Canada’s Bewegen Bike-sharing

canada’s Bewegen Bike-sharing Introduces BeWagen ecargo Bike, now in nine countries

By jAck cRAckER

The new BeWagen with a load capacity up to 80kg (175lbs) is a welcome addition to Bewegen’s bike-sharing operations.

Bewegen Technologies, a Québec-based bike-sharing company, currently with 30 systems in nine countries, recently introduced the BeWagen to its line of BeMotion e-bike share operations.

The new BeWagen longtail cargo-bike, with a load capacity of up to 80kg (175lbs) for carrying children or groceries, meets evolving needs for more versatile transportation options in the expanding bike-share marketplace.

Founded in 2013 with a vision to bring cutting-edge options for active mobility, and sustainable transportation solutions to cities around the world, Bewegen is now the only Canadian bike-share company following the recent sale of PBSC Urban Solutions, owner of Montréal’s BIXI, to American giant Lyft.

With a range of self-service e-vehicles compatible with turnkey docking technology and designed according to customer needs, Bewegen’s e-bikes feature their proprietary Dyname electric motor, a 48V high-efficiency lithium-ion battery with a range up to 60km (40 miles), GPS, digital screen to monitor speed, distance travelled, battery level and more.

Services include customizable branding, design and production of complete bike-sharing systems, urban planning, system operation and maintenance, along with other options.

“We launched the new BeWagen from our booth in the expo at the recent Velo-city conference in Ljubljana,” said Jacques Dutil, Business Development at Bewegen. “Interest in our system quickly developed in Europe where cycling is more mainstream, and the company name Bewegen means ‘to move, exercise, shift’ in Dutch.”

Bewegen’s footprint in Europe includes systems in Portugal, Scotland, the UK, Germany and Estonia they’re even in Costa Rica. The company has made recent inroads into the USA and Canada with plans to expand across North America.

“We are indeed well-positioned internationally and have plans to maintain this development. Bewegen is constantly expanding, and we also wish to further develop North America beyond the systems we already have in the USA and Canada,” commented Tania Lacelle, Bewegen Brand Manager. Based in Saint-Georges, Québec, Bewegen Technologies is the brainchild of Raymond Dutil, who operated Procycle for 40 years and acquired Rocky Mountain Bicycles along the way.

The company worked with Michelle Dallaire to design and create e-bikes, which resulted in their proprietary Dyname motor and e-drive system — both the heart of Rocky’s Powerplay e-bikes and Bewegen’s e-bike share system as well.

For more information, please visit www.bewegen.com.

Bewegen launched their latest addition, the BeWagen, at Velo-city in Ljubljana.

Bewegen’s BeMotion e-bike… the company hopes to expand in Europe and across both Canada and the USA.

30th annual Eurobike debut in Frankfurt was a success.

30th Eurobike Sees Successful Debut in Frankfurt

The 30th Eurobike saw a successful debut in Frankfurt with more than 1,500 companies exhibiting and 33,780 trade visitors. This was a marked increase over 2021 but still short of 2019 when almost 40,000 visitors attended. A total of 1,177 media representatives from 34 countries took in the 2022 show.

Lots of testing amidst beautiful weather in the Demo Areas.

Messe Frankfurt’s 140,000 square metres of halls and outdoor exhibition areas were bustling as beautiful weather saw the outdoor Demo Areas busy for test rides and other events.

The Cargo Area brought together over 50 cargo bike exhibitors. With two conferences, an exhibitor party and a cargo bike race, the area also featured for the first time a lounge and its own stage for an audience of 50 visitors. The final two public festival days were taken in by 27,370 bicycle enthusiasts for test rides in the Demo Area, bicycle races and action-packed shows. Prominent Eurobike visitors included Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport Dr. Volker Wissing, Hesse’s Minister of Economics Tarek Al-Wazir and State Secretary of Transport Jens Deutschendorf.

With cycling booming in Frankfurt, next year’s show is slated for June 21-25 and will dovetail with the National Cycling Congress at the same venue from June 20-21. Next year, for the first time, Eurobike will also offer the option for tech companies to book a booth for the first three days only (June 21-23) in the new Supplier Area in Hall 9. New Great Lakes Cycling & Walking CAN-USA Tourism Partnership

In mid-September, Trans Canada Trail, steward of the longest recreational trail network in the world, the Waterfront Regeneration Trust (WRT) in Ontario, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop a binational Great Lakes tourism destination opportunity by 2024. Coinciding with the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the initiative paves the way for crossborder trail tourism, the use and enjoyment of the greenways, waterways and communities of Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., the border cities on the Detroit River, considered the heart of the Great Lakes and a gateway to each country.

The binational partnership builds on greenway systems started first in Windsor in the 1960s and ‘70s, and in southeast Michigan in the ‘90s, in response to increasing public demand for access to the waterfront and active modes of transportation.

Messingschlager USA Has Exclusive US Rights to KTM Bike Industries

Following Eurobike, KTM Bike Industries announced that Messingschlager USA, based in Ames, Iowa, has acquired exclusive distribution rights for the brand in the US market. Messingschlager recently purchased Cycle Force Group and its subsidiaries, including North America Cycles, which will be KTM’s sole distribution point in the USA.

Models will be offered at a variety of price points. Premium e-bikes are manufactured in Europe, other e-bikes are manufactured exclusively in Austria, while bicycles retailing under $1,300 are produced in southeast Asia.

The apex of KTM’s e-bike range is their Macina Prowler Exonic, an enduro e-bike that features a Bosch Gen 4 smart system and SRAM’s XX Eagle SL AXS drivetrain.

KTM Manufacturing began in 1938 and started producing bicycles in 1964. KTM bikes will hit the US market in November 2022 with full availability and assortment by spring 2023. For more information, visit www.nacycles.com.

Largest Ever GPS Bicycle vs Climate Change

An Anglo-Italian pair of cyclists undertook a 4,500-mile cycling adventure with their dog, through seven countries, and created the largest GPS drawing ever made — a 600mile wide bicycle across Europe — all to draw attention to the scale of climate breakdown.

The couple, Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi, gave up their jobs as physics researchers and began their journey in the summer of 2019 but ran into problems including a knee injury and COVID-19. The actual cycling took about four months overall.

The journey has earned them three world records: the largest GPS drawing ever made, the biggest GPS image drawn only by cycling, and the biggest bicycle ever drawn.