Electric bikes

[Racing roadkill]

A colleague of mine turned up to work, on one of these today. I don't like them, would you ever consider one?

 

[snorri]

Might do, why not?

 

[Drago]

Only if I were disabled or mentally infirm. Take away the exercise and the feeling of achievement, and that's 2/3 of my reasons for cycling gone.

I'm all for them as a means of getting people out of cars, reducing congestion, easing pressure on parking facilities, but for me as a cyclist they're of no interest to me.

 

[welsh dragon]

If it meant I could still get out and about why not? Some of them look really good.never say never. One day, you may decide you want one after all.

 

[andyfraser]

I'd certainly consider one if it made commuting or shopping easier. I'm not too proud to have assistance for those times when it's a struggle. I'd still be able to go for proper bike rides too. Maybe I'd be more inclined to go out in the evening.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I could just about see the case for one in the cold nasty months, you could wrap up like an Eskimo and not arrive at your destination a disheveled sweaty mess. But as for a full time ride, nah, not for me.

 

[Brandane]

My brother is considering one. He has cycled all his life, but now has circulation problems in one leg which has ruled out anything other than short cycles on flat terrain. Even walking anything more than short distances is painful for him; so he has had to give up golf too.
Just be thankful that you are fit enough to be able to ride a "proper" bike; you never know what is around the corner and one day you might welcome the fact that electrical assisted cycles are an option.

 

[DEFENDER01]

My brother is considering one. He has cycled all his life, but now has circulation problems in one leg which has ruled out anything other than short cycles on flat terrain. Even walking anything more than short distances is painful for him; so he has had to give up golf too.
Just be thankful that you are fit enough to be able to ride a "proper" bike; you never know what is around the corner and one day you might welcome the fact that electrical assisted cycles are an option.

I totally agree.
I am only able to do short cycle rides due to a knee injury i received back in the 70s.
I have found a short cycle ride most days is helping and as i cant walk too far if i need to get off my bike hills etc at least i have the bike to support me like a two wheeled zimmer.

 

[Rooster1]

QVC shopping channel had an hour long advert for an Electric Mountain bike. It had the usual pedal drive but also a motor in the rear axle that gave it a boost. It was about £800 and was being demonstrated by (in their own words) an "exercise adverse member of staff" . I can't say it looked all that bad and you could not see any sign of it being electric. But I just don't get the whole e bike thing. Even Cube have one on sale, perhaps all the mass market makes do. For me, the challenge of a difficult hill is learning to be able to do it myself, without a boost. When I started cycling again a couple of years back, I used to try some hard hills, and for a long time I would fail, Gradually I got better at these darn hills and went further, faster, higher and finally over them.

However, it would be quite a laugh to ride one home one day and beat my colleague!

 

[welsh dragon]

I think the whole point of ebikes is that even if you have an illness that prevents you from using a normal bike, you can still get out in the fresh air and have a semblance of independance. If you have heart problems, arthritis, MS or any other problems it means you can still go out on your own and and have the opportunuty to see some wonderful scenery, And if it gives someone that freedom, then I'm all for it. At least they are having a go. All to often people just give up, so I certainly wouldn't dismiss ebikes or the people who use them. I may need one one day

 

[raleighnut]

There are 2 of them at our house, Maz has arthritic knees so I fitted an electric front wheel kit to her Dawes Geneva and was highly impressed, so much so that I wanted one for trailer dragging duties (I have been known to carry 50Kg of building supplies on the trailer and we live on top of a hill/ridge)
However I then had a fall and broke my Femur which didn't knit back together with the first intermedullary nail (bloody big pin inserted inside the bone) so they took that out and drilled the inside of the bone to the same size as an even bigger pin. During a session with the physiotherapist he put me on an exercise bike and was shocked at how well I did on it (until I told him that I was a fulltime cyclist) and said "Its a pity you haven't got one of these at home as well, how about joining a Gym" so I toyed with that idea then thought about bolting one of my bikes onto a 'turbo trainer' then had the brainwave of getting a trike. Trouble was I could ride it along the ridge but if I went down the hill I couldn't get back up so I bought an electric front wheel kit for that.(it will eventually go onto one of my MTBs that I use for pulling the trailer once I can get back to riding 2 wheelers again)
In short I think e-bikes are fantastic but there are some ugly ones out there, far better to convert a normal bike using a kit like this.

 

[snorri]

An elderly guy in my locality, a lifelong cyclist, bought an electro assist bike believing his strength to be waning. He continued to cover a lot of miles and after some time I asked him how the bike was performing. He told me the battery was now exhausted and he could not afford to buy a new one but he was continuing to use the bike and considered pedalling around with the extra weight of the redundant electrical components to be "good training".

 

[jarlrmai]

As long as they are correctly limited as required or if not limited they are correctly licensed and driven as a powered vehicle I have no problem with them at all.

 

[Shortmember]

I expect that electric bikes will become very popular with the general public when the new solid state batteries that are being developed become available in the not too distant future. They will, apparently, revolutionise electric powered machinery, including e-bikes. These batteries are claimed to be lighter, cheaper to make than lithium ion ones and last much longer between charges. I might even get one myself, if the price is right.

 

[machew]

Looking at retro fitting an electric motor into the wife's bike, (looking at the copenhagen wheel cos its simple) so she can keep up with me. She loves cycling but hates hills.