St. george business working to increase electric bike popularity across utah.

• Author: Madison, Rachel

St George--Imagine riding a bicycle easily up a hill at about 20 miles per hour while wearing a suit on your way to work. This unlikely scenario is becoming more and more common with the use of an electric bike. That's why David and Megan Rasmussen, co-owners of ESPOKES, opened their electric bike shop in St. George in early 2013. "Our specialty is electric bikes, and they're becoming very popular here in Utah as well as nationwide. We sell all types of bikes, but with the electric bikes, that gives us the ability to provide bikes for everyone," David says, adding that eBikes are good for commuters, older cyclists and those who have medical reasons that prevent them from riding a regular bike.

Nationwide, sales of eBikes have been doubling each year for the last three years. "[eBikes] are not going to replace regular bikes, but they now offer cycling to everybody else," David says.

The first eSpokes store started out selling just electric bikes and was one of the first bike stores in the Intermountain area to open as an electric bike store. The Rasmussens recently opened their second eSpokes store, this time in the Daybreak neighborhood of South Jordan, in September. "Last year we were one of the top three largest eBike dealers for many of the brands we carry," David says. "We see a bright future with eBikes, especially with the store in Daybreak. We want to get out and show people eBikes and let them get on them and ride them."

Although eBikes are gaining popularity locally, David says the biggest part of selling the bikes is education, because of the number of misconceptions that are out there about eBikes.

"One of the things that's important is what they are not," he says. "They are not mopeds, motorcycles or scooters. They are...