If someone explicitly pitches their creation as a “funny e-bike” in their crowdfunding campaign, it’s hard for us not to take notice. With a six-inch front wheel, the E Mouse certainly seems to live up to its billing.

The E Mouse is the creation of Vancouver inventor, Steve Cosmic. (Yes, he changed his name.)

Cosmic is a 74-year-old former pilot, hypnotherapist and filmmaker whose IMDb page lists him as the writer and director of a number of colourful-sounding short films with titles such as The Antiques Toadshow; Sweater Girls Then and Now; and Romeo and Juliet with Herpes. (The synopsis of that last one reads: “Juliet is after Romeo but first she must tell him that she has herpes.”)

“I know I'm an underdog here,” writes Cosmic on the E Mouse’s campaign page. “I don't have an E prototype, and I don't have a fancy video. And I'm old.

“But I'm in good health, and I am seeking a younger partner! And I know the E Mouse is going to maybe be the coolest e-bike ever made! I need your help to make it happen.”

As you’ve no doubt deduced from that, the current prototype doesn’t feature an electric motor.

Cosmic has launched the Indiegogo campaign hoping to raise $25,000 to make three E Mouse prototypes, “and a cool video.”

Here’s the video he’s got at the minute, which in many ways would be hard to improve on.

Cosmic says that while he’s pretty handy himself, he’ll need to hire someone with more experience of electric motors. He then wants to run another campaign to get the E Mouse into production. He reckons the bike will end up priced at about $800 if he can get to that point.

It’s certainly an interesting design, although it's worth emphasising he’d employ a slightly larger wheel on an electric version compared to the one you can see in the video. He suggests it would be about 6-inches, which is similar to a lot of e-scooters.

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