Easy Riding

With only a few days remaining before we were scheduled to leave Rarotonga, we decided to finally circumnavigate the entire island.
After our initial story on Polynesian Bike Hire’s new electric bicycles (Pedal Positive, Cook Island Times, May 7), and being frustrated at having those aboard these Eco Bikes overtake us with apparent ease, we decided to momentarily abandon our standard push-bikes to try out these modern transportation devices for our circle tour.
We set off one morning from Budget’s main office in Avarua but were barely 30 minutes into our ride when disaster struck on the Ara Metua. A burst tyre! After suffering two other punctures in the three days prior to this journey, we were starting to believe some higher power didn’t want us on the road anymore.
A quick walk back to Avarua to swap bikes and we were soon back on the road, determined to give our electric bikes a good workout as we made our way around the island.
Eco Bikes have three settings: pedal assist, neutral and automatic.
Pedal assist is akin to Superman mode – it adds a bit of speed to enhance your pedaling so that a minimum effort results in maximum speed. Neutral, as the name suggests, is where the electric motor takes a break and you power yourself. The bike is very easy to ride, even in neutral, giving the impression that you are still receiving a bit of a helping hand.
The final setting is Automatic, or Formula One mode. It whizzes you along at what, after cycling on a normal bike for five months, seems like a 1000kmh (more realistically at about 25km/h).
Be warned, however, that on full auto you only have about one hour’s worth of battery supply before you need to recharge the bike for a few hours via the $1-per-day battery charger. The electric motor is more of a cycling aid than an engine in that it speeds you up on small inclines and gives your legs a break on long stretches.
If you prefer to do no work at all, then hire a motorbike or you may find yourself stranded with nothing but old-fashioned pedal power as your only means of momentum.
We met a visitor from the U.S. who was also hiring an Eco Bike. She’d opted to hire one for a week, having been attracted by the money she’d save not having to buy petrol, as well as the subsequent ecological connotations. She wanted to be able to get around the island at her own pace but had heard that push-bikes were hard work and motorbikes were heavy and could be difficult to drive. With the Eco Bike, she’d found the perfect middle ground, the best of both worlds, as it were.
It took us but 15 minutes to agree with our new American friend, after using the pedal assist setting to travel sweat-free from Avarua to Blackrock, a journey that would take 25 minutes via pedal power.
The ride was easy and for the most part smooth, but the seat’s low positioning meant every bump in the road is transferred directly to your spine. On the positive side, the low seat makes you feel more relaxed and laid back than on a regular bike.
There’s a balance between exercise and over-exertion on push-bikes. It’s not exactly relaxing to cycle into the teeth of a South Pacific wind, but the Eco Bike is a good compromise.
The Eco Bikes come complete with lights, battery charge indicator and a shrill electric horn, features that make them safe for nighttime use.
In all, with a few stops to take photos, a quick swim at Tikioki and an ice cream at Wigmore’s, driving right around the island took us a little over three hours. If you were more determined to get somewhere fast, this time could be substantially improved upon.
At $30 per day rental charges, plus a dollar a day for hiring the charger, these bikes don’t come cheap. Polynesian Bike Hire does, however, offers deals long-term rentals. As well, you don’t need a Cook Islands driver’s licence to operate an Eco Bike, a savings of $20. The other major upside? No need to buy petrol.
But, while these bikes don’t use petrol, they do use electricity, electricity produced by Rarotonga’s diesel-burning power plant. This means the environmental emissions are far from zero but these Eco Bikes are at least a step in the right direction. Should, sometime in the future, the island’s power be generated from renewable resources, then these bikes will truly live up to their ‘eco’ name.

By Simon Spinola and Samantha Jones

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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