A few years ago, I got interested in e-bikes, reasoning that it was an easier job for a battery to transport a person on a lightweight bicycle rather than a car with all that weight - an enclosed room almost. First I was intrigued by the Copenhagen Wheel a motor designed by former MIT students, which was self-contained in a rear wheel. The idea is that you replace your old wheel on the bike with it, and control the wheel with a iPhone, attached to the handlebars. But the devil was in the details, and they seemed to never get it going in a mass market way.

Then a new generation of e-bike was designed, with the quality leader being Specialized, a high end bike manufacturer, But as much as I wanted one, the $7000 -$16000 price tag seemed out of reach. I also looked at other on-line bikes but among the 100’s of start ups problems arose - they would go out of business, making their warranties useless; and the quality of their parts tended to be very poor. Rad bikes seems like a good bike company but their designs were more for commuting and urban use, and their total weight seemsd excessive.

Finally I found Island City Bikes, who had the compelling idea of converting your old, loved bike to electric. This seemed great as Kathleen had an older, high quality mountain bikes which we loved to ride that was a dependable, long lasting model. It was worth about $500-$750 dollars, according to what we saw of Craig’s List. Island City would convert our bikes for about $2000 which is a lot of money but not too much compared to the fancy Specialized and Santa Cruz models which start around $7000.

Kathleen got her bike electrified first. We took turns riding the hills around our house in Inverness ridge, and it was a revelation. I always liked mountain biking but diabetes and old age really have taken a toil on my ability to climb steep grades. Besides running out of gas on hill climbing, there was a fear of falling off the bike and getting banged up because the slower you go the less stable you are. I guess it was a general fear of crashing that bothered me. With the new bike, Kathleen’s old Santa Cruz Heckler, I could decide how much power was supplied by the motor, and hills that were impossible for me to climb suddenly became easy. In fact the last section of the Bear Valley trail up to Divide Meadow, suddenly seemed not to be a hill! It used to be difficult to for me to ride without stopping to walk the bike and catch my breath.

Our photo intern, Nadia Negm, had to return to Egypt when her student visa ran out, and she left her bike with us. It was a 2001 Specializing S-Works bike that a neighbors had given her when he up-graded to a better bike. Impulsively I took it to Island City for an electric rebuild too. So now we have two bikes, and we can ride together. This gives us increased safety. If we have a crash, or a bike dies, the other person can go for help.

We have another neighbor, an astro-physicist who has a e-bike who told us, in essence: while you obtain super powers riding these bikes, they do not give you the reflexes, balance and healing ability of a teenager, so when you launch yourself into the wild blue yonder on a trail that you have no business riding on, you are going to get smashed. I had a near miss riding on the Inverness Ridge Trail when I passed by a tree that had broken across the path. As I zipped by I saw that there was a jutting spike of a broken limb which I just missing running into, at eye level. I could have lost my vision. After that I slowed down.

You really have to concentrate when riding e-bikes. It’s fun bing a kid again, but adult caution is learned through the experience of screw-ups over the years!

My experience with the bikes so far makes me think that they could improve life in cities because of the lack of exhaust, noise, ease of parking, and the fitness benefits for the riders. Inverstructure changes might be theft-proof locker parking spaces, and bike lanes that are safe from speeders. I saw many mothers with children riding electric bikes in Japan, where they rode on the sidewalk. These bikes were girls bikes - no crossbar- easy to step on and off them. The riders were polite and careful, reflecting their previous cargo - their kids. I wonder if Americans could restrain themselves from Rambo sidewalk moves??? I doubt people here will ever grow up, but in the meantime hopefully many of us will seek trails that are safe.

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