I鈥檒l be the first to admit it: Specialized鈥檚 new Creo e-road bike is pretty damn cool.
Start with the sleek industrial design, which is one of the key factors that separates the company from many of its competitors. Many e-bikes look like, well, electric bikes,听with bulbous external batteries or internal ones poorly hidden within comically oversize听frame tubes, not to mention exposed wiring and clunky bar-top display and control units. Even middrive (bottom-bracket-mounted) motors are usually pretty obvious. The Creo, on the other hand, is so beautifully proportioned that you do a double take: That鈥檚 an e-bike? Specialized incorporated the battery, the controller, and even the motor with a purposeful elegance that will be essential to broadening the popularity of e-bikes, especially among the tradition-minded roadie crowd.
Many cycling-media outlets,听, greeted the launch with great enthusiasm. But is it really , as they say?听No.
It鈥檚 too expensive, and it鈥檚 aimed at the wrong group of people. The e-bike that will change everything does not exist yet. If and when it does, it鈥檚 not going to be a $13,000听road bike.听
Certainly, the Creo represents some significant technological advancements. Bike maker and designer Keith Bontrager is famous for the aphorism听鈥淟ight.听Strong. Cheap.听Pick two.鈥 For e-bikes, you could amend that to: light, powerful, long-lasting听battery.听
Where many brands struggle to deliver two of those attributes, the Creo nails all three听(although听I haven鈥檛 ridden it; that鈥檚 based on assessments听by听people who have). The S-Works model, at least, weighs a claimed 27 pounds, lighter than almost anything else in its class. And you get up to 240 watts of power assist, with a cutoff-assist speed of 28 miles per hour, and a range of up to 80 miles on the main battery.听
The Creo鈥檚 compromise is cost: $9,000 to start. The $13,000 S-Works model is significantly pricier than almost any other performance e-road bike on the market. There鈥檚 even a ridiculous Founders Edition that will be available in limited numbers (250) and will cost $16,500.
It鈥檚 an e-bike for people who are already devoted, hardcore road cyclists鈥攁 niche audience within an already niche audience. I鈥檇 guess that most of the buyers will be well-to-do longtime roadies who are finding that their own听human-powered output is听dropping听but have so far been put off by aesthetics, meager range, or low cutoff-assist speeds of models like the听Pinarello听Nytro. This is a small group of buyers whose every year.
Sure, the Creo stands to keep more people on bikes for longer, because it enables cyclists to keep pushing in the face of eroding physical abilities. Its sleek looks and smooth ride听may听also entice some modest number of wealthy folks into a sport they might not otherwise have tried. But that鈥檚 a kind of rearguard action that slows the rate of ridership decline rather than reversing听it.
That鈥檚 not to say the Creo will have no effect on e-bikes. At some point, the advances that Specialized is achieving with the Creo should pop up in its more affordable e-bikes, like the urban-oriented Turbo Vado, although trickle-down takes time. Other companies will also certainly respond to Specialized鈥檚 new benchmarks on metrics like range and weight (those gains are already happening across brands).听
And with its proprietary motor, remote controller, wiring, and charger, the Creo may also drive e-bikes to become less plug and play and more closed ecosystems.听(Most bike brands use motors and batteries from an outside supplier, like Bosch or Shimano, which can be swapped in at will.) This would limit consumers鈥 ability to customize their machines听but afford better functionality.
The e-bike that will change everything does not exist yet. If and when it does, it鈥檚 not going to be a $13,000 road bike.
Most significantly, the Creo will change what people expect from e-bikes in terms of form, feel, and function. It鈥檚 worth a reminder that the iPod was not the first portable MP3 player. Apple just created a far better user experience than any of its competitors. You knew how to use an iPod innately, and iTunes meant you could buy music without worrying whether a download came with malware. Before long听those distinctive white earbud cords became a .听
That鈥檚 the dynamic that Specialized has started to tap into here. When an e-bike looks really sweet, is intuitively easy to ride, and the buying experience is seamless and friendly, people鈥攅specially those who don鈥檛 already ride and can鈥檛 or won鈥檛 invest in a top-dollar machine鈥攚ill be much more receptive.
Unfortunately, the Creo is not that bike. I鈥檒l bestow the term 鈥済ame changing鈥 on the first e-bike that has all of those attributes, is designed for everyday urban use, and costs $1,000. It won鈥檛 be marketed at cyclists, designed for them, or likely even sold in traditional bike shops. It鈥檒l be aimed almost entirely at people who don鈥檛 ride at all, many of whom balk at the idea of paying four figures for a two-wheeled听vehicle.
There are $1,000 e-bikes right now. But most of them look like crap and use motor systems of varying provenance and quality. That said, the $1,000 barrier is closer than you might think. Spend $400 more and you can get something like the Aventon Pace 500, a sleek Class 3 machine (pedal assist to 28 miles per hour).听Yes, it uses a rear-hub motor, which is typically noisier, unbalances the bike weight, and has a jerkier, less natural sensation than middrive systems. But if a small, new brand like Aventon can get this close, what could a brand with Specialized鈥檚 size and resources achieve in, say, two years of dedicated work?
I鈥檝e always been mystified by the fact that traditional bike brands seem to ignore the potentially massive new market that a quality, affordable e-bike might open up. I suspect the problem is largely one of focus and perspective. Brands like Specialized are founded, run, and staffed by bike nerds who make bikes with nerdy attributes鈥攕tiffer! more aerodynamic!鈥攖hat appeal to other bike nerds.听
Reaching people who don鈥檛 already share that same love for bikes or identify as a cyclist听remains somehow beyond their grasp. The giveaway is right there in the marketing tagline for , even its听urban bikes: You, Only Faster.听And who are the consumers who care about going fast?听Cycling enthusiasts.听
Bike companies like to talk a big game about encouraging more people to ride bikes. They鈥檙e members of advocacy organizations like PeopleForBikes.听They support grassroots outfits like the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, which has grown mountain-bike racing more effectively the past ten years than has in 30. And in some cases, , they even have their own foundations devoted to kids鈥 cycling, in service of public health.听
But that mindset somehow gets lost when it comes to making and selling e-bikes, especially ones for urban use, which is the category that鈥檚 most likely to create new cyclists. Pump all the cash you want into advocacy, but for a bike company, the straightest line to getting more people on bikes is making bikes people want and can afford. Specialized鈥檚 cheapest e-bike model costs $2,550, about in the U.S. If that doesn鈥檛 sound like much, consider what items, other than basics like food and housing, you鈥檇 spend that kind of cash on if you didn鈥檛 have to.
Sure, bikes like the Creo are expensive partly because the brand has to amortize their considerable research and development costs. But Specialized can recover that cost in two ways: selling a few Creos at astronomical prices听or selling thousands of a more affordable urban e-bike.听
Bike industry: Build this bike.听Build it and fight climate change. Build it and make cities more livable. Build it to provide a real option for people who can鈥檛 afford, or don鈥檛 want, a car. Build it and improve public health. Build it and open up the world of cycling so people who don鈥檛 already ride can experience how, for almost any challenge we face as a society, bicycles can be part of the solution.