The Faraday electric bike shows us all how retro the longer term can be

This ain’t no fixie with a minty fresh paint job, here’s the Faraday. Built for the Oregon Manifest design competition, ideas factory Ideo teamed up with bike builders Rock Lobster Cycles to supply this retro-technotastic electric bike . Everything futuristic was hidden within the frame: those parallel top tubes hold a chain of lithium-ion batteries which juice up front-hub motor — all controlled from the golf green box tucked beneath the seat cluster. Those two prongs up front function built-in headlights and the bottom of a modular racking system, letting you swap out various carrying mechanisms like a trunk or child seat with the pop of a bolt. Tragically, the bike is barely an idea — so unless the teams responsible cave into peer pressure and get it into production, you will need to use old-fashioned leg power to get you over those steep hills.