Neil Ridulfa of Energise e-bikes in St John’s Road, said they have proved incredibly popular in the area due to the many hills in the town that he said were, ‘the number one reason why people look at e-bikes’.
But he added that he cannot get enough supplies of the technological cycles to meet current customer demand.
“Production has never been able to catch up with itself,” he told the Times. “We’re in the process of putting together projections for next year, but it’s pretty difficult for us to predict. But we do expect sales to go up this year.
“A typical story is that they rent an e-bike on holiday, then come back and buy their first bike, a basic model. But if they use it for more than just going to the post office or around town, they come back and go for a more sophisticated model, with more mileage per charge.”
Neil said e-bikes, which boost the rider’s own pedal power with a lithium-ion battery and a small motor, are becoming mainstream and are even outsold electric cars in 2020.
Because e-bikes’ motors only work in conjunction with peddle power, this means e-bikes are legal, unlike the controversial e-scooters that are banned from roads and pavements in Kent.
He said that journeys that are too long by traditional cycle can be accomplished by e-bike.
“Lots of customers do a variety of trips, but if they commute, it could be ten miles both ways, up to 20 miles. Suddenly, a long journey that you would have taken by car becomes a nice energising journey by e-bike,” said Neil, adding they also help people that struggle on a conventional cycle.
“You might be protecting a knee injury or a back injury but don’t want to sit on the sidelines. Also, you don’t want every bike ride to feel like the Tour de France!”
He added around 70 miles of assisted riding costs about 10 pence of electricity.
“But you can turn up the power ‘assistance’ in order to cycle into work with a ‘glow’ rather than sweating”, explained Neil, adding: “And you can stay in that glowing spot, no matter what the terrain.”
