(Photo: Xtracycle)
Even though they’re based in Oakland, California, the history of Xtracycle will always be intertwined with Portland. Their Freeradical conversion kit began taking over Portland back in 2008 and has turned thousands of locals into cargo bike believers.
Now Xtracycle (like many cargo bike makers) believes the next revolution for carrying stuff on bikes is electric power. The company plans to share their latest “Electric Family Cargo Bike” with Portland as part of their multi-state “Be Moved” tour.
Check out the details in the press release below:
Xtracycle Introduces New Electric Family Cargo Bike on U.S. Tour
Xtracycle launches all new EdgeRunner electric family cargo bikes on the multi-state Be Moved tourOAKLAND, Calif. – June 18, 2015 – Family-friendly longtail cargo bike maker Xtracycle is inviting local community members to join them at bike shops along their multi-state Be Moved tour to test ride their all-new electric bike line. Equipped with integrated, maintenance-free Bosch electric motors, EdgeRunner electric bikes deliver a 50-275% boost whenever you want it. Neither hills nor sweat stand in your way — ride anywhere with ease, even when hauling large loads or with kids in tow.
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Crowning the new collection of bikes is the EdgeRunner 10E— the ultimate cargo bike. The pinnacle of cargo bike design, its longtail cromoly-steel frame and fork offer a stable and resilient ride, while the powerful integrated Bosch electric drive system, Shimano Deore hydraulic brakes, and premium puncture-resistant Schwalbe Big Ben tires round out the package.
“The 10E is everything I love in a cargo bike,” says G&O Family Cyclery owner, Davey Oil, of Seattle. “It’s freaking awesome.”
The Be Moved tour will have two stops in Portland.
Splendid Cycles on Thursday, June 25, 2015 between 4 and 6 PM Clever Cycles on Sunday, June 28, 2015 between noon and 6 PM Come out to test Xtracycle’s unprecedented line of electric bikes and meet Xtracycle’s inventor and cargo-bike pioneer Ross Evans. You can experience the Xtracycle EdgeRunner 10E, the Limited Edition 9E, and more on mini-bicycle adventures with up to 3 kids. The tour will be stopping in over 15 cities including Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Bend, Boise, Boulder, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and more. Tell your friends.
For tour locations and details, please visit: http://blog.xtracycle.com/news/xtracycle- be-moved-tour
For more information about Xtracycle, please visit: www.xtracycle.com
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Anyone have $6,000 lying around?
Apparently. Based on the amount of $3000 dollar carbon wheel sets I see at cross races attached to the $4000 custom hand made steel frames.
Not to mention the amount of $8000 MTB bikes and $10K road bikes I see attached to the top of cars on the freeways on the weekend.
But they don’t actually ride them they just load them onto their $2000 hitch racks of their Audi or Mercedes SUVs and drive to coffee shops in other cities.
I agree, this is definitely a better way to spend the money (vs a car or a high-end racing bike). I just got a second-hand e-assist long-tail, and I love it. They really do enable a low-car lifestyle. I’ve used it to haul kids, dogs, kegs, ladders, etc. I just wouldn’t be able to stomach $6k personally, but that’s why we have a second-hand market.
That’s less than the average price of car ownership. For a year.
http://newsroom.aaa.com/2014/05/owning-and-operating-your-vehicle-just-got-a-little-cheaper-aaas-2014-your-driving-costs-study/
That chart is for 15000 miles at around $0.60/mile. Most would not spend 4-5hrs/day riding this (10k miles averaging 10mph.) I put about 100 miles per month on mine just for short trips. While I doubt you could drive a car on such short trips for $0.60/mile, even at $2/mile it will take a couple years to pay for itself. Don’t forget to include at least $500 every 1-2 years for batteries, which need a charge cycle about every 20 miles and have a life of 500 cycles. It’s still totally worth it and we would ride it 5x as much instead of driving if there were more low-stress routes available (but only if we could make good time, please not these 5-8mph sidewalk bikeways PBOT has built thus far.)
It’s $6,000. Seems pricey but some folks spend at least $500/month on a car so if this helps replace your car, it pays for itself in a year….maybe even 6 months.
Amory Lovins, efficiency expert, has a phrase “tunneling through the cost barrier.” A great example is a cargo bike replacing a car. Others are insulation so good you don’t need central heat. Tires so expensive they save you money on gas. Etc.
expensive compared to a standard bicycle, cheap compared to a car. If you ride it 12,000 miles in its lifetime, it will pay for itself and that’s if you only look at exchanging it for a car. If you look at the health benefits it will pay for itself much sooner.
