The only Electric Bike you can travel with…

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How to fly and with ease, bring your electric bike. LiGo Batteries are the only electric bike battery you can legally enter a plane with and Bike Friday was/is the first travel bike to employ them into the design.

The Battery: The LiGo by Grin Technology

Yes, these batteries really can be carried on passenger aircraft in carry-on luggage. Both we and our customers have clocked hundreds and hundreds of flights with LiGo batteries going through security without any incidents. Aaron, from Grin, even caught on video what happens when LiGo batteries go through the scanning belt. We recommend removing the LiGo packs from your baggage and plugging the pair of Anderson connectors on each pack into each other so that there are no exposed terminals and each pack is clearly individually contained. Airport personnel has been well trained at looking for the watt-hour rating lithium batteries and seeing if they are compliant or not.

While most airlines do not have a firmly defined maximum number of batteries under 100 Wh that can be brought aboard, we’d suggest traveling with no more than 4-5 LiGo’s per person in order to avoid extra scrutiny. Grin has had customers travel by air with as many as 12 LiGo modules on them, but we wouldn’t recommend that as a matter of course.

Travel with the LiGo powered E-Bike Friday:

Bike Friday E-Bike packed and ready for travel *photo: Ruth K.
Bike Friday E-Bike almost ready to ride *photo: Ruth K.
Bike Friday E-Bike ready to ride after being unpacked *photo: Ruth K.

Rear Hub Drive(our most popular system for NWT and Diamond Llama)

Motor replaces rear hub in the rear wheel.  This is a Bafang motor which has been tuned to perfectly work with our wheel size and bikes.  It’s the quietest system you can buy and is super smooth which you will love.

– This kit is compatible with all Bike Friday models –

This is the most popular system that we sell for our bikes! This system packs easily and pairs well with Ligo batteries making it the best option for travelers!

Strengths:

  • Is similar to the front hub motor kit but also has an 8,9,10 spd cassette driver. This allows it to work with all rear dérailleurs.
  • No motor resistance
  • Fits all 20” wheels (406mm & 451mm)
  • Very light! Adds only ~ 11 lbs to your bike
  • Ligo travel battery option makes for a light electric assist bike that is legal to fly with.
  • Very Quiet!
  • Easiest to pack into the suitcase for air travel.
  • Disc brake compatible

Limitations:

  • Rear frame dropouts on a bike need to be sized to 137mm – 140mm (wider than usual)

System price for Motor and Battery kit starts at $1320 (bike price not included)

Front Hub Drive:

Motor replaces front hub in the front wheel with a specially designed Bafang motor which is optimized for our wheel size, is the quietest you can buy and works effortlessly.  With this option, you are able to remove it when you want to lighten the overall bike weight depending on its use.

Front Wheel Electric Assist Kit with Ligo Travel Batteries on a Bike Friday New World Tourist Silk

– This kit is compatible with all Bike Friday models –

Strengths:

  • No motor resistance when coasting or riding without power
  • Fits both 20-inch wheel and 16-inch wheel Bike Fridays
  • LiGo travel battery upgrade option available (as seen in the picture above)
  • Comes standard with pedal assist
  • With a second front wheel and 3 minutes you can take off all but one lb of the weight (removing motor and battery) and have your light non-assisted bike ready to ride

Limitations:

  • Puts weight in front of the bike which isn’t natural to everyone.
  • Harder to control in slick or loose-dirt situations

System price for Motor and Battery kit starts at $1275  (bike price not included)

LiGo(the only travel-approved E-bike battery in the world) 3 Batteries and bag $525

LiGo 4 Batteries and bag $700

Charger: $49.00

Contact us and a bike design expert will help you with your questions and find the best electric kit for your situation.

For retrofitting older Bike Fridays into E-Bikes with an electric assist there are additional costs. Contact us for details.

Bonus Material: Walk assist on every Bike Friday E-bike which means stair assist. Life changing!

11 Responses

  1. It’s very disappointing to find out the limit now is only 2 x battery modules that you can carry on an aircraft. It sounds like the appealing option of being able to travel with the e-bike is now not possible. It would be fantastic however if it were possible to rent the LiGo batteries whilst overseas. Is there such a thing? Could that be such a thing?

    1. Hello there Carolyn. The limit isn’t actually two and often we have customers who are each bringing four batteries. Sorry for any misunderstanding as this is the only option in the world to easily fly with your Electric Bike. Happy to help answer any questions if you have them. info@bikefriday.com

      1. Thanks for your reply Jarl. Under the FAA regulations this is what the ruling is:
        (ii) For a lithium ion battery, the Watt-hour rating must not exceed 100 Wh. With the approval of the operator, portable electronic devices may contain lithium ion batteries exceeding 100 Wh, but not exceeding 160 Wh and no more than two individually protected lithium ion batteries each exceeding 100 Wh, but not exceeding 160 Wh, may be carried per person as spare batteries in carry-on baggage.
        I’m not sure whether this is new information ?

  2. Hi,
    These batteries are only 98 Watts so there is no limit. They are brilliant. We took five with us no problem.

  3. Ken from Australia,
    Comment no2 above is very confusing, here in Australia CASA will only allow passenger flights 2 x100Wh batteries per carryon luggage.
    I purchased two nwt from bikefriday in 2006 and was thinking of buying you e – conversion kit to take on our holiday to ride in France, however only allowed 2 LiGo batteries would not give us much useable power or distance although would only use e-power for uphill.

    1. Ken, as you can see from the manufacturer’s page on the batteries, they’ve seen people carry up to 12 modules before. Carolyn’s comment about the FAA guidelines below is confusing because the limit of two is based on (I’m quoting her) “batteries each exceeding 100 Wh, but not exceeding 160 Wh.” The LiGos are 98 Wh, which is not more than 100 Wh, so this does not apply. In fact, if you read the actual guidelines, you can see under “quantity limits” that there is “none for most batteries” with the exception of those batteries between 101-160 Wh. I’m struggling to find it now, but the last time I checked it¸ the IATA (the international body that provides guidance for smaller authorities like the FAA and CASA) guidelines were exactly the same. That said, if Australia is doing something different, that’s pretty bizarre. Can you provide a link to the guidelines?

  4. Regarding lithium batteries under 100Wh, according to CASA rules all spare/loose batteries must be secure against shorting out (ie terminals covered) and MUST be carried in carry-on luggage. I am not sure how you would go with baggage limits to carry 2-5 90Wh lithium batteries on a flight in or out of Australia. I suspect the check-in staff would give a big ‘no’ to that.

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/jvxS3-0QzT4

    1. Pete, I can understand your thinking, but there are no rules against how many less than 100Wh batteries you can carry with you. Think about it in terms of more common devices that people bring with them. Laptops are a great example. I’ve seen folks bring a whole pile of spare batteries with them. Since they all meet the regulations, they all go through. If they limited you to only one 100Wh battery, well, you’d be able to get away with your phone and that’s it since that’s a lithium ion battery, too.

  5. Can you take the blue battery that you also sell with Bike Friday e-bike on a plane aim a vary on bag? It’s under 100 watts an should qualify.

    1. Stuart, the LiGO batteries can be taken on carry on because they are under 100Wh, but they are not currently available while the manufacturer continues their redesign around a chip they can actually get. The blue batteries that we currently offer are not under 100Wh, so they cannot be taken on the plane, carry on or otherwise.

  6. Such a bummer to find this years after they stopped making them! Hopefully they can get the new designs produced and shipping soon!

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