Clark Howard: Stay cool and save with an electric bike

Suddenly, riding bikes became all the rage when gas prices climbed in metro Atlanta. But could putting the pedal to the metal work for you?

USA Today reports bike-sharing programs have spread around the country. These kinds of programs are like Zipcars for bikes; you pay a subscription and then you get to check out a bike at strategically located stations, ride it to another station and drop it off.

There have also been other efforts around the country to create programs offering free bikes. But those typically haven’t done well. Often the bikes get stolen or fall into disrepair.

Closer to home, Emory University, Georgia State University and Georgia Tech all have experimented with bike-sharing programs.

But here’s my deal: Except for a sliver of the population, most people won’t wholeheartedly embrace the bike routine. Too often, they’re worried about showing up to work all sweaty.

So the compromise might be the new electric bikes from Asia. These are traditional bikes with an electric motor assist. They allow you to travel up 15 miles per hour. You can pedal when you wish or you can use the motor assist. (Some people use the motor to go to work and then pedal going home when they don’t have to worry about working up a sweat.)

These bikes often sell for $398 at Walmart when they can keep them in stock. That’s not a huge sum of money in my book to have an electric bike. I recently saw a women’s electric bike on Walmart.com for $397.54.

I think this could be a good compromise for some people instead of the sweat mobile or a car that costs too much to fuel up right now. How about for you?

-by Clark Howard, Save More, Spend Less, Avoid Rip-off s

I work in a bike shop – the electric bikes from walmart, in fact all bikes from walmart, tear up so easy they are not worth the price. A decent electric bike is one to two grand if you do the research. Don’t waste your money on a bike shaped object from a big box store.