E-Bikes & Bikes Customised to You
Hey, pedalers, it's Kathy again. I thought today I might show you, and talk to you a little about why I bought an e-bike and the things I considered when I bought it. I thought while I did that, I would take you on a little ride with me and maybe you can see how the bike works a little bit. Give me a minute. We'll get the phone set up on the bike and we'll get started.
Okay, so I have the phone set up on the bike. Now, this ride we're going to go on is one of the gentler rides that we do. Riding around a little lake that we live very near. It's fairly smooth. Now, as you can hear, I used my battery to start, but now I've shut it off.
You want to buy an e-bike, you think you might want to. Well, the first thing you do, and these are all just my opinions, of course, the first thing you do is your research. Then you look at the different brands of e-bikes that are out there. For me, I wanted something with a warranty. I wanted something that had good reviews and good customer service reviews. You may hear a bell here or there as I'm riding. We used bells to signal each other. My husband's riding with me. You may or may not see him. He's usually behind me, but we signal each other when a vehicle is either coming toward us, like that, or from behind us, and that way we just are a little extra cautious.
Anyway, look around, look at several companies, and different brands of e-bikes. I encourage you highly to make Sixthreezero one of your choices to look at. For me, I needed a bike that was comfortable. If I wasn't going to ride it, I wasn't going to buy it. It's a big investment. I'm 73, I've had two knee surgeries on my right knee, I have a titanium ankle, so I needed something, I needed an e-bike. Plus, we live in the Pacific Northwest near the Olympic Mountains. It's very hilly, with steep hills for the most part.
Now, this ride we're going on today is one of our favorites. The hills are much gentler and easier to maneuver. Although some of the hills we go on, maybe another time I'll be able to take you on one of our crazy rides.
Anyway, do your research. Look at different companies, different e-bikes, and different styles of bikes. For me, I wanted a step-through bike. I didn't want to have to try and swing my leg over a seat or a bar, I can't do that. The bike I chose is it's called an A/O Frida and it's a step-through bike. I know Sixthreezero has several different styles and types of step-through bikes.
It's called forward pedaling. What it is, I can sit up straight, I'm very comfortable on the bike, make sure of that. I don't want to race. I just want to ride for some exercise and to get out in the fresh air and see the sights. I want to be able to sit upright. My handlebar are fairly wide apart, which is what I wanted. I didn't want to feel like I was on a racing bike. Make sure when you look at bikes, make sure you think it's a bike you're going to be comfortable on so that you ride it.
Here's another thing. Does the company have a warranty? What if you get the bike and you don't like it? What if something's wrong with it? What if anything. Sixthreezero had a warranty which is one of the reasons I chose them. Very important.
At my age, I don't want to be fighting with the company if something goes wrong with my bike. I'll be honest, when my bike came, it had a damaged fender from shipping. No problem. Got hold of Sixthreezero, they replaced it pretty quick. No questions asked, no problem. That's the kind of company you want to deal with.
The other thing, consider the terrain where you're going to be riding. Again, it's very hilly, very steep, very rough roads for the most part where we ride. I don't want to ride on dirt. I'm terrified to ride on gravel so I stick to paved roads, but that's something you need to consider. Where are you going to be riding? What size battery do you want?
Now. I chose the 500-watt battery because of all the steep hills. Maybe if you're riding in an urban area and you're just riding in town and it's not real hilly, maybe you only need the 250-watt battery. For me, I am worried, we like to ride distance, so I don't want to get somewhere and be caught and have my battery go dead on me. I wouldn't be able to get back. Take that into consideration, the size of the battery you want.
Do you want a step-through bike? If you're like me and you can't get your legs maneuvered like you used to when you were a kid, then maybe you want a step-through bike. My husband actually chose a woman's bike because it was easier for him to get on and off. Who cares? At our age, we don't care. I don't care if it's a woman's or a man's, I just want it to be a bike that I'm comfortable with and that I will ride.
