E-bikes continued from page 7 its classifi cation system, which affects where e-bikes can be used. The bikes range in price from around a thousand dollars to ten times that. But they all share a basic defi ning element: an electric motor. “They exist to make riding a bike easier,” notes Aishwarya Krishnamoorthy, communications and marketing manager at Bicycle Colorado. E-bikes come in three classes. Class I is a pedal-assist bike, with a motor that kicks in when the biker is pedaling. Class II is a throttle-assist bike, which allows a biker to move forward without pedaling by using the throttle. Both of these classes have top speeds of 20 miles per hour. A Class III e-bike can go up to 28 miles per hour, whether the rider is using the throttle, pedal or both. Class I and II e-bikes are allowed anywhere a regular bike is in Denver, while there are more restrictions on Class III e-bikes. As CASR considered how it could encourage the use of e-bikes to reduce car trips, helping reduce an individual’s carbon footprint and also making roads less con- gested, it looked to a pilot program launched by the state two years ago. In 2020, the Colorado Energy Offi ce and Bicycle Colorado had provided Class I e-bikes to thirteen low-income essential workers. “The e-bike became the domi- nant commute mode share,” re- calls Krishnamoorthy. “Thirty-one percent of commutes then were taken by e-bikes, compared to other modes. There’s a signifi cant emis- sion impact, and the people loved it.” Building off this small model, CASR decided to create a three- year, $9 million program that would provide rebates not only for e-bikes, but also for heat pumps and other energy-saving equip- ment for Denver homes, including electric- vehicle charging stations. The three-year duration “was a recom- mendation from our city attorney’s offi ce as a standard best practice,” MacLaren says. “We contract with a rebate administrator to process the rebates. It’s good to evaluate contracts after two or three years and decide to either renew with a vendor or see what other opportunities are available with other vendors, or new vendors.” But fi rst the city needed to let Denver resi- dents know that the rebates were available. “Really, what we’re looking for right now is a market transformation. If you look at sort of how people make changes, behavior changes, one of the ways to do that is to give them a nudge,” says MacLaren. The nudge worked. As of June 29, 863 e-bike rebates had been 8 redeemed for $716,156 worth of rebates on more than $2 million in e-bike purchases. Denver has a list of participating bike shops in the metro area where people can purchase e-bikes using the rebate, which comes off the fi nal price, whether it’s $1,000 or $10,000. CASR was particularly pleased with the high number of applications for the larger, income-based rebate. To qualify, applicants must show that they’re enrolled in some type of welfare assistance, like food stamps, or that they have a household income below 80 percent of the area median income. Eighty percent of the area median income in Denver is $62,600 for a one-person household and $71,550 for a two-person household. So far, 56 percent of the money covering the rebates has gone to bikes purchased by lower-income individuals. “We’re very intentional about building that at least 50 percent of the funds had to recalls. She found the perfect option at BikeSource in RiNo. Using rebates, Hobein knocked $900 off a $4,000 e-cargo bike. She sold her pickup truck to fund the rest of the purchase. “I’ve ridden it everywhere I’ve wanted to go,” says Hobein, a self-professed “bike nut” who appreciates the addition of the motor. “It’s nice if you’re on an e-bike, because it’s not quite as much work.” She doesn’t need to worry about parking, she points out, and the cargo components allow her to make extra-large hauls from the grocery store. The e-bike that Emily Kleinfelter bought from FattE-Bikes, a local shop that makes its own e-bikes, allows her to commute to and from work at the same speed as cars traveling in the morning and later afternoon. “I do tend to use the throttle or the turbo speed so I can keep up with the speed of traffi c and just not give cars any reason to get annoyed with me for one reason or another,” says Kleinfelter, who considers herself a “very defen- sive” bike rider. After applying the $400 rebate, Kleinfelter bought her bike for close to $2,000. A 27-year-old who works as the safety and regional Vision Zero plan- ner for the Denver Regional Council of Governments, looking at ways to cut down on traffi c deaths, Klein- felter says that the rebate program persuaded her to buy an e-bike. “It’s nice to have when I’ve had to ride into the offi ce in nicer attire and don’t want to get sweaty,” she says. The throttle assist of her FattE- Jill Locantore wants Denver to improve its bike infrastructure. go to front-line and low-income communi- ties,” says Denver City Councilmember Jolon Clark, pointing to the specifi c standards CASR has to follow using climate-protection funds. Purchasers are certainly using them for more than recreation. “About 60 percent of car trips are six miles or less, and 45.6 percent are three miles or less, which is pretty easily traversable,” says Krishnamoorthy. “It costs