So…it’s usually not our style to review a piece of motorized equipment in our “Muscles Not Motors Gear Review”, but with this bike, we couldn’t resist. And, admit it, you’re curious! 
Let’s talk bike commuting; great in theory, a bit harder in practice. Some of the most common impediments to commuting via bike that we hear about in the shop are: “there are just too many hills” and “I’m so sweaty when I get to work and my office has no place to shower”. Well, Trek has a new line of electric-assist bicycles aimed at folks like these (you?). These bikes take the grunt work out of Vermont hills, the sweat out of a 20 mile ride, and make hauling kids/groceries/trailers faster and easier – really!
The Valencia+ is a mid-level offering in the Ride+ series from Trek Bicycles. This baby has a 350 watt BionX electric motor, and a 2-year warranty on the battery and motor. Four levels of assistance increase your output from 25% in level 1 to 200% in level 4. In our highly-scientific tests around Montpelier, we’ve been able to get up to about 18mph going up hill (on Terrace Street) in level 4, without working up a sweat. Honestly, it feels like there is someone behind you giving you a good strong push – that’s thanks to the brushless rear-hub motor. It’s also so incredibly silent that your assist-less friends will wonder what performance-enhancing drug you’re on!
The battery has a charge life of about 40 miles under moderate usage, so you can get just about anywhere you would reasonably need to go before a recharge. The battery makes it easy – with a charge time of about 3-5 hours using a standard wall outlet plug-in charger, you can charge it just about anywhere. Ride your 20 miles to work, pop out the battery, take it inside to charge, unplug at the end of your day, pop the battery back in the bike and ride home. And, the bike has a regenerative braking-mode and regenerative pedal-mode that help give up to 10% power back to the battery as you ride.
This bike has impressed with it’s power, silence, speed, ease of use, and quality. At an MSRP of $2649 it’s not your average mid-price hybrid, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to keep up than a car! (the average cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle over the course of a year: $3000). There are other electric bikes out there, but this bike has the quality we’re used to seeing from Trek; it’s well built, well designed, and gets you where you’re going faster and easier. We have one all built up and ready to go in the shop, stop by for a demo ride!
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We sure do! Search “Onion River Sports” and it should come right up. Good luck!