[Jake:] Most people say, that living in Los Angeles
Requires you to own a car in order to survive
Today, I challenge that assumption
With the rise in electric motor and battery tech
utilizing alternative electric transpo
Like electric bicycles, is more viable than it has ever been before
But have we gotten to the point of being able to ditch our cars altogether?
Let's find out
For the next week, I will remove all...
automotive transportation from my life
and replace it with only an electric bike
[Electric bike whirring]
[Background music]
[Sam:] Gangster style
[Jake:] I only live about eight miles from the studio, which means that using an electric bicycle for that
is totally possible
Also, I gotta make up for some of the gas guzzling this truck does
[Knocking on the door]
[Background chatter]
[Jake:] Good to see ya
[Nick:] Hey Steven. Nick
Good to meet ya man
[Store person:] The most common thing people, you know, you're gonna think about
what you're saving on is gas, right?
but you've got like, a wear and tear on the vehicles. You're not doing as many oil changes...
tire changes - all that stuff
The miles are so low now
that his insurance is almost cut in half, 'coz he's under seventy five, hundred miles a year
so its considered a luxury vehicle
Of course you get the exercise, he said the biggest thing he got though from commuting
was his zen time
[Niko:] Changing the Sam and Niko name is a big deal
Sam and I have called it the Sam and Niko channel
ever since it was just me and him
We're changing the name from "Sam and Niko" to "Corridor Crew"
But we can't half-ass it. We need to do it right. It's not just a name change
It's a full-on branding change
If somebody hasn't come to the channel in a little while
and they see that it says Corridor Crew
they need to know that it's the same channel and it's the same people
we need to enhance it for art
Both Sam and I have been pretty strict, saying
we need to have everything set to go at the same time
the little intro to the video, the channel name change
the icon change and
most importantly the banner
The banner needs to be good. It needs to be photos of the crew
It needs to speak to the team that we are
So Sam has told me he's going to dedicate his passion and his artistry
to getting a really solid banner photograph for us
Sounds like he was a pretty cool vision for it and I'm looking forward to it
So...
I'll wait for him to call me in for a picture
[Sam:] Oh God, why is this picture day so stressful?
I'm taking pictures...
but I don't really have a direction. So I'm just gonna wing it
See that pink line?
[Off camera Nick:] Yes
[Sam:] Feet on that, yeah
Generally toes at
Look like a cool guy
Take a baby step backwards
Baby step forward again. Like, what will I shoot next?
[Camera clicks]
[Wren:] That's such a great photo. That's-- that's profile photo worthy
[Off screen Nick:] Hey Gabe
[Camera clicks]
[Sam:] Pretty natural
Just take a baby step toward me. Yeah there we go
Straight on. Go straight again
Uh, relax your arms just a little bit
...about what to write next
Lighting setup...
I chose the first light
that was plugged in. It's an LED blanket. We played around with those last year
You get this nice soft diffusion. Here, you'll realize they're gangster style
Yeah...
[Off screen Jake:] The bike I'll be using is the Blix Comfort Prima from the Blix electric bike company
It comes equipped with the Shimano Steps, mid drive electric motor
Which is an assisted power system that lets you bike as you pedal
There is no throttle and no special knowledge required
All you do is get on the bike and the steps motor
assists you along
The aluminum alloy frame is built specifically for this motor
and when combined with the 700 centimeter, double-wall alloy wheels
and padded leather saddle and leather grips
it delivers a comfortable smooth ride
It's a commuter bike...
and commuting is exactly what I'll be doing
It's 13 miles
[Sam:] 13 miles? Okay, 13 miles
So you're gonna be getting here- It's gonna take you like, yeah, 35, 40 minutes
I mean that's a lot of minutes
I mean, I would be interested to see them as possible, because from my experience in LA
is like, there's not even sidewalks. And everyone here drives like a maniac
So it's like, literally the whole world is fighting against you
[Jake:] Yeah, kinda
I am now officially on my first electric bike commute
I'm gonna be mostly taking two rivers
Meaning I'm gonna go about, an extra mile
in a direction that I don't want to go
However, there is a shortcut if...
