2017 Electric Bike Expo National Tour

[EBike Expo]

Starting next week, the 2017 Electric Bike Expo 8-city tour kicks off in Long Beach, CA and through the year, will make its way across the country, visiting additional cities like San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Miami, and Philadelphia. Here is where you can follow along - www.electricbikeassociation.org

The new website for the tour reflects that we have brought the expo series under the control of a US-based, non-profit association designed to continue building communications between the industry and the general public. It is also an important market research tool that builds data from the consumer up. On average, more than 50% of our attendees have never ridden an eBike prior to the expos.

We are also working in conjunction with the NBDA to bring electric bike dealer education to 4 of our events and with PeopleforBikes.org and the BPSA's eBike initiative being part of the midway at each stop, we hope to spread the discussion of growing state legislation and advocacy to get eBikes approved for use in more places.

The event's presenting sponsor is Bosch, the track sponsor is Trek and Tempo raffles off a brand new bike in each city with the proceeds going to a local non-profit group involved in cycling.

The Long Beach event brings more than 120 different national brand bikes for consumers to test ride on more than a 25,000 sqft test track in the Long Beach Convention Center parking lot.

 

[mrgold35]

The Expo schedule works out perfect for me because I was going to be in Logan, UT, anyways for a college track and field event for my kid all week starting May 9th . I just signed up for the Salt Lake City Expo in May.

 

[EBike Expo]

Great! You will start to receive newsletters with exhibitor updates a few weeks prior to the event. See you in Utah!

 

[pxpaulx]

Minneapolis, sweet!

 

[Ann M.]

Glad to see that some of the original Bike Texas folks are electrified . Look forward to your next visit to Texas, Charlie Gandy & Team!

 

[kennyb]

Starting next week, the 2017 Electric Bike Expo 8-city tour kicks off in Long Beach, CA and through the year, will make its way across the country, visiting additional cities like San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Miami, and Philadelphia. Here is where you can follow along - www.electricbikeassociation.org

The new website for the tour reflects that we have brought the expo series under the control of a US-based, non-profit association designed to continue building communications between the industry and the general public. It is also an important market research tool that builds data from the consumer up. On average, more than 50% of our attendees have never ridden an eBike prior to the expos.

We are also working in conjunction with the NBDA to bring electric bike dealer education to 4 of our events and with PeopleforBikes.org and the BPSA's eBike initiative being part of the midway at each stop, we hope to spread the discussion of growing state legislation and advocacy to get eBikes approved for use in more places.

The event's presenting sponsor is Bosch, the track sponsor is Trek and Tempo raffles off a brand new bike in each city with the proceeds going to a local non-profit group involved in cycling.

The Long Beach event brings more than 120 different national brand bikes for consumers to test ride on more than a 25,000 sqft test track in the Long Beach Convention Center parking lot.

Happened to be in LA this weekend for a teachers conference and snuck over to the Long Beach Expo on Friday. I was really impressed with the Riese and Muller Nevo with the Nuvinci hub. Also it was great to finally ride the anticipated Vektron. What an awesome bike. It has come down to the Vektron and the Tern Elink for me. I prefer the Vektron, but enjoy the price of the Elink as well as the internally geared hub. Although it is tough to beat a Bosch mid-drive. Especially when my last name is Boesch.

Kenny B

 

[motostrano]

We'll be there!

 

[EBike Expo]

Tour Update - San Francisco Bay Area
We are coming up on the second event in the series and this one will be at the San Mateo Event Center, south of the San Francisco Airport. For those not familiar with this location, it is within walking distance from the Hillsdale CalTrans train station. For drivers, the venue is just a few blocks off the 82/South El Camino Real. We do have a new feature for eBike retailers that is in conjunction with the NBDA. A new 2-hour educational conversation between manufacturers and dealers called "A Face-to-Face Conversation about eBikes". The content is being presented by Steve Elms of the NBDA, Charlie Gandy one of the founders of the BikeTexas coalition, a board member of the California Bicycle Coalition, and leading some of the educational programs for the Electric Bike Association. Also joining them will be our own Melissa Balmer who also heads up our PR and is the founder of the Pedal Love organization, that promotes women within the cycling community. This is open to shop personnel and manufacturers and requires an RSVP.

The test track itself will be one of the largest we have created and it includes a sweeping arc for the testing of speed pedelecs. The new hill is a foot higher (5ft) with a greater climbing angle to really test the capabilities of the motors. We will have food concessions, clean restrooms and bike lockup areas for those that arrive on their own bikes. The hours have changed slightly to account for the early sunset. Friday the event is open to the public from 3pm to 7pm. Saturday from 9am to 6pm, and Sunday from 9am to 4pm. We should have about 120+ bikes to test ride, all for FREE!

As with our other events, Tempo will be donating a brand new electric bike that will be raffled off through 2 local charities and the winner will be selected on Sunday at 3pm (don't need to be present). A batch of a dozen new Melon helmets for children will also be given away over the weekend as well. Our Presenting Sponsor Bosch will have some incentives for attendees to win some prizes and we never know what the local participating retailers are planning.