Or we could compare the cost to a bike + trailer.
Better still, Skateboard + trailer (providing your not hauling kids) 🙂
I use a trailer with my ebike, just hauled a 50lb load, if I didn’t have the ebike I would have driven my car. I can use my ebike nearly all day for about 20 cents.
My electric edgerunner was custom-built at Splendid Cycles and didn’t cost that much, but has the 750W bafang motor in a standard bottom bracket. The bosch might be smoother, but IMO it is under-powered for real hills. Yet, 750W is not a good fit for a 10speed cassette. If I’m running WOT on flat ground, I have to skip gears and it helps to match shifts to the bottom of your pedal stroke to lessen the tension. Cadence is another issue — I would like to be able to pedal faster regardless of how much motor power I’m using, but power and crank rpm are tied together.
As for the revolution: yes! Comparing to a car or minivan, the bike carries 2 kids and 4 bags of groceries with no trouble and is usually just as quick for a 2 mile trip. It weighs about 350lb total vs 3000. The bike has 1hp vs car’s 150. Car gets 30mpg, bike gets 900mpgE. Note: the power/weight ratio is only 5% as much as your station wagon, which is fine for short, low-speed trips.
Don’t forget to account for making priceless memories for your kids. I think that comes to about $5/mile at a theme park.
I wish mine had the braze-ons for mounting that new front fixed rack.
It seems to me from reading comments here for the past I don’t know how many years that a majority of bikeportland commenters fall into the buy-new camp when it comes to bicycles and related equipment. I only mention this because the world of bicycling looks quite different through the eyes of someone who buys everything or very nearly everything used, or finds it in dumpsters or on the curb.
I sometimes wonder if there are more of you buy-used folks out there among the vast bikeportland readership?
I think it comes down to how much free time you have. I used to buy new and upgrade parts as time went by. Now with work and family, I find it more appealing to buy new/refurbished and have it all set up correctly the first time. I have one great bike instead of 3 used ones that I would hope to fix up if I had time.
It’s not an either-or issue. We bought half of our bikes used, including our cargo bike, both trailers, and both my touring bike and city bike, as well as my wife’s touring bike and our daughter’s last 2 bikes and our son’s first bike. Our son’s most recent bike, and my wife’s city bike were bought new: hers was on sale at about 2/3rd list price and his was a full-price Islabike. The most we have paid for a bike is $800 for my Breezer Uptown 8, new (but 2 year old model) in Los Angeles over 5 years ago.
But someone has to buy new bikes! I bought the Breezer new because there were no similar used bikes for sale, and adding full dynamo lights and an 8-speed Shimano nexus hub to a cheap used bike would have been just as expensive as buying the Breezer new. There were no used 20″ Islabikes for sale anywhere last year, so my son got a new, full-price bike.
And that’s the thing: someone has to buy every bike new at some point! If bikes are resold many times during their usable life then a majority of purchases can be of used bikes. But if people actually keep the bikes they buy and use them, the supply of used bikes becomes limited. It’s great if you have the time and flexibility to buy a used bike… but good luck finding an electric longtail cargo bike used, even in this town!
Me! I’m the 3rd owner of our bakfiets. Clever was out of stock & Craigslist wasn’t. I was happy to save the approx $1k.
#9watts,
I just bought $130 worth of new parts for my 1991 Bridgestone CB-1. I replaced the whole drive train except the derailleurs. Used parts just don’t last very long. I hope that if I replace the chain every 2 or 3 years instead of waiting another 24, the rings and cogs might not wear so badly.
I guess I fall in the camp of buying a good basic bike new, then maintaining or upgrading when and if needed. This is my only bike and I hope to keep it going for the rest of my life.
I, for one, love my electric-assist long-tail. It was very expensive, but since I bought it, I’ve replaced about 90% of my car trips with e-bike trips. I can see lots of families using these to reduce or eliminate their car ownership.
Have you had to replace your battery? I’m wondering how long this Bionx battery is going to last…
I’ve got a Bionx D500 on my Surly Big dummy, I commute with it every day 26 miles a day with lots of steep hill climbs.
I have to recharge my battery every day and I’ve got 1500 miles it since February.
Not a single issue yet and no signs of battery degradation.
I have a Surly cross-check. I’ve contemplated upgrading to an e-assist for commuting. My ride is 30 miles round trip. You have any suggestions? I’d probably get rid of my car entirely.
