Electric bikes, or electric assist bikes, are hugely popular in certain parts of the world. During a recent trip to Beijing I was amazed at the number of electric bikes and electric scooters zipping around on every street, they out-numbered gas powered 2-wheel transport by about 3/1 and most of them had relatively small removable battery packs so people could take the battery into their home or office with them to recharge it. Genius!

It turns out the US and Europe have a thriving though quite small community of electric bike riders that I was unfamiliar with, certainly nothing on the scale of Beijing or Shanghai but there are an ever increasing number of companies producing remarkably desirable electric bikes.

The Schwinn Continental (pictured above) is currently on my top 5 list. Its clean, retro design coupled with impressive (though discreet) technology is just the sort of thing that usually results in me pulling out my wallet and decimating my bank account. The Continental has an advanced lithium-polymer battery housed under the rear cargo tray that is designed to be slid out and taken with you for charging (and perhaps security), the bike also has a 7-speed internal Shimano shaft drive (look closely and you’ll notice there’s no chain). Depending on your preference you can choose your power setting, anything from full power (no pedalling) to a slight power assist is available with a range of between 25 and 30 miles per charge.

The Schwinn costs about the same as a mid-range mountain or racing bike at $2,499 USD, obviously that isn’t cheap but if you use it for your daily commute or pootling into and around town you’ll probably save the sticker price in fuel over the medium to long term. What do you think? If you have a sub-30 mile commute would you use an electric bike?

Schwinn also provide a simple CO2/Gas $/Calories Burned calculator if you’re curious to see how much you could save (or burn).

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