VBikeBlog

VBike Riders Show What it's Like to Reboot the Bike in Vermont

6/5/2018

Wendy Levy leading the pack on Flat St. This is what rush hour in Brattleboro will look like in 5 years!

A great crew of VBike supporters gathered to ride in the Strolling of the Heifer parade on Saturday, June 2nd. We totally showed solid bike diversity - electric longtail and midtail cargo bikes, a solar-electric cargo bike, e-bikes, converted e-bikes, an e-bakfiets (made by Fhar Miess), folding bikes, bike trailers (one carrying hay), a chicken biker (see below), a bunch of great kids on bikes with their parents and more.

That's Dave Cohen on VBike's extraordinary electric Yuba Mundo with a powerful e-assist. This bike can go anywhere at any time with its 1000 lumen front light. Behind is Fhar Miess' unique and handmade (by him) electric bakfiets.

You can't imagine how many folks still talk about the time we showed up at the Stroll in 2014 with a bunch of great bikes. After Saturday's showing we've already received numerous emails and phone calls from Brattleboro residents wanting to shift up to the bike and get a free bike consultation from us. It's all about car-reduction therapy!

Nothing like an e-cargo bike with a potent message! Actually, riding a great e-cargo bike like this is irresistible.

Uber kid activist, Lucy Mnookin, decorating the family electric cargo bike. Kids these days...

Quite a number of the Brattleboro area cargo and e-bike people had other competing commitments in the parade (marching with their kids' schools or some other org) and numerous bike inspired folks were out of town, but our showing was more than enough to get folks excited and thinking. We could have added at least another 15 or so e-cargo bikes and 50 some odd e-bikes (that would have violated the parade rules), but just take a look at these photos to get a sense of the fun and excitement we generated.

Sabrina Daigh Smith and Alaya on a VBike Yuba Boda Boda. Fahr Miess' e-bakfiets cargo bike is in the background.

As the number of bikes of all kinds rises in Brattleboro there will be ample opportunity to provide the community with rides like this to showcase the bicycle as a viable form of mobility. On Sept 8th VBike and 350 Brattleboro are planning a major day of action around transportation. It will be a great opportunity to do this again with an even larger crowd of riders. But now for more pics from Saturday...

The crowd taking in Rachel and Cody riding on a Bike Friday Haul-a-Day with e-assist

More of Rachel, Cody and part of the VBike gang.

Katie and Jubilee riding their e-cargo bike while Rolf "The Bike Chicken" with a Hilltopper e-assist kit eggs her on.

So, what do you say? Would you like to see more of this in Vermont? How do you think we can make that happen? But before you answer, here's some more pics...

Sheila on her e-Mundo & Eddie on an e-Madsen look on.

Wendy Levy's nicely converted e-bike. She's proud!

Karl Kemnitzer's amazing solar-electric cargo bike. The dude climbed Mt Washington on this yellow dream.

This trailer was attached to VBike's electric Yuba Mundo with a 1000 watt mid-drive e-assist. That's our banner.

That's the wrap up. We'd love to hear from you and for you to join this emerging mobility revolution that touches upon so many of the things we all want to see in the world. You know this is the future (the good one). And most of you already know our rap, so let's hear yours and stay tuned!!

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The Rolling of the Bikes Returns to Brattleboro

4/17/2018

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It was June 2014, at least a year before the realization and birth of VBike, a group of us organized a great showing bikes for the Strolling of the Heifers Parade...

Four years later folks are still asking about that mass of cyclists, remembering what fun it was to see such a large and diverse contingent of bikes, cargo bikes, e-bikes and other human-powered vehicles. We've been approached a number of times about when we might show once more. It definitely was an absolute blast and so the time has come for us to do this again! Come join us for the parade on Saturday, June 2nd at 8:30 (details on the staging area will be available later).

Check out below an amazing slideshow from 2014

The big difference is that we now have so many more families, households and individuals taking to the streets and bringing this human-scale type of mobility to our community. There are at least 120 residents in the Brattleboro area that have some sort of e-bike, including some 23 electric cargo bikes. VBike wants to grow this even faster and the Heifer parade is an excellent way to show the community what is happening.

