In August this year, England’s most famous export, millionaire television personality, and e-bike enthusiast Simon Cowell broke his back after being thrown off a brand new bike he was taking out for a first ride.
Swindon Powertrain, a UK-based company, has officially confirmed that it was one of their e-bikes, the powerful and expensive Swind EB-01, that Cowell fell from. The EB-01 is technically a trail motorcycle that is not road legal either in the UK or U.S., and that packs a massive (with a capital M, for emphasis) 15 kW (20 hp) motor, 60 times more powerful than anything you can find on a road-legal e-bike in Europe. Still, it’s being marketed as an electric bicycle.
Last weekend, a whistleblower from Swindon went to the British media with a story about how he had warned bosses of the dangers of selling such a bike to untrained riders, calling it “death on wheels.” As a side note, Cowell has more than two years’ worth of experience riding e-bikes of all makes and models, including the more powerful versions available in the U.S. Also then, it emerged that Cowell was gearing up to sue the maker, on grounds that they should have provided him with special training before the purchase.
autoevolution reached out to Swindon Powertrain for comment on this and we have just heard back from them. Since the incident is probably subject to pending litigation, they couldn’t offer too much information, but we did get this: Cowell was supposed to read the owner’s manual before using the bike, which he didn’t. He said this much on Twitter.
Swindon says it has “acted in good faith at all times” and emphasizes that it is “the rider who has ultimate and instant decision on electric power, using the twist throttle.” It is also the rider’s duty to read the user manual before attempting to operate the bike. “The EB-01 user manual provided with each bike includes a detailed process of how to familiarize oneself with the performance features and procedures to follow,” we’re told.
Contrary to what Simon Cowell’s rep has said, they maintain they are “in contact with Mr Cowell’s aides to progress this matter.” Last weekend, Cowell’s publicist said that they’d been “stonewalled” in their attempt to reach Swindon and that they would continue to “press” the matter with them lest other paying customers would go through the same ordeal as the music mogul.
Last weekend, a whistleblower from Swindon went to the British media with a story about how he had warned bosses of the dangers of selling such a bike to untrained riders, calling it “death on wheels.” As a side note, Cowell has more than two years’ worth of experience riding e-bikes of all makes and models, including the more powerful versions available in the U.S. Also then, it emerged that Cowell was gearing up to sue the maker, on grounds that they should have provided him with special training before the purchase.
autoevolution reached out to Swindon Powertrain for comment on this and we have just heard back from them. Since the incident is probably subject to pending litigation, they couldn’t offer too much information, but we did get this: Cowell was supposed to read the owner’s manual before using the bike, which he didn’t. He said this much on Twitter.
Swindon says it has “acted in good faith at all times” and emphasizes that it is “the rider who has ultimate and instant decision on electric power, using the twist throttle.” It is also the rider’s duty to read the user manual before attempting to operate the bike. “The EB-01 user manual provided with each bike includes a detailed process of how to familiarize oneself with the performance features and procedures to follow,” we’re told.
Contrary to what Simon Cowell’s rep has said, they maintain they are “in contact with Mr Cowell’s aides to progress this matter.” Last weekend, Cowell’s publicist said that they’d been “stonewalled” in their attempt to reach Swindon and that they would continue to “press” the matter with them lest other paying customers would go through the same ordeal as the music mogul.
And a massive thank you to all the nurses and doctors. Some of the nicest people I have ever met.
— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) August 10, 2020
Stay safe everyone
Simon.