So in my socializing at the Revolution Cycles Trek Connect event, I came across this section of electric bikes. I’m a jerk. Let me preface that by saying that I have no qualms about throwing down thousands of dollars (if I have it) for a bike that I will put hundreds and hundreds of miles on. So to me the concept of an electric bike is silly. The truth is, not everyone is like me. There are a group of us that are like me, but many people are not willing to go out and ride their bike for hours on end to condition themselves for racing or triathlons. In fact, I would go so far as to say that your average person thinks that cyclists like me are a bit unhinged. That doesn’t diminish the fact that bikes are fun and healthy. Think back as a kid and the kind of engagement you had with your bike. It didn’t require a special electrolyte drink and energy gels. It required a nice day and the desire to get outside and enjoy it. I had a chance to talk to Chad about this where he explained to me the market and the purpose of a line of electric bikes. I wasn’t much of a believer at first, but will readily admit that I was wrong.
District Cycling: This is Gregg with District Cycling and I’m here with Chad. What have we got going on here?
Chad: Well Trek recently released an electric bike program. We launched it last year in Europe and it’s been a great success. Most people here in the US don’t realize what a huge market has developed in Europe for electric bikes. When most people think about electric bikes, especially in Europe, they think of commuters. That is not who the market is for in Europe. It’s generally a little older customer and for people that have grown up with bikes and used bikes for commuting for many years for work but want to stay on their bikes. Many of them like riding as couples, as groups and doing destination rides going for 3 hour long bike rides having a nice time on a nice day on their nice bike paths. That’s what’s happening over in Europe and there is quite a large number of bikes being sold over there.
DC: You have a statement here that says: ‘Electric Assist is the biggest things since Mountain Bikes’; can we talk about that for a moment?
Chad: Sure! I just put a provocative statement up there mostly so we can have discussions like this. We are very excited about the potential of electric bikes, is what it boils down to. Electric bikes, the more we researched it, we realized that there are many customers. Far more than ride bikes today that really like to ride bikes. What I hear from people is ‘you know, there is this hill that keeps me from riding,’ or ‘you know, I really don’t like the wind.’ There are basic things that an experienced cyclist would scoff and say ‘this person is not up to riding a bike.’ The reality is that this person would love to ride a bike but they’re not of the mindset or even sometimes the ability to ride. Electric bikes give them that opportunity. A couple of examples is someone that would want to be able to ride with their partner and the partner is a more experienced. Who wants to be left behind? Who likes to have to wait for their partner? If you put a product out there where people can really ride together, there is a huge value in that. That’s one customer. A whole other group of customers would be the commuter. The commuter that wants to be able to rider their bike a longer distance, but on some days you’re not really up to it, or they have a meeting and their going to be late and there is a big headwind. There are a lot of reasons for someone to ride an electric bike! In some cases it is a gateway to get up enough fitness to be able to ride a regular bike after that. We just see it as a lot of opportunities and a real gateway for people to get into cycling.
DC: I have to admit that I am the snobby cyclist coming into this and was a bit reluctant looking at this, but the way that you have explained it, and you guys are clearly in the business of thinking through this, that is fantastic! At the end of the day, getting people on bikes is a great thing! Very cool! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about it!
At the end of the day, the most important thing is getting people on bikes. Bikes are good. More bikes are even better. When you look at the bike, it’s aesthetically pleasing as well. The battery pack is small and it’s still a bike! You can check out Trek’s line of bikes here: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/electric_bikes/
I’ve got one more entry for the Trek Connect. Stay tuned!
DC
