Bike commuting is usually the best way to get around big cities, and where I live, in New York, it's often the fastest. I used to ride the subway to work, and that took an hour, and by car it was about the same, given all the traffic. But when I started biking, my commute took just 40 minutes. Recently I got to ride a new bike, an electric one, and it cut my commute even further, to a mere 25 minutes.
It is the Elby e-bike, which officially rolls out this July. Elby was founded by Frank Stronach and Fred Gingl, whose backgrounds are in automotive design and manufacturing. Stronach founded Magna International, a leading auto-parts manufacturer that, according to Elby, is the only company of its kind to build complete cars for brands like Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW, and Mini.
A lot of their know-how comes through when you hop on the Elby and start moving. It's well designed, good-looking, and really fun to ride. Everything about the bike feels very high quality. Having ridden it for a week, I found the Elby to be among the nicer e-bikes in what is now a booming market, particularly in Europe. I've ridden the high-performance $7,000 Stromer ST2 and sub-$1,000 models at trade shows like Eurobike, and at $4,000, the Elby, though not inexpensive, slots nicely into the middle of this range.
The Elby got me to work fast and sweat-free. It's one of the best e-bikes on the market. Here's what it was like to ride for 100 miles:
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The company touts the Elby as "the world's first one-size-fits-most pedal-assist hybrid bicycle." The frame and fork are made of aluminum alloy, and the bike weighs in at just under 50 pounds (claimed). It comes in a variety of colors and sells for $4,000. The Elby will be available through independent bicycle retailers and elbybike.com.
I commuted on the Elby daily for a week and got to ride it around on the weekend, logging about 100 motor-assisted miles.
What impressed me on the very first ride was how smoothly the Elby accelerated and how predictably it handled, thanks largely to its low center of gravity and wide, high-quality tires. I really got a sense for its handling when I descended the Manhattan Bridge at over 20 mph. There's a sweeping turn on the Brooklyn side, and I felt more comfortable taking this section at speed than on the half-dozen other bikes I've crossed this bridge on. The Elby felt like it was on rails.
Another thing I noticed was how high I sat on the bike, in an almost straight-up position, which felt very comfortable. After all, when you're commuting it's good to sit up high, to see and be seen. And with no top tube, the step-through frame lets you hop on and off the bike easily.
This bike attracted a lot of attention, too. People stopped to check it out when I was waiting at lights, and more than a few passersby stared at it when I was riding down the street.
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