Photo: Instagram / Simon Cowell
In August this year, music mogul and television personality Simon Cowell broke his back in three separate places after falling off his e-bike. It was a new purchase and he was just about to take it on a first test ride outside his Malibu home.
Cowell has since recovered and is now able to walk again, but not before requiring extensive and reportedly painful surgery, many hours of therapy and excruciating pain. Cowell’s 2020 was twice as bad as it was for us regular folks, and it sounds like he’s looking for compensation for it.
A whistleblower from Swindon Powertrain, the company that makes and sells the Swind EB-01 e-bike Cowell fell from, tells The Sun that he’d been trying to warn bosses about offering training for the powerful (and very expensive) machine to new buyers. Dubbed the most powerful and technically advanced e-bike on the market, the EB-01 is actually an electric trail motorcycle that is classified as an e-bike thanks to existing legal loopholes.
It has a 15kW motor, 60 times more powerful than the 250W motor legally allowed for use in the European Union. Swindon Powertrain is a UK-based e-bike maker, selling the EB-01 in the EU for use on private roads and in the U.S. Top speed is rated at 60 mph (97 kph), with the possibility to increase it to 80 mph (129 kph) by tweaking the software.
According to the insider, Cowell was among the first to purchase an EB-01, after seeing it at an e-bike convention in the UK. He ordered it in July in his home country and had it shipped to the U.S., where he planned to take it up on the trails. The insider warned his bosses that the bike was a “death trap” in the hands of someone without experience, and that extra safety measures should be implemented and training offered.
The bosses brushed off the idea. With the whistleblower going public with the story comes the report that Cowell has reportedly been considering suing the maker. One lawyer tells the same media outlet that Cowell has a case and, should he move forward with it, could get as much as £10 million ($13.2 million) in damages, medical bills and loss of earning, and pain suffered.
A rep for Cowell hints at pending litigation by saying they’ve been trying to reach Swindon Powertrain but have been “stonewalled” in all their attempts. “Simon is understandably extremely concerned for other peoples’ safety in relation to this bike,” the rep adds. “We’ve been pressing the manufacturer about this and will continue to press them, including in relation to the claims of the former member of staff.”
This isn’t an open declaration of war, to be sure, but it does sound like someone (cough, Cowell, cough) is arming himself for it.
A whistleblower from Swindon Powertrain, the company that makes and sells the Swind EB-01 e-bike Cowell fell from, tells The Sun that he’d been trying to warn bosses about offering training for the powerful (and very expensive) machine to new buyers. Dubbed the most powerful and technically advanced e-bike on the market, the EB-01 is actually an electric trail motorcycle that is classified as an e-bike thanks to existing legal loopholes.
It has a 15kW motor, 60 times more powerful than the 250W motor legally allowed for use in the European Union. Swindon Powertrain is a UK-based e-bike maker, selling the EB-01 in the EU for use on private roads and in the U.S. Top speed is rated at 60 mph (97 kph), with the possibility to increase it to 80 mph (129 kph) by tweaking the software.
According to the insider, Cowell was among the first to purchase an EB-01, after seeing it at an e-bike convention in the UK. He ordered it in July in his home country and had it shipped to the U.S., where he planned to take it up on the trails. The insider warned his bosses that the bike was a “death trap” in the hands of someone without experience, and that extra safety measures should be implemented and training offered.
The bosses brushed off the idea. With the whistleblower going public with the story comes the report that Cowell has reportedly been considering suing the maker. One lawyer tells the same media outlet that Cowell has a case and, should he move forward with it, could get as much as £10 million ($13.2 million) in damages, medical bills and loss of earning, and pain suffered.
A rep for Cowell hints at pending litigation by saying they’ve been trying to reach Swindon Powertrain but have been “stonewalled” in all their attempts. “Simon is understandably extremely concerned for other peoples’ safety in relation to this bike,” the rep adds. “We’ve been pressing the manufacturer about this and will continue to press them, including in relation to the claims of the former member of staff.”
This isn’t an open declaration of war, to be sure, but it does sound like someone (cough, Cowell, cough) is arming himself for it.
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