ElectricCyclist.com started with a simple idea – that more and more people in the U.S. and elsewhere would find themselves choosing electric-assisted cycling. Our intent has been to provide a home to an expanding community of electric cyclists in addition to those already served by the long-established hard-core ebike hobby sites.
The future continues to look bright for an expanding electric cycling community. Prices for good lithium-based batteries continue to drop (slowly) and the population of aging baby boomers with knees that could use a little boost continues to grow (steadily.) Increasing numbers of players are entering the ebike technology marketplace – bike makers and parts companies large and small, established ebike technology sellers, and lots of new entrants including several car companies. Far too many manufacturers are chasing new ebike business, and it’ll take some time for winners and losers to sort themselves out. With continued pressure on gas prices and continued focus on car-free and car-light living in many urban areas, there are plenty of reasons to expect the numbers of people using electrified rides to grow; it’s just a little early to bet on what brand names will be on their rides.
But over the last year or so the pace of actual change – on the road, in bicycle shops, and in ebike community sites – has seemed to be relatively modest. There are improvements in motors and batteries, but largely incremental ones. A few more ebike-oriented shops have opened, but not too many. More traditional bike shops have ebikes on the floor, but typically only one or two. My subjective impression has been of modest growth, quite possibly the calm before the storm.
We’re confident that we’ll see a future with lots more electric cycling for transportation and recreation, but based on recent experience we’re thinking that it might take a little while to get there, so ElectricCyclist.com will be hibernating for a while. We’ll check back from time to time, but we’re settling back to watch the ebike market mature for a while.
In the meantime, enjoy the ride (and feel free to let us know if you’re interested in electric cycling bumper stickers.)
Charlie