Pablo de Chaves wanted us to know about his latest work, something off in a different direction from previous efforts, he’s gone over to the electric side and designed a naked bike with a very exposed mechanical and minimalist look. If the name Pablo de Chaves doesn’t ring a bell immediately, you can look back at his other projects on The Kneeslider, the D1200R and the 599BL Moto2. Both of those use conventional internal combustion power, but with the DCH project it’s all batteries and controllers.

At first glance, the look is totally different, but then you have to think, what is a naked electric bike supposed to look like? We’re getting used to seeing electrics from MotoCzysz or Mission Motors and if there’s anything we’ve learned it’s that without an internal combustion engine and gas tank to design around, you have a lot of leeway once you get the basics of two wheels and a seat, everything else is pretty flexible.

The idea started as some pencil sketches, then reworked in Photoshop, turned into CAD drawings and finally into a real motorcycle.

Pablo designed the bike to be easy to manufacture and he also wanted the fact that’s it’s electric to be out there for the world to see, no plastic fairings hiding anything. He certainly accomplished that making the central battery box, which also holds all of the electrical control circuitry, about as obvious as it could be, but different as the look is, I like it.

There’s also another feature about this bike that really hits me right, Pablo not only designed it, he built it, too, learning to TIG weld steel and aluminum along the way and also learning all about electronics and the necessary wiring that goes with it.

Should an electric motorcycle blend in and try to pass itself off as an ICE bike or should it get out there and shout ELECTRIC without apology? We can see what Pablo thinks and he’s made a strong statement to back up that view. As I said earlier, I like this bike. It may not be everyone’s idea of beauty, but it’s well designed and well built. Nice work!

Link: DechavesMotion

Link: Flickr set