Everything the machine is, written down once. Where a figure has conditions attached they are printed beside it rather than in a footnote.

Nothing on this site can be bought on it. The machine is made in batches and the only way to order one is to have ridden it, so every path below ends in the workshop rather than in a basket.

The full specification of the Nokken machine — motor, battery, range, brakes, materials — and what you can book to come and ride it.

The machine

Nokken is six people in a yard on Refshaleøen who make one object at a time. The first is a city electric bicycle drawn for the hours after dark: a welded aluminium frame, a carbon belt instead of a chain, a light that comes on with the crank rather than with a switch, and ninety-two kilometres between charges.
We do not make a range and we are not going to. We build one machine, we finish it properly, and when it is right we start the next one. Everything on this site describes that machine; nothing on it is for sale here, because a bicycle is a thing you have to ride in the dark before you decide.
Spec: Range · 92 km
Spec: Mass · 17.4 kg
Spec: Charge · 0–80% in 95 min
Spec: Drive · Carbon belt
Word: Welded in Copenhagen
Word: Carbon belt drive
Word: Torque sensing
Word: Sealed to IP67
Word: Hydraulic disc
Word: Light on the crank
Word: No app, no account
Word: Sixty-one serviceable parts
Word: Batches of sixty
Word: Two frame sizes
Chapter: It starts at dusk. · The light comes on with the crank rather than with a switch, and it stays on for as long as the wheel is turning. There is nothing to remember and nothing to charge separately.
Chapter: You will not hear it. · A carbon belt instead of a chain: no oil, no slap over the potholes, nothing to clean off your trouser leg, and nothing that tells the street you are coming.
Chapter: Ninety-two kilometres. · Measured on a flat city loop at 25 km/h in the middle assist setting with a rider and eight kilos on the rack. Hills and a headwind take it down and we say so.
Chapter: And it comes apart. · Sixty-one serviceable parts, every one held in with a fastener we still stock. Nothing is glued, nothing is potted, and the battery is four screws.
Figure: 92 km · Range, middle assist · Measured on a flat city loop at 25 km/h with a rider and eight kilos on the rack. At full assist on a hilly route it is 61 km.
Figure: 95 min · Nought to eighty per cent · From any 100-watt charger. A full charge takes two hours forty, and the machine ships at thirty per cent.
Figure: 17.4 kg · Kerb mass · With the rack, the mudguards and both lights fitted, which is how you will actually carry it up a flight of stairs.
Fact: 6061-T6 · Welded and finished here · Frames are cut, welded and aligned in the yard, then bead-blasted and anodised twice. The weld beads are left visible on purpose.
Fact: IP67 · Sealed drive · Motor and controller are sealed to the same standard, because a Copenhagen winter is six months of salt water thrown up off the road.
Fact: 30 000 km · Belt service interval · A carbon belt outlasts nine chains and needs no oil. There is nothing on this machine you have to degrease.
Fact: 61 parts · All replaceable · Every fastener, bearing and cable is in a drawer in the yard, and will be for as long as we are building. Nothing is glued.
Manifest: We build one bicycle and we finish it properly.
Detail: Motor · 250 W mid-drive, 65 Nm, torque sensing
Detail: Battery · 540 Wh, replaceable, four screws, ships at 30%
Detail: Range · 92 km middle assist; 61 km full assist on hills
Detail: Charging · 0–80% in 95 minutes from a 100 W charger
Detail: Drive · Carbon belt, 30 000 km service interval, no oil
Detail: Gears · Five-speed internal hub, shifts at a standstill
Detail: Brakes · Hydraulic disc, 180 mm front and rear
Detail: Frame · 6061-T6 aluminium, welded here, twice anodised
Detail: Lighting · Integrated front and rear, on with the crank
Detail: Tyres · 47 mm, reflective sidewall, puncture belt
Detail: Mass · 17.4 kg with rack, guards and lights fitted
Detail: Sizes · Two frames, 155–195 cm, one step-through
Detail: Ingress · IP67 motor and controller, IP65 display
Detail: Made in · Copenhagen, in batches of sixty
Note: We build one bicycle · There is no range and there will not be one until this machine is finished. A workshop of six people that makes six products makes six of them badly.
Note: Everything comes apart · Sixty-one serviceable parts, all held in with fasteners we stock, and a battery that is four screws. A machine you cannot open is a machine with an expiry date on it.
Note: No app and no account · The bicycle has no application, no account and no subscription. It has a dial and a light, and it will still work in fifteen years when whatever we would have written has stopped being updated.
Q: Can I buy one on this website? · No. The machine is built in batches of sixty and the only way to order one is to have ridden it after dark, which is what the evening test rides are for.
Q: What happens when the battery stops holding charge? · You bring it back and we fit a new cell pack. It is four screws. We will do it for as long as we are building bicycles.
Q: Is there a cargo version? · Not yet, and we will not announce one until it exists and one of us has ridden it through a winter.
Q: Why is there no app? · Because an application is a second thing to maintain and a reason for the bicycle to stop working when we stop maintaining it. The dial is on the handlebar.
Q: Do you ship outside Denmark? · Once you have ridden one. If you cannot get to the yard, tell us where you are and we will say honestly whether we can help.

Nokken

Thirty minutes from the yard door once it is properly dark, which is the only honest time to judge a machine built for it. Helmet and lights provided; bring something with sleeves.
With: whoever is in the workshop that evening

Evening test ride

Ninety minutes out along the harbour and back, far enough to run the assist down a bar and find out what the machine is like when it is not fresh off the charger.
With: one of the two founders

The long one

Forty-five minutes on the stand: frame size, bar height, saddle, and the two adjustments that make the difference between a bicycle you ride and one you look at.
With: the frame builder

Fitting

Thirty minutes on the stand for a machine already out in the world — belt tension, brake bite, bearing play, and the firmware if you want it. Owners only.
With: the mechanic on shift

Service and belt check

Forty-five minutes in the workshop while it is running: the jig, the mill, the anodising trays and the drawer of every part the machine is made of.
With: one of the six

THE MACHINE.

WHAT YOU CAN BOOK.

Evening test ride

The long one

Fitting

Service and belt check

Come and see the yard

Can I buy one on this website?

What happens when the battery stops holding charge?

Is there a cargo version?

Why is there no app?

Do you ship outside Denmark?

TAKE IT OUT AFTER DARK.

NOKKEN