Bike me

“A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Apr 02, 2025

I started writing this last December, right before I bought my Cannondale Tesoro X from Banks Bikes. With tariffs set to send the motor vehicle industry into turmoil and chaos, I figured it was time to stop editing and just publish this.

It’s Christmas and I am not going to watch Die Hard. I have never seen Die Hard. Because everybody has seen Die Hard. And if “everybody” does it, it’s unlikely I will do it. I don’t tend to follow the crowd. I don’t like crowds.

I also tend to like to do things the hard way, or the original way, or whatever way most people don’t want to do it. I note people are using knitting machines, or magic loops, or shortcuts in general, and I am planning to learn nalbinding.

So if you expect to see me jumping on the latest trend, you’re probably going to be disappointed. A trend I’ve watched grow over the past 5 years that had me particularly pinning my ears back is the use of ebikes. Ebikes annoyed me. Their bulky and bullying presence on trails irked me - imagine putting intense effort into a fast ride and then suddenly being overtaken by someone barely pedaling!

But then . . . a colleague started riding an ebike to work. I’ve cycled to my current job for about 5 years, and I tend to be alone in this, especially in the winter. But this colleague caught my attention. I wasn’t aware this individual was a cyclist, and when I asked about her new commuting choice, cycling wasn’t at the core of her decision. It was convenient, inexpensive, and gave her an opportunity to get some exercise built into her workday. Using an ebike for transportation is not just for cycling enthusiasts. It’s for anybody.

My colleague got me thinking - I’ve been trying for the past several years to use my car less, and my bicycle and public transit more. Our local public transit leaves much to be desired with respect to routes and scheduling - the closest bus stop is a kilometer from my house and down a steep grade - which means coming home is UP a steep grade. Fine for commuting and picking up a gift or two downtown, but not practical for getting a week’s groceries or carrying anything substantial.

There are other errands within 20 km that I would like to do by bicycle but require heavy or awkward gear, or are not something I want to show up to needing a change of clothes. And then there’s the time. I’d bike but I don’t have time. Not today, and then not ever. Especially if I have to shower and change clothes when I get back home.

And all this got me thinking about ebikes. The sale and use of ebikes has grown exponentially in the past 3 years. I see them everywhere, all the time, when the weather is amenable. If I had an ebike, I could easily haul groceries and heavy cargo up that steep hill. I could get to Port Williams or Canning or Wolfville quite quickly and probably not have to shower and change when I got back.

At the end of fall I went to my friendly neighbourhood bike shop, Banks Bikes in Wolfville, to have my gravel bike tuned up and readied to go on the trainer for winter. I walked in and found myself surrounded by ebikes. I asked if they sell a lot of them, and learned that 50% of their sales are now ebikes, and it’s growing. They sold 88 Norco Indies last year alone. They also carry Cannondale and other brands of ebikes.

So I asked the ultimate question: if I ride an ebike, am I old?? The shop owner assured me riding an ebike does not make me old - he has one himself and he’s fit, a great cyclist, and probably young enough to be my kid. Phew.

So I started looking for an ebike. I know a lot about buying a conventional bike, but nothing about ebikes. The sheer number of choices out there speaks to the popularity of this mode of transport. Companies that have never built a bicycle before are suddenly building ebikes. Walmart has its own brand. New companies are out there that build nothing but ebikes. How to choose? What features are important? Some Googling was in order, and then back to Banks Bikes.

Shop owner Colin was quick to say that the quality of the battery is probably the most important consideration when choosing an ebike. Lithium ion batteries are great in many ways - they charge quickly, they hold a lot of energy, they don’t develop “memory”, they don’t leak, and they can be recycled and reused. But they can be dangerous, too: there are about 6 ways lithium ion batteries can ignite, including overcharging and heat exposure, but the ones important to keep in mind when choosing an ebike are design and construction related. Quality ebikes have quality batteries, and bike shops are taught to service the batteries and electronic systems of the bicycles they sell. Bike shops actually are reluctant to service brands they aren’t familiar with, for safety and insurance reasons.

You may have heard reports of fire services across North America having to upgrade equipment and provide special training for fighting electric vehicle fires. That’s because of the lithium ion batteries that power EVs (and ebikes). According to one report (https://qbecanada.com/media/2sansqrq/lithium-ion-batteries-increased-adoption-overlooked-risks.pdf ), the London Fire Brigade declared ebikes “London’s Fastest Growing Fire Risk”. Buying a new (or used) ebike from a reputable manufacturer is the best way to avoid having a bomb in your basement or garage.

But suddenly, there’s another motivation to turn to an ebike for transportation: tariffs. From the sounds of all the reports, new cars and car parts are going to increase significantly in price. This will also drive up the cost of used cars. We need an alternative to cars. Instead of frantically trying to save the auto industry, why can’t we as a nation invest in 1. active transportation infrastructure (I have an ebike but now I have to nag the municipality to build safe places to park it); 2. mass transit infrastructure; 3. downtowns as spaces to live (affordably) and work and play? What if Canada became a world player in building ebikes (we have aluminum and lithium, after all)? The market is huge and growing. Maybe we need to stop trying to save the old system and create a new one.

Places My Bicycles Have Been

Bike me

“A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.” Martin Luther King Jr.