All charged up

Riding an electric bike is like riding a regular bicycle, except with bionic legs. At least that's what Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton thinks.

"It was a fun little thing to ride," Chilton said with a laugh. "It was interesting because it worked that the more you pedaled, the more that the electrical assist would come into play."

Chilton, a cycling enthusiast, was given the opportunity to ride an e-bike by Cycle 9, the new Chapel Hill-based e-bike seller.

"I thought this town, a college town, and the way it is centrally organized, is a perfect place to introduce this new technology," said Tracy Keith Wall, head of marketing sales for Cycle 9. He said students will adapt to commuting with e-bikes easily.

With gas and insurance prices rising, Wall said he thinks students and commuters will find that electrically powered bikes are cheaper than cars or scooters and that it's easier to travel longer distances than with a bicycle.

"The electric motor is like a Lance Armstrong helping you out, and you get around town a lot faster than you would on a regular bike," he said.

Wall has lived mostly in Chapel Hill since 1999. But in 2003 and 2004 he spent several months in Utrecht, Netherlands.

"I saw how they used the bike for transformation," Wall said, recalling when he first realized the whole value of the electric bike.

"They really consider the bicycle to be part of the commuter matrix that makes Holland go. … The whole thing is seamless."

However, it was not until the last year that Wall started transferring his interest in the e-bike into a business.

"I was looking at doing something to change the matrix of the transportation system here," Wall said. He thinks this technology is the best alternative.

But some said they do not believe e-bikes are likely to catch on in the Triangle. Dale Stearn, a salesman at the Bicycle Chain on West Franklin Street, said he would not use an e-bike unless he had a physical disability.

"The electric bikes I've seen in the past work great for a little while, but they're really hard to service and I think become unserviceable down the road," he said, citing the short-lived lead-acid batteries he has seen die.

Stearn said he does not think e-bikes are very reliable and are too heavy and too complicated to become a viable market in Chapel Hill's near future.

Wall said he disagrees. He said that while lead-acid batteries have had trouble before, the e-bikes Cycle 9 is selling will use more environmentally friendly lithium batteries.

The lithium batteries are magnetically sealed with the hub motor so dirt or rain won't affect them.

"Sports biking and commuting bikes are two different things," Wall said. "The design of sports biking is keeping them as light as possible, sacrificing durability and wear.

"This bike is really heavy, but you need that for commuting over roads."

Chilton said one of the biggest advantages of the e-bike is how much better it is for the environment than a car or mo-ped.

"Internal combustion engines are definitely dirty," Chilton said.

Parking problems downtown and on campus could make the e-bike preferable in the future, he said.

Cycle 9, which opened officially in January, sells bikes through appointment because it won't have a permanent location until summer or fall.

The company will get a new order of bikes in May.

"It's a heavy demand for the bikes with gas prices going up," Wall said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.