Citi Bike has backpedaled the much-anticipated return of its electric bicycle fleet by several months, the blue-bike operator announced. The two wheelers were pulled from city streets this spring less than a year after their launch due to riders reporting “stronger than expected braking force” on the front wheel. Citi Bike insisted that the electric powered cycles would be back this fall, but in a Friday blog post the Lyft-owned company unveiled that the bike won’t be rolling on city streets until winter.
“While we hoped to have them back this fall, we are taking extra time to make sure they’re safe and ready for New York City streets,” the blog post states.
Aside from trouble with the brakes, Citi Bike has since run into a battery issue, which caused some e-bikes in San Francisco to catch fire this summer. The company began working with a new battery supplier along with simultaneously redesigning the bike’s brake system.
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