Almost 3 years ago we had become completely frustrated by the quality of the children's bike we had been offering, finding all of them to be of poor quality, too heavy, with limited sizing, and often in horrible colourways. We decided that we would rather not sell kid's bikes then sell crappy kid's bikes.
The very next day the sales rep for Frog Bikes walked into the shop unannounced and totally blew our minds by showing us these incredible bikes we had no idea existed.
Fast forward to today and we are now Canada's most successful Frog Bikes retailer!
Frog Bikes set out from the very beginning to create a product that would give children high quality, easily rideable bikes that could also be adjustable as they grow so parents could get a few years of use out of them. As a first step, Frog set out to study the differences between children and adults and the results of that study led them to make major changes to the design of their bike range.
Very recently, Frog was awarded the Red Dot for design excellence and the Queen's Award For Enterprise. They are definitely doing it right!
A few words about cost: Yes, these bikes a little more expensive to purchase and like all things in life, you get what you pay for. Lightweight, high quality bikes are worth every penny, especially when trying to pass along your love of cycling to your children. Many families are reporting back to us that they are getting incredible resale prices when passing them along to other families.
We asked a few of our Twitter followers what they liked about their Frog Bikes...
We got ours very recently - amazing build quality, incredibly complete component mix, and extras included. James absolutely adores his. PM for more info.
We like that it came with fenders and knobby tires, that it’s a good quality, lightweight bike. It’s easy for our son to ride. He likes that it’s red, and is looking forward to the next size up when he can get a rear rack.
Our daughter wanted a commuter with the ability to have a rack and fenders; we wanted her to also be able to mountain bike/trail ride with it. So, it’s the best of both worlds for us, plus lightweight and beautifully built.
I love that it's lightweight (my 7 year old can carry it up our front porch stairs by himself) and the fact that it came with fenders and two sets of tires (slick and mountain). So practical!
We strive to have a full size run of these bikes assembled in our shop to size your child. You can also do the sizing yourself at home before coming by. If you are looking for a certain colour/size combination, give us a call to see if we have it in stock. If not, we are more than happy to order it in for you.
In the last couple of years, electric bicycles have burst forth from the shadows into the mainstream and along the way have also become lighter, simpler to use, with bigger range, and more reliable than ever. In many cases, prices have also moderated and in some cases have come down significantly.
Gone are the days where you had to find a bike shop that was interested in and capable of installing an aftermarket kit on your existing bike. The e-bikes available at your local bike store today are sleek, well appointed, fully integrated, and can often be difficult to distinguish from regular non-electric bikes. They are also easy to operate, re-charge, and maintain - with many being not much different than maintenance needed on a non-electric bike.
Time To Look In The Mirror
If you're honest with yourself and take a quick look at your personal driving habits, you'll begin to notice a couple of interesting things:
- your vehicle is parked 95% of the time
- most of your city trips are less than 10kms - see chart below
- the amount of treasure you sink into it is astonishingly high - see image below.
All that time sitting motionless behind the wheel also has major health implications over the long term. Even for people who feel that they are fit, or work out on a regular basis - all that windshield time adds up and over years of driving can lead to negative health issues.
Humans are meant to move. All the time. We evolved as hunter/gatherers and although our technological society has offered us impressive shiny objects and abilities that seem to make us almost superhuman - we are all still those same hunter/gatherers that need to be in constant motion to stay sharp and remain healthy.
The vast majority of vehicle trips taken are well under 10kms. Think about that.
An astonishingly massive amount of money goes to servicing vehicle costs.
The car trip distances above are shockingly short and easily covered by an electric bicycle. When you begin to compare electric bicycles to electric cars the value proposition starts to look pretty compelling.
Here are a few blog posts about the cost comparison between owning a used car and e-cargo bikes:
And we still haven't discussed the real physical health benefits that riding an electric bike offers its rider. Because the truth is, with today's generation of pedal-assist bicycles, you still have to work to make it go. No throttle means the systems only work when you are pedaling. You can choose the assist level you receive from pretty easy to full power to help flatten hills, shorten distance, and disappear headwinds. All the while having fun.
A recent survey conducted in the US showed that people that owned e-bikes rode more often than before their purchase. The reasons behind the purchases were all over the map, but included the
ability to ride more easily in a hilly area; to ride longer distances;
to help overcome limitations caused by a medical condition; and, of
course, to just have fun.
We have curated a full spectrum of electric bikes for every city cycling style. Everything from the speedy commuter through to the family hauler extraordinaire. Bikes you can transport out of town on a car rack and bikes that can replace your car entirely. Scroll down to see the range available now.
All of our electric bikes are available for demo rides too. Pop by the shop to see them.
The City Commuter
The Gazelle Easy Flow is the perfect bike for those looking for a fun handling, lightweight city-styled bike with all the sensible commuter accessories included. Utilizing Shimano's amazing STePS system, power is smooth and abundant with a range of around 80km between charges. A sturdy rear rack allows the use of a set of panniers to carry your stuff to work, pickup groceries on the way home, or attach a Thule baby seat to it and take your little one to daycare. Full coverage fenders keep road grime off you and your machine, and the included kickstand holds everything up.
