 Hey, welcome back everybody. Jeff Frick here with theCUBE. We're in Reno, Nevada at the Enter Bike Show. It's a big industry gathering, talking all about bikes. But today we're at a little side event that's put on by the Royal Dutch Gazelle Bike Company, 125 year old bike company that's all in on e-bikes. And we wanted to come check it out, really learn how the e-bike phenomenon is impacting smart cities in last mile and there's so much cool stuff going on with big batteries and small motors. But it's really a lot more than that and we're excited to be here with someone who's been riding about the industry for over 25 years. It's Patrick Brady, the publisher of the Red Kite Prayer. Great to see you. Thanks, nice to be here. Yeah, so you've been doing this for a long time. I just love to get your perspective on this e-bike phenomenon. Cause you know, it used to be it's cheating and you know, these are not real bikes and you know, we're tough and we climbed the mountain and these things are not acceptable. But they're getting a ton of adoption. We just heard from the team at Gazelle. They're gonna sell a third of the bikes they sell this year are e-bikes. That's amazing to me. Yay, I'm glad. I mean, this thing where, yeah, it's cheating. It's like, no, a good time is never cheating. Why this is a problem for people? I don't understand. The thing is the very first time I ever got on an e-bike I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt. It's a good time. And you know, the thing is it's so effective for transportation. I'm cyclophilic. Okay, I love road bikes. I love mountain bikes, but I just like bikes. And so if I can keep my car parked and use a bike to get around, I bought an e-cargo bike, different company. But I love these. They're stylish, you know, and it's such a great way to get around. It's easy to park, easy to lock. They've got an integrated lock on them. You know, why wouldn't you use that as a way to get around? You know, gas guzzling cars, this is not what our future will be. We've got to be intelligent about what the future is. Another problem that we face as cyclists is that we're getting run over. People are on their smartphones and every time somebody gets out of an SUV and starts riding a bike, what happens? It's in the brain, we recognize that which we are. And so a chance to cause someone to recognize us out on the road. Oh look, somebody on a bike like I have. Right, right. Maybe they're not going to run us over. Right. So it's a way to decrease congestion on our roads. It's a nice way to see the world. I mean, I don't care what bike you're on. If you're on a bike, it's a better way to see the world. Right. Like 15 miles an hour, that's going to be my blog or 14. Cause it is, it's nice to be outside. You know, you're in the fresh air. What's amazing to me though is I really came into this with a hypothesis around last mile. This is not last mile at all. These things are just substituting out for people's car. I just heard about a ride that people are doing that Googlers are doing from San Francisco to Mountain View every day. That's not an insignificant ride. So it's really a game changer. Oh yeah, I take my kids to school on my e-bike, pick them up in the afternoon, we'll go to the grocery store, pick up the pizza. No, it's so nice. And it's easier to get my boys out the door. Can we take the green bike? You know, they get excited about it. Right. So it's a big difference. So let's talk a little bit about regulation. So it's pretty interesting to see kind of, you know, regulation is usually always behind the technology. You know, how do we treat these things? Are they scooters? Are they like a motor vehicle as defined by DMV? Are they bikes? And obviously the danger comes when you have disparity of speed. So, you know, we're seeing on a lot of bike paths, no motor vehicles, which I think they mean scooters, and then no e-bikes. So how do you see kind of the regulation getting changed? Because to your point, it's always better to have somebody on a bike than a car, in general, in terms of space and congestion and all the reasons that you went through. So what is it going to take for the legislation and kind of the laws to kind of catch up to what these really represent in transforming really cities? Well, things have evolved a lot already. There's been a working group within the industry that helped define the three different classifications that are being used. Not being able to use them on a bike path, I don't think is a really big deal. You know, as infrastructure improves for cycling, out on roads, you know, bike lanes, that sort of thing, I think that's going to help. But, you know, one of the great things about an e-bike is you roll up to a red light and you pop it in turbo, you know, and the moment the light turns green, you're through the intersection instantly. So being out on the road where I live in Santa Rosa, I don't have any problems. And because the bike's big, I've got two other people with bright helmets on, people are cheering me, you know. I get waved at, people like, you know, they're not pedaling, cracking jokes. So it's become a very different way to present cycling to people who aren't on bikes. And they look at it and they get excited. But, you know, back to the legislation, I don't see that we're really having a big problem. There have been issues in some other places where, you know, they're just flat out not legal. And it's like, well, you know, they're going to see the light on that sooner or later. Right, right. We need to provide other options to get people around. And it's just too intelligent. And really all it takes for anybody to see the light, usually, is one rider. Give them a half a mile. They'll get it. Right. It's funny, because right at the end of the day we all like to be like that eight-year-old that got their first stingray and you get out on the road and there's really just nothing like that. But now we're a little older, a little heavier and don't quite have that agility that we had as that eight-year-old. So, you know, you're bringing it back down. Yeah, it's crazy. So I'm just curious to your perspective, even within the e-bike industry, how it's evolved over the years. You know, there's so much stuff going on with batteries and motors. I think that because e-bikes are using a Bosch system, obviously Bosch is a huge car components company with giant, giant scale. So as you've seen that evolve, you know, kind of what are some of your takes in terms of the longer capacity, the longer batteries, the better systems? Oh, you know, the biggest single thing, sure, the batteries last longer. The motors provide torque on a more even basis. So they don't just take off or do anything crazy. But the units themselves, the biggest single thing that I see, because a motor is a motor at a certain level, the reliability has gone through the roof. You know, Bosch, yeah, they understand what reliability is. All the companies doing this now are so much better. I remember being at a magazine in 1998 and a guy just begging me to cover his bike. And it's like, it looked like a piece of junk and I had to communicate to him, but well, our reader isn't who you're trying to sell to. Our reader, we actually like going on. We like the whole sweaty thing. And so that was an issue, but I remember what that bike was. And yeah, they're just so much more reliable. They're so much easier to use. The batteries last so much longer. Everything is, you know, it's ready for prime time. Right, right. It's funny, a lot of the conversations earlier today, we're talking about kind of those early days and it fascinates me all the Kickstarter projects around all these kind of alternative vehicles, whether they're scooters or skateboards or one-wheels and all these, you know, different variations of personal mobility. But this is an old company. These guys have been at it for a while and I cannot believe that a third of their sales this year are going to be e-bikes. So when the big traditional powerhouses come into the market, that changes everything. Yeah, well, when you look at the population of cyclists in the world and then you look at the population of the world, who do you want to sell to? If you want to grow your company, I don't know, let's sell to all the people who aren't currently riding bikes, you know, and think about what that's going to do for the world. Fewer emissions, happier people, holy cow, you know, that's crazy talk. Right, right, right. All right, Pat, well, thanks for sharing your perspective. It's a really exciting time. We're happy to be here and I'm sure it's a whole breadth of fresh air in your coverage area to be able to get into this space. Yeah, I really welcome that. I love it. Yeah, I love it. I love that you said, I'm over the cheating thing. All right, well, he's Patrick. I'm Jeff. You're watching theCUBE. We're at Inner Bike and actually a little side event here with Royal Dutch Gazelle. Thanks for watching.