WEBVTT - Edison Electric Bikes 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:12.600 Technology with tech Stuff from dot com. Hey there, everyone, 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.720 welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland, executive 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.119 producer here at how Stuff Works dot com, and of 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:23.000 course I love everything technological and today I have a 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.759 special treat for you guys, because we have a guest 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.000 here inside the studio. It's not someone over the phone, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.720 and someone I can actually look at in person. In fact, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.400 he's a very good friend of mine because he let 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.560 me ride on his bicycle. Ryan Hirsch, Welcome to the show. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:41.360 What's up guys? Honored and obliged to be here. It's great. Yes, yes, 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.200 we uh, we made sure that there was a direct 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.440 obligation for him to appear on tech Stuff. So Ryan, 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:52.040 you you've the founder of Edison Bikes, and Edison Bikes 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:56.600 is located right here in Atlanta, and uh, you were 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.040 very generous with your time and you brought some of 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.400 the Edison bikes here the office. Uh. Multiple people here 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.520 at hell Stuff Works have had a chance to write 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.880 it as in bikes are electric bikes, pedal assist bikes, 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.560 which I've talked about a couple of times on tech Stuff. 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.800 But it's so great to actually have someone who developed 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.160 one of these right here, so we can even talk 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.280 about what that process was like from the point where 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.480 you thought of it to the point where you started 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.679 kind of just getting your hands dirty and work shopping 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.160 this to getting to an actual shippable product, something where 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.920 you can actually put it together. People can order it 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.240 by it right it you see them around Atlanta. So 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.440 we're gonna go all through that journey. But before we 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.200 jump into your personal story, I thought, in order for 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.360 people to really kind of understand, uh, some of the 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.800 things that inspired you to do this, it's good to 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.680 sort of talk about the city. We live in Atlanta. Now, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.120 this podcast goes all over the world, and there are 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.600 a lot of cities out there that are similar to Atlanta. 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.960 I would say Atlanta is like cities like Houston, Texas, 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.440 where tipically, the way people get around is by car. 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.560 It's slowly changing in Atlanta. We're starting to see more 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.359 pedestrian walkways. We're starting to see more bike lanes, which 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.639 is fantastic, But traditionally cars were the way the way 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.880 of the world. For places like Atlanta. You just public 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.040 transportation while it exists, it just cannot measure up to 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.160 cities like New York or Chicago. Right, So that means 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.720 that we've live in a in a city that has 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.160 been plagued by traffic problems. We're constantly in that top 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.720 ten in the United States for worst traffic cities. And 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:41.919 so seeing a that as the backdrop, we're in this 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:47.960 world where a commute is easily forty minutes or more, 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.440 even if you're living relatively close to where you need 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.200 to go. Uh, that gives a very strong impetus to 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:58.240 come up with alternative solutions. And as I understand it, 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.440 that's kind of where your story begins ends. Right, absolutely, 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.519 absolutely nailed at, Jonathan. And it's it's a little bit embarrassing, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.720 right that we're always on the top ten for worst traffic. However, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.240 when you look at our population, we don't have that 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.600 many people, right, it's the five point five million people. Uh, 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.880 and we're being compared to cities that are, you know, 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.560 almost ten times our size. It's like, what in the 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.720 world are we doing wrong? Right? Yeah? And and I 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.440 mean yeah, the solutions tend to be We've seen it 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.919 over and over, let's build more roads or let's make 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.799 the roads more wide, and that just doesn't that's that's 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:34.480 just not how the world works like if you make 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.280 a here's the secret. If you add more lanes to 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.320 a road, what you have just done is just added 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.400 more cars to that road. At that one time. It 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.240 feels like you're increasing capacity, but it just means that 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.280 there's just more cars there during rush hour. It really 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.560 doesn't seem to help. The best way to get rid 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.080 of traffic is to remove the need for using cars 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.040 in the first place. So the more you can reduce 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:00.440 that need by giving alternatives, the smoother everything is. It's 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.040 not just the people who are actually using the alternative 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.840 forms of transportation, for the people who are still clinging 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.040 to dear life to their cars. There are fewer cars 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.440 on the road. Absolutely. So you were you were tell 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.800 me the story about why you started thinking about going 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.960 with this route, this sort of electric bike pedal assist route. 