Adorn is going on the Amazing Pubcycle, but first we wanted to know more...

Adorn will be going on an Amazing Pubcycle tour in the next month and we are so excited! The pubcycle is a crazy looking trolley bike that 13 people can fit on and bike their way through downtown while getting their buzz on...so to speak. I sat down with Shawn Verbrugghe, the man responsible for bringing this wild thing to Asheville.

Tell me a little bit about the contraption you ride on. Is this something you invented or has it been around?

The contraption has been around. I think there’s at least 50 of them in our country. The concept came from Denmark a few years back. Denmark, Germany,  and Amsterdam  - they all have them. Long story short, I talked to a guy who talked to a guy who talked to a guy... I got the idea from a guy on a plane that showed me on his phone how cool this was. He had done it in Minneapolis. I immediately thought, ‘Whoa! This is a fantastic idea!’ Asheville seemed like the perfect place for it. We were scheduled to be moved here because I was transferring with my company down here.  Fast forward to today, we’ve lived here for about 14 months and started working on this last July and we launched it in August. We had it built in Arizona by a professional trolley bike builder - believe it or not, they exist. It’s custom made for us, custom designed for Asheville, for the hills and for the look and feel of [the town].

In what ways is it customized for the hills?

There’s a 48-volt battery system and a pretty decent size motor on it that’s geared for Asheville hills. I had to do engineering on all the different slopes, rates, and lengths of all the runs in downtown Asheville and then we put it all together in a spreadsheet and found out how we would need to gear this thing. It goes really slow, it’s got one gear called super-slow. This is because we wanted to make sure it wouldn’t have issues going uphill. So it can go uphill with nobody pedaling but it would just drain the battery very quickly. The pedaling is actually what gets this thing around it’s just that when we go uphills, there’s a gas pedal. Just like a go-cart, there’s a gas pedal you push down whenever you’re about to go up a hill and it just takes away the climactic experience of the hills here.

You said you were transferred here with your company. What company is that and what do you do?

I work on energy conservation projects - commercial industrial projects. I work with Granger and so that keeps me busy during the day, this keeps me busy during the nights and on weekends. We’ve been super busy lately; we launched about two weeks ago. We’ve done probably 30 runs so far; 30 real tours.

What’s it been like so far?

It’s super cool! It’s a super fun business because people are happy. We’ve done birthday parties and other fun parties; it’s neat because people are so excited to get on this thing. You’ve never seen anything like it, really, and just watching it go down the road, whether it’s me or somebody that’s never seen it, it’s really fun to watch. People are having a good time and it looks silly.

I had this epiphany the other day where I was asking myself, ‘Why is this so much fun?’ Because I’ve been on it several times and it’s a blast and I think it’s because you’re sitting at a picnic table with all of your friends, but you’re riding your bike down the street sideways, and you’re at the bar. It’s like all these different experiences you’ve had in your life combined into one and there’s good music…

What kind of music do you usually play?

There’s good sing-along 70's yacht music - whether it’s Journey, or Low-Rider, or other classics. Then our drivers are really good. They make the fun happen - Chase and Dennis. It’s a good crew.

So do you sell beer on board?

It’s BYOB. Beer or wine only - for the city. Cans are easier; we have cups and a cooler on board. People can either bring it with them or - we pick up at Aloft - people can buy unopened beverages from them and bring it down.

So how much is it to go on one of these tours?

$23 for an hour and half tour and $10 for 40-45 minutes. That’s a cheap way to get on and experience it and most people who do that say they want to come back with an entire group for a birthday party or celebration.

Find out more about how to book a tour and the making of the Amazing Pubcycle their website here.

Also, stay tuned for Adorn's Amazing Pubcycle trip!