Out of the 8 award categories Kalkhoff won 2, a remarkable achievement by any standards. The Kalkhoff models Pro Connect and Agattu XXL won awards for the best “Easy“ pedelec and “Tour” pedelec”. Mathias Seidler, CEO of Derby Cycles, was on hand at the show to receive the awards.

Extra Energy said about the Pro Connect – “It isn’t easy to be a winner in the Easy Pedelec category. Most test bikes fell in this category and the fight for the top spot was intense. The Kalkhoff Pro Connect impressed with its excellent balance between handling, fittings and motor. This is a marriage of tradition with power. It feels very much like a bicycle and the consistently very high values achieved in the riding test, make this pedelec the ideal vehicle for daily use in the city environment. In a nutshell: Very good.“

A great day was had by all and Minister Dempsey had an opportunity to try the Kalkhoff Agattu which as you can see he thoroughly enjoyed. It is very encouraging to see the continued investment in a greener, healthier and safer transport infrastructure such as this route.

We would recommend you try this route and contact Paul Harmon about hire or purchase of the kalkhoff bikes.  
Paul is based in Westport and can be reached at – 083 3468203.

These battery-powered, and virtually silent, machines have become increasingly common on the streets of the Chinese capital.
With roads often clogged with cars – there are now four million vehicles in Beijing – they offer a speedy way to get around.
But not everyone seems to like them: government officials are unsure about how to deal with this explosion of electric bicycles.

China used to be known as the “kingdom of bicycles”. In the 1980s, four out of five commuters pedalled to work on them in Beijing but as the capital’s residents became richer following economic development, they ditched their bikes for four-wheeled transport.

Recent statistics suggest that only one in five city residents now use an ordinary bicycle to travel around.

In a matter of just a few years Beijing has gone from a city with few private cars to one where traffic jams are commonplace.

But many Beijing residents are now buying electric bicycles to avoid wasting time on congested streets.

“It takes only 10 minutes to ride my electric bike from home to work,” said Mr Dai.
Man riding an electric bike in Beijing
Hundreds of thousands of people have bought electric bicycles

“If I took the bus, I’d have to spend time waiting for it, and then I could be trapped in a traffic jam. It could take me half an hour to make the same journey.”

These bikes are on sale everywhere, with shops sometimes clustered together. Their wares are lined up on the pavement in neat rows.

Zhang Zhiyong, the manager of a store selling a brand of electric bike called “Capital Wind”, said it is easy to see why sales are booming.

“Beijing is not like other smaller cities – it’s big. If people ride their bicycles to work, they get really tired. If they drive to work, the roads are often congested,” he told the BBC.

“But an electric bike is environmentally friendly and convenient. Promoting the use of these bikes would benefit us all.”

And they are much cheaper than cars. The most expensive model in Mr Zhang’s shop is only 2,680 yuan ($390:£260).

Public outcry

But not everyone is convinced by the shop owner’s argument.

Many ordinary bike riders complain that the fast, silent electric bikes that now whizz about the city are a menace to other road users.

Late last year the government announced it was going to issue guidelines on what could be considered an electric bike.

Officials initially planned to bring in rules that defined an electric bike as a something weighing less than 40kg and travelling at less than 20kmh.

A bicycle that was heavier and travelled faster would be considered an electric motorbike.
Traffic in Beijing
Bicycles once used to rule the roads in central Beijing

The owners of these larger machines would have to get a licence, register their motorbikes and buy insurance.

But the government scrapped the introduction of the new guidelines after a public outcry.

“There’s been a big debate in China about exactly how to deal with electric bikes,” said Vance Wagner, who works for a transport research centre linked to China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

But with the number of electric bicycles increasing all the time, the government might find it hard to put off forever a decision on how to classify them.

“Many people don’t realise that the population of electric bikes is actually growing way faster than the population of cars,” explained Mr Wagner.

The sale of electric bikes has slightly dropped off recently as people wait to see how the government will tackle the problem of how to define one.

But, ultimately, it is something else that might kill off sales.

Some experts believe they are a stop-gap form of transport; a link between an ordinary bike and a car.