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.880 So back in I took a job with Emery and 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.599 uh I was living O t P at the time, 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.400 which is a dirty, dirty word. Yeah, that means outside 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.240 the perimeter. For all of you folks who are not 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.720 in Atlanta, there is a highway called two eight five 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.960 and it's circles. Uh, not just the city of Atlanta, 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.920 but some of the little surrounding areas like Decatur, and well, 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.160 I could go on forever, localizing this podcast and alienating 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:44.640 all of my listeners who don't live in the A 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.880 t L. Yeah, but no, it's no, no, it's important 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.839 for this story. Uh. There is also not that it's 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.960 directly related to this somewhat of a stigma for those 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.160 of us who live inside the perimeter or I t 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.600 P and those who live outside the perimeter or O 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.960 t P. There's some snooty nous involved. And I admit, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.880 though I was born O t P, now that I'm 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.279 an I t P person, I have been known to 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.919 be snooty. So you were living O t P. So 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.080 I was living an ot P. I took a job 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.839 at Emery and the commute was like twenty two miles 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:19.440 at the time, and it was just impossible by the car. 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.599 If you're O t P, it's impossible to get an 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:25.159 I t P. So um, So I did what anyone 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.280 would do. I moved closer to work, and I moved 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.440 to a cool little neighborhood called Kirkwood. It's about four 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.480 miles south of where I worked, and believe it or not, 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.240 my commute times were still just about exactly the same. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.599 It was taking me an hour to get to my desk. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:45.280 And this is ridiculous because it's like, it's only four miles, right, 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.760 I could I could pretty much walk that speed, right, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.960 But by the time I found a parking space, fought 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.960 for that space, paid twelve bucks a day for that space, 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.120 it was still taking me the same amount of time. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.240 So that involved in uh, evolved into riding a normal 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.760 pedal bicycle, which I would call an analog bicycle. Yeah. Um, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.560 and my commute time dropped from an hour down to 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.280 twenty minutes. And that was great. But frequently I have 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.640 to give presentations and stuff, I have to wear a tie, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.560 and uh, I would you know, on a day like today, 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.720 even in October it's super hot outside, I would show 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.520 up sweaty, and a sweaty guy wearing a tie is 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.360 like the worst thing ever, right, You're immediately immediately everyone's like, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.560 this guy is not confident, he doesn't know what he's 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.359 talking about. He's sweating it too much. Very I'm a sweater, 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.559 he's got something to hide this. We're gonna we're gonna 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.080 nail this guy to the wall with our questions. So 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.160 Atlanta is a very I mean we're in the southeast. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.800 Our climate, especially like late spring all the way into 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.640 late fall, you can get really high temperatures, really high humidity. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.800 I've I've experienced I walked to and from work, and 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.000 I've experienced the same issue where by the time I 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.880 get to the office, I have to have a change 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:02.000 of clothes with me because otherwise I'm just roast. Yeah. So, uh, 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.359 I'm now riding my bike to work getting sweaty. Quick 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.000 Google search, it turns out that electric bikes is a 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:14.840 thing because I I loved, you know, being liberated from traffic, 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.920 but now there's this new set of challenges showing showing 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.320 up to work sweaty. Now I gotta find showers, all 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.680 that kind of stuff. So electric bikes was a thing 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.360 back in twelve and um, you know, looking back on 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.120 on bikes back then, Um, they were always like a 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.200 standard bicycle frame that was outfitted with three components. You've 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.280 got three components to an electric bike. You have a battery, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.760 a motor, and a controller. And we can geek out 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.080 about those later, but um, you know, so you have 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.640 a bike and you could clearly see those three components 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.920 connected to the bike, and the result was not very pretty, 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:53.960 um uh. And I actually test road a bike at 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.679 a shop, and I fell in love with the feeling 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:02.600 of riding a bike. It's it's addicting, it's empowering, and um, 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.440 I didn't care how the bike looked. It fixed my problem, right. 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.400 So I get back from this test ride only to 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.560 learn that that bike that I was riding was Bucks. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.960 And I've always been like a tinker throughout school. I 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.040 was that guy that could fix your router or I 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.280 could fix your boat like I just love taking things 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.360 apart and making them better. So after that test ride 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.120 and really being discouraged by the price tag, I was like, 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.840 I know, one, I can build something that's better looking 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.400 than this bike, but two, and definitely more importantly, I 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:35.640 knew that I could build something that was more affordable. