Bizarre and exciting news for fans of 1980s videogames and e-bikes (and we’re not ashamed to sit in the middle of that particular Venn diagram) – Elite Systems are launching an e-bike. It’s going to be called the Paperboy in honour of its gaming heritage.

Established in 1984, Elite Systems are best known for producing home computer conversions of many popular arcade games.

Well known games included Bomb Jack, Ikari Warriors and – if you hadn’t already guessed – Paperboy.

There is a bike link in that the game saw you riding one as the titular character, intermittently flinging newspapers at houses.

Earlier this year, Elite announced that it was making its entire console game catalogue available for licence and purchase. A statement on the firm’s delightfully retro website said that this was to coincide with an upcoming Kickstarter.

While reference was also made to running a campaign to fund a ‘Story of Elite’ book, the firm has also taken to another crowd-funding site, Indiegogo, in a bid to launch the Paperboy e-bike.

A statement bills it as a, ‘Light Hybrid eBike with Gaming Roots,’ describing it as a, ‘stealthy eBike with a sizable battery and derailleur gears from a classic British video game brand.’

Simplicity seems to be the main selling point with the firm boasting in its promo video that there is no associated app, “Simply power up, settle in and take off.”

The bike features a 250W rear hub motor with a battery situated in the downtube. Charge time is five hours with a range of “50+ miles” at the Mode 3 assistance level of 150W.

It also boasts an LCD display, Tektro 160 disc brakes and a triple chainring for when you’re out of charge.

The crowdfunder isn’t yet underway. We will, of course, keep you abreast of developments.