Wednesday 16 April 2008

Electric Bike...

Earlier this year I indulged in some lavish spending and treated myself to an electrically assisted bike!

"Wow, how cool!" I hear you say:
Yes, I think so too, and I can't convey enough how brilliant these machines really are.
OK, I won't bore you with the technical details, but now battery and motor technology has come on a lot, it's viable to use electric bikes in all seriousness, rather than it just be a gimmick or toy...
These beasts really have some serious torque now!

I purchased one of these beauties:

An 'Ezee' Forza

"How fast and how far can you go?" I hear you say:
They are limited to 15mph (24kmph) by law, so it will only assist you up to this speed and then it's all over to your legs if you want to go any faster.
You can get up to 30 miles range out of a single battery charge, but it's very variable depending on how much effort you put in yourself and how many hills you tackle.
Due to the weight and gearing of these bikes, it's not really possible to use them without battery assistance, unless it's along the flat, like alongside a canal, and then you can fly along without assistance, greatly extending your range.

"So how much are these bikes?" I hear you say:
As with all things, you get what you pay for; so you can pay a couple of hundred quid for a cheaper model, that will only give slight assistance, or you can pay up into thousands for a quality model!
Various second-hand electric bikes appear on eBay quite regularly.


I got into such technology when meeting the people behind this:

The Tour de Presteigne is the UK's premier electric bike rally and meeting, along with a whole host of other eco-friendly machines.

I volunteered myself to write a website for them with only a few weeks to go before the event, so please go and visit http://www.tourdepresteigne.co.uk/ and I would be really grateful if you guys could put a link to it on your site, if only temporarily, to get our Google position up higher in a short a time as possible :0)

I'm going to be attending the two-day event on Saturday 17th May & Sunday 18th May - If anyone wants to come along, you're more than welcome and you don't have to take part or own an electric bike, the whole weekend is mainly about greener transport and demonstrating the latest technologies.
See the INFO page on the website for a full listing on what's on!

Be there or be... square :]


Today, I'm Most Angry About: Injustices in the world!
Grrr-O-Meter Rating: 8/10

Today's Top Tip: Drivers: Save money and the environment by putting much larger wheels on the back of your car - That way you will always be going downhill, thereby saving on fuel!

take a look at www.onbike.co.uk