Silent electrifying force behind the Pedelec/E-bike craze (Bike Europe 20-8-2008)

Entering the IDbike premises is facing a full line-up of prototype electric bicycles, a mock-up of a time trial bike from outer space, next to a showcase with extraordinary antique collectors items of Campagnolo and Huret drive train components ….. You’ll understand that you have not landed at a regular engineering agency. And once you’ve been shown the weird contraption in the basement, IDbike’s own test rig, you may think that you are dealing with some crazy product developers. The typical stereotype of creative mechanical engineers, nerds who think that their technology is THE solution to all problems. However Bas d’Herripon & Gijs Roovers from IDbike are far from being nerds, it took them quite some time, but meanwhile IDbike have become a successful and powerful, though silent and latent, engineering source for many A-brand bike companies. IDbike’s concepts and their creativity are electrifying and energising for the bike industry. Even more so now the demanding European market for bicycles with electric power assistance starts asking for more user friendly and highly functional products. A company report on the Dutch engineering genius behind the E-bike craze.

Background

Bas d’Herripon (46) and Gijs Roovers (58), with a solid mechanical engineering background, were working at Van Doorne’s Transmissie, the no.1 supplier of CVT’s (Continious Variable Transmissions) to the Japanese car industry. They both have always been dedicated and well trained performance cyclists with love for bicycle products, Roovers as a long distance racer (4 x Paris-Brest-Paris) and d’Herripon as an adventure racer. With the knowledge they had gained at Van Doorne’s on drive train transmissions, workloads and efficiency, they started to develop their first idea for bicycles: a CVT-speedhub. Soon this project triggered a whole line of other ideas and bicycle concepts and so their own design & engineering company IDbike, saw the light.

From the start in 1997 IDbike have always focused on the bike industry:

-    Conceiving, engineering, developing and also patenting their own concepts: bicycle components like manually adjustable handlebars, stems and seat posts, a super compact folding pedal and of course their torque measurement technologies. As an engineering company IDbike strives to sign license agreements with bike companies who are interested to manufacture and market these concepts.

-     IDbike also handle product development and engineering projects in assignment for customers.

-     Special projects on drive train research, hub motor efficiency and data logging for bicycle field tests. With their own developed test rig they have analysed almost everything in the field of drive trains: speed hubs, derailleur drive trains, even CVT’s, belt and shaft drives. And they are clear: chain drives are unbeatable when it comes to efficiency! IDbike have not yet had the chance to test the new Nuvinci CVT, and although the specs and claims are pretty exciting, based on their experience with CVT drives they are still sceptical on it’s efficiency.

TMM technology

Meanwhile IDbike have developed an impressive portfolio with intellectual property. Their shortlist of idea’s, concepts and designs counts at least 20 solid patents. Since the end of the nineties, bit by bit their core business and core competence have shifted to the field of Pedelecs and E-bikes. Their patented TMM-technology, a very accurate method for measuring the cyclist’s pedal force (which is essential for the proper programming of the software of pedal assist Pedelecs), has now become the benchmark in the industry.

It’s not a secret that Sparta, with a long time history and tradition of power assist bicycles, were the first to see the potential of the IDbike concepts and from there the co-operation started. Resulting in the Sparta Ion bike which was launched on the Dutch market place in 2001. Currently the Sparta Ion, which with some minor modifications basically still is the same like the initial concept, is the no. 1 most successful electric bike in the Western world. Exact data are not available, but BE guesstimates that more than 200.000 of these bikes have been sold over the last couple of years, with an undiminished exceptionally high average retail price of € 2.000,-.

Now 7 years later IDbike have expanded their expertise in power measurement and from the original TMM concept (Torque Measurement Method) new concepts were born, some of which are already in patent stage and some still in development stage. Besides Sparta, many more A-brand companies have crossed the doorstep of IDbike, while the E-bike & Pedelec craze is now really ready to lift off. IDbike keep somehow a rather low profile and they are not very keen on communicating about their customers, but it is obvious that several international bike companies have also found the advantages of the TMM-system over other torque sensors and have signed license agreements. d’Herripon claims that TMM torque sensors are much more easy to manufacture, more reliable and with higher accuracy than any other torque sensor in the market place. “And ….. at substantially lower cost”, adds Roovers.