I take a set of abandoned train tracks
I'll save about a mile on my trip
Do not take the train tracks
These are active train tracks, all right?
and currently I'm stuck, somewhere over the 710 freeway
Alright. This is the river path
The thing I really like about this assisted power system, is that you can still get a workout in
Given the time it takes to work out at home, drive to the studio
and the time it takes to drive back at night, I actually think I saved myself a half hour a day
[Sam:] LA is one of the most sprawled out cities in the entire United States
Honestly, like, I love biking. I've loved biking my whole life and it's great
And then once I moved to LA, I stopped. The city was just fighting me
It's kind of scary to bike 'coz cars are like...
[Jake:] Could this go horribly wrong?
Yes, and if it does then we all know
that LA is the most non pedestrian friendly city on the history of
On this history of the planet. Which it probably is
[Multiple car horns]
[Car horn]
[Multiple car horns]
[Car horn]
[Bike brakes squeaking]
[Jake:] It's so fucking sketch around here
This is clearly an area that's not set up
for bicycle transportation, whatsoever
Definitely 45 minutes
Hey, look, there's Wren
[Wren:] Oh hey. Dude you made it! Nice!
[Off screen Jake:] I made it dude
Day three
commute home
And there's two things I've noticed so far
Number one - Zen
You get a lot of time for...
thought and reflection
when you are
out here effectively alone after a day's work
you get a lot of time to think about it
and on your way in you get a lot of time to think about your way in and what you're gonna do that day
So that's really really nice. I really really like that
Number two however - Know your gear
know what you might need, uh, along the way
and the only way you really get to know your gear is by using the gear that you have
I've already had to cancel an appointment
I've been trying to go to the eye doctor for about a month now
and today I finally had an opportunity to go
but there's no possible way that I could take my bike to the eye doctor and
Get over to downtown LA for another meeting that we have in time
If I had a car, probably would have been able to make both of those things.
but it's just too far and not enough time
This isn't a fun day because I'm carrying a lot of weight in this backpack right here
I'm carrying airsoft rifles. They're heavy. They have batteries. They have magazines with bb's in them
I gotta take these all the way to work, I don't have a car
There's only one way to do that. Grind it out
Between the filming and the traffic today, it's taking me
It's gonna take me over an hour. Look at this.
So every time I have to cross the road
I need to wait a super long time for traffic because you have to roll with traffic across intersections
This is--
To do this everyday and to replace it with your car
is
not
Not enjoyable
[Christian:] Uh... So I know we've been planning to change the branding and I know the name
for the new Corridor Crew
But honestly Sam's been tucked away in the cave
during this whole process. So I have no idea what the new assets look like at all
[Wren:] Is it official is it flipped?
[Niko:] We're changing the channel name right now
How you doing it Jake
[Jake:] like, I'm doing it right now
[Wren:] Question are we gonna have Crew shirts now?
[Collective comments]
[Jake:] Heck yeah
[Wren:] Once we get the fancy new store--
[Niko:] Once Jake has the merch store back up
[Jake:] Just send them the new designs man.
[Wren:] Black on black.
[Jake:] You guys just wait trust me
The wait on the merch store is gonna be worth it
I promise you
[Drumming]
[Wren:] Dude...yeah...
[Cheering]
[Niko:] So pro!
[Jake:] Time to announce our 1 million subscribers street meet barbecue
[Wren:] Maybe not call it street meet barbecue though
[Jake:] Street meat barbecue dude. It's a meet-up.
Barbecue, in a park, in LA when we hit 1 million subs
[Niko:] So hit that sub button
That's what Jake forgot to end a sentence with
[Jake:] We'll announce it. We'll probably announce it...not here
[Niko:] Hit that subscribe button if you want to get us to this park meet
[Wren:] Don't that mean that like, our viewers are part of the crew?
[Jake:] Yes
[Niko:] Yes
[Wren:] So hit that subscribe button if you want to be part of the Corridor Crew
Thank you
[Jake:] Thanks Wren
[Background music]
[Off screen Jake:] Putting over 200 miles in on this electric bike
I've come to the conclusion, that you can actually live in this city without owning a car
But that said, you're not going to be able to get away with not using cars at all
you're still gonna need to rent cars, do things like ride-shares from time to time
just to get around this city
Why?
It's 500 square miles and it's been built pretty much from the ground up for cars. But...
if you can find the efficiency in your life to get by on an electric bike
You can actually do it and you're gonna save a ton of money that way too
For me however, I'm not ready to give up cars just yet
Huge thanks to the Blix bicycle company for hooking us up with the electric bike
if you guys are interested in trying this on your own
Go to blixbike.com, and use the offer code
to get $100 off your first bike
You're welcome
[Background music]