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Canberra by e-bike from Aiko Mineishi on Vimeo.

Sydney is doing its best impression of winter and our response is to go on another classic eZee electric bicycle epic, from the tropical tip of Cape York, along the East Coast and back to the spiritual home of e-bikes in Australia - Glow Worm Bicycles in Sydney's innerwest.

In case you didn't know, you can join our email list and get some sneak peaks of special deals, invites to e-bike events and general e-bike news delivered to your inbox. It's low volume (maybe once a month) and hopefully worth a read. You can sign up or just read the ones you've missed by clicking here.

I've just pasted below the latest email that went out. It's longer than the average and contains the following sections:

Here's a better photo of the bike. The 20" (BMX sized) wheels keep the centre of gravity low and can support more weight than larger diameter wheels. The custom made steel frame is extra long to carry large cargo items and the cargo racks are part of the frame rather than bolt-on additions. This means the bike can carry enormous loads. 

There's a ride to support the innerwest Greenway on Sunday February 26, starting at the bottom (western end, corner with Canal Rd) of Lilyfield Road, Lilyfi

We're doing some renovations to the bike store and workshop before we open up on January 7 so it's as good a time as ever to sell some bicycles at special prices. The conditions of sale is that the items have to be paid for and taken away on January 7, 8 or 9. No laybys, deposits, options or futures on special items.

We love our e-bikes, love showing them to people, love riding them and love riding to go to show people. We've ridden them to Melbourne, across Tasmania, to grab lunch every day and more. Then there's the hordes of people test riding them in our shop before they buy and the bikes they borrow when we are servicing their electric bikes. All in all this means we have a lot of demo models and it's time we get rid of some so that we can actually move around in the shop. The bikes listed below are in varying condition with imperfections noted and a suggested price.

We have two exciting pieces of news which will both be celebrated at a social event next Friday July 29 from 6:30pm at the shop, 117 Addison Road Marrickville. So what's the news?

A good set of bicycle lights makes a big improvement to your bike riding experience in Sydney. Apart from the obvious motivation of being able to see where you are going, lights on bikes in Sydney are actually mostly necessary to let others see you. Our streets are choked with cars, most of them in a bad mood, driving and parking all over the place. One thing you can do to avoid uncomfortable situations is to become more visible from more angles on your bike.

Anyone familiar with our approach to quality standards of electric bicycles will know that we don't spend much time preaching about bargain hunting for an important purchase like an e-bike. In fact, followers of our blog may have read our article railing against poor quality electric bicycles.

It's a fairly common occurrence in our bike shop that someone asks us rather sheepishly if we can make their bike more comfortable to ride by achieving a more upright seating position. This is usually done by bringing the handlebars higher up and closer to you. Don't be shy - people ask all the time and you're not alone in wanting this. Why's that? Well, Australia has been in the doldrums of sport cycling for decades.

Tragic followers of our blog on e-bikes and bicycles may recall a previous story about punctures in bike tyres and how we should be avoiding them as a matter of pride as sentient beings. Basically the story is that many people cycle and get flat tyres and think it's a fact of life and put up with it or worse, eventually ditch the bicycle.

This is a post about the low quality electric bicycles that seem to represent most of the market in Australia. In this context low quality refers to the e-bike itself (the product) as well as the service. We could write volumes on this topic but I'll try to stick to:

- what we mean by sub-standard e-bikes and why it is that Australia has so many

- what it's like to own a sub-standard e-bike and why you shouldn't purchase one - common misconceptions people have about bikes and quality/price

Flat tyres are a common and irritating problem for cyclists. Why do we put up with it? I have a friend who was once charged $50 by a bike shop to fix a puncture! I know of a bike shop that charges $40 for the operation. With these stinging prices and the annoyance of being stranded God-knows-where everytime you run over a piece of glass I wonder why things aren't different. Motorists certainly don't put up with such frequent flat tyres, perhaps it's a sign that Australians are still not taking bicycles as a serious transport option. More >>

"Can you retrofit an ordinary bicycle to become electric?" 

News for new Wisper bike owners: digital copies of user manuals for each model are now available for download on our website. (Click 'Read More" to see the full list of manuals)

2010 Wisper 906 Alpino

eZeebike has offered some never before seen options to their flagship ebike, the eZeebike Torq. The following high end goodies can now be stacked onto the Torq:

Our official opening hours are now 10am - 6pm 7 days. You may find us in the shop later than 6 on many nights, one happy customer had a puncture repaired at our shop at 9pm once!

Hello friends, we are safely back from Ausbike almost. We are in Canberra now visiting family and friends and looking for a second dealer for our electric bicycles (Rohan at Unicycles at the ANU in Canberra has been confirmed as our first ebike dealer in the ACT).

We will be coming back tonight (Wednesday) so the shop will be as normal as it ever was from tomorrow (Thursday).

Just moved to Sydney and want to try out the streets for cycling? Or maybe you're a university student and need a cheap bike. Or you have the coolest bicycle in the world and need a pub bike, a bike that you can thrash around, lend to your friends, leave locked up at night and not attract attention. Maybe you just like the simple, low-tech things in life.

At Glow Worm we believe that bicycles should be used, not sit around in the garage accumulating excuses for not being touched. So from now until Sunday the 25th of July a full bicycle service will be half price. For $37.50 your bicycle can get the royal treatment including:

~ Adjust/tighten brakes, replace worn brake shoes if necessary

~ Tune gears, lubricate drivetrain

~ Tighten spokes, true wheels

~ Tighten/adjust hubs >>

Our amazing 20% discount offer for those who pre-purchase a Wisper bike arriving in September has been extended till the end of July. This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone willing to wait for the best e-bike for a price never to be repeated. Come test out the 906, 706 or 905 at our shop and see what all the fuss is about.

15.00 hrs Electric ride around Marrickville

Meeting point: Gloworm Bicycle shop, 117 Addison road.

Gloworm has a limited number of electric bikes to lend for free for this ride.

20:00 hrs Electric Dinner (TBA)

22:00 hrs Party time around Newtown

Since I thought up the Electric Bicycle World Tour I was activelly looking to recharge bicycle batteries with a solar panel. I'm using 3x20W panels (120AUS$ each in a Jaycar shop) in series plus a Morningstar TS-45 TriStar 45 Charger Controller (215AUS$). So for a total of 575 AUS$ you can set up an ulimited source of energy for your bike and become 100% sustainable. Anybody now can do it, the technology is just there. You can ask Maurice for more info. Do not miss the following video!

This Wednesday night, April 28, we are excited to host Guim at the Glow Worm Bicycles shop in Marrickville from 6:30pm. Guim has been riding an electric bicycle around the world on his Electric Bicycle World Tour, having started in Beijing, China, 10000km ago. Guim rides his electric bicycle with solar powered trailer in tow to keep the batteries charged up.