You just bought your new eBike, congrats.  Now what.  You have ridden around your neighborhood 25 times, feeling like a tour de France rider, but now it is time to spread your wings and really open up the roads.  Just like many other new electric bicycle owners, you may not have been an active biker in recent years, so you don’t have your standard routes for riding.  In your car, you can get anywhere in town, on auto pilot, with the most efficient route.  On an eBike however, you are going to have to forge a new trail.

This can be an exciting process however.  You can pick new destinations, take roads you have never seen in your car, and have a chance to stop and smell the roses.  Literally, if there are roses on the side of the road, you can just stop and smell them.  Hard to do in your car.  There are many websites out there that can help you map out the ideal bike path for you, or you can check out previous routes that have already been made and ridden, like on www.mapmyride.com.

Try using your eBike for some of your short errands that you would usually use a car for.  You will be surprised at how easy your eBike makes the trip.  Map out a route that will be the safest, smoothest, and might run you past some interesting things to see.  Over time you will learn what streets are most bike friendly.  Your local biking community most likely has several bike blogs that already give advice.  If you are heading to the gym, why not ride your eBike in a medium assistance level for a warmup.  Don’t have time for the gym?  Ride to work in the least assistance level and get a nice morning workout in.

Many of us ride recreationally, so take the opportunity to explore new parks, beach-side communities, boardwalks, etc.  You can explore places you have always frequented, or find new destinations.

Regardless of what you bought your electric bicycle for, you will end up finding ways to integrate your ebike into other facets of your life.  Try a 1 week no car campaign, or find 3 new commutes to use your eBike for.  Are you sluggish and uninspired in the afternoon at work?  Take a quick 5 minute ride around, and be refreshed by both real outdoor air, as well as some some people or architecture watching.  You will be amazed at what ideas your surrounding might inspire.  The key is to just get out there and have fun.

This week we feature EVantage (Polaris eBikes)

Mission:

Our mission is to develop industry changing technologies for light electric vehicles, and launch those technologies in our own vehicles.  We have developed a brand license partnership with Polaris Industries to launch a line of ground up designed electric bicycles into the US as an alternative option for recreation, transportation, and fitness. All are powered by proprietary technologies developed by EVantage. The goal is to eventually work our motor technologies into other categories of electric vehicles from scooters, outboard motors for boats, motorcycles, and eventually cars.

Reflect a bit on where you’ve been as a business, and where you aim to be in 3 years. 

This business was sparked by finding out about eBikes and wanting to make a product and motor tech that would meet the needs of the American and international markets.  We have been working day and night for over 3 years to develop the technology, build the relationship with Polaris to bring this line to market, and begin setting up our dealer network.  In 3 years, we project that Polaris eBikes will be the brand to generate mass awareness about electric bicycles.  We plan to be the largest distributor of eBikes in the US, a leading brand in Europe, and a recognized motor development company working on OEM motor systems for other categories of vehicles.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve overcome?

Development of a new technology, and making it market ready. Tons of unforeseen challenges in making the motor system street ready and making sure it is up to our standards.  We chose not to use off shelf technologies, and that always will be a tougher route.

What remains the biggest obstacle? 

Awareness and technology development.  They go hand in hand.  There is very little awareness about electric bicycles and their benefits.  When someone learns about eBikes and test rides them, they become an instant fan and often times an owner.  Through our awareness campaigns we are also learning about what customers are truly looking for, and we include that commentary in planning and software adjustments.

Are you currently looking for financing?

We have raised a round of capital, and are not currently seeking additional capital until we have grown our revenue to a point where we think it will warrant a correct valuation.

Any last words? 

Try one out. Biking can be fun again. Also, please don’t forget about us hardware products companies that make things you can touch when talking about startup communities.

this is an excerpt from a comment one of our employees posted on a blog.  For some context, our team member was responding to negative comments about eBikes in general.

“Although the comment above is not from a Polaris eBike rep, I am associated with Polaris eBikes.  We hear “isn’t that cheating all day every day.”  That is until someone test rides a bike.  Anyone who is skeptical, shoot us an email and well find a local dealer for you to try them out.  eBikes allow anyone who wants to get into biking the opportunity.  Do you have physical restrictions? Use an ebike to make riding possible.  Do you want to ride a bike to work, but fear its a bit too far, or you will show up looking like a wet cat from sweat? Use an eBike to get there with ease and not be sweating.  Do you want to head down the street for some milk, but dont want to use a car, and are too intimidated to have ridden a bicycle in a while? Use an eBike, and make that short trip a lot of fun.  Do you want to get out for a quick recreational ride, but don’t have time to get prepped, make a full tour at low speeds, and wash up after?  Use an eBike to do the loop faster, with ease, and get back refreshed.  Do you want to get fit, but aren’t ready for a full on road bike exercise routine?  Use an eBike to get back into the game at any chosen assistance level..  It is very easy to judge people who use ebikes if you are an active biker, but people who use ebikes have been looking for a way to get back into biking, but they have had a mental or physical block for some time now.  eBikes give them the courage to ride again.  Test one out, and we promise you will have positive things to say.”

In short, we don’t only make eBikes, we believe in eBikes.  Every single day someone discovers eBikes, and they find a way to improve their lives.  If you have questions, contact us or go test ride an eBike, any eBike.

The Bicycle as it is defined is a human powered, pedal driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other.  A person who rides a bicycle is called a Cyclist or Bicyclist.