This is also a great way for us to connect as a growing community of folks that are the pioneers in what is emerging as a revolutionary mobility movement. Whether it is for the exercise, concerns around climate change, resisting being colonized by the power matrix of car or fossil fuel corporations, wanting to make our communities more livable, your sanity or some, all or other reasons, this is a an absolutely superb gathering to come join.

Let us know at info@vbikesolutions.org if you are planning to join us. The parade is on Saturday, June 2nd & we'll meet at around 9 am. The parade starts at 10 am. The theme this year is May the Farms Be With You, so if you can dress the part, whatever that might mean, go for it!

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April 15th, 2018

4/15/2018

E-Cargo Bike Mom Talks Vermont Car-Free Joy

4/13/2018

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Listen to Brattleboro's Laura Goldblatt talking about her Madsen cargo bike outfitted with a 1000 watt Bafang BBSHD mid-drive motor. She covers everything about her bike, the experience of riding, lights, vestibular stimulation (wow!) and how drivers respond to her.

VBike helped Laura's family find the right cargo bike for their needs and consulted with them on outfitting it with an e-assist kit would work well with the Madsen. It was a blast working with them and now it's just pure joy watching them out is the real world. You know, the world we actually live in!

Check this out...

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A Tree-Based E-Cargo Bike Grows in Putney

4/6/2018

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Last month, VBike received an email from a guy announcing that he was in the process of designing and building a cargo bike made out of local wood. We just have to say that most folks that tell us something like this our reaction is a sort of "wait and see." We try not to pass judgement, but we’ve heard plenty of things that just haven’t come to fruition, or even remotely close. How about an electric bike that can haul 500 lbs and made out of discarded pistachio shells. Seriously folks.

However this is different - this is Ward Ogden. Ward is a master woodworker and carpenter and has put his enthusiasm and mind to the idea of wood and bicycles. To date he has to his credit a badass gravel grinding bike he made out of, yes, wood. Just check this out. This bike rocks, if that could be said of a bike frame mostly made from tree-based material.

The thing we especially like about Ward is that he has a nicely balanced and refreshing vision of bikes. He believes that bicycles can not only be great fun, but that they can also be profoundly useful, serious, yet joyful transportation. And so it's time for us to move beyond the bike as only recreational and start looking at replacing as many car trips as possible. Being in the world, engaging our bodies and connecting with the terrain is so much more "Vermont" than confining ourselves as well as our experience of our great state and our blessed communities inside an automobile. That’s the message that VBike has been working to bring to Vermont in introducing new bike designs and technologies to our state. We're changing the landscape of the bike!

So, Ward is now not only designing a cargo bike with a frame mostly composed of wood, but he is going to electrify it. Where he lives in Putney there's a bit of climbing to do to get home from jobs or errands downtown, so Dave Cohen at VBike had the pleasure to sit down with him to discuss e-assist options for the bike. We have to tell you, Ward is on fire about the whole process of designing and making this, but he is not just thinking about this one prototype. He is eyeing the idea that he may even develop this into a small business. With the fast growing popularity of electric cargo bikes on the market, Ward believes he might find a niche here. This is the sort of thing that we at VBike love to see grow in Vermont.

However, from here on we'll leave it to Ward to describe some pics he sent to us. Some of what follows is a bit technical, but we thought you might like to hear from him in his own words.

We can’t wait to see how this will turn out!

Evidently, Winter isn't over because this weekend I started designing a wood e-assist cargo bike for Maria and I. The idea is to do more of our errands fossil fuel free, and since our PV panels generate WAY more power than we use, an electric Bakfiet style cargo bike looks like the ticket. We have 3 miles of climbing getting back to our house, with an average grade of 5.5%, and the last half mile being closer to 8%, so e-assist will be necessary. The frame will (may?) be constructed out of four main bent wood structures, plus seat and chain stays. For a motor drive, a Bafang BBSHD looks like the affordable option, and I'll need to build the 52v, 20ah battery myself from individual 3500 mah cells. Of course as I learn more, this may all change!

