Four of the world's best 2x2 bikes

Russia's Taurus 2x2 bike is industrial design at genius level.

When the West designs a foldable bike, it always turns into a cute scooter, but when Russian engineers take their sickles and hammers to a bike frame, you get the 70 kg Taurus that goes anywhere, pulls (almost) anything and dismantles into two duffel bags that fit into the back of a Lada
Niva.

The American Rokon shows the Yankee soul, not pretty, but practical. 

Unstoppable – and unsinkable. For over 60 years since it was first launched in 1958, the Rokon is America’s answer to Russia’s Taurus. The heavier you load it, the better it goes, says Tim Ralston, survival gear expert and spokesperson for NatGeo’s Doomsday Preppers. The Rokon also pulls 180 kg.

New Zealands 2x2 can sneak up on ewes.

New Zealand’s contribution to the world of 2x2 bikes is this year’s Ubco — basically a sturdy electric bike with a large battery to power hubmotors in each wheel — and a cellphone. The New Zealand media were also very impressed with how the Ubco’s electric motor can quietly sneak up on ewes.

Wunderlich's hubweel gets a BMW bike to actually go places.

Germany's after-market fitters, Wunderlich, showed a prototype control system (left) for the first hybrid electric front wheel drive system fitted to a BMW R1200GS.
The system appears very simple — the front wheel is kitted out with an electric 7,6-kiloWatt hub motor that draws power from a small battery pack that lives under the front beak.

The system is hooked up to a sensor in the bike’s throttle, and it runs through a switch on the tank that allows you to choose how much power it puts out, and in which direction.

Because it runs with the bike’s engine turned off, it gives you the capability to accelerate up to 20 km/h under electric front-wheel-drive alone, or to reverse the giant GS at up to three kilometres per hour, which will be handy if you park it in an awkward spot.