Those of you who have been around here a while know that most of our adventures that involve riding, also involve internal combustion engines. Well, prepare to be amazed! 😉

We have friends who have bicycles, and friends who have recumbent trikes, we have rented bikes, thought about buying bikes, and shopped for bikes. Since most of our favorite travel destinations involve mountains, we thought that bikes enhanced with electric might be just the ticket for us. Oh and we were looking for collapsible bikes, for ease of transport on RV trips. We figured this might be a small niche market for bikes.

We went to the Family Motorcoach Association (FMCA) spring rally in Perry, Georgia, back in March, thinking we might find interesting RVing items. It was a bonanza of RV-related vendors, new RVs to tour, and RV people to chat with. And an electric bike vendor happened to be there. We test rode the Pedego collapsible model and were impressed, but taken aback by the high price point. We saw another collapsible electric bike with a ‘Green Bike’ logo parked in front of a building, and then later lucked into seeing the owner and stopping him to chat. He had nothing but good things to say, and the price point was about half that of others we had researched, with great features.

Suffice it to say, about two weeks ago, we became the proud owners of two Green Bikes!  We bought the awesome GB500 Fat Tire folding models, one in white, and one in black.  Green Bike customer service was great, ordering was simple, and they were shipped to us free of charge, in about 3 business days, to meet our travel schedule. Several accessories were included, and all questions and concerns were handled immediately by Laura in Green Bike’s offices in Coconut Creek, Florida. The bikes have a 48V/15.6AH lithium battery, charge quickly, and offer a 60 mile+ range, with full pedal, pedal assist, and full electric modes available. They also have a computer screen to control features and charge your phone, 6 gears, front and rear lights, turn signals and brake lights!!!

We played with the bikes in our neighborhood at home, which has several fairly steep hills, but only put about 3 or 4 miles on them before packing up the RV and heading to Texas. The coolest thing is that the bikes fold up into storage bags, and both bikes fit in the cargo area of our Honda CR-V!!

I know what you’re thinking…get to the riding part already! 🙂

So earlier this week in the Hill Country of Texas, near Fredericksburg, we unfolded the bikes and set out for a ride.

We started out inside the Fredericksburg RV park, just to get our bike legs back before heading out on the road. This park is located right in town, so it is super convenient to everything. We made a couple of loops of the park, adjusted seats and handlebars, and took a couple of glamour shots. 😉

The fat tires are awesome for gravel or sand, and the tires are puncture resistant to boot!

We rode a bit around town, and then headed out on US 290 east to the countryside. It was a little nerve-wracking with the heavy traffic on 290, but once we got off on a side road, Old San Antonio Road, it was very pleasant. The pedal assist was excellent to get up small rises in the road, as well as, back up from the low water crossings that are ubiquitous in the Hill Country.

For some reason, this particular route had no bluebonnets, but we did find a lovely crossing of the Pedernales River. As we stopped for photos, a sickly-looking fox scampered up the rocks on one side of the road, waited for a truck to pass, and then limped across and disappeared down the other side. Sad, but a little thought about potential rabies kept me on alert, not taking photos. Sorry.

Anyway, we followed Old San Antonio to Meusebach Creek Road, then followed it on a long loop back toward US 87. On Meusebach Creek, a small pickup passed us and waved, then pulled over and asked if he could talk to us about our electric bikes!!! We were happy to share, since someone else had done the same for us.

We completed about 15 miles on that loop, and could definitely say we had gotten a good workout, but the pedal assist made doing 15 miles on our first long ride possible without total fatigue. We love these bikes and highly recommend Green Bike USA for electric bikes of all kinds, not just the fat tire or collapsible kind. I’d be happy to answer any questions in the comments below. If you’ve been thinking of an electric bike, I would say GO FOR IT!

Since this post was short on photos, here the sweet face of Eagle, our friends’ Hawaiian Black Sheep to make you smile.