After spending a week away riding in NC, I am back to chipping away at the cargo bike. This morning I pulled out the rear module from the forms and put the second rear half in. Here you can see the mocked up top half. There will be an equally thick component that will run continuously underneath these pieces. The resultant "beam" will be 3x3 inches, which will be rounded over and routed out. The wood is ash, cherry and walnut and is courtesy of Mark Tarmy at Vermont Plank Flooring (www.vtpf.com)

In other news, I have decided on the electric drive unit, Bafang BBSHD mid-drive that has pedal assist. It will require a bit of fussing in the BB area, since there are clearance issues, but it shouldn't be too hard to adapt and offers all the power and features I am looking for.

This morning I pulled half of the bakfiet frame out of the form with all three main components epoxied together. I have had concerns about how vertically rigid the frame would be, so wanted to conduct a VERY rudimentary static test. I placed the frame on two 44mm tall blocks, clamped one end to keep it from tipping over and then proceeded to place 320 pounds of tractor suitcase weights on it. I was stoked to see that there was virtually zero deflection. I am sure that a micrometer would have picked up plenty, but for my purposes, the number is zero. The moment arms at both ends will be greater once the chain and seat stays, along with the forks come into play, but this gives me confidence it will be strong enough. The beam will be 3x3 inches, routed out and rounded over once done. At this point, there is no carbon fiber reinforcement, but I will likely add some to the bottom bracket area later on.

VBike will be keeping tabs on this project and we'll be back with more as Ward's amazing project develops!

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Vermont Electric Bike Report & Why VBike is So Worked Up!

3/18/2018

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After a bit of waiting and some suspense, the Vermont Electric Bike Report is here. Generated by a nicely crafted online survey that VBike helped with and disseminated in 2017, this report is an exciting snapshot of what we at VBike consider to be an early stage of an e-bike revolution in Vermont. The findings are impressive and we firmly believe that as this phenomenon develops, bringing a fun, socially connected and ecologically sane form of mobility to our state, that it will have a profound impact on how we look at our communities and the infrastructure we build. It's already happening and so we're sticking the plan!!

While the VT E-Bike Report is really important, we hope you'll bare with us here for a bit as we place our work and the report in greater context... You probably already know (namely because we've mentioned this a few times before) that VBike is so much more than about "bikes." Our big question continues to revolve around how we can live and move around on this beautiful, yet radically endangered planet and be far more in tune and aligned with the places and locales we inhabit. And so our work has a lot less to do with paying allegiance to any particular technology, but more towards solutions that can generally help us to be more connected to the world as well as to our own selves.

VBike promotes electric bikes, electric cargo bikes and other hybrid human/electric powered vehicles (and walking and biking in general) not because we are a "bike organization", but because we are an organization that is deeply concerned about how the unbridled and indiscriminate application of the automobile is eroding the world. We certainly believe that the automobile has its place and in no way are we saying that it has to go. That would be foolish (especially in Vermont), but we do completely challenge the unchecked and eccentric use of it and how it is applied. Furthermore, we take a firm stance on how absurdly normal it has become to undermine of our communities, landscapes, soundscapes, biosphere and all the species with whom we share this planet. We also shed our light on how "automobilism" is driving us to disengage from our own bodies, senses and emotional attachment to the human and more-than-human world.

And now, with the coming invasion of the "self-driving carbots", we feel that it is imperative that there is an organization that can demonstrate ways we can transport and organize ourselves on this terrain we inhabit that makes sense and that has a vision of what a human-scale community looks like. We're completely cognizant that we are up against a profoundly deep colonization and ideological trance perpetuated on us by car companies and fossil fuel execs and now purveyors of artificial intelligence and so many others. They feed off of us.

Look around you and witness it nearly everywhere on our land, in the air, when you step out the door, what you hear. Notice it in the media and advertising, what our infrastructure tells (our perhaps screams at) us what to do and how it's shaping us all physically and mentally. These corporate and technological entities are tirelessly at work enlisting us to violate our own world and communities, while we desecrate our atmosphere and throw our climate into chaos. And all this while we abandon our bodies, deny much of our relationship to the Earth, and cloud our potential for a deeper inner and outer sense of who we actually are. What's the endgame?