The Light-Duty Cargo Commuter
You like the idea of the Gazelle above but know in your heart you're going to end up carrying more than it can handle. Or you have more than one child and want to accommodate them onboard too. Or you want a little off-road capability so you can choose whichever path opens upo in front of you. If any of this makes sense to you, than the Benno Boostis the bike for you. Sporting wide 24" tires, total cargo capacity of 440lbs, available front rack that, this bike can handle the grocery run and multiple children at the same time. Powered by Bosch's industry-leading mid-drive system, this is your new Smart Car. Full fenders keep you clean, built-in high powered front and rear German-engineered lighting keeps you visible day and night, and a study kickstand makes loading up easy.
The Medium Duty Utility and Family Hauler
When I discovered Xtracycle back in 2008, it was the brand that caused us to trip and fall down the rabbit hole of cargo bikes/utility cycling - ultimately leading us to conceptualize and open BikeBike a couple years later. Since that time, they have continued to innovate and are still leaders in the cargo bike ecosystem here in North America.
Their bikes are supremely capable on so many levels: city commuters, grocery getters, kid haulers, family bike camping vehicles - the sky is the limit on what these bikes are capable of. Carry up to 3 children or 200lbs of whatever you want - these amazing bikes are super fun to ride, easy to operate, are available in electric and non-electric models. The electric models utilize the reliable Bosch unit as well.
Xtracycle Classic 8e
The 21st Century SUV's and Pickup Trucks
Haul all the children, gardening supplies, groceries, recycling, IKEA run - you name it with these incredible machines. The future of urban transportation has arrived and it looks a lot like these bikes. Capable of doing anything a car can do - in fact - they can be more useful than a car when moving bulky items around.
If you've ever been to Amsterdam or Copenhagen you've seen bikes like these zipping all over the place loaded with a manner of animals, humans, and stuff. It is difficult to understand how incredible these are until you've had a chance to ride one.
As expected, they also sit at the top of the price range but even then, they are still 1/4 the price of the cheapest electric car, can carry more stuff, are cheaper to operate - and you get fit while using it!
Urban Arrow Family Model
If you are seriously contemplating the purchase of an electric automobile, you should come see us and check out what the future of transportation actually looks like. Many of our past customers have sold of one of their cars, took the proceeds and put them towards a cargo bike and have not regretted it for a minute.
Your kids with thank you. Your wallet with thank you. Your retirement savings with thank you. And your heart with thank you too.
We were spending too much time in the social media cesspool of negative cyclist opinion and it was bumming us out real bad, man - so decided to try and turn that frown upside down by asking our network why they choose to ride bikes.
As expected, the answers brightened our spirit and made us smile. The responses fell into a few key categories and here they all are for your enjoyment.
We hope you smile too.
Oh ya - we also ran a contest for a $20 gift card to our shop for those entries that tagged us. And the winner is.......you'll have to scroll to the bottom to find out. Cheeky, we know.
About to pedal off into the wilderness. From L to R: Jesse, Sean, Cory, and Tom.
A handful of us went on a 6-day rail trail adventure from Castlegar to Penticton on the Columbia Western and Kettle Valley rail lines. We drove a car out to Penticton then shuttled back to Castlegar and left another car there.
Weather conditions were HOT! No rain at all and the smokey air was never an issue - in fact, it seemed to get better as the trip went along. Even crazier: the day after we rolled through the Myra/McCullogh/Kelowna area a huge fire erupted not far from where we had been. That was close.
Please enjoy this photo essay of the adventure. If you have any questions, leave us a comment below.
So
you're in the market for a new bike, something to get around town,
visit your friends, go to the market, maybe ride the TVP on weekends.
Why should you think about buying from a local bike shop instead of a
department store? Canadian Tire, Walmart, Costco etc. sell bikes that
come with a smaller initial price tag compared to what you find at our
store. The smaller price tag can seem very appealing, especially if
you're a price-conscious person. However, what you don't pay upfront at
department stores, you'll almost certainly pay in the future. A bike
from your local bike shop might last you decades, a bike from a
department store is designed to be disposable after a year or
two of riding. Here's our guide to why buying a quality bicycle from a
local bike shop will result in you having a more fun with your bike, and
why it will cost you less in the long run compared to a department
store.
In the summer of 2016 I had heard about a road that had been damaged by the 2013 floods and subsequently closed to vehicle traffic but still passable on a bicycle. I decided to go check it out and after finding the road, riding a few kilometres of it, studying Google maps, and checking out other info available, a plan was hatched to use it in an overnight loop.
Gorge Creek Road is a connector road between the southern end of Maclean Creek Road to the Sheep River Road (Hwy 536). It is just over 21kms in length but what makes it special is the middle 10kms is now closed to vehicle traffic and is essentially abandoned. Our plan was to start at the Fisher Creek picnic area in Maclean Creek, ride down to Gorge Creek, stay the night somewhere along the Gorge Creek road, then loop out and back to the car.
