Boxy Bikes

One of the most unexpected and wonderful parts of spending a month of my academic sabbatical at Cornell University was renting an electric bike from Laurence and Boxy Bikes. As a visiting professor I needed transportation between campus, my airbnb apartment and out to the Lab of Ornithology (a span of 5 miles or so). Boxy Bikes set me up with a helmet, paniers, and couple of great lights — a local bike map, recommendations of things to do and see in the area and stories of other recent customers.
Having not ridden a bike regularly for a few years I was worried about being in condition to deal with the hills in ‘Gorges Ithaca’ and I was interested in a more ‘European’ style of bike use for commuting. I’ve been a mountain biker in the past and was not sure I’d feel legit or cool on the electric bike, but now I’m inspired to retrofit my old mountain bike when I get home to Oregon. I really loved the ability to pull one of the hills in town and arrive at my on campus meetings not being totally soaked in sweat. I also liked the capability to juice my start at busy intersections and to race through the few sections of road I had to ride that had less than ideal bike lanes and road edges. Finally I also was surprised at all the positive curiosity of people in town and the camaraderie among those others in town with electric bikes. Everyone of them knew and admired Laurence and his generosity with technical knowledge about these bikes.
So if you are an academic teacher/​researcher in need of some transportation for a while I recommend Boxy Bikes. It is a great transportation AND you can be happy you are supporting a cool local business and lowering your carbon footprint in contrast to a gas guzzling car.

Laurence, Boxy Bikes owner, was super helpful and responsive as I made my plans to visit Ithaca. I was able to rent a Boxy bike online and use my PayPal account. The rental includes a helmet and bike lock.
I’m more comfortable riding a tricycle at home for running errands, but Laurence was very patient as I became re-​accustomed to riding a two-​wheeler, helping me find a bike that was the right size for me, adjusting the seat and handle bars, and walking me through how to charge the bike and use the electric throttle. The electric motor was very helpful as I rode around Itacha’s steep hills.
All in all, the rental process was easy and the bike was fantastic!

Laurence and crew were wonderful. They were super helpful about trip and bike advice, set us up with the bike that we wanted, and really made our trip to Ithaca even better than it already was. I would give them more stars if more were available on Unilocal!
The bikes are mostly equipped with electric motors. This is important in a place where there are lots of very steep hills, like Ithaca. The store keeps the bikes in very good working order. Ours had plenty of juice left after a full day of use. Of course, you can pedal them when you are not climbing with the motor, so it is a 2 for 1. The price is also great.