Ariel - maker of the Atom and Nomad - has built a £10k, 3D-printed electric bike

Ariel, purveyors of some of the daftest, most bonkers – and most innovative – lightweight cars around, has done something new. And yet very old. It’s built a bicycle.

The Dash is an e-bike, using a 250w Mahle hub motor and integrated battery to provide a range of up to 50 miles. But that’s pretty common these days.

What’s cool about the Dash is its 3D printed construction, which sees the titanium and carbon fibre structure connected by 3D-printed titanium nodes. Internal supporting mesh structures allow wall thicknesses of less than 1mm. The whole frame weighs 1.3kg, making it lighter than the 1.4kg motor mounted in the rear wheel.

The e-bike – which has been in development for the past five years – is available in two versions: Urban and Adventure. The Urban bike features flat bars and a single speed belt drive, while the Adventure is a drop bar gravel bike with a conventional 12 speed chain drive.

Each uses a slightly different motor/battery system which sees the Adventure benefit from slightly more torque (55Nm versus 40), while the Urban has the bigger battery (250Wh plays 236). There’s a built-in charge port and a 0-100 per cent fill takes 2.5 hours. All the cables are internally routed, there’s a button to cycle through power modes and an app to oversee things.

This is all a far cry from Ariel’s history with the bicycle. Back in 1871 the world’s very first series production vehicle was the Ariel Ordinary – a bicycle better known as the Penny Farthing due to the size differences between its (48in) front and rear wheels. Believe it or not it was also very innovative in its day, featuring tensioned spokes, a hollow steel frame and rubber tyres. Its 23kg weight might be more than double the 10.9kg Dash, but that didn’t prevent it being a record breaker, setting the first of several speed records in 1873 – 23.33km in an hour.

Ariel built bicycles through to 1932, after which it focused on manufacturing motorbikes. That lasted through until 1965, when the company disappeared, only for the name to be resurrected in 1999 by the people that have since given us the Atom, Nomad, forthcoming Hipercar, and of course, the Ace motorbike.

The Dash, the first bicycle to wear an Ariel badge for 92 years, will be built in house by a single technician. Options include a 173Wh range extender battery, carbon wheels and handlebars, integrated lights, luggage racks and luggage. But it’s not going to be cheap. The Urban is £9,984 (including VAT), the Adventure £10,992. Big money. So do you approve of Ariel going back to its origins, or should the firm that gave us the Penny Farthing have let it rust in peace?