When one lives long enough, one learns to ignore things that come along, make big splashes, then disappear. New Coke. AYDS weight loss candy. Beepers.
Tthe compact cargo bike "GoTour3" from e-bike pioneer Flyer.
Over the last two years, I’ve repeatedly been invited to test drive e-bikes. But I already have a bicycle, thank you very much. It’s not even a nice one. It’s a Frankenstein quickly pieced together by my nephew, an expert bike tech, out of old parts he gathered from his bike shop after mine was stolen outside a Planet Fitness. It’s so far lasted me seven years and zero breakdowns, and I bang out about 80 miles a week in between the weights and the walks.
I finally gave in to a request to test my first e-bike earlier this year, while cat-sitting at an apartment in Los Angeles. This huge, beautiful behemoth showed up. It looked like a car in its solidity and authority.
Before I tell you what I thought of the e-bike, I should share a few things.
There the e-bike sat for the entire week I had it because of the incessant rain that flooded L.A. in December and January. My maiden ride was 10 blocks in the rain on the last day I had the unit, then back home. Verdict? There’s a motor, you can gun it, far out. My friends, I test ride about eight motorcycles a year. I am not the ideal customer. It was not a traumatizing experience, but neither did it convince me to give up my old junker. Here’s why I’m not sold:
I don’t know about you but I’ve lived in a few walkups in my day, and lugging this thing up even a couple of flights of stairs would get old, fast. You should be able to pick up a bike with one hand and up the stairs with you, 1,2,3.
While it’s true that non-powered bicycles can run in the thousands, you can also nab a used one in your neighborhood at a tag sale for 50 bucks. You can also fix it yourself with a little online instruction, adjusting the brakes and the chain. E-bike problem? It’s off to the shop, and it’s way more money and time to adjust and fix than a regular bike.
(Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)
According to experts, a notable loss of range within five years is expected and total battery death within 10. Replacing your battery after all that time will most likely not be possible, and then you’ve got a nice clothes rack.
We have a certain segment of society who are going to drive while angry, clueless, impaired or otherwise not looking where they’re going. I’d rather be hit by a regular bicycle than by someone riding a 40- or 50-pound blunderbuss.
Over 100 of them have exploded in New York this year, according to the New York Times, and four people in Chinatown died Tuesday in a bike shop when one of the batteries went up in flames.
I quote Ricky Roma from Glengarry Glen Ross: “I subscribe to the law of contrary public opinion. If everyone thinks one thing, then I say bet the other way.”
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