We are sold the promise of great freedom, comfort, speed and all that jazz at a profoundly horrendous cost for us & our children. Chances are that most of us know that at some level. Perhaps that awareness sits at the far end of the threshold of our own minds, bodies and understandings. And that's precisely how colonization works - it exiles our imagination and our potential to reclaim our dignity. Colonization sucks the life meaning out of the world and out of us.

So, now that we got that straight, you know that VBike's work centers on helping Vermonters to authentically show up, reengage our bodies, celebrate our interdependence and dignity and start moving towards creating human-scale communities and local living. The more of this the better!! But perhaps you already knew that, so now let's talk more about the report...

See the full Vermont E-Bike Report by clicking here.

One of the coolest things the Vermont E-Bike Report points to the fast growth of electric bikes in Vermont. First, if you look at the image to the right you should notice the large red splotch on the lower part of the Vermont map. That's not actually the decommissioned VT Yankee leaking, but a representation and indicator of the high number of folks riding e-bikes and e-cargo bikes in the Brattleboro area, right where VBike has been most active. You'll notice Brattleboro rivals that "big city" to the north. VBike has also done many consultations with Burlington area residents and we're about to do a lot more as the innovative e-bike subsidy program and E-Bike Lending Library gets officially rolled out in May. More on that real soon...

Crack open the report and you'll see for yourself that folks are predominantly using their bikes for commuting and errands. That means a lot of automobile miles being displaced by bikes which also translates into people using their bodies and actually functioning in the real social and ecological world. And among other things of interest in the report, it's great to see e-cargo bikes getting named and understood for what they can do for families and households.

For those of you interested in how the project got started, here's the story...Back in late 2016 VBike was contacted by Nicole Carpenter of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation about the idea of conducting an electric bike survey in Vermont. We thought it was a great idea and encouraged them to move on it. VBike provided assistance with the development of the survey and then reached out to our greater community in the state to as many folks as possible to participate.

Towards the middle of last year Nicole got a great gig to go off to South America and left the project in the hands of Tom McCarrran. We think that Tom did a great job and he has made a point that we should all recognize that this project would not have been possible without the generous support of Efficiency Vermont and Burlington Electric Department. Thanks y'all.

Tell us what you think about the Report and anything else you read here. Let's get thinking & feeling, doing, decolonizing our bodies and common sense and get more connected to this great world and state we share together.

Now that's so much better.

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VBike Selling Awesome Electric Yuba Boda Boda

2/23/2018

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VBike needs to sell this absolutely beautiful e-cargo bike, outfitted with a host of accessories. Our Boda Boda is customized with a Bafang 750 watt BBS02 mid-drive e-assist motor with 9 levels of assist, throttle, walk mode, great display (with backlight) and a gear sensor. The bike also has an awesome lighting system that is tapped into the main battery. The light kit includes a 1000 lumen front light with a on/off handlebar switch and a rear light that can be seen from a mile away. This bike is the full package! See more pics below...

VBike is asking $3200.

At this price, our customized Boda Boda is a better deal than any stock e-cargo bike you can purchase given all the accessories and great features we are including. This bike in like new, has about 300 miles on it and can climb virtually any hill, even with kids on board. We'll even include a set of lightly used, top-notch Schwalbe studded tires (worth $150) for winter riding!

Here's what we have on this beautiful bike -

- Bafang BBS02 e-assist system & 48 volt 10 ah battery - $1250 new
- Thumb Throttle - great for getting started on hills & kids on board or taking control of the road
- Lekkie Bling Ring (a major improvement over the stock Bafang chainring) - $80 value
- Gear Sensor - $45 new
- Fully integrated lighting system (See pics) - $300 new
- Front "Bread Basket" - $180 vnew
- Hold on handlebars (for kids to hold on in the back) - $60 new
- 2 Soft Spot Pads for the kids - $60 new
- Leg Up Bars for those smalled kiddos - $30 value
- Bamboo deck and running boards - $140 new
- Tire flat protection - $30 value
- Baguette Bag - totally upgraded waterproof bag - $150 new
- Side view mirror - $15 value

This electric Boda Boda is part of fleet of bikes owned and maintained by VBike, a non-profit bike advocacy organization in Vermont. Check out www.vbikesolutions.org. We sadly need to let go of the bike to cover some of the expenses we have incurred from developing our bike fleet.

