At seven oclock yesterday I pulled my gloves on, buckled my helmet, climbed on my Pedego Interceptor on Main Street in Santa Monica and headed north. I took off for the Sepulveda Pass. The tunnel, the apex of the ride was 1,000 feet up and ten miles away. When I got to the top of the hill 30 minutes later, I kept going. I had half my battery left, at least. I knew I could go down into the San Fernando Valley, turn around, climb back up the hill, and still make home before dark. I did not buy lights.
I'm cruising up on 57 and teach in a Valley high school. I've ridden bicycles all my life, on and off, even built a commuter. If I had the time, the tools, and the space (apartment dweller, no garage) I would have built this thing myself. It has purpose. You can tell that by looking at it. Riding it only cements that first impression.
I needed a bike to take me over the pass and back almost every day. I needed the exercise. My regular touring bike, good is, takes two and a half hours to get from home to school, and you get there wrecked. Today, within 24 hours of twisting my first throttle, I made the trip over the hill in an hour, pedaled as much as I wanted to, got to work and felt great. The more you ride, the stronger you get, the more you can pedal assist, and the farther you can go).
I looked at other bikes. There was gas. Messy, expensive and now you need a motorcycle mechanic or a lawnmower repair guy. Some were cool, looking like refugees from a 1912 motorbike ad. Others just looked as flimsy as they had to feel. Cheap motors on cheap bikes. Besides, it has to go up the stairs and into the apartment. No garage, remember.
Looked at motorcycles. Some were cute, things from the sixties and seventies and 100 or 150 ccs. Of course then you could go in the highway if you went up to 250ccs. Four grand out the door, and no place to keep them. They tend to weigh 300lbs or better. With 2 strokes you mix fuel? With 4 strokes you go to the pump. They started at four grand, and come needing a vehicle license every year and a new drivers license you need to get.
Scooters? Sorry, just too sedate for me.
I looked at other ebikes. Lordy there are plenty, and most from guys you never heard of.
There were major players, the big bicycle companies. Their bikes were sedate, mild, maybe reliable, They had weak motors mounted on cruisers, on mountain bikes, on road bikes. I couldnt see any of them taking the pass. One had to be operated by a keyboard, while you rode, and in traffic. They cost a mint.
There were new guys, by that I mean guys who never made anything but ebikes. Some are out to save the planet, even if you never get anywhere. Some make factory floor cruiser trikes, and a bike or two with two wheels and a motor. Some are gonzo. One reportedly took the most powerful motor he could find and stuck it on the cheapest bike he could get, and the motor ripped the bike to shreds. One makes every kind of imaginable bike, and with all kinds of motors, but didnt have the endurance.
Then I came across the Pedego Interceptor. The bike is not brand new. What I read in the older reviews, and saw in the older pictures was the same bike. Its solid, as much that 1912 motorcycle with a 2012 propulsion system as you can get. It has purpose. You get big fat tires. You get a springer seat post and a springer sadle that is softer than a hotel bed. You get cushy grips. You dont get four pistons in the frame and four more in the fork. It rides on the boulevards and side streets and country roads effortlessly, or you can pedal some, get your moderate cardio in and still cruise past those poor folks stuck on sunset boulevard getting mad at the world.
It has a THROTTLE. You turn the grip and you get a little help from the motor, or you can stop pedaling and get a lot. Do what you want. Youre sittin on the thing, pedaling along at your target heart rate, getting exactly what you came for. Thats on the flats or climbing a mountain pass. All the while, youre fairly sure youll never run out of power. If you get tired, or close to work and want to cool down, you stop pedaling and let the throttle do the work.
It has locks, yknow, those things with little metal keys. The battery has a lock that shuts off the battery in one position, and unlocks it from the mount so you can carry it off in another. I needed that. Theres another little lock at the rear of the drum brake mechanism. That locks the rear wheel. And nobodys gonna swipe your electronic combination from your remote. Some of the twentieth century is worth keeping. Im still using my trusty U-lock. Heck, I could even get one of those 20lb chains. Its not like I have to haul the thing around with pedal power alone.
As I said, I have bikes . . . and bags, and lights, and a helmet, and gloves. Good news: all that stuff works. Its sturdy, but its still a bike, and Im putting my 15 dollar cateye cycle computer on it, as soon as I get to the drug store to get the cheapo watch battery it runs on. Threw on my handlebar bag. Sweet. Mounted my little rearview mirror on my glasses. You want to see behind you at 20 miles per. I hoisted the bike up on my shoulder and carried it down the stairs. All that bulky aluminum is really pretty light, especially if you leave the battery behind for a second trip, or just carry it in the other hand.
I emailed the company last night, had a technical question. I usually send my emails at eight or so in the evening and expect an answer in a month. One of the owners reads my email and responds at 10:39 PM! By the way, you can drape saddlebags over the battery, no sweat. Don said so, and he would know. It may not be exactly the same, but it felt like calling apple and getting Steve Jobs on the line in 1983.
I know what you might be thinking: Sure, its Christmas afternoon and the kid is still in love with his toy and having wide awake visions of sugar plums. Except Im cruising up on 57. And wonder ain't as easy to come by as it used to be. Ive been working over this get some exercise, get away from the pump, do it with a little style and have some fun thing for . . . four years now. Ive seen and ridden good, and this is it.
I have a frugal colleague. Nice man. Smart, careful, never wasteful or foolish. He rode it, looking for all the world like a kid havin' the time of his life. He asked me what it ran, out the door. I said 26. He stroked his jaw, looked at it, looked off, probably calculated the gas, figured the exercise and the maintenance, and said Thats really good.
Now Im going to unplug my charger from the wall socket, toss it in the handlebar bag and head for home, over the pass, or who knows, maybe Shoot Topanga Canyon. . . thats after another colleague gets a turn or two around the parking lot. I think he wants one.
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