BEN journalist Frank Wood tests out a new German invention which can help make the streets of Bolton go really green . . . I HAVE just had a taste of how the pioneering driver must have felt as he chugged the very first motor car through the streets of Bolton.

In this case, though, an asthmatic young child waving a green flag in front would have been more appropriate than a man with a red one.

On a bitterly cold day when the fumes could be seen - as well as smelled - as they spewed from car exhausts, I was smugly astride the first German made electrically-assisted pedal cycle to hit Bolton.

I was tempted to say "electrically powered bike" - but the little 24 volt motor, hidden in the front hub, is intended not to take over all the work, but to help make pedalling the gentlest of exercises.

GREEN is the colour of the message.

As the time rapidly approaches when there won't be any more space for cars and not enough fresh air left to dilute the health-wrecking gases they throw out, electric bikes are being hailed as one of the short distance transport modes of the future. The government is all for them, local authorities are buying them for park rangers and even airports are ordering them.

True friends of the earth don't have beards and drive Citroen 2CVs any more. They have padded backsides and ride pedal cycles.

So when a little firm run by a family of "green" enthusiasts - called The Electric Bike Company in the famous brass band town of Brighouse - began importing the Heinzmann power hub system, I jumped at the chance to give one a whirl for a couple of days.

Actually, it wasn't my first acquaintance with the Heinzmann - but it was my first "leg-over" experience so to speak.

My wife and I were on holiday in the Austrian Tyrol and were pootling merrily along a cycle track on hired bikes when it suddenly dawned on us . . . a group of rather obese German tourists were actually GAINING on us.

When we finally caught up with them in Kitzbuhel town centre, we realised why they were so schnell. They were on Heinzmanns.

(The Heinz in Heinzmann, incidentally, has nothing to do with baked beans - though a vegetarian diet would probably marry well with the image).

Electrically-assisted bikes - known as e-bikes - are big business in many European countries, but they are only slowly catching on here.

Mainly, the buyers here are people who long to get out on a bike but for one reason or another - usually heart or arthritis problems - they can't cope with hills. I had a knee injury when I borrowed one, so it was manna from heaven.

The main reason that many more of us are not clamouring for e-bikes became patently obvious on the first trip from Tottington into Bolton. E-biking is frought with all the dangers of pedal cycling simply because of the volume of combustion engined traffic and drivers who regard you as invisible - even with a dayglow yellow top and matching Max Wall tights.

But things are getting better with pro-bike council policies. And if you are confident on a push bike, the Heinzmann helps to create a strangely euphoric sensation - like cycling on the flat with a permanent tail wind - as long as you remember to switch off and save the battery on the easy-to-pedal bits and downhill.

It is claimed the Heinzmann's bank of nickel-cadmium batteries - housed on a luggage rack at the back and recharged for 3pence - will last up to 20 miles. I never managed that round hilly Tottington area, but there was also a roaring wind to contend with on the two test days.

The blurb says it "flattens even the steepest hills". It does, as long as you help with the pedals.

The power system on the well-used demonstrator was fitted into a low-end, very heavy trail bike. Without the power system it still weighed twice as much as my own mountain bike.

But the Yorkshire company say the retro-fit option - where the front hub motor, battery pack and twist grip are fitted into your existing bike - is the most popular. They have just fitted one to a top range, ultra light suspension mountain bike and say it goes like a dream.

The complete power package costs £799 (including a specially built extra-strong front wheel to house the motor), twist grip control and two-hour charger.

That probably seems an awful lot for a tail-wind, but it equates to about the price of a good quality mountain bike. And if people do decide to go green in droves, the price will undoubtedly fall.

Details of the Heinzmann, and also also a £349 quick-fit ZAP system (driving the back wheel through a roller) from the company on 01484 720120.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.