In the last three months I’ve gone from a “hmm, e-bikes might one day be sort of a thing” to a blown away observer of a trend that is observable even from the shade of my front yard.

I even tweeted about it, so it must be true.

Had only seen a handful of e-bikes in the wild before this year, but now seeing them almost daily around town and on trails. Reminds me of SUP growth ~5 years ago. Anyone come across numbers around their growth?

— Gregg Blanchard (@slopefillers) June 12, 2020

Since that tweet? The numbers in our neck of the woods have only gone up. When I walked out to get the mail a few minutes ago, two more cyclists sped by at 25mph while pushing the pedals at 50 watts…if I’m being generous.

Debate and Intrigue
E-bikes are the source of both debate and intrigue.

Debate because places that were once only accessible through intense physical training and patience are now accessible to anyone who can afford an e-bike with enough range.

But intrigue because these things are crazy fun. Even Digi tweeted it, so it also must be true.

https://twitter.com/ozskier/status/1287912500189634562

Enter…Gunstock
Here’s the thing, though. E-bikes are also fairly expensive. Or, they can be. Which means that while some doctor/cycling isn’t thinking twice about dropping $13,500 on a road e-bike, there are lots of humble folks like myself who are the classic combination of:

• Super intrigued
• Not intrigued enough to buy

But if you offered me a chance to rip around a mountainous area for, say, $68/day? Well, that may not be right in my comfort zone…but it’s a heckuva lot closer.

And it’s exactly what Gunstock is doing.

View this post on Instagram

Grab your hunny and check out an e-bike tour. . . #ebike #tour #summer #love #gunstockmtn #nhlakesregion #newhampshireoutdoors

A post shared by Gunstock Mountain Resort (@gunstockmtn) on Aug 1, 2020 at 4:17am PDT

The Iron is Hot
Listen, I have no idea how long the e-bike fervor will last. A year? A decade? If the consistently high numbers of stand up paddleboards are any indication, I’d lean toward a decade.

But stuff like this comes along every few years. Something catches folks’ interest. But it takes some commitment to make it happen. If you can give them a glimpse of the experience for a fraction of the cost? Well, maybe you’re onto something. Like Gunstock and the other resorts offering e-bike rentals this summer.

After all, you read all this on SlopeFillers. So it definitely must be true.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.