Electric Bike Reviews, News, & Testing
Electric Bike Report
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Welcome to Part Deux of our 2016 Eurobike Roundup.
As you may have seen in Part One, the eBike has already reached parity with traditional pedal bike market in Europe.
This massive acceleration has been unlike anything I’ve witnessed in the cycling industry in the past 30 years.
Granted, every class of eBIke has benefitted from those 30 years of gradual improvements in bicycle design and production.
Here is more from the show floor. [Read more…] about Eurobike Electric Bike Roundup – Part 2
I’ve been to a lot of bike shows around the world over the past 30 years. I believe that Eurobike, held annually in Friedrichshafen, Germany, is the best there is.
Beautiful location, great riding all around the area, young and energetic attendees, quality food and drink, creative companies and designs, and the list goes on.
2016 marks a turning point in that it was the year the eBike reached parity with the rest of the cycling industry. Equal floor space, basically. From almost nowhere eight years ago, eBike’s have bridged the gap completely. [Read more…] about Eurobike Electric Bike Roundup – Part 1
There is beauty in simplicity. Consider the bicycle. Without electric assist, the most efficient human powered machine known to man.
With electric assist, the bicycle climbs off the charts. Still, many are intimidated by the bike – and particularly the electric assist bicycle.
Some electric systems can be complex. The influx of high-end, mid-drive motor systems have brought a surge of attention to the ebike, including a following of younger, more experienced riders.
At the other end of the spectrum is a much larger group of riders.
[Read more…] about LEED 250 Watt & 500 Watt Electric Bike Kit Review [VIDEO]
The cruiser is one of the most beloved forms of bicycle. Visit any laid back community, resort or beach town, and you’ll see more cruisers than anything else on two wheels.
The bikes welcome less experienced riders with their smooth, forgiving shapes and fat tires. Most of the bikes are probably ridden less than a handful of city blocks at a time.
Heavy bikes with low saddles and limited gear ratios don’t make very good companions for long distances or getting places fast.
I once rented a cruiser in a foreign country to ride 30 miles each way to a trade show. Having the time, I thought “I can do this.” I returned the bike that night exhausted, chafed and aching.
Adding electric assist to a cruiser changes everything, though. Now, [Read more…] about Ariel Rider N-Class & W-Class Electric Bike Review [VIDEO]
Adam Alter and his Stromer ST2
As the warm glow of the Texas morning sun rises over the State Capital building in Austin, a cyclist suddenly flashes by.
Flash is the right term. For someone seemingly commuting to work by bike, this one was really moving.
The rider, Adam Alter, is just finishing his 19 mile daily commute from his home in Round Rock to BSX Insight, a company making and using specialized human performance monitoring equipment in Austin.
Alter makes his living helping bike riders monitor and understand how their bodies and muscles, more precisely, are performing. [Read more…] about Riding an Electric Bike is NOT Cheating. Here’s the Data to Prove It [VIDEO]
On Friday, April 15, 2016 the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA held first ever electric assist mountain bike (eMTB) in North America.
The race was enhanced with support from sponsors Bosch and Haibike. Bosch even put up a special prize of $5,000 for the winner of the Industry Challenge eMTB Race to donate toward the charity of their choice.
The eMTB course was set on a section of the pro XC course and laps took about 7 minutes to complete. Over the last 25 years, the dirt hills on the inside of the world famous Laguna Seca race track have witnessed some of the best mountain bike racing in North America. [Read more…] about eMTB Racing Arrives In North America At The Sea Otter Classic [VIDEO]
Just one quarter in, 2016 has turned into a year of dramatic change in the cycling industry.
North American bicycle imports dropped 7% in 2015 and are down 17% year-to-date compared to 2015. Manufacturers seem to be making changes to their sales models at a quickening pace.
Big name brands like Trek and Giant have announced direct-to-consumer sales. Canyon, the top European direct-to-consumer brand, is set to arrive on American shores this year and promises to really shake things up.
More brands, such as Raleigh, have moved forward with direct sales models where the customer orders online and picks the bike up at a brick & mortar dealer. [Read more…] about Electric Mountain Bikes: The Winds of Change Arrive in North America
In technology, the term “last mile solution” is synonymous with “challenge”.
The last mile is where the leaps and bounds of a technology are grasped by the masses. The promise of broadband, trans-continental internet connections took years.
Signals, transmitted across oceans at the speed of light, still needed to find their way into the home at that speed.
Solar power is another technology with tremendous promise that has had a difficulty crossing the chasm to main street.
In San Mateo, California, a company named Swiftmile is aiming to bridge solar power’s last mile gap by becoming a premier infrastructure provider for what Swiftmile calls the “Personal Electric Transporter” market, or PET for short. [Read more…] about Swiftmile: Solar Powered Electric Bike Rental Stations [VIDEOS]
On January 30, 2016, traditional, unassisted bicycle racing officially lost another facet of it’s innocence. The scene was the World Cyclocross Championship held in Zolder, Belgium.
At the finish of the women’s Under 23 age class race, it was discovered that Belgian rider Femke van den Driessche had a bike in her pit with a concealed electric motor and battery system.
Cyclocross is a discipline that allows bike changes during races. Cyclocross circuits usually combine paved and off road sections as well as areas riders have to dismount and run with their bikes.
The races last for about one hour. She denies knowing that she was [Read more…] about What is “Motor Doping”?
We live in an incredible age. With the convergence of the bicycle, electric power and technology, suddenly human beings have the the ability to feel what’s it’s like to become “bionic”.
Not only that, but the price of becoming bionic comes at a price tag in just the low to mid four figures. The gateway is wide open for those who want the amazing feeling and freedom electric assist bicycles provide. [Read more…] about The Electric Bike: Your Next Family Vehicle
