Optibike, Paonia

How do you lose 50 pounds & feel a decade younger? Some might say, “Ride an e-bike.”

“To make the world’s best e-bike, with no compromises in quality, performance, or style,” this is the singular vision of Jim Turner, professional motorbike competitor, Stanford grad, mechanical engineer, triathlete, and founder and owner of Optibike of Paonia. 

Why Electric Bikes?

Optibike’s story really began in 1997 when Jim started designing a better electric bike, one that didn’t die on the hills and that could make it farther than simply across town. After developing a lithium-ion battery that would deliver peak power for long rides and perfecting his bike’s design, complete with shock absorbers, disc brakes, and sophisticated electronic circuitry, Jim and sons, Nicholas and Austen, opened OptiBike in Boulder, Colorado.

For Jim and his sons, e-bikes just made sense. Electric bikes combine the excitement of motor-cross with the health and fitness of cycling. Plus, from an environmental aspect, e-bikes can do so much work with so little energy. Optibikes use approximately 1 horsepower to operate, while the average car requires more than 200 horsepower to make its rounds.

Optibikes get roughly 2,000 miles per gallon. Yeah, you read that right. What this means to your morning commute is that you can literally pay less than $0.10 for a 30-mile daily trip traveling at 36 mph. Additionally, with over 76.4% of us driving to and from work alone every day, electric bikes have the potential to significantly reduce air pollution and congestion, especially in big cities.

Details Matter

The Devil’s in the Details, this is a concept not lost on the Optibike team nor the 33+ plus countries that actively seek out Optibikes for their urban spaces. That’s why all Optibikes are custom built in the U.S. of the highest quality materials with a vetted design and superior craftsmanship. Seriously, the frames of these things are made out of aircraft-grade 60-61 aluminum and custom painted by hand. Optibike’s design ensures a smooth and agile ride on or off-road for up to 50-miles (70 miles if you peddle too).

Optibike models range in price from $3,495 (Urban Series) to $13,990 (Elite Series). These e-bikes travel up to 36 MPH, have a 65+ mile range, 1,650 watts of power, 190 Nm of torque, full carbon fiber frame, and a swingarm.

You may also (or may not) find it reassuring that you don’t need insurance or even a license for these bikes. And, although not necessarily required by law depending on where you live, helmets and bike lanes are highly recommended. So like many of the citizens of Paonia, trade in one, two, or all of your four-wheeled, 2,000 horsepower gas-guzzlers and buy an Optibike at a fraction of the price. Your wallet and the earth will thank you.

Alright, alright still have more questions? Jim wrote a book and compiled over a decade of blogs to help answer all your electric bike questions. BUT WAIT, there’s more. After Jim wrote the best guide to e-bikes out there, he gave it away for FREE. Download your copy today, and start learning more about electric bikes!

After you read Jim’s guide to e-bikes, you may still be a skeptic.  To help ease the skeptic in all of us are, here are droves of real-life testimonials.

The Elevate-Optibike Connection is a Fiber One

In 2016, Jim, Nicholas, and Austen found themselves wanting to relocate Optibike from its Boulder hub to a calmer pace of life, with less traffic and fewer people. Coincidentally, Jim and his family had been scoping out Paonia for over 10 years. So when they found out that 1 Gig fiber-to-the-home internet was coming, via Elevate, to the small, rural town of Paonia they decided it was time to make the move.

Optibike doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar storefront, so its primary sales tool is the world wide web where uploading video files is a big part of their day-to-day grind. Before being connected to Elevate’s fiber network, Nicholas simply assumed there would be internet problems every time they got on the internet. Just uploading a video could take upwards of 6 hours. This 6-hour upload wasn’t unique to their Paonia connection either. Nicholas confirmed that their Boulder connection wasn’t much better. All that changed the day they got Elevate.

When Optibike first got Elevate internet in April 2017, they were “Amazed at how fast it was.” Elevate internet’s crazy fast connection ensures Optibike spend less time conducting the business of running a business and more time getting back to the work that matters most- making the world’s best e-bike, with no compromises in quality, performance, or style.