The Optibike R22 electric bike can climb Mount Everest on a single charge

Based in Colorado Optibike is one of the oldest e-bike companies in the United States, so they know a thing or two about building high-performance e-bikes. But the new Optibike R22 Everest seems to go above and beyond what anyone could ask for, claiming it has enough battery to climb Everest on a single charge.

There might not be good charging spots at the top, but that’s okay. It’s all downhill from there.

How big is the battery for an e-bike?

The R22 Everest carbon fiber full-suspension frame houses a whopping 3,260Wh lithium-ion cells. The battery is designed in two units that are removed from both sides of the bike.

For comparison, 3.26 kWh of battery is more than 6 times the capacity of a an ordinary inexpensive electric bicycle in the USA.

Of course $18,900 R22 Everest also costs about 27 times more Inexpensive e-bike for $799, so I’m not sure these things track linearly. But if your goal is to climb Mount Everest on an e-bike, price probably isn’t your first concern. If it were me, riding those stairs might be higher on my “big worries” list.

But let’s face it, most people aren’t going to climb the highest mountain in the world on this e-bike.

Instead, the R22 Everest is designed to explore rough terrain and access far-flung places that other e-bikes wouldn’t be able to reach. And climb smarter mountains than the highest in the world.

As Optibike founder Jim Turner explained:

“The R22 Everest is the result of my 25 years of designing and building electric bikes, the R22 is my dream bike, born and raised in the Colorado Rockies. This bike sets a new standard for electric bikes.”

The company claims that the motorcycle’s huge battery can climb 24,000 feet on a single charge. Or for people who like to measure their ride in horizontal distance rather than vertical distance, the R22 Everest boasts 300 miles (510 km) of pedal-assist range at 15 mph (25 km/h). But you better have high-endurance legs to handle 20 hours of pedaling over 300 miles.

For those who prefer to rest their legs, there’s also a half-turn throttle to handle the electric bike more like an electric motorcycle, pedaling optional.

It may not actually reach the actual Mount Everest, but it looks like it could climb pretty far before being swallowed up by a fissure.

The bike uses the patented 1700W Optibike PowerStorm mid-gear motor with a staggering 190Nm of torque. This motor is mated to Rohloff Speed ​​500 hubs with internal gearing and 14 gear ratios. In its highest gear, it is said to have a top speed of 36 mph (58 km/h), making this e-bike off-road only as far as US laws are concerned.

With a double crown fork front suspension and 200 mm (8 inches) of rear suspension travel, this e-bike is designed to keep going when the trail is long gone.

Each R22 Everest is hand-built to order at Optibike’s facility in Colorado. That sounds about right because at almost $19k they sure aren’t pumping these out on some cheap conveyor belt!

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