In minivan-obsessed US, can the electric bike market get a jump start?

[J.R.]

@Larry Pizzi is making news and influencing people again (I hope). He's a very good spokesman in the ebike world. Here's a new article in The Guardian today 5/5/15

I did get a kick out of the photo used in the article, looks just like me and my friends on a Saturday morning

 

[stevenast]

It amazes me how often that "tailwind" analogy is used.

_________

Court is becoming a media-cited expert!

 

[pxpaulx]

It amazes me how often that "tailwind" analogy is used.

_________

Court is becoming a media-cited expert!

I find that to be a strange analogy, it is more than that for sure! Being someone who rode their bike a lot when I was younger, and rode hard, to me it makes me feel like a teenager again.

I'm pedaling as hard as I can now, but feel like I have my teenage riding legs, and that makes me want to ride more and more. Can't argue with that!

 

[stevenast]

Yup, me too, pedaling hard and getting a workout even with assist.

The reason I mention the "tailwind" thing, is because I'm pretty sure that language that is given by Accell/Currie to the writers of these "infomercials". That's why we see it time and again lol.

 

[J.R.]

I did get a kick out of the photo used in the article, looks just like me and my friends on a Saturday morning

I forgot to add the caption for the photo... That's me with the pink step-through, I'm wearing my hair longer these days and yeah I like to wear knickers. That's Dr. Ravi with the sleek black stealthy looking bike. And the red cruiser with the ape hanger handlebars, that's Brambor, he's one bad dude! The two young chicks? Stalkers! Followed us dudes, I told the guys they liked the hot-pink ride I had!


cc: @Ravi Kempaiah , @Brambor

 

[stevenast]

I forgot to add the caption for the photo... That's me with the pink step-through, I'm wearing my hair longer these days and yeah I like to wear knickers. That's Dr. Ravi with the sleek black stealthy looking bike. And the red cruiser with the ape hanger handlebars, that's Brambor, he's one bad dude! The two young chicks? Stalkers! Followed us dudes, I told the guys they liked the hot-pink ride I had!


cc: @Ravi Kempaiah , @Brambor

You are one hot blonde, J.R. I am going to be nicer to you from now on...

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I forgot to add the caption for the photo... That's me with the pink step-through, I'm wearing my hair longer these days and yeah I like to wear knickers. That's Dr. Ravi with the sleek black stealthy looking bike. And the red cruiser with the ape hanger handlebars, that's Brambor, he's one bad dude! The two young chicks? Stalkers! Followed us dudes, I told the guys they liked the hot-pink ride I had!


cc: @Ravi Kempaiah , @Brambor

JR,
This is our gang theme song....

 

[Deleted member 803]

“We’re on the cusp of mainstream adoption,” Pizzi said.

Not even close..............There is no major impetus for ebike growth in North America. This continent is an auto driven culture and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Bicycles in this country's mindset is recreational. The bike industry at large does not have enough cash to influence opinion and drive people to purchase. Something catastrophic would help adoption: i.e. Petrol goes to $30 a gallon. Sure, there will continue to be tepid growth year to year but nothing that would excite anyone. And, as I have said many times on this forum and others, bike dealers are not the distribution channel to drive e-bike growth. Bicycle manufacturers need to rethink their go to market strategies. Unfortunately, most of the industry folks I have talked to and interacted with are firmly entrenched in the traditional retail model....a formula for sure failure.

Someone like Elon Musk can (and probably won't) impact the e-bike market. The owner of BMC bought Stromer and then built them a new engineering facility only to turn around in less than two years to put a "for sale" sign on them.

E-Anything is a tough sell. Electric powered stuff is getting better and better and Tesla has generated excitement and some sales. However, the majority of Americans probably won't plunk down $80-$100K for an automobile that can't make it from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.

My apologies for the dose of reality.

 

[PowerMe]

Still need to have the infrastructure (i.e. biking lanes) of sufficient quantity and quality for eBikes to be anything more than another form of recreation.

I've detailed how poor the roads are in my area and how drivers don't really pay attention to those cute bike stencils on the road.

 

[J.R.]

@86 and still kicking It's an auto driven culture because of how we live, where we choose to live and will continue to be until it's more painful to drive autos than to use alternate means. Now is the time for grass roots efforts to take hold and to slowly build that infrastructure as @PowerMe suggests. "Cusp", well blunt cusp, crest might be a better word.

 

[pxpaulx]

Agreed, being an auto oriented nation, used to sprawl and increasingly long drives to work, bikes are truly treated as a recreational item here. I live 29 miles from where I work!!! Much too far (we just moved at the end of last year, but was still 21 miles previously). Thankfully we have a decent commuter bus line that runs on the highway and they just built a new stop a mile from my house. there have also been talks about a light rail line out to about 17 miles - I would consider riding there and taking the train down, but that is years off. In Europe everything was built largely pre-car, so things are naturally closer and lend themselves to bike use. Until we start large scale infrastructure changes to make biking an option, it will remain well behind Europe (and most of the rest of the world for that matter). Doesn't me we can't get there, it will just take some time, and likely some external factors that necessitate a change.