The City of Cape Town has invested in a fleet of ebikes to tackle a recent spate of crime on Table Mountain.

To target an increase in rape and robberies, the police will be using Greyp G12 ebikes that are capable of reaching speeds up to 70km/h with no assistance from the rider. This would make them technically motorbikes in Britain, and therefore illegal on British trails, but is no worry for the police of Cape Town.

The bikes are specced like World Cup downhill bikes with RockShox Boxxer forks, a RockShox Vivid shock and Shimano Saint brakes (which use an energy recovery system to charge the battery)… We just hope the own-brand wheels can stand up to the hits at such high speeds.

The frames are made of steel and the panels that house the internals are carbon fibre. A Greyp bike will set you back €8440 (£6,550) plus shipping, for more information click here.

Tbale mountain looming over Cape Town (du Toit)

The Cape Town police currently use a fleet of scramblers and other motorised vehicles to patrol the area, however, they do not have the versatility of an ebike to get them to all parts of the mountain. Robbie Roberts, director of law enforcement for the City of Cape Town, told Cape Talk: “You can put it in electronic mode and it can take you all around the mountain. What is also good is it is fingerprint activated so the only person who can activate that bike is the owner.”

The City of Cape Town is also hoping to use these bikes on beaches and in domestic areas and believes that the bikes will be cheaper to use and maintain than its normal patrol vehicles.