GeoOrbital is a wheel that can turn any regular bicycle into an electric bike and in less than 60 seconds. And with no tools! You just replace your ordinary front wheel with a GeoOrbital wheel and snap the battery onto the handlebar. The founders of GeoOrbital, Dakota Decker and Michael Burtov of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are pitching GeoOrbital on Shark Tank on October 29. Three of the five Sharks — Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, and Barbara Corcoran (in a dress!) — can’t help but to get out of their chairs and try it out. On Shark Tank, GeoOrbital is seeking an investment of $500,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity. The GeoOrbital is ingenious, no doubt, but is it a product consumers are going to go crazy for? (Can you already hear Mr. Wonderful proposing his licensing deal as a hedge against whether the market will buy it?) Depending on who you’re talking to, one big obstacle GeoOrbital faces is the price tag. One GeoOrbital wheel costs $995 (it was originally listed at $1195). You can buy a couple of bikes for that — even a really innovative bike like the Shark Tank success Guardian Bikes (Mark Cuban invested) can be purchased for less than half of what the GeoOrbital cost. Then again, you have to pedal a Guardian Bike.
The GeoOrbital is available in silver and black and comes with a 36-volt 205Wh rechargeable/removable lithium-ion battery. You can ride up to 12 miles on one charge, and you can reach speeds up to 20 mph on the 500W motor. The GeoOrbital Travel Bag is extra ($39.99), as is The Extra Battery ($239) and The Extra Battery Charger ($49.99). Shark Tank airs Sundays at 9pm on ABC.
