Subculture

by Charlie Richman

5/1/10 10:12 PM

Vancouver E-bikers

Ashley Fisher

Riders with Bionx electric assist motors on Dahon folding bikes. Bike the Blossoms, Vancouver, BC, 2009.

By Charlie Richman

Photos by Ashley Fisher, Ben Johnson, Jun Nogami & Sue Anne Tay

Debbie Fortier, a piano teacher, zigzags across Manhattan to make her after-school tutoring appointments. With her regular bike, she “really used to regret that some of my students lived at the top of steep hills.” Now her BionX electric-assist bicycle, or e-assist, helps her arrive fresh. In summer, she heads to the carriage trails in Maine’s Acadia National Park. “I just keep thinking that more people should have these things,” she exclaims. “It would get more people out to enjoy nature!”

Heng Liew also cares about fresh. He’s a restaurant delivery guy from Malaysia, one of the many in New York who rely on e-bikes. Ask him why and he marvels at the foolish question. “It’s much faster!” His team has three BionX-equipped bikes delivering mostly Italian food and barbecue. “All the Chinese restaurants use them,” he said. “They buy cheap ones from China.”

Electric cyclists may be trendsetters, but they’re not always easy to find. They often go solo, using the boost from their e-bikes for practical everyday purposes and for fun. Many of them are among an increasingly expanding group of cyclists with a different approach to getting around.

The future of urban commuting could look a lot like Gerome Spinner. He has a 14-mile (22.5 kilometer) commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan. He ditched his car and is on his second e-bike, a Trek FX+. He’s neither a kid nor an athlete, and the grade on the Williamsburg Bridge over the East River used to wear him out. Now he only gets noticed because he doesn’t slow down much on the long climb. His electric motor-equipped bike also gives him the power to pedal through winter headwinds when most other cyclists shy away.

Florida retirees may glide around gated communities on these light electric vehicles. Not so Ann Ellis, a retiree who rides forest trails near her Montana home west of Glacier National Park. She appreciates her Currie e-assist as she scouts fallen trees in the mountains. (She returns later with her truck to cut the wood to heat her home.) She doesn’t see other e-bikers day to day, though neighbors feel the gas price pinch and are intrigued.

Ellis and other e-bikers find community at local e-bike specialty shops. Since e-cycling is still a tiny niche in North America, the online environment provides another essential meeting place at websites such as endless-sphere.com, visforvoltage.org and bikeforums.net (I recently started ElectricCyclist.com specifically for electric cyclists).

NYCeWheels has long been a resource in Manhattan and on the web, but newer shops, such as Philly Electric Wheels (PHEW), can have a strong community focus. Afshin Kaighobady opened PHEW in October 2009, selling affordable “pedal-assist” electric bikes (requires pedaling to engage the electric motor), as well as throttle-control models (no pedaling required) to his Mount Airy neighbors. “One woman works second and third shifts in a factory and had to take two or three buses to get home before her e-bike. Another, a heavy-set African-American woman, has two: one for herself, and one for friends.”

by Charlie Richman

5/1/10 10:12 PM

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Latest Comments

  • E-Bikes (aka-Mopeds)

    The problem I have with the e-bikes is them being used on non-motorized trails. What I've seen so far in every single situation is them being used as mopeds. They don't use the pedals for anything but resting their feet. The ones I saw last week were on a bike/ped trail that's RR grade. It's completely flat. They were buzzing along at about 20 mph zipping around people with strollers, little kids on bikes and commuters.
    This isn't an elitists opinion either. If people are going to call me out for that then why not call them out for trying to turn our bike paths through parks into motorcycle trails? These are designated as non-motorized trails. They aren't designated as super highways for people on mopeds. I had a few of those older models about 20 years ago when I was a teenager. I only used the pedals to start them and when I ran out of gas. I didn't ride any of them on bike paths though. I understood why I shouldn't and it was against the law.

    I don't generally get worked up about stuff but it's pretty clear cut to me that when you go nascar on bike paths that families and children are given for recreation it's the wrong direction completely. I'm also fairly upset that people would ask me to join the club of promoting bicycle/ped paths for non-motorized vehicles and then later those people start promoting motorized vehicles on those trails.

    I don't really care about them in bike lanes on the street or if it's a truly handicap person though. But some 35 year old guy that wants to use the Greenway in MPLS for his 5 mile commute to work? No way! It's basically a way to avoid the traffic other motorized vehicles have to face and put your motor on our non-motorized bike/ped trail.

    Back to the elitists thing. You know I had a few mopeds when I was kid. I also had a few dirt bikes. I got my first motorbike when I was 5. It was an Arctic Cat. As a teenager I regularly tore the hell out of the Fishbox and Potfin farm fields. I also regularly got shot with salt pellets and ticked by the cops. I got my first 155 mph motorcycle at 19. That thing was f-ing fast as hell. It went from 0 - 60 in about 3.5 seconds on one wheel. That was at about 13,500 rpm's and before I even shifted to second gear. You want an elitist point of view? Get f-ing real motorcycle.

    This is what I see happening in MN with this. 1. Say no them and things stay as they are on non-parkway routes. (Greenway, Three Rivers Trails...)
    2. Allow them and things change. There will be user conflicts due to the speed and carelessness of the riders and a speed limit that doesn't exist will be imposed. Then we get to go back to the streets and hand it over to other people because who wants to ride at 10 mph? This simply isn't being thought through far enough. As far as me driving to work and you cheating? I don't even own a car. It's not about that. It's about keeping trails that were designated as non-motorized free of motorized vehicles. But, it is cheating. It's riding a motorcycle.

    Posted by Ned Turnbuckle August, 05 2010 14:46:54

  • what?

    I just dont understand why this article is in the "magazine for self powered people." Its not self powered, it still requires the burning of coal to use it.

    Posted by Nic August, 02 2010 16:02:09

  • Jim H ("One Less E Bike")

    ripping on e bikers isn't going to get us anywhere. if the magazine for self-propelled people cannot reflect on a technology that aids in self-propelltion, then they should consider leaving out the bicycle from their articles.

    perhaps neo-ludite pedestrains might agree with you Jim, but let's get wise to the problems that face our city and the world.

    i am able-bodied, and like Jim H, love to pedal. but loads of people (ie. those who prepetuate gas consumption) are not so inclinded.

    in the end, i think e bikes open up bicycling to a broader range of people. at very least, they create a transitional vehicle for people who are ready to trade their cars for an honest bicycle.

    change is incremental. lets be nice.



    Posted by D p July, 31 2010 19:32:34

  • One final thought...

    E-bikes allow people who may not (currently) be physically able to ride a "standard" bicycle the opportunity to go out and enjoy riding bikes again. No one, especially not the jim h's of the world, should be allowed to take that opportunity away much less belittle, insult or badger anyone for choosing an e-bike.

    Happy, safe cycling everyone (even jim h).

    B!

    Posted by BC E-biker July, 10 2010 01:51:30

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