Making The Case for Ebikes
E is for everyday
When I turned 40 last year I set a ridiculous goal for myself: Climb Old La Honda in under 20 minutes. That’s a fast time, but very achievable for a recreational rider of good fitness. Of course I’m a busy founder with two kids and I only did 6 road rides in all of 2015. I set out on January 1st to start my “training”. Now we’re in May, five months later and I had only done 3 rides. The goal was looking laughably impossible, without some extra help.
Last Sunday I did OLH in 18:23, and it was magical. For comparison, a professional cyclist like Ted King did it in 18:33. Of course I used a Karmic Bike, but let me explain before you pull out your torches and pitchforks…
Cheating Time
The most common knock against electric bikes is that they’re for cheaters. Sure, if you’re going to use it to cheat in a sanctioned cycling event like Femke, you should be ashamed of yourself and handed a 2-year ban from the sport. (That she got 6 years is a whole ‘nother post for a later time.)
But I’m not talking about racing. I’m talking about regular riding, and most cyclists on the road aren’t lining up for a race start. Most of us ride for fun.
What if you could cheat time? I think that ebikes are the classic example of mind over matter, or at least the superiority of the brain over the body. We are simply using technology to accomplish things we couldn’t possibly do on our own. Most of us already do this on a daily basis with other aspects of our lives. Ebikes are no different. It is a technologically enhanced product. This is even better than virtual reality glasses. This is augmented humanity.
Cheating time means being able to “fast-forward to fun”. That’s something everyone could benefit from. I passed a bunch of cyclists out on the road, and most of them didn’t look like they were having any fun at all. Most were struggling to climb OLH, or even to stay with the pack on Foothill’s rollers. I’m not a great descender, but it is one of the most thrilling parts of road riding. I didn’t need the electric motor going down (though I left it on Level 1 boost), but using the ebike got me to that part of the ride much quicker. I generally do like to climb, and the motor made that even more fun!
Cheating time means I did my usual 30 mile loop in under 2 hours. It usually takes me 2.5–3 hours depending on how I’m feeling. The average power over the ride was only 100 watts more than my usual power output. I mostly used Level 1 boost, saving Levels 3–5 for the steepest sections. That’s real time that I get back with my family, who I only really see on the weekends (the kids have a very busy schedule).
Cheating time means being able to ride better and faster than I did when I was younger. I raced for Columbia Cycling when I was in college, and my 20th year reunion is coming up this summer. To be honest, I’m not even sure I could climb OLH in sub-20 minutes at the peak fitness of my racing days.
Feeling Pro
The bike industry has a dirty little secret. They sponsor pro riders to use their pro equipment so they can sell us all on the dream of riding like a Pro. I fell for it too. I’ve got this beautiful Specialized S-Works Tarmac hanging up in my garage. Every month or two I’ll take it down and pump up the tires and ride it around the block. It’s the same bike that Alberto Contador and others have won Grand Tours on. Its a beautiful piece of $10,000 kit.
I could blame the fact that I haven’t had time (or patience) to glue the tubular tires on, and finish off the build with some new bartape. The bike is from 2011 and I rebuilt it with a new SRAM Red group a few summers back. That means it has been sitting unused for nearly 3 years now. So it hangs.
I bought it because I thought it was the best bike available at the time. I’ve always dreamed of building up a superlight road racing bike. I carefully picked every component and got it down to 12.25 pounds! That’s 5.55kg — lighter than the bikes the pros ride because of the UCI weight limit is 6.8kg. I imagine I would slay any climb and grab all the KOMs on it. But it hangs.
When you take a pro-level bike, and you put an amateur-level rider (that’s me!) on it and what you get is disappointment. The bike’s handling is too sharp, the frame’s stiffness is too much. It’s like driving an F1 car everyday to work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t feel great. And you don’t feel very Pro at all.
I had the opposite feeling yesterday. I never felt so Pro in my life. I was smiling and actually giddy as I jumped out of the saddle and climbed like a kite. I knew it was the motor that let me go uphill at 15mph, but boy did it feel great! I was still sweating and working hard, the speed was exhilarating. This must be what it feels like to ride like a Pro. I loved it! I wanted more!
Ebikes for Everyone
Which brings us back to the argument for ebikes. Our bikes aren’t meant for people to use in racing (well, except for this one). That would be a dirty, despicable, and unconscionable attack on the sport of cycling. However, riding bikes is supposed to be fun, and there’s nothing more fun than an ebike. We make one called the Koben. It was meant as a great ebike for anyone to use. A lot of folks have been calling it a commuter bike, and that’s cool with us. We could all use a more fun commute right?
Karmic is just getting started, and we intend to make more ebikes for everyone. Because the world could always use a little more fun.
Cheers,
Hong
