1. Helmet hair
This is the big one. When you take your helmet off in a café, you find your hair has compressed into an unstylish, formless clump.  Sometimes, your hair springs up in comical patterns of tufts matching the helmet’s vent holes. My simple and effective fix to this problem is baldness. Other solutions include not wearing a helmet (though head injuries are even less attractive than helmet hair) and hanging about in a group of people with even worse helmet hair than your own - a big advantage of riding in a group.

2. Looking old
My male vanity fought a rear-guard action against getting an e-Bike for years. In my testosterone-poisoned mind, swapping my unpowered ‘muscle-bike’ for an e-Bike would be a surrender to aging. I thought that people would think that I was less vigorous and virile. The sad reality is nobody ever thought I was vigorous and virile anyway so that argument was pretty pointless. I now overtake people on their muscle-bikes, and feel vigorous and virile. 

3. Expensive
E-Bikes are too expensive… but only if you don’t ride them. Parked in your garage, they represent a terrible waste of money. However, if you actually ride the things they become an incredibly cost-effective source of transport, fun and exercise. Our group (the Café Cruisers) has rides twice a week and regular riders think of their e-Bikes as amazing value for money. Getting on an e-Bike does cost a lump of money, but wave this article under the noses of sales-staff at bike shops like ElectrifyNZ in Albany and who knows what deals they might come up with. 

4. Disruptive
If you take up e-cycling, especially if you ride in a group, be warned: it can disrupt your life. It may cut into that time you could have spent tidying your garage or staring at your phone. You may find that your calendar fills up with trips and rides. You may have your life disrupted by having new friends and new interests. You have been warned.

5. Anti-social
Do people like cyclists? Talkback hosts grumble and some politicians are still 'bike-o-phobes', but cycling popularity is surging. Is there really a car-versus-bike culture war? My experience is Auckland motorists are patient and friendly and getting more and more bike-kind all the time (though the exceptions do stick in your mind!)  The Café Cruisers use a charm offensive: lots of waves, smiles, excuse me’s and friendly tinkles on the bell.  By getting an e-Bike you might become a social outcast but you will be warmly welcomed by the rest of us rejects.    

6. Dangerous
No joke: you can dent yourself severely on a bike. I comfort myself with the statistic that, despite all the accidents you hear of, cyclists live on average two years longer than non-cyclists. Exercise makes such a difference to your well-being, and e-cycling is proven to be wonderful at enhancing your fitness. I am in more danger eating chips on my sofa than I am whizzing along a bike path. There’s lots you can do to tilt the statistics even more in your favour: get the right bike for you, keep it serviced, learn to ride well by riding with others and, most of all, ride! You get riding skills by riding, so your next kilometre is always safer than your last kilometre. 

7. Boring
Your friends and family may get sick and tired of your boring stories about your biking adventures, discoveries, travels and fun. They may skip past the dozens of Facebook posts about your outings. They may decline your offer to show them your latest gadget or bike. Fortunately, boring people don’t know they are boring, so I wouldn’t worry about it.   

8. Too hard
There are challenges to mastering an e-Bike. One of the best things about riding in a group is seeing some of the people who ride and thinking, “If they can do it, I can.” 

9. Slippery slope
It might just start with an occasional ride. Then you might accidentally join the Café Cruisers or some other social riding group, and you find you’re riding every week. You might start commuting to work along the North Shore’s growing network of paths and cycle lanes. Before you know it, you’re cycling the Otago Rail Trail. The most unlikely people can catch the cycling bug very severely; some of them vanish for weeks at a time, leaving only a trail of social media posts as they weave and wobble around Croatia or France or somewhere. Again, you have been warned. 

Electrify.nz
Northridge Plaza, 100 Don Mckinnon Drive, Albany
09 414 4877
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; Sat-Sun 10am-3pm. Closed public holidays
www.electrify.nz/northshore
FB/Insta: @electrify.nz