Ride to Work Day 2026: Why more commuters are going electric

National Ride2Work Day lands on Wednesday 14 October this year, and it's a good excuse to try something most people in the Eastern Suburbs have thought about and never quite done - leave the car or the bus behind and ride in.

From the MC Clubhouse on Anzac Parade it’s about 6 km to the CBD, 4 km to Bondi Junction and less to UNSW or the hospitals at Randwick. That’s a 20 minute ride on almost any bike. So why are so many of the commuters we talk to going electric?

You arrive fresh

The ride in is rarely the problem. It's arriving at a desk in a work shirt after the drag up from Moore Park or the climb out of Rushcutters Bay. An e-bike takes the sweat out of it. You still pedal - in NSW a legal e-bike is pedal-assist only, capped at 250W and cutting out at 25 km/h - but the motor flattens the hills and the headwinds, and you get off the bike ready to work rather than ready for a shower.

That changes how often people ride. The pattern we see again and again is someone who hesitates on the e-bike, buys it anyway, and ends up riding three times as often as they planned. One Ride2Work Day becomes a Tuesday and Thursday habit, then most days.

E-bike or a standard commuter?

A standard commuter is still a great bike. A Trek FX or Orbea Optima with a rack, lights and mudguards is light, simple, easy to carry up stairs and costs less to run. If your commute is flat, short and you're happy to change at work, it might be all you need.

An e-bike earns its place when:

• The ride is longer or hillier than you’d happily do twice a day, five days a week.
• You want to arrive in work clothes, not change out of them.
• You carry things - a laptop, the gym bag, the school run on the way.
• You want to keep up with traffic off the lights and feel more confident in the lane.

Commuter, road or gravel - all electric

E-bikes aren't one kind of bike, and both Trek and Orbea make them across the range:

• E-commuter - upright, with integrated lights, racks and mudguards. The Trek FX+ and Verve+ are built for exactly this.
• E-road - drop bars and a lighter, quieter motor. The Trek Domane+ and Orbea Gain ride like a road bike with a tailwind on the climbs, so the same bike does the commute on weekdays and the Saturday bunch.
• E-gravel - wider, lower-pressure tyres that soak up potholes, tram tracks and kerb ramps, so the ride through the city feels softer and more sure-footed. A good pick if your route mixes roads, paths and the odd rough bit.

Talk to us before you commit - the right bike depends more on your route than on the spec sheet.

Servicing an e-bike

An e-bike is still a bike - chain, brakes and tyres - but it's heavier and faster on average, so it wears those parts quicker. Brake pads and chains go faster than you'd expect, and tyres need checking more often. We service the e-bikes we sell. If you have an e-bike from another brand, call us before you book.

Make 14 October the first day

You don't need to ride every day to start. Pick Ride2Work Day, work out your route on the weekend before, and ride in once. If the hills or the sweat put you off, that's the day to think about going electric.

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See you on the road on the 14th.