Trihonda
Member
..and also the home of Trek
Which is how I landed an interest in ebikes. I’ll lead with that story... I was asked to help (in some small part) in the development of the new Trek Police ebike, and made numerous trips out the Treks HQ in Waterloo, WI. There I got to ride the prototype and provide feedback on its design and use. Trek also loaned me the bike to use at work (I’ll allow you to guess at my profession), as I’m also an industry MTB instructor in my line of work.
My prior experiences with ebikes we’re not positive, as I’d been given an ebike to ride at work for a month (the year before) and I found the platform horribly I’ll-suited to my line of work. The bike (manufactured by a snowmobile company) handled poorly (balance sucked with the rear hub drive) and the ebike weighed in a 70+ pounds. It lurched something fierce, which made it dangerous in my eyes.
Top that off with my experiences with 20+ years of riding, wrenching on, and racing just about every type of bike known... I was a bit of a cycling purist, and had a hard time wrapping my brain around why anyone would strap a motor to a bike... c’mon... sounded like lunacy to me... I was definitely skeptical when Trek came calling.
My experiences with the Trek were completely apart from the previous ebike. The trek was fantastic and I started to find myself supporting the platform. I’m sure there are other brands equally as nice (possibly better), so I’m not here to sell you on the trek, specifically. It was just what I had experience with. I’m now 100% supportive of ebikes, and though I still love my very nice non-assisted bikes, I think ebikes have a place next to them in the cycling community (and in my garage).
An aside, the trips to trek were crazy amazing, and I took almost every opportunity to latch onto several trek employees to get access to ride Trek’s secret test trails, which are world class (with full time staff to build and maintain them). This was very cool. I also snagged an insiders access to some of the newest MtBs about to hit the market, and got to test ride several prototype MTBs to help me make my purchase decisions. I wound up snagging a Trek Fuel EX 9.8. Hope it’s ok to discuss non-ebikes here to some degree?
Anyway, back to ebikes.. I am going to be teaching several conference workshops in the next year that will help discuss ebikes and integrating them into police work. I’m hoping this forum will help me learn all I need to know. It’s already taught me lots.
Ps. I’ll be snagging a new Trek Police in a couple weeks. Trek has one earmarked for me, but it’s currently being used for a test ride with another agency.
Ground rules. I don’t really discuss my work online. But one can surmise I’m a police officer in WI. I will not discuss where specifically I work, but I am happy to discuss my work (generally) in relation to bicycles.
.
Here was the bike we production model I tested (the prototype photos aren't going to be released).
Here was the Trek MTB I ended up with, along with a photo of one of my “test rides” with a number of the folks from Trek at their secret trails...
Which is how I landed an interest in ebikes. I’ll lead with that story... I was asked to help (in some small part) in the development of the new Trek Police ebike, and made numerous trips out the Treks HQ in Waterloo, WI. There I got to ride the prototype and provide feedback on its design and use. Trek also loaned me the bike to use at work (I’ll allow you to guess at my profession), as I’m also an industry MTB instructor in my line of work.
My prior experiences with ebikes we’re not positive, as I’d been given an ebike to ride at work for a month (the year before) and I found the platform horribly I’ll-suited to my line of work. The bike (manufactured by a snowmobile company) handled poorly (balance sucked with the rear hub drive) and the ebike weighed in a 70+ pounds. It lurched something fierce, which made it dangerous in my eyes.
Top that off with my experiences with 20+ years of riding, wrenching on, and racing just about every type of bike known... I was a bit of a cycling purist, and had a hard time wrapping my brain around why anyone would strap a motor to a bike... c’mon... sounded like lunacy to me... I was definitely skeptical when Trek came calling.
My experiences with the Trek were completely apart from the previous ebike. The trek was fantastic and I started to find myself supporting the platform. I’m sure there are other brands equally as nice (possibly better), so I’m not here to sell you on the trek, specifically. It was just what I had experience with. I’m now 100% supportive of ebikes, and though I still love my very nice non-assisted bikes, I think ebikes have a place next to them in the cycling community (and in my garage).
An aside, the trips to trek were crazy amazing, and I took almost every opportunity to latch onto several trek employees to get access to ride Trek’s secret test trails, which are world class (with full time staff to build and maintain them). This was very cool. I also snagged an insiders access to some of the newest MtBs about to hit the market, and got to test ride several prototype MTBs to help me make my purchase decisions. I wound up snagging a Trek Fuel EX 9.8. Hope it’s ok to discuss non-ebikes here to some degree?
Anyway, back to ebikes.. I am going to be teaching several conference workshops in the next year that will help discuss ebikes and integrating them into police work. I’m hoping this forum will help me learn all I need to know. It’s already taught me lots.
Ps. I’ll be snagging a new Trek Police in a couple weeks. Trek has one earmarked for me, but it’s currently being used for a test ride with another agency.
Ground rules. I don’t really discuss my work online. But one can surmise I’m a police officer in WI. I will not discuss where specifically I work, but I am happy to discuss my work (generally) in relation to bicycles.
.Here was the bike we production model I tested (the prototype photos aren't going to be released).
Here was the Trek MTB I ended up with, along with a photo of one of my “test rides” with a number of the folks from Trek at their secret trails...
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