Ridekick Can be Your New Bicycling Sidekick
For gadget lovers, the bicycle has just entered the digital age. Ridekick International, a Colorado company, is aiming to help parents and cargo riders bicycle more using an electric-powered child trailer.
The new Ridekick™ child trailer incorporates a brushless DC hub motor and a high density lithium battery to remove the strain of pulling kids (or cargo) behind a bike. The hub motor is integrated into the wheel of the trailer and the 500 watts of power gets the rider going up to 19 mph, enabling bicyclists to tackle steep hills with ease. The trailer attaches to most bicycles at the rear axle for a safe and stable ride and unhitches in seconds for traditional bike riding.
The brushless motor takes advantage of new controller technologies to increase efficiency and push the bike for 15 miles on a single charge. The lithium battery uses cutting-edge chemistry to improve power density and reduce weight, allowing the battery to be discretely hidden in the back of the trailer. A linear throttle that easily straps to your handlebar gives total speed control for slowly maneuvering in the city or zipping down the open road.
The Ridekick child trailer is safety and design-tested, and pre-orders are currently being accepted. The Ridekick child trailer is expected to retail for $899 when available in stores. Consumers are being given an opportunity through their campaign on Indigogo to pre-order for only $699. Ridekick International expects to deliver pre-ordered trailers this summer. The company’s design, sales, and manufacturing facility is located in northern Colorado where the new child trailers will be assembled.
Ridekick International was founded by Mark Wanger in 2009. After releasing the original Ridekick power trailer in 2011, customers asked two obvious questions: “Are you making a powered child trailer to help moms, dads, and grandparents tow the kids around?” and, “Will we see a larger capacity Ridekick trailer anytime soon?” Coming out with this new product aligned perfectly with Ridekick International’s mission to replace short car trips with biking and meets the needs of people who see the benefits of bicycling but have been deterred by the weight of taking kids and too much cargo along.
“The Ridekick child trailer provides an efficient way for families to enjoy bike riding as a mode of transportation and leave the car in the garage. In the US, fifty percent of our trips by car are within a four-mile radius from our homes, and bicycling is the fun and healthy alternative to driving,” said Wanger.
Ridekick International, awarded the distinction of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Brilliant Companies, is located in Fort Collins, Colorado, a gold-ranked bicycle friendly community, and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative, dedicated to helping new, clean-energy companies become great businesses. Ridekick is also a member of Bikes Belong, which is sponsored by the U.S. bicycle industry and has the goal of putting more people on bicycles more often, and was awarded silver-level partnership in ClimateWise, a voluntary, energy awareness and reduction program run by the City of Fort Collins. For more information on Ridekick International, please visit their website.