It seems like everyone and their brother is designing a new electric motorcycle these days, and that’s awesome for both the sport of motorcycling and the environment, in general. Still, the proliferation of these brands is making it hard to separate the high-minded vaporware from the real, quality hardware, you know? That’s what makes Swedish bike-maker Cake winning the Red Dot Award such significant news.
The Red Dot Award (there are three) is an international design prize awarded to designers and companies for outstanding product design, marketing and packaging, or design concepts, and is considered prestigious enough that past winners are called “laureates.” Not sure how much of that is PR-spin, but it’s effective PR-spin, at least, and Cake is going to benefit. Again.
That’s right — this isn’t Cake’s first Red Dot Award. It’s Cake’s second, and it won them back-to-back in 2019 and 2020. In other words: it’s time to take a serious look at Cake electric motorcycles.
The 2019 award was for the Cake Kalk, a minimalist sort of electric moped with a sort of “dirtbike by IKEA” aesthetic and either a 30 MPH or 60 MPH top speed depending on which version you bought. It’s a sharp-looking, modern sort of design (see photo galley, below) and it absolutely works, having been called “the perfect motorcycle for new riders” by the guys at Gear Patrol … and reading the reviews, it’s kind of hard not to agree with that statement.
Cake Ösa | 2020 Red Dot Award Winner | Image by Cake
The 2020 Red Dot Award winner, above, is the Cake Ösa. The Ösa has what Cake calls a “workbench” aesthetic, and is geared towards people who are really going to use this small electric motorcycle for work, if not serious play. To that end, the e-bike is designed to a variety of bags, baskets, racks, tools, lights, and whatever else you can clamp or bolt to its stout, beefy frame. It’s like a little electric mule that you can like, love, or something, and that sentiment speaks to the reason it’s been winning international design awards.
You can read Cake’s official press release and check out some of the Ösa’s versatility in Cake’s promotional slideshow, below, then let us know what you think of a Cake bike as a “last mile” solution for your situation in the comments section at the bottom of the page. We’d love to hear from you!
CAKE Becomes Two-time Red Dot Award Winner
Stockholm, Sweden — CAKE, the Swedish manufacturer of lightweight electric motorcycles, today announced that its utility-focused motorbike and scooter, Ösa, has been named as a recipient of the 2020 Red Dot Design Award. This is the second time CAKE has received this renowned award in the Car and Motorcycle category. In 2019, CAKE won for its debut performance-oriented model, Kalk; for 2020 they are pleased to accept the award for their modular, utility motorbike and scooter platform, Ösa.
The distinction of the Red Dot has become established internationally as one of the most prestigious seals of quality for design. The Red Dot Jury comprises some 40 international experts who test, discuss, and evaluate each entry individually, live and on-site. The jury only awards products that feature an outstanding design.
“Given all that is taking place in the world right now with the rise of this horrible pandemic, now is not the time for asinine celebration. But we must say that we are incredibly honored to be recognized by the Red Dot Jury,” says Stefan Ytterborn, CEO & Founder of CAKE. “Like everyone on the Red Dot team, we are a bunch of colleagues and associated vendors, manufacturers, and partners, looking beyond now, crossing our fingers that the light will come sooner than later to our current hardships. And this award gives each of us every bit of extra energy to do just that. To borrow from the Hamiltons, ‘Through!’”
Built with a purpose to inspire people to contribute to speeding up the journey towards a zero-emission society by combining excitement and responsibility, CAKE’s all-electric motorcycles are designed for exploration and discovery. First launched in January 2018 at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Denver, the first model – the Kalk OR – was recognized as “Best in Show” by several outdoor industry publications and has received numerous accolades since. The newest design, Ösa launched in November 2019 and has already won numerous awards, including the 2020 IF Design Award and Gear Junkie’s Best in Show at Outdoor Retailer.
Apart from being a light, clean and quiet electric motorcycle, the Ösa is derived from the diversity of work and differentiated needs of the customer, while simultaneously serving a new means of transportation to accelerate toward a zero-emission future.
Heavily influenced by the workbench, the Ösa design features a large gray uni-bar extending out from underneath the seat. This modular, clamp-on system serves as the heart of the Ösa, allowing users to attach baskets, bags, tools and more to create over 1,000 different possible configurations.
Thanks to the powerful battery with multiple outlets, the Ösa doubles as a power station on wheels, enabling the rider to be completely independent, off-the-grid. Whether it’s a carpenter charging power tools to build a cabin, or a package/restaurant delivery service executing clean, last-mile deliveries in cities around the world, the possibilities for self-supported exploration and enterprise are endless.
Cake Kalk | Photo Gallery
Source | More Photos: Cake (official), via Gear Patrol.
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