People getting on in years have a special fondess for them

Nov 22, 2014 10:56 GMT  ·  By

Electrical bicycles aren't the same as scooters or motorcycles, but they aren't simple bicyles either. Instead, they are borderline regular bikes with a motor that will take a load off your legs when you hit the road.

The biking community has always been large and healthy, no matter how far automobiles advanced. This isn't set to change any time soon.

The price of cars and motorbikes is one reason. The health benefits of owning and using a normal bike is another. Familiarity is a third.

However, electrical bikes, a sort of stop along the way between normal bikes and motorcycles, are going to be stealing customers from the normal bike industry for a while.

According to surveys conducted in Europe and the United States, sales of bikes with attached electrical motors are on the rise, and are expected to keep going up for a while.

It's not that surprising. People over the age of 50 and 60 have always shown an interest in this area and baby boomers have all reached their twilight years by this point. Maybe bike commuting will grow in the USA now.

To give you some perspective, Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association, says that e-bike sales in the US doubled between 2012 and 2013. The total 200,000 doesn't account for much of the 16 million bikes sold last year, but it's still a significant rise.

It helps that e-bikes don't just come in high prices. While some do sell for thousands of bucks, others only need one payment of a few hundred and you're all set.

66-year-old Joel Bowman rides his e-bike to work (5 Images)

Joel Bowman and his bike
Bowman commutes to work periodically on his bikeThe motor and breaking system does most of the work
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