If you happen to knock on the door of an Italian home, the host will likely yell out “Avanti!”, this means come in or literally “forward”. The Kiwis must have liked this word and it’s been working for them because Avanti is a New Zealand bike factory that’s been successfully designing and building bicycles for over 25 years. The “Blade” model first came out in 2003 and production continues today because it’s always been a super well priced bicycle that is light and quick. It’s a perfect bicycle for people who want to commute quickly but don’t like to hunch over like beetles on traditional road bikes. This year’s Blade 1 model is fantastic for electric conversion because it has a light Formtech alloy frame and Cr-Mo forks. The price is below $500 in bike shops and with a conversion kit makes a very cheap and high performance electric bicycle. It’s built for speed and comfort and suits motors between 200W – 500W. Pictured above is a 500W setup we performed for a customer today with a new 11.5Ah Panasonic lithium ion tube battery.
Matt, Solar Bike