The Long Beach Expo attracted 1299 attendees with 175 of them arriving and riding in the rain on Sunday! So you understand one of the goals of the association is to expand the exposure of legal electric pedal-assist electric bikes to the general public. One of the ways to do this is through coverage in the non-endemic media. The news coverage we received in Long Beach put our efforts in front of millions of Southern Californians. We had attendees from New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Hawaii and British Columbia (just to name a few). In California, we had people come from as far north as Sacramento, east from Palm Springs and south from San Diego. Here are two great news story links:

Link: https://cleantechnica.com/2017/03/08/electric-bike-expo-2017-kicked-off-e-bike-great-start/

FYI, the CleanTechnica news portal generates an average of 766,900 unique visitors to their website each month.

Link:

CBS2 is the major CBS affiliate for the Los Angeles market and reaches millions of viewers each day. We were able to combine their interview footage and that of our own photographer Allan Crawford, to help them tell the story. The drone footage and other video snippets (not in the rain) helped complete the story.

If you are interested in coming to this event, you can register in advance for free at (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

 

[opimax]

I live in DC metro area. We had one last year but the nearest one currently will be Philly. But in November? I was going to make plans around the event but this won't be fun in the cold...hoping DC is added back and this time all the advertised vendors show up. The elongated track is great idea, that was an issue for me since I am only interested in the 28 mph versions

 

[EBike Expo]

The tentative plans for the Philadelphia event are to work jointly with the Philadelphia Bike Expo and to run the Electric Bike Expo indoors adjacent to their show. We are trying to work through the challenges of the smooth floor (we cover the smooth concrete when we produce the Indoor Test Track for Interbike), the fact that our event runs 3 days and theirs runs two, as well as working with the unions and other exhibition hall restrictions to make it cost effective for the suppliers.

These are big issues and we need to figure the details out before we can make the final commitment.

As for returning to the DC area, at this point, we don't see that happening. We have an exhibitor advisory committee that submits locations where they would like to see the expo travel to and then it is voted on by the group. This year, with the exception of Portland, every destination we are traveling to is brand new. The east coast is always an important topic but weather, available space at a reasonable rate, and the acceptance of electric pedal-assist bicycle legislation creates natural roadblocks. As a group, we follow the proposed policies and acceptance of more eBike friendly legislation as it works its way through state governments. Our support of the PeopleforBikes and BPSA efforts to lobby the individual states to get acceptable policies eventually gives us more locations for potential events.

Then there is the issue that the majority of the leading brands have their corporate headquarters west of the Mississippi, which also makes for a logistical challenge. We have very strict policies as to who is allowed to participate in the expo as a manufacturer and to be honest, to move $80,000 worth of equipment, a full staff, and often $50,000 worth of electric bikes around the country is not cheap, so neither is the rate to participate. Companies that do select these events do so because they are stable and strong enough and have a network of existing dealers (or demonstrated national sales) and are working hard to expand into that region.

Even the request for the Miami area creates obstacles as the weather in October is often both hurricane season (or at least rainy season) and if we go after Thanksgiving, virtually every shopping mall or high-traffic public space is filled with holiday festivities. We are seeking large enough spaces that might provide some natural protection. Any suggestions from the readers would be helpful.

Finally, I will tell you that the more than 12,000 consumers that have visited at least one of the Expos from last year through now, confirmed that they came away with a great education and some great fun. In many cases, we have repeat followers who make it a point to travel to multiple events from great distances. From serious consumers to potential electric bike shop owners, the commitment to spend 3 days learning all you can from these manufacturers, test riding as many as 30 or 40 bikes and talking to other attendees as to how they plan to use their electric bike is invaluable in their decision-making process.

 

[EBike Expo]

2017 Electric Bike Expo: Important San Francisco Bay Area Update

Cannondale has joined the ranks of our expo exhibitors and according to a correspondence, the bikes being offered for test rides with be shown for the first time in the US.

If you want to come and test ride these new bikes, register now at (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

 

[theaggravatedjew]

When are you coming to Austin Texas? We have good mix of health, bikes, tech, and heat/humidity that make ebikes such a potentially prime market here!

 

[EBike Expo]

The tour sites for 2017 are all determined but we are always open to additional markets. We had originally planned on coming to Austin last in 2016 but the dates overlapped with SXSW so that is why we went to Houston with BikeTexas. It was a great event for companies looking at an emerging market. Turnout was moderate and we had people that traveled from all over the state, but it showed that the market is not fully baked and needs some time to rise.

All of our cities are selected by a group of exhibitors and sponsors. The Exhibitor Advisory Committee meets at each event as well as on conference calls to discuss the events and plans for future locations. They basically make the decisions through votes. We have some input based on the availability of space, the associated costs of hosting the event in a particular location and the willingness of the support from local cycling shops and associations.

If I were to guess, Texas could be back on the schedule for 2018 but we would need to look at schedules for conflicting events, weather, and where the manufacturers have the most dealers already in place.

