Yesterday’s electric bike event at Redbridge attracted both the crowds and a rare dose of early spring sunshine.
Organised by Kudos Cyles, the electric bike test day is in its second year of what is now planned to be a regular, annual event with next year’s test day at Redbridge already confirmed.
The idea behind the test day is to open up the number of electric bikes that potential customers can try out to make sure they buy the perfect bike for their needs. Dave Elderfield told Pedelecs “So many customers go down to their local bike shop, have a very limited choice of e-bike and end up buying a bike which may not be suitable, whereas at Redbridge there were over 100 bikes to test.”
Redbridge is £4.5 million state of the art cycling centre, boasting a large, purpose-built circuit, which is hilly in places enabling you to see what the bikes can do. This road circuit has been designed specifically for bike racing away from the traffic on public roads.
Dave Elderfield, of Kudos, rates Redbridge Cycling Centre as ‘best test track I know, anywhere in Europe’ for testing electric bikes. In attendance and offering test rides of their bikes this year were Kudos, GoCycle, Crank Cycles, Woosh, Cycleezee and Cyclecharge to name but a few.
As this year’s event proved so popular, Kudos Cycles hope that the balance of leading e-bike traders will also come on board for 2014, to mark the test day as a new ‘National Electric Bike Day’.
The track remained busy for the duration of the afternoon, with many traders saying that once someone has tried an electric bike they’re hooked. One forum posted summed up the spirit of the day by saying “Thanks for an amazing afternoon. Really enjoyed testing all the bikes and it has given me an idea of what to look for.”
Kudos told Pedelecs they’re back on the road again this weekend: “We are off to the Derbyshire Peak District this weekend (Saturday 13 April), then Hambleton Peninsula, Rutland Water (Saturday 20 April) and the Eden Project, Cornwall (20-24 April), taking our bikes to the people!”
