Saturday saw several prominent electric bike brands exhibiting on Great Yarmouth’s sea-front.
Cromer-based Electrifying Cycles co-organised the event and exhibited several electric bike brands alongside Momentum, Byocycles, A2B, Batribike and FreeGo Wisper.
Yarmouth, busy with day-trippers, hosted a safe test area of pavement along the beach front for the many that tried one.
David, Director of Electrifying Cycles, told Pedelecs: “Despite poor weather to start, the day brightened up almost as much as the beaming smiles of the people test riding the electric bikes. It is always great to see people so positive about cycling, particularly if they have not ridden a bike for a while.”
Chris Gray, of A2B, summed up the day by saying it was a case of “typical British weather – but mixed with a lot of “e-Bike Smiles” in-between the showers and sunshine. It was fantastic to see so many different bikes turn up and smiling faces whizzing around the seafront of Great Yarmouth. The East Of England Show is a highlight in the electric bike calendar, despite the showers and sheltering under gazebos, feedback was excellent and the awareness of electric bikes has definitely increased. There were lots of questions and consumers willing to give e-bikes a try and it was good to see all the different attendees coming together to support the east coast and the local dealers.
Andreas, of Momentum, exhibiting the Upstart and T Model, was firstly grateful to Electrifying for the time taken to organize the event since such days “reach out to a new crowd of people who have neither thought about, or tried, an electric bike.” He added that such ‘demo days’ enabled people to try out different bikes to discover what suits them best, so that ultimately more people switch to e-bikes as a form of transport.
One person test riding an e-bike from the Electrifying Cycles stand had never tried an electric bike until Saturday. She told Pedelecs “I got the hang of it straight away, it just gives you that extra bit of help. I’m wondering if my husband should have bought me one of these for Christmas instead of a normal bike.”
Ten minutes later, with the husband having also tried one, we left the couple discussing the prospect of ‘his and hers’ step-through e-bikes with Electrifying Cycles.
Batribike’s Sue Coulson also attended, alongside Transport Electric UK, a Batribike dealer co-organising the day’s event.
Sue agreed with the other exhibitors on the importance of continuing to bring e-bikes into the public eye in a more mainstream way. She said: “Some of the people who came to the show already knew what electric bikes were about, they had done their research and wanted to come along to see and try the bikes. Others had heard the term electric bike but really didn’t know how they worked, it was good to dispel a few myths and to see that lovely ‘electric smile’ as people tried one for the very first time.”
Alongside the Dash and Granite models, finished with striking orange and white frames, was Batribike’s new trike. Sue explained: “We have had a compact tilting trike in our range for some time and it has proved to be very popular. However a few customers who have not been bicycle riders in the past found that tilting mechanism was not for them. In response to this Batribike has launched the Trike-R, a rigid trike.”
Batribike were also showcasing their new bike carrier, having recently become the UK distributor for the Cykell bike rack. The rack holds two e-bikes (and up to 60kg bike weight). It has been design to lock on to and take off a tow ball with ease, with the locking mechanism indicating red or green to show you when the carrier is locked securely on to the tow bar.
FreeGo Wisper’s new, lightweight Raptor was also on display, while A2B’s latest model, the Obree, touched down in the UK just hours before the start of the show.
Chris, of A2B, explained that the bike is named after Graeme ‘The flying Scotsman’ Obree. He added that the bike offers “sports regenerative braking and pedalling, enabling riders to recharge the battery on-the-go, a sophisticated German propulsion system that provides up to 114km range, a super quiet high torque motor and smaller wheels for maximum comfort and manoeuvrability.” The Obree is the first of two A2B e-bikes to be designed and made in Germany, leading the move of their electric bike production from China to Germany,
Aimed at urban commuters, the Obree has been nominated for a British Design Museum ‘Designs of the Year Award’ and the German Design Council Award.
The robust, matt black looks and smooth power of the new Obree drew admiration. “The star of the show was undoubtedly the A2B Obree”, said David from Electrifying Cycles, adding that it has “a striking design and stunning performance” and that “the other bikes which caught the public’s eye were the FreeGo Raptor, which tips the scales at just 14kg and the range of Momentum Electric bikes for their simplicity and value.”
While the performance and benefits of the e-bikes on show spoke for themselves, David had a serious message for the government on the importance of improving the UK’s cycling infrastructure: “If we truly want more people to travel – and particularly commute by bike – then the government needs to embrace electric bikes.
“There is no doubt our cycle facilities pale in comparison to the likes of Denmark and Netherlands. The government needs to talk less and invest more money in cycling infrastructure if we are serious about going green and increasing cycling participation”.
