MY BIKE & ME

I used to be an avid driver. Every day I would get in my car and drive the 15 miles from my house to my work and back again. Then, a couple years ago I went on a trip to China.

What I found there was an entire country that used bikes and mass transit as their primary modes of transportation. As intriguing as it was, what was even more interesting was the massive use of electric bicycles.

Now, we all have seen people strap on small electric motors or gasoline engines to their bicycles (or heard about someone doing it). The result was something that was usually loud, obnoxious, ugly, emitted pollution and underpowered. In other words, not very practical.

The electric bikes that I saw in china were none of these. They were stylish, powerful and simply fun to ride! Well, from then on, I was bound and determined to get one of my own.

Upon my return to the States, I hopped online and cheerily went searching for an electric bike. To my utter dismay, what was so prevalent in China was absolutely unknown here in the US. Nowhere could I find a dealer or supplier that sold these wonderful machines. I searched every corner of the Internet and the few I actually did find, the sellers wanted ungodly sums for!

As much as I wanted one, 5 to 10 thousand dollars was a bit above my price range. So I took a chance and ordered an electric bike straight from a manufacturer in China (which I don't recommend, if you want to keep your sanity).

A few weeks later, my shipment came in and I was the proud owner of a brand new electric bike!

One thing my little electric bike couldn't do was travel the whole 15 mile trip from the west end of Beaverton to the east side of Portland. But what it could do was fold up into a nice tidy little package that I could store anywhere, namely on the MAX (which is PDX's local light-rail system).

So now I have an 11 mile commute on MAX and a 4 mile commute on my electric bike (which is perfect for me since I am not what you would call an 'avid bike rider') each way.

For six months I have been doing this, near every day. I have saved over a full TON of Carbon Dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere (that's the weight of my car!) and reduced my monthly fuel consumption by 2/3! In that time, I have already recovered the purchase price for my bike in fuel savings. Not to mention, less wear and tear on my vehicle.

   The Electric Bike Guy