bikes, while its sister brand, Gazelle (Booth 505), has Dutch-style recre- ational bikes with and without motors. BESV (Booth
375), an offshoot of a huge Taiwanese electronics company, has a line of award- winning city and commuter e-bikes that look like nothing else on the market. Felt (Booth 761), an early
M1-Sporttechnik Schwabing belt drive
advocate of the e-bike movement, is expanding its line into lower prices. “The majority of our bikes are sold in urban areas as replacements for automobiles,” said Zach Krapfl, Felt’s e-bike product manager. Felt is releasing three models equipped with Shimano STePS, which will be less expensive than their Bosch- equipped siblings. One is the Tote’m
meaning around $2,000. (Motors and batteries aren’t cheap, and the frame and components need to be beefier to handle the extra weight and speed.) Check out the Vibe+ from iZip
(Booths 502 and 504) one of the oldest U.S. e-bike brands. It’s an entry-level step-through for new and returning riders. iZip also has a pavement bike and a fattie. Evo (Booth
Evo MD-2 step-through hybrid
cargo bike, which joins the Bosch- equipped Brühaul. Off-road is probably the sexiest
e-bike category right now. Haibike (Booth 740) lit the fire under the e- mountain bike boom in Europe a few years ago, and is now going big in the U.S. It has doubled its Sea Otter footprint and has 72 bikes on hand. “We’re the leader in the German and European markets, and that’s what we want to be here in the States,” said Ken Miner, director of U.S. sales. It’s going to have some
competition, however. Mountain bike pioneer Specialized (Booth 747) is launching its new S-Works Turbo Levo line of e-MTBs. The well-equipped fatties use the Brose mid-drive motor. KTM (Booth 647), an e-MTB
pioneer in Europe, is showing three off-road e-bikes. Focus and Felt also have e-MTBs in their lineups. Other brands feature e-bikes
that are family-friendly and afford- able — “affordable,” in e-bike-speak,
APRIL 14-17, 2016
242), which is expanding into the U.S. from Canada, is showing a line of affordable e-bikes with BionX hub drives or Shimano STePS systems. “Our bikes are all about the people that really are not enthusiasts,” Evo’s Jason Grantz said. “They don’t really care about racing.”
At the other end of the spec-
trum are carbon e-bikes from Ger- man manufacturer M1-Sporttechnik (Booth 417) that will cost you anywhere from about $7,000 to north of $18,000. Bulls Bikes (Booth 402), a big
brand in Germany that’s looking to make a name with consumer-direct sales in the U.S., is bringing many of its Brose- and Bosch-equipped bikes to Sea Otter. “We like when consumers have the opportunity to test various e-bike brands as they are able to compare the bicycles themselves,” said Fernando Endara of Bulls Bikes USA. Sea Otter visitors who aren’t
sure what they are looking for should head to Bosch, which is showcasing e-bikes from more than a dozen brands. “We are offering demos of almost every kind of e-bike under the sun — mountain, commuter, trekking, cargo, fat-tire, hybrid and maybe even a three- wheeler,” Weinert said.
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