers motorbikes alongside the Atom and Nomad, and for another, it can trace the history of its brand all the way back to 1871 and the Ariel Ordinary – a Penny Farthing-style bike that can claim to be the world’s first series production vehicle (or Ariel claims it anyway). Probably more pertinent than any of this is the fact that there are a significant number of bike-mad employees at the firm and they’ve been tinkering with the idea of building something in their own image for yonks. No surprise then that the new Ariel Dash is said to be the result of five years’ worth of research and development. So it’s safe to say that for a comparatively small company, it’s loomed large on the horizon. 

The outcome, available as an Urban or Adventure model, is impressive. Or at least we think it is – much as with McLaren’s effort, we’ll defer to those of you more in the know on this one – but on the basis that most e-bikes seem to weigh the earth and look like a car has already crashed into them, the Dash appears both very easy on the eye and on the scales. Granted, by staying true to its skeletal approach and swerving around the tricky, hefty business of full or partial suspension, Ariel has avoided a substantial part of the problem – but 10.9kg sounds very light indeed to us, and the unadorned frame, with a very svelte battery housed in the downtube, is maybe the simplest, prettiest piece of design to ever emerge from the firm’s ‘Less is More’ ethos. 

Of course, the straightforward appearance masks a great deal of time and effort spent sweating the details. Ariel is justly famous for agonising over the engineering side of things, and it’s readily apparent that the bespoke frame, which weighs just 1.3kg thanks to its innovative mix of titanium and carbon fibre, has been a labour of love. We won’t diminish that hard work by fudging a description here (anyone intrigued by the prospect of a 3D-printed titanium node at every joint can dive into the press release) but the association with Reynolds Technology (another venerable name in British cycling) has evidently delivered something special. 

And adaptable, too. The frame geometry differs between Urban and Adventure, and that’s because they’re intended for different jobs. While both feature the same basic 250w Mahle hub motor – said to be the lightest production e-bike motor currently available – the city-focused Urban variant gets the 40nm X35+ system in conjunction with a single-speed, belt-driven transmission, while the go-anywhere Adventure uses the 55nm X20 and benefits from a 12-speed Shimano GRX gearset. Similarly, the integrated 36v lithium-ion battery delivers 250Wh and up to 45 miles of range in the Urban, and 236Wh and up to 50 miles in the Adventure. Both are upgradeable with external range extender batteries that increase capacity to 458Wh and 407Wh, respectively. 

The level of assistance you get from either configuration is dictated by a single control button on the top tube of the frame, or via a smartphone app. This goes through four stages from none whatsoever up to all the motor legally has to give in Level 3. Charge time from a domestic supply is 2.5 hours. As you might expect from Ariel, which has pledged to build the bikes alongside its cars at the Crewkerne factory using the same single technician sign-off process, there is a considerable option list including Aera carbon wheels and funky Hope brakes. But before you get to that the Dash Urban starts at £8,320 and the Adventure, £9,160 – both exclusive of VAT. So it’s expensive – a similarly configured, hybrid-style carbon-framed LeMond Prolog would set you back half as much. But it is nearly a kilogram heavier and not hand-assembled in Somerset by a firm that can also sell you a Nomad to match. Expect a queue for the Dash to promptly form.