Coming down a hill here. Going to be on my brakes a little bit. Now you'll notice I'm still not using my battery. I will shortly, but right now I don't need to. I'm going to just coast up this next hill. This is a place we ride every day so we're very familiar with it. It's residential, it's pretty quiet. There's not too much traffic usually. Anyway, take all these things into consideration.
I really wanted someone with good customer service because I just I have got that. I have nothing but good to say for Sixthreezero customer service. They're very helpful, very good. Any questions I've asked them, and actually, you go onto their website. They have a design tool. What it does is it helps you for to you the bike that will work best for you. I hope those dogs are behind a fence. They are.
It asks you your height, your weight, your age, and what kind of riding you're going to be doing? When I filled mine out, I'm glad they were behind the fence. When I filled mine out they recommended, I think, five different bikes. I chose this one. It's got the lowest, at the time, had the lowest step through that suited me. I know they make others now, but this was the one I liked that I wanted.
Anyway, they will give you choices. After I saw my choices, the bikes were somewhat different from one another. We're coming up to a hill. I'm going to turn my battery on, I'm on level one. It has five levels and I'm on level one and I'm going to be in fifth gear going up this hill. Anyway, there were five choices. I emailed customer service and said, okay, I've never done this before, can you help me? How do I make my choice from these five selections you've given me?
Thinking back and were very helpful and said for the kind of riding I was going to be doing, which bike would be best? This is the one I chose. Very happy with it. My tires are a little wider than what you'd see on a normal road bike. They're kind of wide tires and I like that, it made me feel more comfortable. They have all kinds of choices. If you're unsure, you can ask them and they'll tell you. That was very important to me. The step-through, I know I keep talking about it, but it was probably one of the most important choices for me.
If you can keep one foot on the ground and get on your bike, with the other without being on your tippy toe, I can keep my foot flat on the ground and step through onto this bike. That's very comforting. At my age, I don't want to tip over. I don't want even think I might. If I had to stand on my tip toes and swing my body around and swing my leg up over the seat or a bar, that just wouldn't work for me. I think most of us are in this age group, and I know there's always exception, but most of us we're riding for pleasure and for exercise, not to race.
Look, I don't need to be cool. I don't care what people think. They see a chubby lady coming on a bike and think, oh my goodness, well, I don't care because I'm out here and getting fresh air. I'm getting exercise. I'm doing something I like doing. I had not ridden in over 50 years. I needed to know that I could ride this bike and that I would ride it. That's a big consideration. I'm going to be turning around here in a minute and we will be on gravel which I don't like so I'll do my best here. Turn around.
There we go. We generally ride this three times around. I won't worry with that whole thing. I'll just get you back to where we started in the beginning. Hopefully, I'm going to encourage you to consider an e-bike and to realize that it doesn't matter how old you are, or how much you weigh, if you're in shape, you're not in shape. I'm certainly not really in shape. You can probably hear, I'm using the battery right now. I know that going in this direction, there are more hills, but for some reason, it seems more uphill.
I will use the battery for now, but when we get back up to the flat part I will turn it off again and I'll give you heads when I do. Anyway, I highly encourage you to look at Sixthreezero as one of your choices. I have heard some pretty terrible stories about bikes where the frame broke, or different things happen to them and the companies don't stand behind them. Well, I know Sixthreezero does. Watch some of their YouTubes. They do YouTube and videos all the time with different people. You'll see people of all ages riding these bikes.
Where you're going to ride is another very important piece of this puzzle. You want an e-bike, where are you going to ride? Are you going to ride like me on these, these are paved roads, but they're chip and seal roads. They're not smooth for the most part. They're bumpy and rough. Are you in town, more urban where the streets are paved and smoother? Are you going to ride on the dirt? Are you looking to mountain bike? What kind of riding are you going to do? My riding is strictly for exercise and pleasure. We're all different. We all have different needs and wants and that's one of the reasons that design helper is so helpful.
