My first e-bike in Seattle treated me just right (Andrew Theen/Staff)

UPDATE: This story has been updated

My Bolt Bus rolled into Seattle’s International District on Aug. 9, and this Portland-based transportation reporter pulled out his iPhone with one goal in mind: Find an electric-assist rental bike.

Seattle has had them for a while, and Portland transportation officials indicated this week that it wants to bring e-bikes to the city after the current contract with Biketown's operator expires in July 2019.

As it happens, finding a LimeBike in Seattle these days is about as hard as spotting a construction crane in the bustling South Lake Union neighborhood amid Amazon’s expanding empire.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

Whether the bike is functional or not is another story – we’ll get to that.

Seconds after sidestepping a German Shepherd therapy dog aboard the Bolt Bus, I was on my way to being Carless in Seattle for the next 36 hours.

While Portland has its increasingly sprawling city-backed Biketown rental program, Seattle was briefly the tip of the spear for so-called dockless bike programs. For a time, Seattle had thousands of rental bikes on every corner. Since my trip, Chinese-based Ofo announced it would pull out of the Emerald City, and Spin also indicated it would leave, citing new city regulations.

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LimeBikes on Seattle's waterfront with the Space Needle in the background (Andrew Theen/Staff)

But I never rode those bikes in Seattle, anyhow. I was there for the green and yellow Lime bikes with the electric assist motor. Portland has e-scooters for a trial period, and has eyes on adding e-bikes as soon as August 2019.

Here’s what I learned.

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This is not fun, even on an e-bike (Andrew Theen/Staff

Hills are real, and e-assist bikes are not magic: My maiden voyage on the Lime steed was one block old, but I was already excited. I sat at a stoplight on Sixth Avenue South and looked up at the hill in front of me. I'm accustomed to riding up North Williams Avenue in Portland every day, but for comparison's sake, if Portland's hills are Saturday Market, Seattle's are Pike Place. I couldn't hack it on the single-speed bike and ended up hoofing it on foot up the hill to Yesler Way, a key road spanning Interstate 5, my shame emanating from my helmeted tourist head.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

Love the bike you're with: Despite the rocky start, my first ride ended up being an absolute dream. Yesler offers riders a separated bike path lined by shrubbery and trees on either side. I soon turned onto Broadway and had a lovely ride up to Capitol Hill for lunch. The ride cost $3.30. After lunch, I struck out on four consecutive bikes for different reasons. One had goops of bird droppings on the seat. Another, I rented and started riding only to quickly realize the handlebars were askew and the pedals broken.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

The third had no functional brakes, and the fourth I couldn’t rent and the locking mechanism on the rear wheel made a loud clicking sound. I saw other riders have similar issues renting the bikes. Finally, I found another keeper only after I physically moved the locking mechanism on the rear tire despite the application’s warning that the bike was not operational. Turns out it was. I ended up taking a 7.2-mile spin over nearly an hour, riding along Seattle’s Elliott Bay trail and into Ballard and beyond.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

Gears would be handy: Seattle's hilly topography renders single-speed e-bikes useless in some areas of town. On my way to Green Lake, I followed bike wayfinding signs to the popular lake and ended up on a brutal climb through neighborhood streets and past the Woodland Park Zoo. Unlike my previous hill, I made it because I had some runway to gain speed, but it wasn't easy, and I was drenched in sweat. Some of my difficulty could be due to my height and the relative smallness of the frame despite the adjustable seat height. The e-assist rental bikes would be true game-changers if riders had a couple gears as well.

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One of the views along my nearly 16 mile route one day (Andrew Theen/Staff).

Portland is the ideal market: Portland bike commuters have likely noticed e-assist bikes are gaining steam among everyday riders. It makes sense for folks who ride with small children or are otherwise looking for a little boost. After testing out Seattle, it seems clear e-bikes will be a huge hit in Portland when they make it here. Portland doesn't have the same urban Matterhorn-like roadways as Seattle, and it would make a lot of sense for Biketown to add an e-bike option if Lime or other competitors don't come as well.

UPDATE

: Portland Bureau of Transportation officials confirmed the city will look to add e-bikes to its bike share fleet in the near future. Willamette Week alluded to

this in a story this week

. Portland's Biketown system has a three-year deal with Motivate, the company running the program. That deal expires in July 2019 and the city plans to ask either Motivate or a competitor to incorporate e-bikes by as soon as August 2019.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

It's fun: All told, I rode a rental bike more than 26 miles over the course of Thursday and Friday morning. For a Pacific Northwest kid, I've done surprisingly little exploring in Seattle. The e-bike was a terrific way to cover a lot of territory. Somewhere along the way, I wasn't charged for multiple rides due to a software glitch. In total, I ended up spending about $33 over a day-and-a-half of riding.

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-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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