First one out the door ...

[lazjen (Chris)]

Did the first commute ride to work today. All ok, although I'm a bit tired now. Going to rest up a bit and try for Friday again, weather permitting.

I saw lots of bikes, but I couldn't tell if any were e-bikes. Probably not, most of the riders were fitter and younger.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

It gets easier as you persist. I've now got some serious calf muscles and my thighs are more solid as well. Bum sore does not subside much though ....
You'll be catching and passing them guys pretty soon, with a smug smile on your face.

Racked up over 700 km on my bike now and cruise home at 35-45 kph quite often. Kind of makes the car drivers a bit annoyed for some obscure reason..

I'm off to a conference this weekend at Lake Taupo, be bringing back at least one new Ebike and most likely two. Also confirmed another conversion job for next week and a possible other one to follow. The two new bikes should be sold within a fortnight, I have enough interest already.

And then end of March, early April I'm running a seminar for about 30 people and a big Eco Day event with a stand and public display. Numbers to it last year was about 2000 attendee's.

Should score one or two out of that lot, they will be mostly greenies. Hopefully should have the second shipment of bikes in so have that available for demo and sale.

It's growing real fast over here as the Councils really are getting into it to curb traffic and congestion problems, especially in Auckland.

All good for me ..

[N1 (Mirko)]

Some good developments here.
Brent, make sure you capitalise on it while you can. I think once this really takes off here and the big guys get onto it, you might face some serious competition and higher obstacles. It's a fully developed industry in Europe, and there are few small players in it. Compliance and legal considerations will become bigger factors also

@Chris, here is how you may recognise e-bikers:
- They tend to look and dress like regular people
- Slow cadence for the speed they are travelling
- Unlikely to ride faster than about 45 km/h

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Cheers Mirko,
I'm 68 next month, I'm not too worried about L O N G term involvement.. 5-10 years will do me nicely. Big guys are already into it over here, bike shops for Africa !!!
But I'm finding it's the older folk who need something a bit different to cater for their, shall we say, afflictions that prefer to deal with someone who will talk to them and explain it all.
My April 1st Seminar has already generated a lot of interest, bunch of folks signed on already. After that I have the big EcoDay on the 9th with a stand and 2000+ passersby. Then plans for a newspaper interview and article to follow up.
It's gathering speed for sure.