Hi, I'm Diane. I'm at Sixthreezero in San Clemente, and today I'm here with Jamie, who's trying an e-bike for the first time. Hi, I'm Jamie. I'm 62. I'm an avid cyclist. I've probably got 10,000 miles on road bikes and on mountain bikes really excited to try this out so I know that we've been talking about e-bikes and what that's all about and I know you've been considering it, and I've been test-driving them for a while. They're definitely different, and I'm so excited for you to finally get on an e-bike and see what it's all about. So let me tell you a little bit about how this works. You have five different levels of pedal assist, and this is how you increase it. This is how you decrease it. You have your throttle right here.

And it's a thumb throttle. And then you have your gears here. It's currently in seventh gear. So to me, this particular e-bike reminds me a little bit of almost like a cruiser with the way the handlebars are. And what's really cool, similar to your mountain bike, is that you have, like, the suspension. So if you're going to hit a big bump, your upper body's not going to take the brunt of the impact. Yeah. And I'm just curious to see what your thoughts are going to be about this, because I know you've been struggling a little bit with lower back pain, and this puts you in an upright position. I'm curious to see what your thoughts are about the handlebars, how comfortable that is for you, and what the whole experience is going to be like. Are you ready to go for a ride? Let's go. Let's do it.

Starting the Ride & Testing the Throttle

All right, let's go. I'm gonna try using the throttle to start to see how it goes going uphill. Oh wow, look at that. Oops, almost. Try to keep this going straight. Well, it's tough because you're making an immediate left. Yeah, there we go. All right, here we go again. Let's try this one more time here. Oh, there we are. I see. I had the brake on. That's why I couldn't get the throttle going. Yeah, which is actually a great feature, right? It is nice. It's a safety feature. So I'm coming up on your right. Oh, wow, look at this. What pedal assist are you in now? In two. And I'm hardly pedaling, but this feels great. Does it feel a lot like your mountain bike? It feels quite a bit like my mountain bike. The handles are a little higher, so it's a little nicer in the back. So this is actually similar to a hill in the neighborhood that you ride in. Oh yeah, very much so.

Tackling Hills & Pedal Assist

Imagine being in, like, manual mode trying to manipulate your way up this hill. Oh, this is easy. Is it easy? It's easy to pedal. Isn't it awesome? It's great. We've got like a mile and a half long hill where we live, and it's steep. It's probably as steep as this. Yeah. This is really nice. What pedal assist are you in now? I'm in three right now. Are you feeling any stress on your lower back or your knees or anything like that? None whatsoever. I could do this for 50 miles easy. How do your arms feel with those handlebars? Nice. I like them. Are you feeling like the upper body is relaxed, or what are your thoughts on that? Oh, definitely so. And my knees, as you said, my knees don't hurt at all. And I can actually go down on my pedal assist now because I'm on almost flat ground. This is great. Do you love it? I do.

So now I'm pedaling a little bit because we're going up a little bit, but I feel good doing that. And since you're sneaking up ahead, maybe I'll throw it into the next pedal assist to go a little faster. There we go. This is really nice. All right, now I've lost her. She's back there. That's good. This is great. I'm going slightly uphill. And I'm hardly feeling it. On my mountain bike, I would be, or on my road bike, I'd be huffing and puffing by now. It feels very much like a regular mountain bike or a beach cruiser, like she said. Let's come to a stop here. Let her catch up. Oh, it's so nice to be able to just hit your pedal assist and go. I know, isn't it? Especially when you're going uphill.

I would seriously be sucking air right now trying to get up this if I didn't have pedal assist and a throttle. Isn't it great knowing that you don't have to kind of stand up and really put that strain on your quads and your back? Oh yeah. And being leaned over at the same time. I mean, imagine, especially in the neighborhood you live in, all the different adventures you can go on with this. And having the fatter tire, you could take this on the trails if you wanted to. Oh, yeah. This reminds me of being on a beach cruiser at the beach where it's nice and flat. Right. Pretty up here, isn't it? It's beautiful. And I guess this one has manual braking rather than hydraulic braking, but the brakes feel really nice too. They do? They really do. So you're feeling very comfortable on there. Oh yeah. Well, it reminds me of my mountain bike, so that helps.

After riding like this, could you imagine being back on the road bike or the mountain bike and being leaned over? Because I know it puts a strain on the neck and the shoulders and the back. It strains all of that. And as you said, occasionally it's that little spot in the middle of your knee that, like, is hurting. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So tell us what you're doing when you're switching pedal assist, like what your experience feels like on here. I'm going to go down to pedal assist zero or one because we're going downhill. I don't have the throttle on, and I can coast just like I would with a normal bike. So this is nice. Yeah, I feel like I'm on my regular mountain bike just coasting downhill. Oh, there's a car behind you, Lisa.

Coasting Downhill & Final Thoughts

This is great. And the nice thing is, Oh, there's a car coming. Okay. So I clicked up to sixth gear, and I'm in pedal assist four, but I'm going to go down to pedal assist three because we're going down a hill right now. Got Lisa in front of me and Jamie, his first time on an e-bike. And he's been dying to ride an e-bike for a long time. And, uh, I'm so excited that he has the opportunity to do this. He lives in a hilly area, as I do. And you know, you get to be over 60, you really just can't anymore. And I know that he suffers from lower back pain sometimes. And so this is just such a treat. Like he's in heaven right now. So Jamie, I know you've been wanting to get on an e-bike for a long time. What were your thoughts? What was your experience? Tell me about it. This is really great.

It feels very much like my mountain bike. The seat's a little bit more comfortable. It's super nice to be able to hit the throttle when I'm going uphill to start, because on a mountain bike, it's tough. On a road bike, it's tough to start. So the throttle is very handy going uphill in general. The pedal assist is great. There was one point I was going up a decent incline with pedal assist two or three and just barely pedaling, but moving along really nicely. So that was great. Nice, stable bike. Great tires. I love that. It's a great bike. So it opens up a whole new world for you living in the hilly area. Oh, yeah. At home, right? Yeah. Is it what you thought you would? Is it easier than you thought it would be? Is it more difficult? I'd say it's easier. In some ways, it's really nice because it's very similar to my mountain bike.

Very, very similar. But all these little things that help you out, the throttle, the pedal assist, are great because I don't have to strain my knees, strain my back, strain myself when I'm riding. Right. And you can make a split-second decision to say, " Oh my gosh, my back hurts, or my knee hurts. So I'm just going to increase the pedal assist or something like that. Exactly. And if you get into trouble, there's always a throttle, and you're good. Exactly. I'm so excited you finally had a chance to ride your e-bike. I'm so happy too. So again, come out to Sixthreezero to test drive. A couple of different options. You can try an e-bike, an e-trike, or a quad. Think about how you would ride it and utilize it in your daily life, and see what this whole world is about, because it's a lot of fun, isn't it? It's great fun. Thanks for coming out today. Come out and try it. Come out and try it at Sixthreezero. Thank you so much. Have a great afternoon.