Our story
FLIT’s goal is to make your city journeys a joy, allowing you to go further, faster, flitting around with ease.
As a team of designers, engineers and cyclists based in Cambridge, UK, FLIT have been inspired by the amazing cycling culture of the UK’s cycling capital. A city that mixes the old with cutting edge has been the perfect backdrop for our extensive product development and testing culminating in compact folding electric bikes that enable riders to nimbly flit around town.
Dave and Alex (co-founders) met in 2015 whilst studying in Beijing. Electric bikes were their fast and fun way of flitting between lectures, and sparked their interest in how ebikes could be used elsewhere. Dave, as an ex-Jaguar Land Rover engineer, had always dreamed of developing his own electric vehicle, whilst Alex’s study of transport policy had convinced him that our cities could be happier and healthier places to be. Together, they wanted to create a product that made city travel effortless, whilst fitting neatly into your lifestyle.
They moved to Cambridge, the cycling capital of the UK, to begin the FLIT story with just a few ideas on a piece of paper. Since then, the FLIT team has turned those early pencilled sketches into a simple folding bike, designed from scratch to be electric.
Meet the team
Alex Murray
Managing Director
With keen interests in cycling, technology and public policy, Alex is delighted to bring his experience to a project that combines all three. Alex leads the commercial side of the business so that the engineers can focus on what they love doing best: building great products.
Dave Henderson
Technical Lead
An automotive engineer by training, Dave is working on his dream to make electric vehicles of all types a reality. Dave has overall responsibility for product design and integration. His fluent Mandarin helps us build strong relationships with partners in Taiwan and China.
David Turpin
Designer
A designer with over 20 years of product development experience in France, Hong Kong and the UK, David makes sure that our ebike always looks its best.
Crispin Moller
Marketing Lead
With an MSc in Strategic Marketing and a professional background in marketing consultancy, Crispin is responsible for developing the FLIT brand whilst boosting community engagement.
Matt Thompson
Design Lead
With a Manufacturing Engineering degree from Cambridge and professional experience in technical consultancy, Matt works to bring the fun and flexibility he finds travelling by bike to everything he designs at FLIT.
Kenisha van Keulen
Social media manager
A content creator with an MA in Creative Media. Specialising in managing FLIT’s social media accounts, Kenisha works on creating engaging content and enhancing brand presence across digital platforms
Angus Wyllie
operations Engineer
With a Mechanical Engineering degree from Imperial College London, Angus is bringing diligence and execution to assist the team in building affordable world class bikes
The story so far
FLIT founded in the UK’s cycling capital, Cambridge
We were awarded a Department for Transport grant to build our first prototypes
We built our first prototype, which we presented at the Hello Tomorrow Conference in Paris!
Alex presenting our first prototype (you’ll notice a huge difference to the current FLIT-16 design!)Â
Awarded a special commendation from the Design Council!
We began working with our manufacturing partner, a specialist aluminium frame manufacturer, in Taiwan
Alex, Dave and Joe at a specialist fork factory
Our first manufacturing prototype (which we named the FLIT-16, after its 16″ wheels) was made
Our second prototype – closer to the final FLIT-16 design, but still lots to change!
We won the 2019 ACID Design & IP Champion Award
David Turpin, our Designer, and Dave Henderson, our Technical Lead, at the awards ceremony
We launched on Kickstarter, raising over 450% of our funding goal!
Dave, Alex and Joe celebrating the end of our Kickstarter campaign
We were finalists in the Eurobike Startup Awards
The FLIT-16 was chosen as one of the top 20 bike innovations by the EUROBIKE trade show (the biggest bike show in Europe!).
Production begins with pilot manufacturing run
Welding in the frame factory
We were awarded an enterprise fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering
Dave visits our manufacturing partner in Taiwan to oversee mechanical testing of frame parts & Batteries.
Dave’s ride to work – not too shabby!
Dave oversees final stages of manufacture & assembly in Taiwan
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dave is granted special permission to fly out to Taiwan so that he can oversee final assembly
Dave en route to Taiwan to visit our manufacturing partner
We won a grant from Innovate UK for a ÂŁ214,000 project to re-invent ebike manufacture
FLIT-16 fleet arrives at our warehouse in Cambridge, UK – all delivered by end of January 2021
The FLIT team with some of the first FLIT-16 fleet
Quality checking begins – we check and test ride every single bike to make sure that it’s perfect before sending to customers.
We built our dream workshop
The perfect space for our engineers to develop new ideas
Our R&D workshop
Fully Charged OUTSIDE
Our first live event since the pandemic!
Dave and Matt demo-ing the FLIT-16
FLIT awarded Department for Transport TRIG grant
We’re working on a top secret project… keep an eye out for announcements!
FLIT-16 named in “8 of the best from London’s Ebike Festival” by T3 Magazine
Read the full article here: https://www.t3.com/news/looking-for-a-new-electric-bike-here-are-7-of-the-best-from-londons-ebike-festival
Matt and Dave at the London Ebike Festival, very proud to hear the news!
The next generation of bike Announced – The M2
Not standing still, the FLIT engineers announce their next creation – The M2. A leap ahead of the FLIT-16.
We launched M2 First Riders to our waiting list!
Before a public launch, we released a limited number of pre-orders for our brand new model, the M2 on our waiting list – these customers are our M2 First Riders.
M2 Manufacture & Prototyping
The team head to our manufacturing partners to oversee the final steps of the M2’s creation
Final tooling complete
Following the team’s trip to our manufacturing partners, tooling for parts complete and ready to mass produce
Anodised colour success
After a lot of hard work, colour matching achieved across all parts of the M2
Taipei cycle show
The engineering team visit the show to see the latest cycling innovations
UK Assembly
Decision made to move frame assembly back to the UK and our Cambridge HQ
Workshop Redesign
In preparation of battery and frame assembly
First front assemblies
Final processes checked and complete with parts stacking up
