My name is Alasdair Post-Quinn, and in the afternoon of Saturday, May 16, I parked my bike at Friends Meeting at Cambridge to attend Cliff Harrison's memorial. After the memorial, I left the bike locked up there for a few hours while I attended another event in the neighborhood. I returned shortly after dark and the bike was gone. The lock was mangled and broken, left on the lawn near the bike racks.

This is a particularly hard blow for a number of reasons. First of all, I lived at FMC and parked my bike there regularly for 5 years. It's always felt like a safe place, and this event forces me to re-evaluate that feeling. Second, the bike is my main mode of transportation -- I don't have a car or even a driver's license. I work 10 miles outside the city and bike to and from work daily, at least for 3 seasons of the year. Third, it's a fairly expensive electric-assisted cargo bike that afforded me a lot of autonomy which, without a car, I wouldn't otherwise have.

The past 6 years have been very difficult for me and my family. Among other things, we lost our home in a fire just as the pandemic began, and due to legal battles as well as pandemic-related supply-chain issues, the process of rebuilding took 5 years. We used a lot of our homeowners' insurance during that time, and now that we are back in our home again, the premium is a lot higher than it used to be. Even so, a stolen bike is something homeowners' insurance should cover, so I filed a police report and contacted my agent.

I was advised not to proceed with the claim -- since we had used the insurance so much over the past 5 years, we would be at risk of losing the entire policy next time it was up for renewal. If we lose the policy, we will have to get a much more expensive and (probably) much lower quality plan. So it does not make sense to make a claim unless there's another catastrophe.

I can get to work without the bicycle, but it gets expensive to ride the T and commuter rail. If I had to take public transit daily, it would take a year to reach 90% of the cost of the bike. In other words, it would only take a bit more than a year for the bike to pay for itself in public transit savings.

Why are you fundraising for a bicycle? Surely you have the funds to buy one on your own?

Yes, I can technically afford to buy a bicycle. Even though a lot of our money is still tied up in the unexpectedly high expenses of rebuilding and refinancing our home, and we make well below the median family income for Cambridge, we do have some savings. If the bike that had been stolen were a standard unpowered bike, I would have more options for an affordable replacement. And in the short term, I can use an unpowered bike -- and maybe over time it might even help me get in better shape. But this is my main mode of transportation and I don't want using it to be a chore. I want to have something similar to what I had, so I can reclaim the freedom of movement I have become accustomed to for the past 6 years.

Why are you trying to raise so much money for an ebike? I know you can get one for cheaper.

This is a more complicated question, and if you are not familiar with ebikes, it may not make a lot of sense to you -- but I will try to break it down for you. To some degree, it's as simple as this: I liked the bike I had, and I'd like to replace it with the same or a similar model.

In 2020, I bought a Tern Vektron Q9 for a bit over $3000. It's had a number of customizations and accessories added to it -- a shock absorber in the seat, lights in the pedals, a cassette with a gear ratio better suited to my riding style, mounts for cargo bags and the bags themselves, and some more minor addons. All of this was also stolen, and much of it I would opt to replace if possible. It is also a folding bike, which allows me to store it indoors over the winter in our condo's limited space. The exact same model is, surprisingly, still produced and still about the same price -- but within the next month, a new model with a built-in security system and a drive system that requires less maintenance will be coming out. Obviously, after a theft, the security system is an attractive option. However, the price is also higher (as expected).

I am also evaluating my other options. There are countless other ebike makers, and even some that make folding cargo ebikes which are less expensive than the new Tern Vektron. This is where things get complicated. First of all, ebikes come in 3 classes. Mine was a Class 1, which requires pedaling (there is no throttle button) and has a max assist speed of 20mph (the speed limit on bike paths in MA). The vast majority of ebikes you will encounter are Class 2 or 3, which either have a throttle (meaning no pedaling is necessary) or a max speed of 28mph, or both. There are even unclassed ebikes which are closer to electric motorcycles. Technically, only Class 1 ebikes are allowed on bike paths in MA, but this is not enforced. However, the MA governor has recently introduced a bill to regulate ebikes, and I suspect the first targets will be Class 2 and 3 bikes. Since Class-1 ebikes behave basically like a regular bike piloted by a fit rider, they are less of a concern. I would like to stick to a Class-1 so that I don't suddenly have a bike which falls under the qualifications for some future crackdown.

The other reason Tern bikes are more expensive is that they're one of the only manufacturers selling in the US that undergoes the rigorous safety certification process used in Europe for ebikes -- which also means that Tern ebikes are inherently safer and better constructed than the majority of off-brand ebikes out there. Yes, I don't live in Europe so that certification doesn't mean anything specific to me -- but it does speak to the quality of the bike.

I frankly doubt that I will reach my goal -- but I need to try. Thank you for any support you can offer.