I had no idea what to pick out. I haven't been on a bike in over 50 years. I was never on an e-bike. Morning. Honestly, I was never on a bike with gears. When I rode, we had no gears, it was strictly pedal power. We had coaster brakes, but we didn't have hand brakes. I had to be taught how to ride. Keep those things in mind. Are you going to ride with someone? I always ride with my husband or my daughters, I never ride alone. Keep that in mind where are you going to ride? Who are you going to ride with? That will help determine what kind of bike you want.
Here we go with the dogs in here. They just want to play, or maybe they want a bike ride. Anyway, those are the kinds of things I considered. I'll be honest. I wanted a bike that was good looking, cute. We get many compliments on these bikes. Does it have to be no, but there's all seem to be. It's kind of fun when you're riding around and people say, oh my gosh, I love your bike. Where did you get it? We get that all the time. People tell us they love our bikes.
I think it's partly because this community we live in is mostly older people and they think they can't do it. I'm telling you you can. If I can do it, everybody can do it. I'm going up a slight hill. I got a big one coming up. Now I'm still in pedal assist one, but I am going to go up to two and I'm going to, well I'm in fifth gear, I'll leave it in fifth gear. These are the kinds of things. This hill I've grown up with is moderate by our standards. As you can see, I'm kind of working at it. I could use more pedal assist but honestly, I want the exercise. Trying to strengthen my leg. Now I'll go right back down to the pedal-assist one.
Anyway, these are all the kinds of things you need to take into consideration is comfort, are you going to ride it? Where are you going to ride it? Does it have a warranty? Morning. Does the company get good reviews? Look at those reviews. They tell you a lot. Sorry, that got me a little winded. In a minute here, I'm going to go to zero on my battery assist so you won't hear my battery anymore. Consider not only the size of the battery but consider how the battery connects to your bike. I chose the battery that slides in behind the rear rack and underneath the rear rack.
The reason I did, if I ride somewhere, I want to stop and visit or I go to the store or whatever. I want to be able to take that battery out. The other thing is, if you're riding to work, ride to a friend's house and it's some distance, maybe you want to take your battery in and stick it in the charger. Plug it in for a few minutes. I've never had any problems with my battery, never had to do that, but you sure don't want to ride and get stuck without your battery. At least I don't.
Okay, that hill usually does me in. Getting close to our starting point here. I just want to encourage you. Regardless of your age, regardless of your physical fitness level, don't be afraid if you haven't ridden in many years, it doesn't matter. If I can do it, anybody can do it. It just takes a little time and patience to get used to it.
What I'm going to do is turn the battery on for a minute. Okay, you can see it kind of boosted me up, but what I want to do is hit the throttle control just to show you. I've heard people say, they think that this throttle control is going to jerk them backwards and jerk them off the bike and now I'm going to do it. I'm going to show you that it's just smooth. Here we go. As you see, there's no jerkiness, no pulling, no fear. It's just very smooth and all it does is give you a little boost.
Where we ride, there's a lot of wildlife, not just dogs. There are bears, deer, coyotes, and even dogs. We've had dogs chase us. It's nice to be able to get that throttle control and get yourself out of the way. That's something that was important to us.
All right, I'm going to shut that battery down again because I just don't need it here, I'm on a very smooth spot, get close to the end. Anyway, I want to say in this video that I am saying these things to you because I believe them. I don't need anybody, morning. If I didn't believe them, I wouldn't say them to you. I'm trying to show you that you can do this because I know I did it so I know you can do it and trying to encourage you.
If you're thinking you might want an e-bike, by all means, get one. I highly encourage you to go to Sixthreezero. Look at their design helper. I don't know exactly what they call it, but anyway, you'll see it right on their webpage. Look at that, put it in, and figure out what's good for you. If you have questions, contact their customer service, they will help you. With that, I'm going to be ending my ride here. I hope I've encouraged at least one person to look at an e-bike and consider getting one. In the meantime, Hey, happy peddling.