Riding bikes is fun, but sometimes you need to go farther, faster, and with less sweat equity. The solution? Electric bikes.
Laurel Zimmerman, who co-owns Pedego Greenville with Ashby Knox, always enjoyed getting out on her bike, but isn’t a “hard-core cyclist.” She wanted to take on longer sections of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and when she tried an electric bike, she knew she had found the answer.
She enjoyed it so much, she decided to open a business.
“The great thing about ebikes is they are good for so many different levels,” she says. Customers seeking to purchase or rent include people who aren’t in the shape they used to be, are recovering from injuries, or want to commute using something cheaper than a car. Some have a cyclist spouse they want to keep up with, and others want to ride a bike to work without showing up sweaty. And many are simply looking for something fun to try.
Electric bikes exploration
Electric bikes explorationReedy Rides offers bike tours that include bicycle, helmet, a bottle of water, and a guide. Tours for groups of six or more start and end at 50 South Richardson Street. Options include a four-hour tour to Travelers Rest and back, or a tour of downtown Greenville parks along the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Custom tours are also available; call (864) 419-2944 or visit reedyrides.com/tours to find out more.
In addition to renting and selling bikes, Pedego Greenville has plans in the works to offer tours that allow people to explore the Greenville area on an electric bike. Go to pedegoelectricbikes.com/dealers/greenville/ to find out more, or call (864) 565-9600.
Oliver Davis is an implementation specialist at BCycle, a bike-share system that allows riders to rent and return shared bikes from stations throughout downtown. When Greenville BCycle went all-electric in 2021, making the switch from what he calls “acoustic bikes” (i.e., the regular kind), ridership tripled, he reports.
“I ride them all the time, and it’s still fun and exhilarating,” he says. “It gives you that little extra push up hills, which makes riding a lot more fun.”
BCycle has a fleet of Trek class 1 ebikes with Bosch motors that kick in as you pedal. The service tends to have a ridership evenly split between tourists and locals.
Reedy Rides rents, sells, and services electric bikes in addition to offering tours. Though they have been available for about 10 years, electric bikes have seen a huge surge in popularity in the last year, according to co-owner Jamie McDonough. She attributes the surge to factors including COVID, gas prices, and more brands offering ebikes, including Giant and Lamond. “We’re tickled,” she says. “People who normally wouldn’t bike are getting outside.”
Podego at Zimmerman’s shop
Pedego is a California-based company with more than 200 locally owned stores, including Zimmerman’s shop in Greenville, and offers a broad variety for sale and rent, featuring as many as five levels of pedal assist. You can crank it up and ride almost like a motorbike, not pedaling at all, or you can dial down the assist and pedal mostly on your own. If the mood strikes, you can switch it up mid-ride.
Zimmerman says the bikes are safe for most anyone (she rents to ages 16 and up), and she does a thorough training for renters and buyers.
“I do a demo and get them adjusted,” she says. “We have this little hill right in our shop, and another onto the trail from our store.” She loves to watch customers tackle the hill for the first time. Their faces inevitably light up as they recognize how easy it is, and that any barriers that once prevented them from cycling have fallen away. Then they hit the trail.
Photography by Jack Connolly
