Hi, I'm Diane. I'm at Sixthreezero in San Clemente, and this is the Relaxed Body E-Trike. And I'm going to take it for a ride and talk to you a little bit. I've been test riding e-trikes and e-bikes for, gosh, about a month. I'm trying to make a transition from road bikes after injuries. I wanna get back out on the road, and I just really wanna see what the best e-bike or e-trike is for me. So I'm gonna take you for a little ride, and on the ride, I'm gonna talk to you about some things that I learned, some of the challenges that I was up against, and just share some of my experiences with you. Ready? Let's go for a ride. So I usually start with the throttle just because it's easier as you start pedaling. One thing that I learned very quickly is, you see right here where it says PAS, that tells you where you are with regard to pedal assist. So this is telling me that I'm in pedal assist one.
And something that I didn't know when I started test riding—when I started test riding, I had never ridden an electric bike or trike before. So what I didn't realize is that if pedal assist was at zero, like it is right now, that means that you're riding like a regular bicycle. That means that the throttle's not going to work, and the pedal assist isn't going to work. What I also didn't realize is that, for me personally, if I'm at a stop, I typically wanna be at pedal assist one because, as you increase the pedal assist level, you go faster when you're pedaling. I'll show you that in just a second. I always use the throttle to get across the street because it's always just going to be quicker. So again, what I didn't realize was that if I were in pedal assist four right when I started, I would be pedaling and all of a sudden going a lot faster than if I were in pedal assist one. So that's just something to check. I love the displays on these bikes because I can always just glance down and see where I am with any type of pedal assist.
","id":"a1f3c774-cfb6-46a9-89af-f340458c3a0f"},{"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{},"image":{"assetId":"3csaFkZgY68M3m6Min0psG","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"id":"df6e6a19-4a79-46a4-ac51-7ba55eaf625c"},{"layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{},"heading":"","body":"If you've been following my videos at all, I'm a big scaredy-cat when it comes to riding downhill, so I ride the brakes down. But even riding the brakes down—which I've got both brakes depressed right now—this is a very smooth ride, and it's a very stable ride. I'm just not a fast downhill rider. The other thing that I was going to mention is that if you have the brakes on and you accidentally touch the throttle, the throttle won't work. So that's a tremendous safety feature on these bikes. I'm not pedaling at all right now, and I'm pretty much still riding the brakes down because this is a pretty steep hill and a little scary for me. But I'm not afraid at all—these brakes are really stable. They're not squeaking at all, and they're not pulling me in one direction or the other, so it's a good feature to know. I also learned that you can stop pretty swiftly on these bikes. The brakes are sensitive and responsive.
As you can see, I've got my speed and energy level showing on the display. Right now I'm in pedal assist two, and looking ahead, I'm about to encounter a pretty big hill. That other hill was steep on the way down, but what I'm going to start doing now is increase the pedal assist. Something else that I learned is that with pedal assist, as you increase it, the motor automatically gives you more power. I'm in pedal assist three right now and clicking up to four because I'm on a pretty substantial hill. I'm also always checking my energy level here, being aware of how far I am from home or my starting point, considering what the terrain looks like on the way back, and making sure I have enough battery power so I don't have to go into full manual mode.
","id":"a20b2209-efb0-447c-b426-8051290a458a"},{"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{},"image":{"assetId":"4yuU36cSEDqyoCad2duYsC","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"id":"6bf53830-02f4-482f-b379-1f68e4e8ebbe"},{"layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{},"heading":"","body":"As I test ride, I always consider how I feel physically. How does my back feel? How do my arms feel? Is this the proper handlebar or seat for me? Comfort is important—if you're uncomfortable after a ride, you're less likely to jump on your bike or trike again. Now we're crossing a street, so I'm using my throttle before pedaling. Knowing that I have pedal assist, different gears, and the throttle to rely on, I still want to be aware of my own body and energy level so I don't end up in pain. It's assisted pedaling, so I'm not exerting a lot of energy, but my legs are still moving, so you may want to take it easy your first couple of times out. Gosh, isn't this just a beautiful ride? I've learned that it doesn't matter how old you are—you can still get out on a bike and enjoy all this.
Having an e-trike lets me get back out to enjoy life and get some good exercise in, too. Just to show you: if I want to go a little faster, one click of the button puts me in pedal assist four, and you can see how the bike takes off. Kicking back down to pedal assist three pulls the motor back a bit. So many things to try as you evaluate your options! That was a fun ride. I hope that sharing what I've learned helps you and gives you good questions to ask when you go out on your own test rides. Make sure you're with people who are open to answering any questions you have and don't feel pressured. Thank you so much for going on this beautiful ride with me. I hope you have a fabulous afternoon. Bye!
","id":"3c879639-2cf6-4176-b8c8-2a7ba1e63174"},{"layoutId":"bodyfit-quiz","variants":{},"id":"f0611324-ab99-4293-9df7-78e62124d583"}]},"images":["3csaFkZgY68M3m6Min0psG","4yuU36cSEDqyoCad2duYsC"]}},"staticQueryHashes":["1118653772","2624707571","3486008833","764694655"]}