The 3rd age invades the Montreal Bike Show where almost all the models presented are electric

In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.

At the Montreal Bike Show, which continues at the Palais des congrès until Sunday, I thought I was coming across tall, thin cyclists wrapped in lycra. Rather, I met hundreds of grandpas and grandmas, often as couples, who came to buy electric bikes capable of “giving wings” even to cyclists crippled by arthritis.

Am I at the Bike Show or at a FADOQ conference? It’s the golden age here!

The atmosphere is joyful. Gray or white heads account for at least three quarters of visitors. Some move around using walkers. There are also many canes.

What percentage of the bikes here are electric? I haven’t counted, but by eye I would say 95%… maybe more!

“We reached balance with as many electric bikes as non-electric bikes a little before the pandemic break, then there, it’s almost only electric,” maintains Jan Dubé, the founder of the Montreal Bike Show.

“The beauty of the electric bike is that it democratizes the practice by opening it even to people who are no longer old enough for athletic prowess,” enthuses Mr. Dubé.

Even those who have difficulty walking find, once in the saddle, the freedom to take long walks in the wind.

“There are two 82-year-old cyclists in our electric bike touring club and they follow us without any problem,” Louise Beauregard, 66, from Candiac, tells me.

M^me Beauregard met her lover Alain Sylvestre, 63, in the club in question.

“I launched the Facebook group a year ago, we have more than 2,000 members and we do two outings per week,” enthuses Mr. Sylvestre who, owner of two electric bikes, came to ogle his possible third model .

Combined purchases

There are couples everywhere.

“It’s a unique situation with electric bikes: people often buy them in pairs, twice the same model, to go at exactly the same speed and have the same experience,” Michel Leblanc, the president of Velec, explains to me. a pioneering electric bike company founded in 2005.

Once marginal at the Montreal Bike Show where its bikes were a curiosity, here is the Velec company surrounded by rivals!

In front of the entrance to the showroom, the brand new blue R48i model from Velec, designed in Saint-Bruno, designed in Granby and programmed in Griffintown in Montreal, is sometimes described as the “Tesla” of Quebec cycling.

It is a “smart” bike equipped with a controller that better harmonizes the movement of the crankset with the motor, which increases its autonomy and battery life.

“We can install system updates. It can be unlocked for a friend remotely. We can also track it on a GPS if it is stolen and we can kill to prevent the thief from using it,” lists Mr. Leblanc.

So you can “kill” your bike remotely? I’m disappointed to learn that it doesn’t self-destruct in a cloud of smoke.

“The crankset locks up and becomes unusable. The battery is coupled to the bike so that if the bike is stolen while the battery is being charged, it is of no use.”

As what customers fear the most is theft and breakdown, Mr. Leblanc imagined offering a program called Peace of Mind which, for three years, replaces the stolen bike with new ones, and in the event of a breakdown call the CAA.

Old age is often associated with technophobia. Well, in the biking field, obviously, it’s the opposite!

For my part, I tried the famous R48i from Velec on the test track at the Show and I really liked it. It reminded me of other electric bikes, but in a hushed, ultra-comfortable Cadillac version. I’m not the target audience for this product…but give me a few more years and maybe it will come!