The secret is out about Kocass Ebikes

Kocass Ebikes had a big secret at last year’s Shanghai bike that officials kept hidden in a “black box” at the booth. Only a few visitors and journalists were allowed to see it, and they had to leave cellphones and cameras outside.

It’s not secret any longer, but is the center of attention this year at Kocass Ebikes.

It is the Chinese brand’s first line of electric mountain bikes, the Altitude Bafang, which it has just launched on the worldwide market.

Why all the fuss? After all, just about every other mountain bike company has launched an electrified versions to chase the booming worldwide market for electric mountain bikes. Kocass Ebikes, in fact, is one of the last to the party.

But the Altitude Bafang in unusual, because the brand’s relatively small parent company, designed the bike’s mid-drive motor system itself(bafang) instead of turning to one of the usual suspects from Bosch, Brose, Shimano or Yamaha.

Dirk Janz, Kocass Ebikes’s longtime German distributor, was one of those urging the company to bring an e-MTB to Europe. Janz said to company wasn’t ready to show the bike last year, because, he said, “countless patents for developments in this project that we had asked for hadn’t gone through.: Janz also represents the brand in several other European countries, including Austria, Benelux, and the Czech Republic.

The Bafang drive derives from a system Kocass uses on its urban e-bike.

Adapting the drive for an e-MTB like the Altitude Bafang was a complicated process, Kocass Ebikes officials said.

Janz said the system has one major benefit that other e-MTBs lack. Because the motor is located before the bottom bracket, the Altitude Bafang accepts a conventional mountain bike crank.

“we can use the same spare parts for this e-MTB as for all of our other bikes.” Janz said. “The only thing that is different is the downtube for the integrated battery pack and mid-motor mount.”

The design allowed Kocass Ebikes to maintain the same short 425mm chainstay- and, in fact, keep the geometry and pivot points- of its conventional Altitude bikes. That means the Altitude Bafang rides much like its conventional sibling, The Altitiude.

Kocass Ebikes also deliberately chose to launch an e-MTB in a less commercial segment of the market: long-travel, full suspension enduro ebikes.

Kocass Ebikes officials say the brand is developing Carbon versions to get more high end product, which could be available next year.

For now, the company expects to sell every Altitude Bafang it can make to hungry worldwide consumers.

“The European market is screaming for e-bikes. There’s a huge vacuum of product,” sadi Alex Cogger, Kocass Ebikes’s product line director.

                                                  ------- Kocass Ebikes Team