I'm The Motor

Although I have several bicycles, the one I am riding most frequently these days is my custom Bike Friday Companion, a bike I built in 2015, the year I started working at Bike Friday as a Service Mechanic. Being a folding bike, it looks different than a lot of bikes and I'm frequently asked if it is an e-bike. If the question is asked in that way, I just say "No" but often the question is posed as "Does that thing have a motor?" and I reply "Yes, it does and you're talking to it!"

More than a few times the person I am talking to will then launch into an unsolicited spiel about how great e-bikes are. Either they have one or they have a pal who has one and by golly I should get one because they're really great. I just smile and nod and wait for them to wind down and usually manage to exit the conversation by saying something like "Well, so far I'm doing OK using my legs."

What I don't bother to tell these enthusiastic folks, people I think of a "E-vangelists", is that I was a bike and e-bike mechanic for years and in fact under encouragement/pressure from Alan Scholz, my boss at Bike Friday, I converted my Bike Friday to e-assist and rode it that way for several years. After I retired, I realized my e-bike was my least ridden bike, so I converted it back to being a fully human-powered machine. And now I'm riding my Bike Friday more than ever.

E-bikes have their uses and the tandem trike that Christine & I call Daisy really does need a motor to make it a practical vehicle. But I still prefer riding my bike to driving Daisy. 

E-bikes have gotten a lot of folks riding who can't or won't ride an un-assisted bike and that is a good thing. If your e-bike trips are replacing car trips, that is wonderful. If an e-bike is helping you keep riding or keep up with your buddies, that is also a fine thing. Literally, more power to you. And if your e-bike has changed your life it is natural to want to talk about it. But don't waste your breath trying to convince me that I need to get one. I don't.

For my day to day life, I don't need more power. An e-bike is a complication I don't need. I like using my own power to get places. I go as fast as I need to go. I like the exercise and I like the quiet. So far at least, I'm the only motor my bike needs and my little non-e-bike is my favorite way to get around.