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.840 So that's exactly what I did. Fast forward about six months, 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.080 and I didn't really achieve the better looking part. I 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:48.640 had imported a bike from Canada bicycle like um you know, 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:52.600 standard fixie frame, and I outfitted it with those three 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.120 components that I was telling you about. And it wasn't pretty, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.840 but boy didn't work great, and um people started to notice, 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.880 right I'm showing up to where early, Um, you know, 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.360 I'm in a better mood because I'm not sitting behind 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.320 the wheel. And uh, I was more than obliged to 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.920 start building bikes, you know, for my coworkers, colleagues, friends, family, 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.559 and you know that's when like the little light went off, right. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.600 I started getting feedback from these people that I had 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.760 built bikes for, and uh, it was just it was 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.080 really encouraging, right, I mean it was something that was 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.880 born out of pure selfish needs. I was just trying 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.240 to fix the problem that I have, and now all 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.600 of a sudden, I'm fixing problems for for all these folks. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.280 And um, a few months after that, I'm looking at 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.080 my iPhone and I get inspired by it because like 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.880 I've always just been like a clean lines kind of guy, 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.240 and um, you know, when you look at an iPhone, 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.400 it's just it's a beautiful product. Apple Apples nothing if 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.520 not amazing with their aesthetics. There they are and even 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.560 if you open one up, it's like it's like opening 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.520 the hood of a catillact. Just everything is so tightly 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.880 tightly packed. Everything fits precisely, like there's not, uh, not 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.679 a millimeter of spare space. It's all very neat how 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.720 it all fits exactly. So I was like totally inspired 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.720 by that. I was like, all the electrical bits that 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.800 make this thing work are inside of the product itself. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:13.880 That's what I want to do with a bike because 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.679 I'm not seeing that. Uh. So that's exactly what we did. Uh. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.800 Instead of starting with a bicycle frame, we started with 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.120 those components. We started with the battery pack, which is 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.360 forty They're called eighteen six fifty battery cells about the 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.720 size of your index finger, and our packs have forty 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.200 of those in them. And then on top of that, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.000 we have a controller, and we wanted to design a 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.800 frame that would accommodate UM those two key components. Those 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.439 are also some of the most expensive components, right, so 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.440 by uh integrating them inside of the product, you're protecting 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.800 it from crashes, from the elements from a pack of wolves. 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.200 You know. Like however, right, it's all the expensive stuff 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.840 is inside the frame. Uh. And then that third component, 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.160 which is the motor, is actually sealed. It has a 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.959 waterproof ratings, so it will work underwater. Um because it's 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.840 totally sealed, that means that it's self lubricating. Uh. They 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.880 rated at fifty miles without needing any kind of service. 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.000 So we really spent money on the parts that make 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.640 these bikes electric because we figure if you're buying an 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.160 electric bike, you're gonna be using them pretty hardcore. Um. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.960 So then, uh, speaking of money, UM, we're trying to 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.160 make these things affordable. Right, that was like the biggest 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.720 barrier for me. Right, I found a solution, but I 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.920 can't afford it. And um, you know this isn't this 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.920 isn't a toy. This isn't uh for someone you know 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:35.719 that's just gonna park this next to their tesla and 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.320 their garage. And you know, like this is for the 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.160 guy who, um, he has two jobs and he's got 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.600 a twenty five year old car that he can't afford 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.439 to keep running. And all of a sudden, this becomes 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.679 a more viable means of transport. We're spending less than 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.920 two thousand dollars on a bike, and um, you know 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.840 that's you don't have. It costs ten cents to charge 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:57.720 one of these things, right. You get twenty to thirty 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.840 miles on a single charge. So you talked about half 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.559 of any per mile. You don't have to ensure it. Um, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.320 you know you don't have to pump it full of gas. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.760 You don't really have like maintenance and oil changes and 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.880 all that kind of stuff. Um. So if we could 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.920 actually get people to like pull the plug on on 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.959 their cars, right, that frees up a lot of funds, um, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.960 you know, for uber and left on those rainy days. Right. So, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.839 and like that's we're all about. Like if we were 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.640 really honest with ourselves on how much money we spend 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.199 on car ownership, uh, speaking of which Georgia actually leads 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.319 the nation um in cost of ownership on cars. Uh, 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.560 then we can really like start to um you know, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:43.079 see transportation in a new light. Absolutely so. And this 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.319 is a ripple effect. I talk about ripple effects all 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.360 the time on this show, about how a change in 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.600 one area ends up having further effects out from that 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.040 immediate source. So, for example, you talked about how this 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.840 was originally a personal project for you. You were literally 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.920 trying to solve your own issue of getting to work 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.760 not being all sweaty, you know, not having to deal 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.360 with traffic the way you had been doing, uh with 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.640 classic engineering issue. Right, You you have a problem, you 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.440 start asking yourself what does it take to solve this problem? 