Well depends on how hilly your commute is, if its just hills like most of SE then you can do the commuter model BionX that adds 350 watts to the pedals (and is a decent price) or if your like me and live at the top of Mt Scott you could get the BionX D500 or a Stoker to give you the wattage you need to go up hill fast on the days you don’t feel like working as hard.
The pro’s of E-assist for commuting are: faster average speeds (I avg 18 mph), more power input when your”not feeling it” and of course more range. It also takes away those “excuses” or days when you just don’t want to ride or are feeling lazy.
The Cons: obviously expensive, the added weight to your bike creates a dependency on the Assist and also the “drag” of the motor whether the system is on or not it adds at least 50 watts of negative drag (meaning you have to work harder if your not using the system) and the Assist only goes to 20 mph so if you want to go faster you have to work much harder.
And of course all the nay Sayers that get all bent out of shape because “you’ve got a motor?!” and they are convinced your “cheating”
I typically ride in the level 1 or 2 setting of my ride which with the weight of my bike (about 50 lbs) those settings make the difference being neutral in setting 1 or feels like I’m on a super light weight road bike in setting 2 then if your feeling lazy level 3 makes you feel like you’ve got a 50 mph tail wind and level 4 is when you basically want to coast pedal at 20 mph.
Thanks for the advice. Route is mainly flat, it’s from NE MLK & Albert to Salmon Creek Legacy hospital up in Vancouver.
As far as “cheating” goes, I agree, there is a smug attitude out there about this topic. I say: try riding 20-30 miles round trip, five days/week on a normal bike and then in addition, engaging in extracurricular activities such as: road riding, running, hiking, swimming, mtbing, ect.. all attempted at an “elevated level”. And then on top of that, completing errands around town via bike. Tell me you’re not practically exhausted most of the time from this work effort. It’s fun to ride your bike town over continuously, but it kind of sucks being exhausted daily and then when you want to go for a run, it’s mediocre at best. Yes, be in shape, I am.
But I still want an ebike for commuting around.
I dunno, what do others think about “cheating” subject.
“try riding 20-30 miles round trip, five days/week on a normal bike and then in addition, engaging in extracurricular activities such as: road riding, running, hiking, swimming, mtbing, ect.. all attempted at an ‘elevated level’.”
That is an interesting dilemma, Matt.
If you’re getting that much exercise commuting—and obviously like biking that much—I’d ask why you’re adding all those extra recreational activities on top of it? I’m exhausted just reading about it. In your shoes, I’d look at your situation from the angle of how much biking or exercise can I surround each week, and then calibrate my discretional quota accordingly.
It’s not cheating if your default choice was to drive a car. I took my kid to and from preschool on the electric bike every day except 5-10 trips in the car (of ~250.) With electric assist, you just don’t have any reason not to ride. Sick, tired, whatever — just adjust the power or use the throttle. I’m in much better shape now and can do it all manually given 20 extra minutes, but would not have been hauling a kid up a 400ft climb without the motor.
*low powered moped
We have been contemplating getting down to one car for along time and this might just be what need to push us over. Only issue I have with E-bikes is the excessive speed I’ve observed, mainly on the Springwater Trail.
Unmodified systems have a max speed of 20mph when in e-assist mode. Did you see a hacked e-bike, or do you think 20mph is excessive?
I ride the spring water every single day on my E-assist (max input is 20mph) I get passed every day by Fred’s on road bikes. 20 mph is not excessive.
if you ride/walk/hike/run on a commuter bike way like the Springwater you should expect an average speed of 15 to 20 mph with occasional cyclists doing 25 mph.
But all cyclist should give warning when passing (a bell is a nice way to do it) and use patience and respect for other users. all users should stay as far to the right as is practicable to allow faster riders to pass.
And for god sakes signal when your turning!
I’ve got a Surly Straggler outfitted with a 750 Watt Bafang that I purchased last year – I’ve put 5,000 + miles on it and love it.
I’d contact either the E-Bike Store or Splendid Cycle for advice and spec’s another possibility might be a Bionx System
I’ve only bought two new bikes: 1 when I got my first job at 15, which I still have, and the 2nd this year at the age of 33. All 8 of my other bikes have been used or saved from going to scrap. Additionally, I have a cargo swing bike with a hub motor which I love. I can mount a grill to it, carry all the charcoal I need, and pull a trailer with a cooler full of barley-pops, with lawnchairs and a table up to the top of tabor with a single speed (kind of)
I’m all for e-bikes if it gets people out of their cars.
It’s way cooler to buy 10 of these and give 9 to your friends/neighbors than to buy a new electric car.