Email us at info@vbikesolutions.org if you are interested.

All proceeds go to VBike and our effort to "reboot the bike" in Vermont!

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Can Skiing and E-Cargo Biking Go Together?

1/28/2018

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Linda Bailey looking like what more Vermonters should look like. Note the big front e-assist hub motor, ski tube, side view mirror, bags, fenders awesome Vermont attire, and Green Mountain State smile.

Meet Linda Bailey of Brattleboro. VBike worked with her to figure out which e-cargo bike would work for all the errands, work and the fun stuff she does around town. After trying out several cargo bikes she landed on a Juiced Bikes ODK U500 e-cargo bike with a powerful front hub motor, step-thru frame and a great upright position. She purchased her ride at the Brattleboro Bikes where they have an impressive and growing selection of e-bikes and conversion kits.

Linda is now seen all about town gliding up hills, carrying loads, and just looking like she is having a good ol' time. She says that "now trips to and around town for groceries, or other errands, or even heading to work in local gardens, can be done more often on 2 wheels. It certainly is great for knees that were not appreciating the local hills so much, and adds a sense of doing something that is good, and fun, under one's own power."

What else does she use her e-cargo bike for? She's a regular at the farmer's market, she goes to the bank (you can carry lots of money on this bike :o)), goes to the hardware store, and even picks up heavy bags of grain from a local farm. She reports that she can can now cover "a much wider area, with no weight hauling considerations and issues with hills compared to when I was doing it all my own power."

Can you imagine what it would be like if more Vermonters were like Linda?

But perhaps one of the coolest things about her bike is the special tube that mounts on the rack, allowing Linda to carry her x-country skis to the Brattleboro Outing Club and other locations. She said that she very much appreciates Brattleboro Bikes for helping to design and build the attachment for the tube. And we just have to say that Linda really looks so totally rad heading off for local adventures. What do you think? She also uses this setup for "garden jobs" she manages in the area. Linda says she can can fit a bucket and hand tools easily on the rack, and a few long-handled tools (like a rake, hoe, spade) can go in the tube.

Linda has gone as far as Brookline (36 mile round trip) and Putney (20+ mile round trip). The e-cargo bikes from Juiced Bikes are outfitted with extremely high performance batteries that can take a rider somewhere between 40 to 60 miles, depending on the weight you are carrying, how much you pedal and other factors. She notes that she especially loves the range capacity.

VBike is so thrilled to have folks like Linda as ambassadors of such a truly "Vermont Strong" way to move around. She says she'll soon be adding on a front basket and some additional lights to make her bike even more useful. And Linda is really enthusiastic about the future possibilities with her e-cargo bike and is "looking forward to many more miles of biking."

If you see her out there, let her know how cool you think she is!

And if you have a story and pictures you would like to share with us and the VBike community, please let us know. We want to tell your story!!

Linda's holiday card. That's her husband, Edwin, sitting on the rack.

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Winter E-Cargo Biker Front Page News Redux

1/22/2018

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Yeah, we've written a bit about Cynthia a few times here, but this pic of one of our great e-cargo bike moms just needs to be seen. This was front page news in the Brattleboro Reformer during our last beautiful cold snap. There are some other great examples we'll be showing you soon of some amazing new winter riders being REALLY & TRULY "Vermont strong." Stay tuned...

Here, Cynthia is on her Yuba V3 Boda Boda with a 750 watt mid-drive and an integrated 1000 lumen light you see blasting in the front. It was way cold out there that day, but like a growing number of Vermonters, we're learning how to do this and ride, not hide from the world or from our stunning landscape and whatever cold comes at us. It's totally all about being in the world in a way that's completely aligned with being a Vermonter.

And really, this is sooooo Vermont....