E-bikes offer riders the best of two worlds.
There’s a pedal option to provide a good exercise workout.
And there’s an electric motor alternative to extend mileage range and give the rider a chance to see more stuff.
Since this is a relatively new phenomenon, many local e-bike operators are still learning the rules of the road.
However, once they have the basics down, these folks can have a lot of fun while improving their overall conditioning.
At stores like Newtown Bicycle & Fitness Shop in Bucks County, both sales and service are fairly booming. The somewhat new semi-motorized two-wheel set has become almost its own sub-culture of the traditional bicycle.
Recently we stopped by the venerable business owned and operated by veteran cyclist Harry Betz to check in on what’s behind all this buzz.
Regular shop customers Bob Booth and Jim Lyons of Newtown and Lou Guarracino of Holland agree e-bikes have played a big role in keeping their exercise program going at a steady pace.
Extenuating health circumstances pretty much necessitated Lyons getting into the world of e-bikes.
“I’ve been riding bikes my whole life, from the time I was a little kid,” Lyons, 60, explained. “The e-bike thing started because I had a major stroke in 2019. In business, I had been driving for sales and service for 52 to 55 thousand miles a year for 27 years. Then I had a stroke and was told because of my impairment, mostly vision, I was no longer legal to drive in the state of Pennsylvania.
“So my world changed. I talked to Harry. He had an older e-bike. I took it for a spin and wound up buying it. My ‘island’ changed immensely. When you get tired, you can just kick on pedal-assist. Or the bike I have now, you can just thumb-drive it and you don’t even have to pedal.”
Booth, 52, started riding conventional bikes in college. He went to see Betz to get his bike tuned up and that’s when he spotted his first e-bike.
“I was taking a look at these e-bikes,” Booth said. “I thought this would actually be a good town to have an e-bike in. My kids grew up here in Council Rock (school system). I’ve been in this area for 25-plus years. Just got my e-bike and started to get to know more of the town which I had never gotten to experience before. It’s really a cool thing.”
Booth agrees e-bikes help keep you in shape but don’t tax you too much.
“You get more of an extended range of things to explore,” he said. “I ride from here to Core Creek and get over to Styer (Orchard) to get some cider donuts occasionally. It’s nice to be able to have that extended range. But certainly just getting around here, going down to the coffee shop or whatnot is nice.”
Guarracino, 72, recently retired and one of his first post-career trips was to Switzerland, where he rented an e-bike and covered about 160 miles over six or seven outings in the Alps.
“I do the pedal-assist, usually on the low numbers,” he said. “It (a local bike purchase) was really just to fill in the day and have something to ride around here. So that’s what I do. I put it on the (car) rack and go all over – Jim Thorpe, Sandy Hook. . .Harry gives me great suggestions where to go. It’s been great. My wife is going to get into it, she retires in May.
“I just got back from Switzerland. That was awesome. The beauty there is the train system is all over the place. You get on a trail and ride, then when you’re done you just get on a train. Take it back to Lucerne.”
Betz is an accomplished conventional cyclist but has embraced the e-bike side of the activity for pragmatic reasons. It just broadens the scope of his business.
He sells between 30 and 50 e-bikes a year with a price range of $1,200 to $3,000. There are more expensive models available that can run as high as $5,000 or more.
“It’s been kind of a revelation for a lot of people in many, different ways — from someone who can’t drive, to older people,” Betz said.
“Around here it’s so hilly and we’ve got so many new customers coming in and we’re tuning their bikes up, fixing them. Part of the problem with a lot of them is they are regular bicycles but you’re adding another 50 pounds of weight. So the brakes, the chains, the tires all wear out faster.”
There are two or three concerns with e-bikes:
>1. E-bike cyclists sometimes ride too quickly on places like the Delaware Canal towpath and don’t show respect for pedestrians or conventional cyclists. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation of Natural Resources mandates on state property that e-bikes: Weigh no more than 100 pounds; do not exceed 20 miles-per-hour using the motor; have motors that do not exceed 750 watts and have fully functional, operable pedals.
>2. Low-cost, imported ion-lithium batteries are sometimes a fire risk. In New York City alone, close to 20 people have died from ion-related fires in multiple-person dwelling fires this year alone.
>3. New e-bike operators sometimes ride without getting proper instruction on how to operate these “machines.” There are plenty of accidents because they aren’t used to the weight difference.
At Newtown Bike, the most popular brands are Serfas, Fuji and Batch.
If you purchase an e-bike, be sure to learn how to use it. Have fun and stay safe.
>Race calendar
Saturday
Run for the Cure 5K, 8:45 a.m., Hulmeville. Contact www.beatovarian.org
