Electric bikes are great for tackling hills without breaking a sweat.
They also tend to be as stylish as black socks and sandals.
Breaking that stigma: Santa Clara’s Vintage Electric and their chopperesque E-Tracker.
First thing’s first: it’s a beaut.
Drawn from the style of WWI-era racing bikes, powder-coated in your choice of colors and decked out in Brooks leather, it’s the e-bike for dudes who laugh at e-bikes.
And it’s fast.
Available in street legal and racing flavors. The former gets you a state regulated 20 MPH. The latter: 36 (and any number of citations if John Law catches you opening her up).
All that power resides in VE’s sand-casted aluminum battery box — also a thing of beauty.
Simple handlebar controls. Regenerative brakes. 30-mile range. Charges in a couple hours.
And for a slightly less colorful expression of your inner eco-conscious road hog, check out their limited-edition collab with the 4×4 modders at ICON in LA.
As for the E-Tracker, start your order online with a deposit or head down to their workshop in person.
As you may expect, all this style doesn’t come cheap. But at least you’ll tear up a few of these hills in style.
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