Traveling with your Electric Assist E-Bike

Things to consider about traveling with your E-Bike Friday

Why travel taking along an electric assist Bike Friday?

It opens up amazing travel route options

It can be argued that the best way to arrive is by bike. Certainly, a great way to meet wonderful people everywhere in a low key way. Mountains and long forest roads can be breathtaking and memorable but not all of us have hundreds of hours to train our legs to pedal those routes.

Adding electric assist to your bike opens up a whole lot more options for your cycling adventures.  As good as the bike trip can be as a cyclist we still need to get to the start and home from the end. This means that you need an electric assist bike that travels easily and has airline legal batteries.

How to make travel with your electric assist Bike simple?

Use a Bike Friday with LIGO batteries

It can be extremely stressful to travel with a conventional bicycle just because it is a large odd package to carry and store (costing extra luggage fees to). Trying to travel with an electric assist battery can be even more difficult because of restrictive safety laws and regulations around batteries, especially on airlines.

Traveling on a Bike Friday that is packed in a suitcase, fitting standard Airline size and weight requirements make your travel package smaller and more standard to carry and store. Using LIGO batteries (the only airline legal bike assist battery)  with your electric assist systems allows you to easily un-hook your batteries and carry them in your hand luggage for free with no issues. Now you have a standard package and everything is legal and easy to take with you.

Note on weight and local laws on e-bikes: The average electric bicycle is both large and quite heavy. Averaging around 50lbs/22 kgs they cannot really fit the weight requirements. The legal challenges on electric bikes are not just the airline restrictions on batteries but also most jurisdictions you will fly to have legal limits on motor power, assist speeds & disallow throttles. The European standards are what most are based on now if you want to stay legal where you visit to ride. The Bike Friday design & development came up with nearly the same conclusions as they fit our design philosophy that is cyclist centered not motor centered. Read more of the Cycling on Sunshine series to understand where this all comes from for fun, safety, & the pursuit of cycling joy

Note on 20inch wheels: Some folks think we chose 20” wheels for some other design statement. But it was actually to fit the case size constraints. It is almost impossible & very slow to pack anything close to full-size wheels into air requirements. So they almost always go with expensive special extra costs and handling at the airport. And they are so inconvenient lots of folks just ship them separately. We lucked out to find that the smaller wheels were actually very comparable in performance if they had good tires and were well built light wheels. This secured our ‘Performance that Packs’ byline that we have used for many years. Along with “Bikes that Fly!

Which Bike Friday electric assist works best for your plans?

Even tho we have designed assist systems that work with all Bike Friday models (even upgrades for older models!) there are models, features and equipment that pack the easiest, and the fastest.

If you are looking for a bike for:

  • Touring and daily use bike that also quickly folds and packs = New World Tourist
  • Expedition Touring, rough roads, and quickly folds and packs = Diamond Llama
  • Fast sport and road riding and quickly folds and packs = Pocket Rocket
  • Fast sport and top of the line components with the ultra-light frame, and quickly folds and packs = Pocket Rocket Pro
  • Folding and Touring Tandem than packs into 2 suitcases = Tandem Two’sDay
  • Light Touring and Road Tandem, with lots of size adjustment for children in the back = Family Tandem

Features that make your bike easier to pack & travel with to chose are; chain drives are easiest to manage as belts are more rare to find parts for on the road, conventional rim brakes are easier to manage as disc require special care to protect packed & some new skills to adjust. The Bike Friday design handlebar series are easiest to pack & some of the most comfortable you have ever ridden.

Electric Travelers start as low as $1,800 & under 30 lbs!

Call our knowledgeable cyclist/consultants to talk through the potential for you. We promise it will help you with a stress-free trip to & from your destination & a joyous bike trip!

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