Our Story
Carlos and Paige Hickey — married 32 years, new to e-bikes, doing it in public on West Linn's real hills.
Hi folks, my name is Carlos Hickey. My wife Paige and I live in West Linn, Oregon, and we're documenting our first e-bike purchase in public. I spent 27 years as a licensed Oregon landscape contractor and have managed Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. Paige manages rheumatoid arthritis. Neither of us is a professional cyclist — we're testing e-bikes for riders 50+ on real, steep local hills.
- Married 32 years. We raised our family in Portland and moved to West Linn about four years ago.
- I spent 27 years as a licensed Oregon landscape contractor, working as a project manager and estimator.
- I've managed Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. Range and reliability aren't abstract to me — they're personal safety margins.
- Paige manages rheumatoid arthritis. Comfort and accessibility get tested for real, not just mentioned.
- We own zero e-bikes right now. This project starts from scratch, on camera.
Why we're doing this
Hi folks, my name is Carlos. For 27 years I worked as a landscape contractor here in the Portland area — licensed, project manager, estimator. My job was numbers: what something actually costs, how long it actually takes, whether a plan survives contact with real ground. That's the same lens I bring to e-bikes now. I don't care what the spec sheet says a bike should do. I care whether it'll get up Hidden Springs Drive, and just as important, whether it'll get me back down.
This whole thing started with a YouTube video. I'd always been curious about electric motors and propulsion, so one video turned into a rabbit hole — motors, controllers, battery packs, the works. Then I started thinking about our hills here in West Linn, and the question got specific fast: which of these bikes could actually handle Hidden Springs and Sunset without falling apart? That turned into about three months of real research. Along the way I found out West Linn has something like 25 historic sites and over 200 miles of pathways — way more than I expected from a town I'd lived near for years. So the project stopped being "which bike should I buy" and became "why hasn't anyone documented this place properly, on a bike, from a perspective like mine?"
I only really learned how to learn at 50. School never stuck for me — I write by hand better than I type, so for most of my life, research meant slow going. AI changed that. I dictate like I'm doing right now, and it lets me actually chase down the things I'm curious about: history, geography, how places came to be, how a business actually gets built. West Linn eBike Adventure is where all of that curiosity landed.
Here's the part that isn't rhetorical. I've managed Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years, so my rule is simple: if a bike gets me away from home, it has to get me home. I'm not pushing a 100-lb bike back up a hill on a bad day. Paige has rheumatoid arthritis, so comfort isn't a nice-to-have for her — she's the one who tells you honestly whether a saddle or a grip is going to wreck your ride. We've been married 32 years, we live in West Linn, and our two Chihuahuas, Rocco and Digger, usually have opinions too.
Why West Linn is a real test
We moved here four years ago, and we love it. I didn't fully grasp how steep it is until I started researching e-bikes seriously. Streets like Hidden Springs and Sunset climb hard. The city grants driveway-grade variances regularly, because the terrain genuinely demands it. I won't throw out a table of numbers I can't fully back up — but driveways here routinely push well past 30% grade in short stretches. That's steep for a residential neighborhood. Add in those 25-plus historic sites and 200-plus miles of connected paths, and West Linn turns out to be a real proving ground, not just a backdrop.
What makes this different
Most e-bike reviews come from riders in their twenties and thirties, and that's fine — but their problems aren't our problems. We're not professional cyclists. We've never made a YouTube video before. What I did do is spend three months researching before touching a single bike. Now we're documenting the rest honestly: unboxing, learning the controls, the first real ride, then real testing on real hills. We'll check back in at nine and twelve months, long after most channels move on.
We've been married 32 years. We know how to disagree, laugh, and figure things out together. That's the real chemistry behind this — not a script.
What we're not doing
We're not chasing sponsorships. We're not trying to become influencers. I'm not here to compete with other reviewers, either — I'd rather see everyone in this space do good work than fight over territory. If you're out there doing this too, I'm rooting for you. What we are doing is offering manufacturers a simple, honest trade: two capable e-bikes, and in return, six months of real content — six videos, six written reviews, dozens of posts, and testing that doesn't stop after the first ride.
We're not experts. We're not influencers. We're a couple who got curious about a hill and kept going. I don't know exactly how this turns out. We're finding out, in public, starting now.
Questions people ask us
Have you and Paige actually ridden e-bikes before?
No. This is our very first e-bike purchase and ride, after roughly three months of research into motors, controllers, and battery chemistry.
Why do you care so much about e-bike range?
Because I've managed Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years and won't push a heavy, dead e-bike home on a depleted battery. Range is a safety margin for me, not a spec on a page.
Why is Paige's perspective part of every review?
Paige manages rheumatoid arthritis, so mounting height and joint strain get evaluated as seriously as motor power. Comfort isn't an afterthought — it's a real test.
Is this content sponsored?
No. The site runs on a bike-for-content trade with manufacturers — no paid sponsorships, no affiliate links.