So, You Want to Try an Ebike? Here’s What to Know

LG: So it sounds like using your ebike to get takeout or maybe even possibly going through the drive-through would be better than taking it on a mountain bike trail.

AS: It’s completely changing the sport of mountain biking too, though, because if you have a battery, you can access terrain that nobody else has been able to ride. And I mean, they don’t like it now, but they will.

LG: Right. Adrienne, I’ve learned so much. I’m really tempted to go try one now. There’s actually an ebike shop that’s not far from where I live in Silicon Valley that’s been offering rides to get people interested. It happens to be right next to an Amazon office too. I forget the name of the place, but I drive by it all the time. Maybe next time I’ll have to ride by it. Go check out some ebikes.

AS: Yeah. Lauren, let’s battle bike.

LG: That sounds good. I’ll ride it to Portland and come see you. Hang out.

AS: Bike joust.

LG: Let’s take a break, and then we’re going to come back with our recommendations.

[Break]

LG: Adrienne, aside from riding ebikes, what is your recommendation this week?

AS: My recommendation this week is the Ultimate Ears Fits. They are customizable earbuds, which I picked up on the recommendation of our audio reviewer, Parker Hall. I was really skeptical about these, because I have one normal ear hole and one that is just impossible to fit. It’s so hard to test so many things ,because I have to spend 30 minutes figuring out the exact bud wing combination that I can actually go running in these. And these are completely surreal. I can’t video record this, but they’ve got this squishy tip, and you start the app and you put it in your ear and it heats up. And so, you have it in your ear, and your ear hole is warm, and it just customizes to your ear hole. This is the exact shape of my ear hole, and it fits perfectly. It’s insane. I’ve never had a pair of buds that fit this well. How many times can I fit the words “ear hole” into this one?

LG: I’m sorry, this podcast has come with a PG-13 rating.

AS: It’s just … everybody’s got them, Lauren. Everybody has an ear hole. So yeah, that’s a recommendation, and they have pretty great noise cancellation too, because they just fit so well anyway.

MC: Oh yeah, right, like noise isolation.

AS: Yeah. Oh, noise isolation, not cancellation.

MC: Yeah, it’s technically the same. Not the same thing, but practically the same thing.

LG: I love how, Adrienne, we’re a tech podcast, and she’s like, “Oh, it’s squishy, it’s warm. It’s in your ear hole, it fits.” And she’s like, “Oh, by the way, active noise isolation.” That’s the tech feature. But the best part is how squishy and warm it is in your ear.

AS: It’s an app, so it’s technology.

LG: All right, thank you for that delightful recommendation. Julian, try to top that.

JC: I don’t think I can, but my recommendation is a lot more muted. I have a problem with buying too many things and then never having enough time to actually play them or read them or anything like that. And one of the common things is video games. I tend to scoop them up when there’s a big sale, and then a year later I’m like, “Oh, I haven’t played that game at all.” And so I’m finally going back through my catalog of Switch games recently. And so my recommendation is to take a look at your game library and maybe don’t spend $15 on some game on the Steam Summer Sale or something, and just play your old games. I’m currently playing Super Mario Odyssey, and it’s fun. I did not realize how much fun it is. And so that is the thing you might miss if you just keep buying games and don’t play them.