If you want to see the Expo come back to Texas, get your fellow eBike enthusiasts and shops to reach out to our sponsors and exhibitors and let them know there is a strong enough market in your town to warrant a slot in the schedule. We typically have 3 to 5 retailers that participate as exhibitors as well as cycling associations, and charities. Be aware that other cities within your state have also expressed an interest.

Here are the companies: Bosch, Trek, Shimano, Tempo, Bulls, Stromer, Easy Motion, Smartmotion, Elby, Ohm, Cannondale, Specialized, Blix/Wallerang, Riese Muller, Haibike, Tern, Gocycle, Abus, Thule, PeopleforBikes, NBDA, Finish Line, VeloFix, Electra, Raleigh, and iZip. While not all are involved with the committee, they have a voice and this is enough to get you started!

 

[theaggravatedjew]

@EBike Expo I attended the event in Houston, drove up just to attend the event. I think the argument about the market not being full baked can be applied to the entirety of the United States. Thanks for the post, pretty insightful on how all of this works. Ultimately, I am not very well connected with the local bike scene on a whole I am not involved with the industry in any way other than loving my personal ebike and seeing the potential/ desire to share the passion. Do you all look for Ebike retailers specifically or any LBS?

 

[EBike Expo]

Not arguing about the market still in the emerging state, but it is more established in specific markets. When we draw 1500 to 2000+ attendees and many shops and suppliers wishing to be involved, we know that the market is well on its way. Obviously, Southern California offers a tremendous marketplace where eBikes have been well accepted. The state's recent approval of regulations with a clear classification policy helped. So did the California Bicycle Coalition who provided a great deal of support to get the word out. It is also fair to say that with so many of the manufacturers with their base of operations in California, it is a lot easier for them to travel to a destination here. The other issue is the weather. We start our tour in the first quarter of each year to get in enough locations around the country and still allow the exhibitors to meet other event obligations. This rules out more than 50% of the country during that time.

We also look at city governments that are active in the eBike movement and want to help through joint efforts. BikeTexas was great when we went to Houston and BikeHouston board members also provided a great deal of support. The city of Houston and Rice University were more than accommodating but that's not always the case. Some markets don't have the availability of the 45,000 square feet of paved space we need to host the event, and those that do often have exorbitant rates associated with the rental.

We also look for national media coverage. One of the key objectives of the association is to generate exposure to the non-cyclist community through non-endemic publications. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, we managed to get coverage in Huffington Post, CBS TV News, Forbes and CleanTechnica. Combined, we reached more than 6 million households with the stories about electric bikes. Last year we had more than 11,500 attendees at the expos and this year we are targeting an additional 15,000 people. All of who provide us with extensive market research and feedback.

Regarding who we look for in terms of retailers, we obviously start by looking at the dealers selling the brands participating in the expos, so they would be dealers involved in eBikes. Beyond that, with our education initiative with the NBDA, we are looking for traditional LBS's who are interested in learning more about selling electric bikes and want to hear from both shop owners and manufacturers about the challenges and best practices. That is what our NBDA Conversation Session series is all about. Four of our events this year will host these meetings for invited shops and manufacturers and we hope to grow that based on the feedback we get from the first round.

Sharing your passion is good and the best way to do that is to add story-telling to your repertoire. Write about how you use your electric bike and what it has done for you personally or for that task. So much of the published work right now is about the technical features and design. We need more copy talking about how people have found ways to use their bikes and to share some great (legal) places to ride. We have started a section on the association site called Great Rides and we want people to submit their stories on how they use their eBikes and to suggest some great locations where other people can enjoy their eBikes.

 

[Dewey]

As for returning to the DC area, at this point, we don't see that happening. The east coast is always an important topic but weather, available space at a reasonable rate, and the acceptance of electric pedal-assist bicycle legislation creates natural roadblocks. Even the request for the Miami area creates obstacles as the weather in October is often both hurricane season. Any suggestions from the readers would be helpful.

Given the Florida event is now in doubt might you reconsider coming back to the DC area?

 

[Flavia]

Any chances you might be back in Santa Monica soon?

 

[e-boy]

Costa Mesa Dec 1-3 , 2017
OC Fairgrounds

 

[Flavia]

great! Thank you for letting me know. I will be there.

 

[GuruUno]

CANNOT REGISTER,
HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found
The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

BEFORE I BUY 2 weeks in advanced reduced cost/discounted train ticket, I'd like to know if this is on schedule to happen, as if the site is screwed and cannot be configured properly, I have concerns about if it will really happen.
One website show it as Nov 1 & 2, another 3 and 4.
Really disconcerting, whacked.
Called the Electric Bike Association | 1980 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 300, Las Vegas, NV 89135 | +1.702.626.0925 | (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)g
left message inquiring of same concerns, zero reply.
Why does it have to be like this? Who owns the responsibility of managing these things?
Very, very, very disappointing.
After spending $5000 on a new Trek Super Commuter 8+ this year and possibly considering a new bike each revision, if the industry involved manufacturers cannot become involved to push the news, keep it updated, "own it", what's the point? We rely on our local dealers?