I imagine carrying fresh produce on the back of my new electric bike with the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon. My new futuristic ride feels old school European, as if I’m riding small, easy streets. “Arrivederci!” “Halo!” I hear zipping past a “marketplace.” But I’m really riding in our wonderful, grimier, urban sprawl: Brooklyn.
“Yo! that’s a cool bike. What is it?” is what I’m really hearing.
I did say bicycle lane. This little tiger goes 20 mph, not fast enough to keep up with the 30 mph speed limit motorized vehicles in NYC are allowed, so I judiciously ride in the bike lanes. ”It’s a bicycle, it’s a bicycle, it’s a bicycle,” says Zach Schieffelin of McCarren Motors in Greenpoint, “don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.” What, of course, makes it so appealing is that it uses no gas and is completely environmentally friendly, cleaner, a cost saver, and can be taken indoors. It also requires no license. It just needs to be charged up about every 20 miles by plugging it into a standard household outlet. It’s too heavy to carry up stairs at 70 lbs, but conveniently fits into my building’s lobby.
The bike is called A2B and is designed by the German company Ultra Motor Ltd. Try it out yourself. The McCarren Motors folks will let you test ride it around the block. McCarren Motors also sell Kymkos, and Vespas in their sister store in Soho, and they offer payment plan options.