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.920 You then go forward the steps to solve that problem. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.640 You test it, you throw out anything that doesn't work, 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.040 you keep everything that does work. And then from there 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.280 you say, all right, here's here's mark one. If we're 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.440 gonna use like Iron Man suit technology, so mark one 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:31.720 right here. It's like, it's not the finished product, but 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.720 this is the thing that does what I needed to do. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.080 Then you have your classic second step, which is that 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.520 other people take notice. This, by the way, reminds me 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.920 your story is remarkably similar to the story of the 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:49.360 guys who founded the PC gaming company alien Ware. Now 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.920 they build like those crazy gaming rigs that cost a 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.360 couple of thousand dollars, and they when I had them 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.760 on the show, it was the same thing. It was 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.719 people who were they were building these rigs in the 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.600 nine indies when all these crazy graphics cards are coming out, 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.760 and it just was difficult to build a system that 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.920 could run the brand new games, the ones that were 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.679 just coming out with three D graphics. It was hard 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.080 to do that because there were just so much, so much, 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.120 so many different products on the market and it was 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.360 very confusing. So what they did was they built one 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.200 for themselves and then they had all their friends say, hey, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:22.840 what if I if I paid you, would you be 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:24.600 able to build one for me? And it became a 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.600 little boutique industry which eventually grew into what it is today. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.800 So you're and you're you're talking about the hacker ethos, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.680 the idea of taking things apart and then seeing how 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:36.720 they work and then make it work better than it 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.240 did before. I mean, that's totally a hacker thing. That 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.080 is hacking. So, like you're talking the language of tech 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.400 stuff all throughout this already. The ripple effect I wanted 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.840 to talk about is how you get to the point 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:53.040 where for personal savings point of view, uh, it becomes 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.320 clear if you're able to say, like, this is actually 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.880 a replacement uh in and many of the use of 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.920 where you would rely upon your vehicle, this could be 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.720 a replacement for that for the majority of those. Uh. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.200 You know, obviously some things being outside of that, if 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.560 you're taking like a long road trip or whatever, those 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:16.160 are obviously outside of it. But for daily commutes, it's 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.680 it's easy to say, all right, this is a transportation solution. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.600 This isn't just recreation, right, This isn't just I've got 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.600 a bike that I want to ride on Saturdays, so 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.840 I can ride around the park. I mean, you could 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.640 do that if you wanted to, but this is more seriously, 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.440 you could you could use this to get to where 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.040 your work going. You can use this instead of a car. 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:39.760 So that's the direct one. But the ripple effect is 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.400 that again it starts to relieve traffic congestion because you're 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.360 taking a car off the road during those peak travel times. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.640 It begins to relieve other issues that are related to 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:57.040 traffic congestion, like pollution. It is taking off more wear 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.880 and tear on city infrastructure. It's crazy to think about 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:03.880 when you start looking at big, big picture, but you 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:09.400 begin to realize that this is a much larger uh 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.880 influence than just I got to work way faster and 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.840 I'm not sweaty. Uh. So now I don't like to 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:22.040 get grandiose necessarily, but I do like to to acknowledge 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.680 the fact that sometimes UH things that you're looking at 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.840 like in a narrow focus, while they are true, it's 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.640 not the whole story. And if you start peeling back, 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:37.960 you realize this has potential to make truly transformative changes 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.160 in various communities. We're starting to see that again in 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.240 Atlanta and I think it's largely because we have companies 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.520 like Edison that are leading the way into providing actual 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.560 alternatives that work within a city. And now we're starting 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.480 to see communities say we want to have that, So 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.040 we want to build more bike lanes, we want to 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.040 build more dedicated pathways. The belt line that Pont City 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.119 Market is right off of has not existed for very 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.800 long at least, especially the stretch that goes by Pont 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.600 City Market. It hasn't been opened for very many years. