Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; March 6, 2014)

What is a YikeBike? It is a type of folding electric motorcycle weighing just 9.8 kilos and when folded, can fit into a backpack. It was invented by Grant Ryan and designed by a team in New Zealand over five years. It is the smallest and lightest folding motorcycle in the world, with built-in lights, indicators and brake lights for safety.

We have learnt from sources that Ranbir Kapoor uses his YikeBike to commute on the set of Bombay Velvet in Sri Lanka. Ranbir is the first Bollywood celebrity to have adopted this cool, young vehicle that can fit into a backpack. Ranbir, confirming the same to us, said, “I have been chasing to find a YikeBike for the past three to four years, but could not find it. It’s an electric bike which you sit on, where you sit on the big wheel and the small wheel is behind. The Bombay Velvet set is spread over 12 acres and is so big that I thought it would be easier to transport yourself from one place to the other if I had one. I bought it in New York for $6,000 and then shifted it to Mumbai. A month before our shooting schedule, I sent it to Sri Lanka so that I could use it here.”