Paul Jung's Bodhi Electric Bikes Offer CVP Technology

If there's a Mercedes-Benz of bicycles, it would be the ones Paul Jung's Bodhi Bikes makes.

If there’s a Mercedes-Benz of bicycles, it would be the ones Paul Jung’s Bodhi Bikes makes. For $2,500 you get a 250-watt electric brushless front-wheel motor powered by a 24-volt lithium-ion battery, bamboo fenders and a drivetrain that uses NuVinci’s new continuously variable planetary (CVP) technology for ideal gear ratios.

The bikes are conceived as a way to enjoy the freedom to explore, without worrying about having to struggle with unexpectedly steep hills or long detours. The twist of a grip controller calls on assist from the electric motor — keeping the pedaling pleasant.

“Our clients have used terms like ‘smoothest ride’ and ‘incredibly intuitive’ for our Bodhi electric bikes – all outfitted with the N360 manual shifter,” said Jung, Bodhi Bikes co-founder and President. ”Now with Harmony’s Advanced Controller, we’re taking it to the next level and adding a ‘sixth sense’ to their riding experience.”

As proud as Jung is of his bikes’ technical features, he’s even more focused on their aesthetic and cultural dimensions.

“We’re really providing an accessory to people’s lifestyles, whether it be their vacation home or weekend home or a boat slip,” he says, understandably careful to set precisely the right upscale, cultured and serenely blissful tone for his pricey product, down to the story behind the brand name.

“Prince Siddhartha sat under a Bodhi tree for many weeks and meditated,” Jung explains. “When he awakened from his meditation he became the first incarnation of the Buddha or bodhisattva [an enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others.]. That really resonated with us because when we think about awakening and enlightenment, those are themes that are really relevant to what we’re trying to promote with the company.”

There is a spiritual dimension to Jung’s decision to leave the hurly-burly of life as a software engineer and tech executive for the relative peace and quiet of life in his wife’s hometown of Ft. Worth, Texas as a better environment for their two young children. Before Jung launched Bodhi Bikes this summer, he was running a boutique recruitment solutions firm he co-founded with wife Ashlee.

Paul Jung was born and raised in New York City. He spent 25 years working as a lead software engineer, director of professional services, sales executive, and business consultant/road warrior. For ten of those years, he also divided his time to work as an actor.

Jung and Ashlee moved to her hometown of Ft. Worth in 2003 to spare their two toddlers the confinement of New York apartment living. Jung continues to do some acting in local stage productions. Jung became a member of the Multicultural Alliance board in 2008, after his mother-in-law attended an Annual Awards Dinner and suggested that he might be interested.