The TMM pedal power measurement obviously has also useful applications in the field of indoor fitness and outdoor performance sports. IDbike are co-operating now with fitness companies in order to get their TMM sensors implemented into spinning bikes for fitness clubs. They also worked with the Dutch National BMX team in the preparation for the Olympics in Beijing, they were assigned to monitor the peak pedal power at the start (peaks up to 4 kW!). Roovers: “The sampling rate of our TMM system and the accuracy gave essential information on the cyclist’s start performance, which substantially more expensive systems were not able to provide”. d’Herripon continues: “In the future TMM technology will offer pedal and power measurement for every cyclist from performance level to recreational level: the top pro athletes, the weekend warriors and also the occasional bike rider, … it will be accurate and at very moderate costs”. 

Automatic Shifting

Being at the front end of product development of E-bikes and Pedelecs, where do IDbike expect the market to go within the next coming years? Roovers thinks that new niche markets for more powerful and fast delivery bikes, and bikes for commuters will rise, provided the European legislation will be adjusted, for instance with helmets being compulsory for Pedelecs faster than 25 km/h. That makes sense for cyclists who are capable of riding 25 km./h by themselves and who need additional higher speed to go from A to B. However the majority of Pedelecs will still be sold in the current segment of city and touring bikes, and there is yet a lot to improve says d’Herripon: “We have under development a more simple and clean layout E-bike systems, less wires (Bus communication or even wireless communication), bigger battery capacity and hubmotors which offer more torque for hilly and mountainous terrain”.

What else IDbike are working on? d’Herripon: “Two months ago we started our own production of the TTM-sensor. It is an additional service for our customers. The design of our electronic parts in itself is not very complicated, but the bicycle industry is treating the suppliers of electronic components like they have traditionally treated the suppliers of mechanical steel and aluminium components. Material specs and tolerances of electronic components need to be respected more strictly. Therefore seemingly simple things go wrong and this can easily cause a serious delay in the product development process. That’s why some time ago we decided to add this manufacturing service to our product portfolio. For exactly the same we reason we have started the development of the design of our own hubmotor.”

The power measurement finally also offers a more futuristic application in the field of automatic shifting. Roovers: “We combined our sensor with a Shimano rear derailleur and a little Chinese shifting motor, the result is very promising. Up until now automatic shifting systems (e.g. Shimano) were based on an algorithm of speed and RPM. Most of the time the shifting somehow felt unnatural, because it did not take into consideration the pedal force. We have integrated our torque sensor into the system and all of a sudden the automatic shifting becomes natural and synergetic with the cyclist’s pedal feel. Now the system shifts when the cyclist’s legs and muscles have a real need for a gear shift.” It will take some time before we will see this IDbike concept come to the market. Currently IDbike are too busy in satisfying all the requests for Pedelec and E-bike developments, … fuelling the E-bike craze!

Jack Oortwijn , Bike Europe

IDbike's Special Test Rig for E-Bikes  (Bike Europe, dec. 1998)

GOIRLE, The Netherlands - In order to meet the increasing demand for objective information about the electric bikes and their specific characteristics, the Dutch engineering firm IDbike has developed a special rig for testing complete electric (and normal) bikes. The idea behind the new test bench is that while consumers want to compare the different E-bike brands on the market, the only information they have to go on is that provided by individual manufacturers based on their own testing methods. Because these methods differ considerably from one manufacturer to the other, it is almost impossible for the consumer to make a good choice. With its new test rig, IDbike hopes to initiate a uniform testing standard for the bicycle industry.

IDbike's test bench was originally intended to test the functionality and durability of a bicycle CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission). However, the test bench was improved for the universal application of all types of bicycles and bicycle drive-lines. In 1998 a computer measurement and control system was added. According to the engineering firm, it is currently one of the most accurate instruments in Europe available to the bicycle industry. IDbike can now accurately measure efficiency, climbing capacity, support and durability of both normal and electric bikes.

IDbike has been involved in the bicycle industry since 1997, specializing in the technical development of bicycle components, from idea generation to the prototype construction and testing. The company's founders, Bas d'Herripon and Gijs Roovers, are experienced engineers with professional background in the car industry. The company's most recent innovations include a handlebar that can be adjusted during the ride, a new control cable for modern derailleur systems and a CVT system for bicycles.

(Bike Europe, dec. 1998)