The SmartMotion Story

The SmartMotion electric bicycle range was a natural progression after Anthony Clyde (Neal-Clyde Designs) developed the SmartMotion eDrive system for the New Zealand Post delivery bicycles. Anthony spent nearly two years with NZ Post testing components, upgrading and refining the design until the SmartMotion eDrive system was robust enough to meet the extreme needs of the New Zealand climate and the postal service.

One year of Postal deliveries equates to about 10 years of domestic electric bicycle use with 'posties' riding for over 250 days a year, rain, hail or shine, fully loaded, stopping to deliver, then accelerating away hundreds of times every day. Now, there are SmartMotion powered delivery bikes with NZ Post that have been in use for 3 years, with the original motor and battery.

With the success of the SmartMotion eDrive system, the idea followed to create a range of highly reliable, yet affordable SmartMotion electric bicycles. Anthony kept the same industrial/commercial design standard that was required for the NZ Post. In a nutshell: high-end components plus simple modular design. Affordable quality.

Anthony traveled to China, inspected many assembly factories and chose one that met his stringent requirements:

• They should already supply to Europe to understand Western needs
  
• The staff must be highly skilled and valued by management.
• They would be sufficiently flexible to accommodate Anthony’s specific designs
• They should already work with suppliers of branded, high-end components
  

Anthony spent a year developing four SmartMotion models, the eCity, eMetro, eUrban and e20 with the initial production destined for the New Zealand market. Meanwhile, Anthony sponsored Catriona Williams on the first ever hand-cycle ride by tetraplegics from Lhasa to Katmandu, via base camp Everest covering over 1000km and 10 Himalayan passes! 

The SmartMotion high-torque rear-wheel-drive system was used in Catriona’s hand-driven front wheel, powered by a 36v12ah battery. Catriona’s was the only bike to make it all the way without failure and the first electric bike of any kind to reach base camp Everest from Lhasa. 

Throughout 2012 & 2013, as the bikes rapidly evolved (from the original ‘whitebike’ V1’s, into the advanced V4 ‘brownies’) the SmartMotion reputation for reliable quality grew.

With the release of the V4 models in late 2013, sales increased rapidly and the brand quickly became New Zealand's top seller and best reviewed.


Anthony’s production manager in China, Dick Lai, saw the opportunity to spread the brand globally and approached Anthony with a simple, low cost distribution model to keep the global price affordable.

With nearly a decade of experience in electric bicycle production management and export sales Dick recognised the opportunity to create a highly reliable ebike at a very low price. This led to the creation of SmartMotion International and within three months of its inception was in four countries. 

June 2014: SmartMotion electric bikes - the best selling electric bikes in New Zealand - are now available in the UK.

April 2015: The latest (and greatest!) SmartMotion electric bike range is now available from UK dealers.