As Beijing car owner Richard Liu put it, cars give a clue to a person’s status – the more successful they are, the bigger the car they own.

“I think 80% of Chinese people want to have a car, even if they don’t have much money they will buy cheaper ones,” he said.

So while they are popular now, electric bicycles might one day prove as unwanted as the pedalled variety.

By now the mainstream media have begun to embrace electric bikes. Below are some thoughts and excerpts from the second New York Times article in two weeks about electric bikes. The most recent article made the front page of the business section. It is not surprising that downtown areas in New York will really champion this new and exciting form of transport as it sure beats messy traffic jams. Since November 2008 the number of New Yorkers who have chosen the cycle lane over the car lane has grown by a staggering 26%, albeit from a small base the signs are very good. The bike networks are expanding and the plan is on schedule to have an additional 200 miles of bike lanes bringing the total to 420 miles. With the infrastructure firmly committed New Yorkers are turning their attentions to electric bikes as the smarter transport.

Some examples that are highlighted in the article

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/global/01ebike.html?pagewanted=1

From Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th January 2009 CircuitCycles demonstrated at the RDS Holiday World Show in Dublin, Ireland. We were partnered with Pat Horan Motors LTD, which proved to be a very successful and enjoyable three days. The partnership worked well for Horans and CircuitCycles since the motorhome community always had close links with cycling and certainly have a fast growing interest in electric bikes. We would like to thank all those who came by and showed interest in the Kalkhoff electric bikes. We were very encouraged by the level of interest and enthusiasm shown by the general public.

“Two big surprises for us were that at a lot of you hadn’t heard about electric bikes before and also you were not aware of the bike to work scheme”.

We were more than happy to answer your questions on these and other matters and really enjoyed the exchanges. Our highlights were when you tried out the electric bikes followed by the sense of amazement you experienced, and how you cajole other onlookers into trying them out! We will continue with the Kalkhoff electric bike road show throughout 2010 so that many more of you can experience the thrill firsthand for yourselves. As soon as we have dates confirmed for events we will post them on this site. For those of you who requested a follow up and test cycle we will be in touch this week. Many thanks to Pat and Olivia Horan from Horan Motors for their good company and craic we shared over the three days.

Eurobike, the worlds biggest trade fairs for the bicycle industry was bigger than ever this year and electric bikes featured strongly. It has become apparent that the Germans have embraced the electric bike and it would seem that the promotion and marketing of such bikes as “intelligent mobility” is working. They are fast becoming a popular choice for an increasing number of Germans, in particular for commuting to work and as an enjoyable recreational activity.

read more - Link

In the first three quarters of 2008 sales were reportedly up 52 percent in value and 35 percent in volume.
In 2008, electric bike sales accounted for 10 percent of the market according to BOVAG, the Dutch dealer association. The forecast had been for 120,000 electric bike sales, by the year end it was closer to 140,000.

The same trends could be seen right across Europe where electric bike sales for 2008 have been estimated at 500,000, with an expectation of around 700,000 for 2009. According to the general manager of Germany’s bicycle industry association, “E-bikes are hot right now”, where an increase of anything between 20 and 50 percent for this year is expected.

Japan, a country that has always pioneered innovations really embrace the electrical bike. They are now looking to cultivate a market that beats even hybrid cars in green credentials and hence the growing popularity of the electrical bike.

For a country where space has always been a premium and congestion is a fact of life, the electric bike may provide a breath of fresh air to the millions of daily commuters in the cities. In the last decade the use of electric bikes in Japan has doubled owing largely to the improvements in performance and the decreasing costs as the bikes become mainstream.  The Japanese have become very conscious of all things green as can be expected with islands of finite resources. Electrical bike usage may outgrow that of electrical cars as the cars still require heavy energy consumption in their manufacture.

Very Popular with Mums

In particular they are a big hit with senior citizens and mothers of small children. The old argument that it is cheating doesn’t seem to matter much to the practical Japanese. In essence they claim that the bikes are not targeted at those who already cycle regularly to work. The electric bike is more for the elderly, parents with young children and those who face a long or hilly commute or traffic congestion.