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.399 It used to be disused railroad tracks. So we're starting 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.800 to see those kind of transformations In Atlanta, that's just 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:21.160 one city where we're starting to see that happened. So, uh, 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.760 let's kind of dive into some of the tech of 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.560 the Edison bikes and like sort of how they actually work. 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.080 If you were to ride one, and and I had 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.680 the opportunity to ride one, I will admit I was 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.840 doing the equivalent of training wheels. I did not go 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.639 above the assist level one and it goes up to five. 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.160 So let's talk a little bit about what you can 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.040 do on one of these bikes and and how that 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:56.680 pedal assist actually works on a practical level. So first 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.600 I want to kind of set an expectation of, like 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.960 what kind of power, uh could you expect because I've 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:08.080 sold bikes to like people who ride Harley Davidson's and um, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:09.800 I got a big guy get on a bike and 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.280 he goosed the throttle and he's like, why aren't I 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.160 going Ryan? Come on man, And I'm like, come on, dude, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.920 this is a pedal assist, uh, a penal assist thing. 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.760 Um it produces five watts this motor, and uh it'll 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.080 run it five dred watts. Uh. So if you ran 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:28.360 this thing like full blasts, it would go just over 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.760 an hour. Top speeds about twenty five miles an hour, 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:35.159 so you're looking at a range between twenty and thirty miles. UM. So, 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:36.840 like if I started, I wagh a little over two 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:38.439 hundred pounds. If I started at the base of a 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.159 hill and I goosed the throttle, it would give me 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.440 to the top. I'd probably be only going ten miles 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.239 an hour or so. But if I pedaled along and 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.119 just helped out that motor like ten percent of what 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.040 I would like on a normal bike, you know, I'm 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.359 just very gently penalting. I can easily carry twenty miles 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.840 an hour up any hill in Atlanta. Right, So I 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:00.240 just want to be clear with the list, or is 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.560 it like we're not selling like a motorcycle or a scooter. 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.560 This is a bicycle that weighs forty five pounds, rides 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:12.040 very much like a bicycle. You just feel superhuman when 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.560 you're riding. Right, Yeah, you you hit one of those 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.359 hills that normally, if you're riding a regular bike, you 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.800 just feel your heart sink and you think, by halfway up, 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:23.760 I'm gonna be off of this. I'm just gonna be 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:25.800 I'll be pushing. I'll be pushing the bike because I 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:27.159 won't be able to make it all the way up. 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:28.479 I'm just gonna get to a point where I'm at 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.200 a standstill. But pedal assist because you have that that 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.720 electric motor that can kick in and provide additional power 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.080 so that you can keep on powering through something like 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.960 that means that you you know, you don't have to 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.600 you don't have to sweat it literally in this case. 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.960 So uh yeah, I mean this is one of those 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:55.040 technologies that um I love because it allows you to 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:59.040 augment your experience, but it doesn't replace it. As you 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.520 were saying like, it's not like it's an electric motorcycle. 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:06.080 It's about augmenting so that things that might have previously 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:08.280 been a challenge, maybe it would even be a barrier 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:12.639 to you adopting a bicycle are no longer a hurdle. Right, 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:14.399 You don't know if you're sitting there and thing like 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.080 I've got four hills between me and work, it's not 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.040 so big a deal if you've got something that can 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.760 kick in so that you're peddling just you know, you 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.600 don't have to peddle any harder than you did on 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.879 the level stretches as you do on the inclines a 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.040 thousand percent. That actually reminds me on the way home, 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.960 I want to take an Instagram photo where I'm holding 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.600 up a dime and I'm holding it up to our city, right, 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.359 because like, with a range of twenty to thirty miles, 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.040 that's how far we could go on a single dime. Right. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.879 These bikes, they really provide like a key, uh to 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:51.080 your city. It really unlocks your city. Um, we're investing 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.639 so much. Um when I say we um talking about Atlanta. Um, 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.600 but we signed off on a bill of a billion 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:03.880 dollars to make our bike and pedestrian infrastructure better. Atlanta 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.120 is striving to be one of the best bike communities 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.920 in the world. Um, however, Atlanta is not going to 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.520 be any flatter, right, but we have some pretty serious 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.199 topography out there, right, So this kind of removes that 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:20.800 final barrier, um for somebody you know that that is 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.760 thinking about maybe riding a bike or like, you know, 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:28.280 alternative transportation. This takes that last barrier around, you know, 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.159 and really it makes it easy, and it makes it 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.720