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A New E-Bike Frontier Awaits
Leave Your Car Behind
BY PETER VIELE
JIM MINCHER effortlessly breezes by bicycle over
the drawbridge nearly every morning through
congested traffic from his Harbor Island home
to his 45-year-old store, Two Wheeler Dealer in
midtown Wilmington. But there’s something
enviable about his bike. It appears quick — easy, even. Maybe
a little too easy. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that
Mincher is riding an electric motor-assisted bicycle, better
known as an e-bike.
“I never even get passed by a car,” he says. “There are
plenty of bike trails and residential roads to ride on without
so much as a car going by most days.”
For a stalwart of the local cycling community to be
embracing these modified bikes speaks volumes about
their legitimacy. And Mincher is not alone. E-bikes are now a
$65-million industry.
“They’re everywhere and we’re selling more and more of
them. In Amsterdam last year, e-bikes accounted for almost
50 percent of bike sales and they sell more bikes than just
about anyone.”
The bikes ride virtually the same as a standard bicycle,
but once the pedals engage, so does the small engine that
assists the rotation of the crank, giving the user a subtle
boost. There’s usually an inconspicuous, removable battery
pack affixed to the bike frame and a small LCD screen that
indicates the speed controls, battery life and distance avail-able
for each speed setting. If the battery does run out while
on a ride, the bike will still operate by traditional pedaling.
Once activated, the assisted acceleration while pedaling
provides a boost, particularly while riding up hills and going
longer distances. There is no learning curve for riding one
other than adjusting the speed that you’d like to go. It feels
like riding down a hill, without the hill. And as Mincher points
out, “Anyone can ride them. They’re incredibly user-friendly.
People of all ages are trying them out.”
Electric assist bikes are silent, easily rechargeable and can
get up to speeds of 28 mph with zero emissions and minimal
upkeep. But choosing the right one can be formidable. With
a multitude of styles to choose from, whether it’s simply
for cruising around town or going off-road with an electric
mountain bike, the categories of e-bikes continue to grow,
as do the types of dealers offering them for sale. From com-muter
to recreational, cargo to fat, and even full-suspension
mountain to performance road bikes, there’s a significant
variance of power between them as well.
While some offer “pedal assist,” others are designed with
a throttle that’s more akin to an actual motorcycle. There are
even kits that can modify a regular bicycle into an e-bike. The
rules of the road are the same as riding a standard bicycle,
but every town has different laws regarding motorized
vehicles, so it’s best to contact local municipalities to find out
which class of e-bikes are permissible within each town.
For Wrightsville Beach, Shawn Spencer, owner of Bike
Cycles, says that the Class 1 e-bikes have the advantage of
safe movement at about the same rate of speed as traffic.
“Class 1 e-assist bikes allow easier movement around our area
when the traffic is super-congested. They are also great for
riding into the strong southeast afternoon winds that we get
in the summer, allowing residents who live on the south end
an easy way to get home.”
Though not cheap, ranging anywhere from $1,500 to
$5,000, and typically a little heavier than a standard bike,
e-bike enthusiasts remove cars from the road, shave time off
of a commute and even open a new expanse of destinations
by helping a rider go farther than before by regular bike.
Spencer says, “E-bikes are still bicycles and, with our growing
network of linear trails throughout the city, in some cases
travel by e-bike is quicker than by car.”
Abby Hertz, Lydia Brenneman and Chad Hoyle, owner of SunCycles, ride e-bikes on the new section of the Gary Shell Cross-
City Trail which runs under the west side of the Heide Trask Drawbridge.
ALLISON POTTER
18
WBM july 2019