I’ve become popular with children lately. It’s not intentional. It’s just because I’ve been riding around town on the new Pro series JackRabbit OG2—a zippy, motorized electric bike so small, its simple existence can make a gobsmacked tween lean out of his mom’s car window all the way down to his clavicles just get a better look.
Photograph: JackRabbit
“Eeeeeeeeeee-biiiiikke!” shouted another kid from a sidewalk as I went by, before loudly declaring the ride “actually kinda cool.” Later that day, this was also the opinion of a sleeve-tatted dude with a flat-brimmed hat hanging outside a dive bar. “I like your bike, bro!” he called out. A JackRabbit micro bike brings all sorts of people out of the woodwork, everyone from skater dads to fitness bikers who ask far too intensely how the Jackrabbit is “classified.”
Whether this tiny motorized bicycle is, in fact, truly an ebike, is the source of somewhat nerdy contention. JackRabbits have footrests that look like pedals. But they have no actual pedals, chains, or gears. You drive the “bike,” instead, by using a throttle on its right handlebar. It’s a wee scooter that looks like a bicycle. And now, with the Pro series of Jackrabbit’s on-and-off-road variants, it’s a bit more powerful.
Little Orange Ridin’
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
The OG2 Pro’s 20-inch wheels, short wheelbase and angled geometry give it the profile of an old-school BMX, the standard-issue ride for the devil-may-care. The Pro model weighs a mere 30 pounds, light enough to one-hand it up a set of stairs. For a tiny thing, it’s also peppy; it zooms along at 20 miles an hour on high, the residential speed limit where I live. From the bike lane, I have made weirdly protracted eye contact with drivers, as they pace me almost precisely.
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