Last year, Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov surprises the world with the announcement of an electric bike designed specifically for Russian military. Back then, we did not have a lot of details, including the name or model. We sort of know it is driven by an electric motor with 15 kW (20 HP) peak power and paired to a battery pack that offers 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) range on a single charge. Apparently, it is known by the model SM-1.
In fact, a few more details were offered right after the initial announcement, with the showing off the bike at the Russian army show last August. Don’t ask how we missed those. Lets just say that we are not fond of the website layout of the press page. TBH, details are far from comprehensive. At this point, we know Kalashnikov SM-1 electric bike is driven by a water-cooled brushless DC motor with 15 kW peak power, paired to a lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4) battery pack, and it is capable of top speed of 90 km/h (or about 56 miles an hour).
Further information include a pendulum rear suspension with a central spring-hydraulic shock absorber, inverted telescopic fork front suspension and the vehicle measures 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) long, 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) tall and has a wheelbase of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet). That’s all we have for now. The details are still lacking, but to make up for the lack of details, we did managed to grab a few close up images which you can find posted around this post.
Images: Kalashnikov.
Source: Kalashnikov.
