Applied Design Group

New Commute

Posted in Latest, News - March 29, 2010 - tim

I’m an old Southern boy, and I like my cars, but 20 years in California starts to mess with you.

My bad knees are a testament to lots of hard biking over the years – road and mountain. But I’ve never been a great commuter. I’ve been watching electric and electric-assist bikes for years now and never been really impressed by anything. The examples have either been bulky mo-ped like “scooters” or completely underpowered kits for regular bikes.

About a year ago I first heard that Trek was considering a “bespoke” electric-assiste bike. In other words, they wanted to take a great commuter bike and custom design an electric solution. They went to one of (if not the) electric motor sources out there (Bionx) and ended up collaborating on a great new form factor.

I managed to ride one of these things in Europe last year (where they’ve really taken off) and was really impressed by how well thought out the Trek design was: a classic great commuter, subtly but substantially redesigned to accommodate a really intelligent and powerful electric-assist system.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, electric-assist refers to vehicles (mostly bikes) that are not powered exclusively by the electric motor, but rather assist whatever effort the rider contributes.  I.e. you still have to work, which is attractive to me.  You don’t just sit there and tool around like one of those carts at Wal-Mart.

The computer on this thing is actually amazing.  The motor guages – in real-time – the pressure you put on the pedals and, depending on the setting on the “dashboard”, then boosts your own energy.  The net result is a ride like you’ve never experienced.  Without any exception, anyone I have let try the bike invariably lets out a “whoop” when they first feel it.  It’s weird, and pleasantly surprising. You feel like a strong wind just came up behind you and pushed.  Or that you just turned into Lance Armstrong.

To be honest (really) I only use the assist – which you can turn on and off at will – in heavy head-winds and, of course, bad hills.  (I happen to live at the top of a 600+, 1 mile climb.)  What this technology does do is make pretty much any commute something you can do daily instead of occasionally – I haven’t driven a car in weeks.

The battery is custom built into the back rack on the bike.  It locks on but can be removed.  You plug the charger in daily or whenever and in 3 hours or so you’re fully charged.  I’ve gotten over 50 miles on a single charge rough estimate.  Who knows how many MPG that is?

The dashboard, right at your right thumb, controls everything.  There are 4 settings “up” – meaning various levels of assist, from light to get-me-up-this-giant-hill – and 4 settings “down” – which put the bike into regenerative mode, i.e. the motor starts charging the battery, just like a Prius.

If you watch the dashboard when riding you notice that every time you brake (rear) you enter regenerative mode.

The lighting system – front and back – is of course tied in (beautifully) to the electronics.  Even if the battery is shot, the motor generates enough juice to keep the lights on.  No extra charging or batteries.  There is even an “alarm” mode where you can park the bike, set a code, and if someone moves a wheel more than a quarter turn the motor “locks up” and an alarm sounds.

The dashboard also maintains the usual other data points: odometer, trip odometer, speed, “assist / regenerate” level, lights (the dash is lit at night), time, date, etc.

All in all this is a pretty amazing package and so far I’ve enjoyed the hell out of it.  Really superb design and although some of the hard-core Marin bike freaks I know sniff at it a little, I’ve avoided a lot of driving the past two months (one less car Stein …).  The commute to San Francisco, via ferry (this is just a bike to those guys), is fantastic.   Errands locally are as fast as in a car.  I keep losing weight …

As far as I know this is the first Trek Ride+ series bike in Marin.  I had to sweet-talk my favorite local bike shop into signing up for the whole program before they could sell me one.

If you’re interested in one and in this area, go see Martin at  Sunshine Bikes and tell him Tim sent you.

Here is the site for the bike: Trek Ride+ Valencia