Now, an Electric Bicycle is an electric powered version of a bicycle.  The primary function of an electric bicycle is to aid people in their cycling efforts.  When we speak with the public about electric bicycles, we get the same reactions.  Wide-eyed interest, but from some, also a bit of skepticism.  The same question may be asked, “isn’t that cheating.”  The answer is always no, and leads to a long conversation about why that specific consumer hasn’t ridden a bicycle in years because they were either too old, too injured, too disinterested, too lazy, or too scared.  You see, Electric Bicycles open up the world of bicycling to a population of people who otherwise would not be biking.  Regardless of age or fitness level, much of our population has shied away from bicycling, because over time we found new forms of transport or exercise.  Bicycles were trumped by something that was either faster, louder, more powerful, or shinier. The electric bicycle levels that interest playing field.  20 somethings looking for a new luxury toy to take them to work, 30 somethings looking for a new weekend recreation option, 50 somethings looking for a bike so their wife can keep up with them, or other 50 somethings now buying their husband an eBike because he’s upset she wont wait up for him on her new eBike.  eBikes have added another technological element to bicycles in order to bring more of our population back to biking.

Now that we have established and confirmed that Electric Bicycles are saving the future of the bicycle community, there are varying levels of eBikes, and varying commitments to assisting the bicycling movement.  Many electric bicycles have pedal assistance, and throttle on demand.  Throttle on demand is there for those who want to sit and ride, or for those who need that much more assistance during their ride.  In the US market, throttle has gained much of the attention, and much of the use from early adopters.  The eBike industry has unfortunately given eBiking a stigma that people are buying eBikes to throttle.  The truth is that many of the people looking to buy an eBike, intended to buy the bike in order to get pedal assistance.  They wanted to get back out on a bike, and enjoy some exercise/commuting in the great outdoors.  They wanted to ride to work without sweating, or pedal to the local store without overexerting themselves.

The problem is that until now pedal assistance on an electric bicycle has felt severely unnatural, jerky, and disconnected from the biking experience.  Due to this, those who intended to get into assisted biking, have defaulted to electric throttling.  It was more powerful, and pedal assistance wasn’t an enjoyable experience.  By not offering a quality pedal assistance, the eBike industry has created a community of electric throttlers.  New technologies are emerging now, like found on Polaris Electric Bicycles, that offer pedal assistance as it was intended.  BioSync Pedal assistance as found on the Polaris eBikes has been compared to the closest thing to a real bike ride, and we have been told that “it makes you want to pedal.”  Don’t get us wrong, on any given day, you will find many of our owners throttling around town.  Throttling is still fun, and a great way to cruise from point A to point B, but with BioSync pedal assistance, you have the option to enjoy pedaling your eBike too.  From this point on eBike technology will only continue to evolve and make the gap between pure bicyclists and eBicyclists dissolve.  Biking is an activity that everyone should have the opportunity and be excited to experience.  We are proud to offer that experience to everyone who wants in.

Polaris E-Bikes Press Release

Please click on the link above to view our press release.  Feel free to contact us with any questions

Image of Vector (featured photo)

PR: Info@evantagebikes.com

Sales: Sales@evantagebikes.com

This company does!  Our company doesn’t have thumbs, but we do have our first shipment of Strive ST electric bicycles coming into inventory next week.  So far if you were a man or woman who wanted to step through to get on your bike, we had the commuter styled 700CC Meridian ST for you.  Now we have both the Meridian ST, and the sporty and smaller Strive ST.  With it’s sporty but stylish design, 26″ tires, and comfortable Velo seat, this bike is the perfect option for jetting around town, getting in your morning ride, or de-stressing after a long day at work.  You would be surprised at how relaxing it can be cruising along at 18MPH with the wind in your hair, and bystanders looking at you wondering how you got your hands on such a cool bike.  I’ll tell you how you got your hands on it.  You went to our dealer locator, stopped by your local POLARIS electric bicycle dealer, took a test ride, fell in love, tried to talk yourself out of it, couldn’t, bought your new Strive ST, maybe put a couple accessories on it, and now you are riding in style.  Don’t feel bad about losing the battle of talking yourself out of it, you never had a chance.

Getting home last night from a short ride to and from a meeting I glanced down at my display and noticed that in a very short time on my newest VECTOR sample, I had ridden over 600 miles.  600 miles to your most hardened road biker might only sound like a good weekend, but to a guy like myself, who before my electric bicycle, very rarely rode, 600 miles felt like an accomplishment.

You would be surprised by how quickly the miles pass on an electric bicycle when you are having fun, moving fast, and enjoying the scenery.  600 miles in a car is either a long grueling road trip or several weeks of even more grueling bumper to bumper commuting to and from work.  I have not had the chance to take an electric bike road trip yet (although its in the works), but I can say that many of my 600+ miles were commuting to and from work, and I much prefer the fresh air and birds chirping over staring at the slow driver in front of me, trying to mind control him to not stop at the just turned yellow light.

Back at home, as I continued to scroll through my display info options, I then noticed that my over 600 miles had resulted in my carbon footprint reducing by over 500lbs.  Again, to the most hardened of environmentalists, this might not be a world changing number, but to me, it was an accomplishment.  Seeing those two numbers sneak up on me was a pleasant surprise.  If a high performance motor, fun ride, and looks I get as I fly past people on the road aren’t enough to get me riding more, hitting little milestones on my POLARIS ebike are.

BK