pennies on the dollar to charge an e-bike.” “It’s clear that there’s demand and desire and that people are open and willing to try e-bikes. Sometimes people just need that nudge, whatever it might be,” MacLaren says. For Robbie Hobein, the basic rebate coupled with the e-cargo bike rebate was nudge enough. “Cars are so expensive to buy, operate and maintain. If we can get more folks into e-bikes, that’s more money in their pocket that they can use for whatever they need. And it’s a win for the environment,” says Hobein, a resident of Curtis Park who is in her fi fties. “Two important things for me were, could I easily lift this up and is the shop local? Could I walk my bike to it?” Hobein Bike is so powerful, she doesn’t even need to pedal. “I feel like I’m cheat- ing, and I don’t like saying that,” Kleinfelter admits. “I have to keep reminding myself it’s okay, I’m not using it as my adventure bike. I’m using it as a car replacement.” To get in her exercise, she often rides her non-e-bike. For Luchia Brown, a 55-year-old who works from home, an e-bike purchase just started to make sense when she started thinking about extra-long rides. “I wanted a bike that I’d be able to ride comfortably for good distances, replacing car trips that I might take,” Brown says. Using a $400 re- bate, she bought a beach cruiser-style e-bike for close to $3,000. “It brings me so much joy,” she says. “I have been thinking about it for a long time.” With my journalist’s salary, I qualifi ed for an income-based rebate. Within days of apply- ing, I received an email that my application had been accepted and that I would be get- ting a rebate of $1,200 off a regular e-bike or $1,700 off a cargo e-bike. Weeks later, I received an “audit” email from a CASR staffer, asking me to verify my income, which I was able to do by sending over a tax return. In between, I spent sleepless nights trying to decide what to do. Should I get a fancier e-bike with a throttle, or a more traditional pedal-assist e-bike? I looked at a FattE-Bike, like the one Kleinfelter purchased, as well as an REI e-bike. While a few hundred dollars more expen- sive, the FattE-Bike was superior to the REI bike in a number of ways: It’s locally made, fully customizable and an absolute beast. Since it’s a Class II e-bike, I could ride around town just using the throttle, without pedaling. I took it out for a spin on the streets of Sun Valley near the store and loved it. The REI bike — a Co-op Cycles CTY e2.1 Electric Bike — was a pedal-assist model and much cheaper. It could also be ready in under two weeks, which compared favorably to the four to eight weeks that it would take for a FattE-Bike to be ready. I tested the REI bike, too, heading from the fl agship store down the South Platte River trail. I loved that one, too. And then I slept on the decision. And slept. And slept some more. I ended up going with the REI bike for three reasons: It would be ready sooner, it was cheaper, and it would also require me to do at least some exercise. As a healthy thirty-year-old, I didn’t want to become lazy by relying on my throttle assist. I didn’t want to be “cheating,” as Kleinfelter put it. The e-bike rebate program has been a hit with retailers as well as Denver residents. “We basically sold about four times as many e-bikes and about two times as many cargo e-bikes,” says Bobby Brown, the mar- keting manager for SloHi Bike Co., compar- ing sales during the rebate period to the same time last year. Since e-bikes can be expensive, SloHi, which has stores in City Park and Highland, started stocking a new brand, the SWFT Fleet, in order to offer a lower-cost option to those with the low-income rebates. “We gave a lot of people basically a free e-bike through the rebate program,” Brown notes. After taxes were added and the $1,200 rebate subtracted, the SWFT Fleet wound up costing just about $88 for those who qualifi ed. Kenny Fischer, who co-founded FattE- Bikes back in 2017, says that his store has sold about a hundred bikes because of the rebate. “The neatest thing that we’ve seen is that the demographic is very different than what we’ve seen for a typical e-bike purchase,” Fischer says. Before the rebate program, the typical e-bike purchasers had been Baby Boomers. Now the demographics of FattE-Bikes cus- tomers have dropped by 25 to 30 years, he says, particularly as families come in with the goal of transitioning away from cars. “Younger people are coming in defi nitely looking for a way to save some money,” he adds. Fischer likes to highlight the fact that FattE-Bikes is “Denver’s fi rst locally born electric bike company.” Before forming it with his wife and busi- ness partner, Victoria Brunner, Fischer had produced an upcycle festival called PalletFest. “One day my car broke down, and we real- ized we still needed a second vehicle for our household but didn’t want to spend a ton of money on another car. Gas is expensive, as is insurance and upkeep. Plus, traffi c sucks, and we wanted to avoid it in any way pos- sible,” says Fischer. “That’s when Victoria discovered the electric bike, and I knew right away e-bikes would be the next big thing, but also not a fad. They’re all the fun of a bike but JULY 7-13, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com EVAN SEMÓN
