Jump to content

Another e-bike personal experience thread


Dottleshead

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, Dottie said:

 

If you don't live in an area with a lot of hills, an e-bike may not be for you.

My area is very flat - most of the hills are creek valleys or overpasses, with the very infrequent rolling hill.  Actually we do have some nice series of rollers but I need the exercise the uphills provide.  Just across the Delaware River in PA the hills are more severe.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I feel like laying down on the job.

I would fall asleep!

Actually years ago I was sort of smitten with how recumbents have many design advantages over diamond frames, but I can never get over the perceived lack of visibility from being such a low rider.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Dottie said:

@Razors Edge this post is for you, big guy.  ?

THANKS!  Great write up!  Now just need pics. :D

If I ride into work, it is a 22mile each direction commute with some short punchy climbs toward the city and then the mad scramble through Georgetown.  I think an ebike would be a great solution to the "riding to work but arriving sopping wet sweaty" issue.  Justifying several thousand dollars, though, would be tough as that is the only use I would have for it.  Factor in my normal commute - bike-to-Metro/Metro-to-bike - is subsidized almost completely, while the bike commuting option alone is less subsidized than a bag of good coffee beans :(  If the $3,000/yr could be used for any "alternative" commuting costs, I'd buy the ebike tomorrow!

Commute, carpool, and PARKING :( are fine:

image.png.367d9f4ab50ce523430d10845776ac54.png

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I would fall asleep!

Actually years ago I was sort of smitten with how recumbents have many design advantages over diamond frames, but I can never get over the perceived lack of visibility from being such a low rider.

I don't ride on the road anymore unless I have to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They aren't for everyone. A friend of mine bought one around 2014. He is in his 70s and couldn't climb hills any longer. It kept him riding.

My GF just bought one. It allows us to ride together. 

I see elderly people riding them in the NP. The park is already too crowded with cars, this reduces traffic.

Another friend bought one for his wife. She hauls their daughter in a trailer to daycare, then heads to work. 

Every commuter on an e-bike is one less car. 

I think the ebikemotion is a game changer. 25-30 lb bikes. $2500 for this one.

GAIN F30 USA 19

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, dennis said:

They aren't for everyone. A friend of mine bought one around 2014. He is in his 70s and couldn't climb hills any longer. It kept him riding.

My GF just bought one. It allows us to ride together. 

I see elderly people riding them in the NP. The park is already too crowded with cars, this reduces traffic.

Another friend bought one for his wife. She hauls their daughter in a trailer to daycare, then heads to work. 

Every commuter on an e-bike is one less car. 

I think the ebikemotion is a game changer. 25-30 lb bikes. $2500 for this one.

GAIN F30 USA 19

Agree on all points, I just don’t want to see them on MUP’s or riding dangerously on my MTB trails but that’s more the rider than the bike.

I’m like Tom in that my commute is 20 miles one way.  Doable a couple of times a week but I would get to work a sweaty mess.  Much prefer to ride an E bike and get there faster and less sweaty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, dennis said:

Every commuter on an e-bike is one less car. 

+1

On the flip side, every commuter on an ebike is one more bike on the trail - and often a fast one.  That's a downside. On the upside of that, though, is each new cyclist - regular or ebike - is a new voice & advocate for cycling infrastructure.  The upside outweighs the downside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife’s car lease ends in August and we are still kicking the one car 2 E bike option.  She works about 2 miles away and it’s a real easy commute.  I need my car for work a couple of times a week but can bike in a few times a week.  

We are generally together 80% of the time  on weekends and I could ride to my barber shop or bike shops which is what I generally do on my own. Then there is Lyft...  

Decisions...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

+1

On the flip side, every commuter on an ebike is one more bike on the trail - and often a fast one.  That's a downside. On the upside of that, though, is each new cyclist - regular or ebike - is a new voice & advocate for cycling infrastructure.  The upside outweighs the downside.

They are legal on bike paths here. In town and the neighborhood parks, everyone needs to slow down. Once you get out of the congested area, we currently don't need a limit and e-bikes are a great idea on the bike paths. You can ride from town to the park on a path. The road is not safe for bikes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically the e-bike debate on bike paths is moot once you're outside the congested areas as @dennis mentions. But here in Washington, trails are miltiuse and are used by peds and available to horses on some. I can see the need for controls in the city -- mainly enforcement of speeds because it doesn't matter what kind of engine you have but that you are obeying laws. If a bike lane has a 15 mph posting, what difference does it make if I'm seated on a Class 1, 2, or 3 bike? Honestly, I was going to opt for a class 3 bike and ride it responsibly on my bike paths. Who the hell is going to notice and better yet, who is going to enforce it? Nobody if I am following the rules of the path -- particularly in congested areas. What you do outside the congestion, lots of folks don't care. I chose not too after deciding the price increase wasn't justified especially riding my current bike. It did everything I hoped it would.

Say what you want, if you don't speed in the metro areas, anything outside the city is de facto fair game. You know it and I know it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

THANKS!  Great write up!  Now just need pics. :D

Naw, brah.  I will give you this one though.  It's a great controller for Bosch systems.  One of the easiest, simplest, and most useful control panels I've ever used. The cool thing with e-bikes is that you're riding on battery so accessories like tail lights and head lights are always on.  With a click of the power button in the lower left, I get all those things.

image.png.b98c6f9070096d358a117a72e66922f9.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

My wife’s car lease ends in August and we are still kicking the one car 2 E bike option.  She works about 2 miles away and it’s a real easy commute.  I need my car for work a couple of times a week but can bike in a few times a week.  

We are generally together 80% of the time  on weekends and I could ride to my barber shop or bike shops which is what I generally do on my own. Then there is Lyft...  

Decisions...

I got a DUI sometime back and honestly that was just the motivator I needed to get off my ass and get out there riding.  Since then, my wife and I have incorporated a new lifestyle that is dependent upon one car.  No car payments, no insurance payments (thanks to me they skyrocketed), no maintenance fees, no car tab fees, no gas costs.  Throw in the fact my company pays for free transit anywhere in the greater Seattle area, and there's a lot I can do w/o one.  I have no problem parting with $3K when I know owning another automobile probably comprehensively would cost us over $20K. Plus I get more exercise.

I too spend about 80% of my time with my wife and the one car thing works for us.  There are times I miss having a truck like this weekend -- when I need to purchase 20 bags of cement and another 10 concrete piers -- but I'm going to rent a truck from Home Depot that will cost us $20 for an hour.  A little less freedom, a little more work, a little more hassle, but certainly far less cost when viewing the overall cost of a second vehicle. And now that I own an e-bike, I don't have the 'hill' excuse anymore.

Now that I'm rich (wife just got a job) though, I may buy a used truck down the road -- but it's not needed at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Rode another 33 miles today on e-bike. The ride out was a common one I used to do on my touring bike. But I lived in another area and didn't tackle these hills. But another advantage of the e-bike just hit me in the face today. Ride out was a breeze. But coming.back was straight into head wind for about 15 miles. Instead of slowing me down, I blazed right through it. Good for me too because I didn't have another 30 minutes of my day to give up.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/19/2019 at 7:47 AM, donkpow said:

I think I would not like to need to charge the battery all the time. I have plenty of trouble getting around to charging my camera battery. 

Sure, if you don't need it. But if you do need it, then it's no biggie.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...