67 Years Old Rides Electric Bike for First Time! You Won't Believe What Happens! Step Thru Ebikes

Speaker 1: Okay, we are here with Anna. She's going to try the simple step-through, and this is her first time on a two-wheel e-bike, but she's ridden an electric tricycle before. And how old are you, Anna?

Anna: I am 67. I'm sorry. 66.

Speaker 1: 66.

Anna: I forgot.

Speaker 1: And how tall are you?

Anna: I'm five foot six.

Speaker 1: Five foot six. Okay, cool. So yeah, if you want to try to get on and see how the seat height is, get the low step-through here, so it's nice and easy to mount.

Anna: It could probably be a little bit lower, I think.

Speaker 1: Okay. So go ahead and hop off and I'll lower it down for you. So it's a quick release.

Anna: Well, that's better.

Speaker 1: Better?

Anna: Yep.

Speaker 1: When's the last time you've been on a two-wheel, just a regular bike?

Anna: I don't remember.

Speaker 1: Probably more than 5 years, 10 years?

Anna: Probably more than 20 years.

Speaker 1: Okay. Okay, cool, cool. So that'll be your first time back on a bike in a while. So let me walk you through everything. So everything's the same as a bike. The motors in the rear hub. Your battery you saw is back there. These right here are gears like for a normal bicycle. So you have seven speeds, and you're in gear six right now, which I may want to downshift for you when you get going because it's going to be a little harder to pedal. And this is a twist shifter. So if you put your hand there, you shift up to shift up and twist down to shift down. You can't shift while you're standing still there.

Anna: Right. I was going to say, isn't that going to hurt the bike?

Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, if you kind of do... Go back to six, that'll be okay. Now we're back in the same gear we were in. But yeah, so I think maybe the best bet is you get up and try it without the electricity first. And then you have front and rear hand brakes just like on a normal bike.

Anna: This one's the front?

Speaker 1: Let me just confirm that with you here. This is your rear, and then your left hand is your front. And if that's too hard to pedal... And you may want to twist down to shift down, just to get into a little bit lower of a gear. Oh.

Anna: Down to five?

Speaker 1: I'm going to take a quick ride. I put it into first gear for her just so she can start a little bit easier.

Anna: That's better.

Speaker 1: Yep.

Anna: You want me... Which way to go? Left or right?

Speaker 1: Maybe right.

Anna: Just learning.

Speaker 1: Now when you try that hill the next time with the motor, you'll feel the difference. All right. Yeah, you can stop right here. Okay. Now I'll walk you through. Yeah, let's bring it up here so we're not on the decline. Make it a little easier. Okay. Now I'll walk you through everything electric. So this is your display and everything that's going to control everything with the electricity. Going to hold this down. Your display comes on. Now, this is your battery life, the speeds you're going, this is your level of assistance. We're going to put it in 0 because when I have it in 0 means it's off. This is a throttle. So this is a thumb throttle. So this works like a gas pedal. As hard as you push it is as fast as it goes. If this is all the way down, this thing's going to go 20 miles an hour.

Anna: Okay. Tap it lightly.

Speaker 1: Exactly. And for this to be engaged, this just has to be in 1. Okay?

Anna: Okay.

Speaker 1: So the throttle is not connected to the levels of assistance. Only the pedal assist is. So basically if this is in 1, you could use the throttle. At full power, it's just how much you push it. This goes up to level 5. Level 1 is your least amount. When you start pedaling, obviously if you go to 5, you're going to have the most amount of assistance. Now, keep in mind that in level 5, you can go at speeds of 28 miles an hour, so it's very powerful. So I would recommend just starting 1, you'll get a feel for it. And then I always recommend keeping it in 0 until you're on the bike mounted and ready to go, and you can go whichever way is easier for you. You can go left or right.

Anna: Okay, so this is the manual.

Speaker 1: Correct. That's just like normal bike gears. And so usually you'll use the gears on an e-bike, if you're going up a hill, you might want to be in first gear. Or when you start going fast and you have it in level 5 on the pedal assist, you want that to be in gear seven because it'll get harder to pedal and you can keep up with the assistance better when it's harder to pedal, if that makes sense. If you had it in level 1 and you were in assistance five, you'd be pedaling fast and the motor would be powering you more than your legs would be.

Anna: I see.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So it's in 0, so you can click it into 1.

Anna: You don't have to be moving to click it in.

Speaker 1: No, no. It's not like gears. You can just... Well, so here, don't do that. That's way too much if you're using the throttle. So put this in 1. So now everything, the throttle can be used, I recommend just starting pedaling like a normal bike, making a left-hand turn and making a big loop. And when you're in a straightaway, you can start to touch the throttle and get a feel for it. You're going to feel this kick in.

Anna: Okay, I felt it.

Speaker 1: Yep. And when you stop pedaling, the assistance stops. And yeah, you could try the throttle too, now. What do you think?

Anna: Wow, that has some power to it.

Speaker 1: Yeah?

Anna: That is probably the smoothest I've ever felt. On that... Take me a bit to get used to it because I haven't been on one of these, but that feels-

Speaker 1: And you were just in 1, right?

Anna: I was just in 1. So I definitely would need a little practice getting used to the gears and stuff. But no, that was smooth.

Speaker 1: You can take another lap around if you want.

Anna: I do.

Speaker 1: Yeah, go for it.

Anna: Might as well get used to it. Better the second time around.

Speaker 1: Getting easier?

Anna: Yeah. Yep. My feet are still too short. But no, I can't believe the difference in power in that.

Speaker 1: And this is a 500-watt, some of them go up to 750.

Anna: I probably wouldn't need that right now.

Speaker 1: No, I agree with you. Yeah.

Anna: I mean, it's just like you're hardly working. I like it.

Speaker 1: We also designed the frame, so it's got an easy step-through to get your leg on and off easily.

Anna: Much better.

Speaker 1: So overall, you liked it?

Anna: Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's no comparison to what they used to be like. I like it.

Speaker 1: What was the most challenging thing for you to get used to?

Anna: For me, it's going to be getting used to using the gears.

Speaker 1: Like the actual bike gears or the pedal assist levels?

Anna: The pedal assist levels.

Speaker 1: Got it.

Anna: Getting to learn how to do those since I've never done them before. So that's going to be my learning curve.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And how was it with the throttle?

Anna: To be honest, I didn't do the throttle very much because it was going too fast. I mean, I didn't need the speed here, so I didn't have to use the throttle. So this is pretty cool.

Speaker 1: Cool. All in all though, fairly easy, you think.

Anna: Oh my, once I get used to it and you're getting more comfortable with the balance type thing, then no.

Speaker 1: And you haven't been on a bike in 20 years.

Anna: Yeah.

Speaker 1: It's crazy. Cool. All right. Well, there's Anna's first experience on an e-bike. She loved it. She rode the simple step-through. And if you want, you can hop on, and take another lap around.

Anna: All right. Nice.

Speaker 1: Enjoy the ride.