(electric) biking Oakland, part 3

plus 48 lbs.

Yesterday I started taping and mudding in the dining room, and quickly ran out of paper tape and realized I was getting low on mud, too. Drywall mud is heavy. You can get small buckets (which don't go very far), or larger boxes, which weigh 48 lbs, or 5-gallon buckets which weigh a ton. So I pedaled over to Piedmont Lumber in search of more. I started to lock the e-bike to a railing display, and one of the guys in the yard said I didn't need to lock it. He joked that "He'd just ride it around the yard a bit." I told him that was fine as long as he didn't run over any nails.

I went in to get the tape and mud, and while I was doing that, the guy came in and asked, "Does that thing have a motor?". I replied in the affirmative, and he shouted back out to one of the other yard guys that he was right. So I went back out and told them about it. I went back in and paid, and came out to get my box of mud. Then another customer started asking me about it. He'd gotten two electric bikes at Costco that were on closeout, and found them a bit underpowered (similar to my experience trying electric bikes a couple years ago), but as they were on closeout, he got a good deal. I strapped all 48 lbs. of the box on the back, and off I went. It was definitely noticeable having the extra weight on, but more because of balance than slowing me down very much. Once I got to bigger hills, it did slow me down some, but I still made it up the hill to home.

Firestorm Memorial

Today I donated blood platelets at the Red Cross on Claremont, and I rode the bike again. Getting there is a snap as it's downhill, and it's scenic because I get to go past Lake Temescal for part of the ride. After that I went and exchanged a t-shirt I got at the Art & Soul Festival, (helpful tip, whether you're working in the electronic world or the physical one: security through obscurity doesn't work; putting your address on your website and printing it on credit card receipts is not obscurity), then headed for home. I rode past the Claremont Hotel, and then up old Tunnel Road. I stopped to look at the exhibit for the 1991 Firestorm, then up the hill from there.

I used to ride that way on a regular basis with my late friend Dave. He and I would hop on our bikes at his house in Rockridge after work, ride up old Tunnel Road, then hang out in the hot tub and drank beer. Cancer claimed Dave in 2006, and the Enron-induced energy crisis claimed the hot tub some years before that. So it was a trip down (or up, in this case) memory lane for me. It's by far the easiest way up the Oakland / Berkeley hills. It's also blessedly (almost) free of cars, so it's a great ride. With the e-bike, it was hecka fun, to say the least.

And because I was just asked about them, here's some more technical specs on the bike:

• 7 gears (Shimano shifter)
• front disc brake
• front shocks
  
• rear caliper brake
• 250 watt motor, 36V system
• removable lithium ion battery
• charging takes about 3 hours at 90 watts
• 700-1000 charge cycles

I used a Kill-A-Watt to see how much energy recharging used. The Pacific E-Bike website says 4-6 hours, but the times I've paid attention, it's been closer to 3. The battery is easily removable (though there's a small lock to keep it from being too easy), which makes charging a snap. Just tip the seat up and pull the battery out, and you can carry it inside to charge if you don't have power where you keep your bike.

I'm not sure how much the bike weighs; as I've noted it's more like a cruiser bike, and the battery definitely adds some weight. But it sounds lighter than the ones the guy got at Costco, and has more power and range to boot. And it's not so heavy it can't be ridden as a regular bike with the motor switched off.

Can you tell I like this bike?

Part 2
Part 1

(electric) biking Oakland, part 2

our e-bike

Our electric-assist bike definitely gets more attention than our regular bikes. A number of people have asked "is that an electric bike?" or the like, but the best (when I rode past them up a hill) was "what is that?". Most of the people who have asked about it are bike people of some sort, whether recreational or commuters. They're probably not the ones who would buy an electric bike for themselves, but they definitely recognized the benefits of it.

There's apparently some controversy over it, some 'snobbery' if you will, from regular cyclists, as evidenced in the article "Is my electric bike lame?" over on TreeHugger. But a reader of my first post about our bike pointed me to a study that suggests an electric bike is actually more energy efficient than a regular bike (PDF), unless you eat locally and low on the food chain, and your electricity is particularly un-green (e.g., coal.) To me, it's a no-brainer: every trip my wife or I take on the e-bike that would have been in a car (even our Prius) is a win, whether or not it's more efficient than a regular bike.

Our electric bike is from Pacific E-Bike in Berkeley. It cost $897 plus tax, which is considerably cheaper than a car. It's heavier than a regular mountain bike, more like a cruiser bike. But it's not so heavy I can't ride up a hill without the motor. I do notice the extra weight when I lift the bike up for stairs at BART or the like, but it's manageable. The range varies depending on how much you pedal, the hills involved, etc. I've ridden it to and from the Habitat building site, which is a 20 mile round trip, with 1000+ feet of climbing (mostly at the end, alas). I've ridden it to and from the grocery store, returning with a 12-pack of beer (a local Bay Area brew, of course) and two panniers full of groceries.

Is it lame? Not in my book. As I said in my first post, I used to ride more and was in better shape 10 years ago. But even then, I never rode my bike to the grocery store, and it was rare that I rode it as far as to the Habitat site and back. It's gotten my wife riding more. And every trip on the e-bike is one less car trip, and that's a win.

Art & Soul

gospel stage

Yesterday was the first day of the 2009 Art & Soul festival. The festival is going on today, too, from noon to 6pm. There are multiple stages with live music all through the event. My wife and I checked out Shawn Colvin on the rock stage and caught part of Men of Endurance on the gospel stage.

There are also lots of food and drink vendors, artisans selling all sorts of goods, and a variety of informational booths. Oaklandish has their truck there, with brisk t-shirt and hoodie sales.

community art

I think my favorite thing was the community art project. A basic background was painted, and the canvas divided into squares. Each person is given a small amount of blue paint or brownish paint depending on where in the image they're going to paint, and they paint whatever they want in their square.

free bike parking

I volunteered at the East Bay Bicycle Coalition free valet bike parking lot. Besides providing free and safe bike parking for the event, they're offering a deal on membership: for $20 you get discounts at 50 local bike shops plus their awesome bike map, plus a chance to win a fast commuter bike.

Check out more coverage in the Oakland Tribune.

signs: Broadway Motel

Broadway Motel

Wrapping up hotel/motel week in the signs feature (but by no means the last hotel or motel sign) is the Broadway Motel. Sorry for the late post, I was out to Habitat for Humanity today (and scouting for more signs on my way home.) Hope to see you tomorrow or Sunday at Oakland Art & Soul!

signs: Rio Motel

Rio Motel

Next to MacArthur BART is the Rio Motel. The sign is in excellent shape. It's got some classic elements of signs of the era: an arrow, the wobbly cloud shape, and a pen stroke font for "The Rio". If it weren't for the modern replacement windows, this looks like it could be the 50s.