Electric VS Just Highly Efficient Regular Bike?

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itaa

Well-Known Member
Currently have sub 10kg boardman hybrid pro that I picked up for £250 in new condition some years ago, best bike I have ever had , love it and with the GP4000 tyres there's almost no rolling resistance, if keeping under 15km/h when there is no aero drag compared to bikes others ride there's almost no need to pedal as it just glides itself.

I don't commute on bike nor use it for competitive stuff ,just have one to go to places and cruise around, not even for exercise, most of the time I just stay at around 15km/h speed so there's almost no need to pedal but you can just enjoy the view.

Now to get a decent used electric bike you need to spend ~£1k to get something which has been £2-2.5k new and play russian roulette with used battery,and the components on those won't even be any better than What I already have + twice the weight.

I'm only considering electric so that I don't have to pedal/walk up the hills (not huge ones ,just regular inclines) and to get home easily when I'm tired as I'm pretty much banned from even riding a bike due to health problem (where I can't get tired too much)

Just wondering if perhaps someone already had a nice bike which would just roll itself when there's no aero drag and than got an electric bike?
Was it even worth for the stuff that I plan to use it for? Don't really even want another bike that much, only I have never ridden one so can't really compare to what I already have.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Bikes are fairly efficient as it is, so if, due to a health condition, you'd benefit from electric, get it. Any 'normal' bike will still be hard work up hill as you are working against gravity. A fat tyred MTB is obviously harder uphill than a skinny tyred road bike, but you can still ride with the same exertion by changing gear.

If you've got to watch your heart rate etc, you've a choice to ride more slowly, using the gears on hills, or, get electric assist - you don't have to use the assist on the flat, but turn it up on the hills.
 

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
I am fit and healthy and ride close to 200km on my road bike most weeks.

I have also owned an electric bike for no other reason that it was great fun and nice to be able to get around without any effort at all. You dont have to bother with headwinds, hills or those long boring straights. I was buying more bikes and motorbikes so sold it for the space. But I will get another one even thought I have no medical requirement to have one. They are build for fun as well.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Currently have sub 10kg boardman hybrid pro that I picked up for £250 in new condition some years ago, best bike I have ever had , love it and with the GP4000 tyres there's almost no rolling resistance, if keeping under 15km/h when there is no aero drag compared to bikes others ride there's almost no need to pedal as it just glides itself.

I don't commute on bike nor use it for competitive stuff ,just have one to go to places and cruise around, not even for exercise, most of the time I just stay at around 15km/h speed so there's almost no need to pedal but you can just enjoy the view.

Now to get a decent used electric bike you need to spend ~£1k to get something which has been £2-2.5k new and play russian roulette with used battery,and the components on those won't even be any better than What I already have + twice the weight.

I'm only considering electric so that I don't have to pedal/walk up the hills (not huge ones ,just regular inclines) and to get home easily when I'm tired as I'm pretty much banned from even riding a bike due to health problem (where I can't get tired too much)

Just wondering if perhaps someone already had a nice bike which would just roll itself when there's no aero drag and than got an electric bike?
Was it even worth for the stuff that I plan to use it for? Don't really even want another bike that much, only I have never ridden one so can't really compare to what I already have.

You've weighed it up well - the effort bowling along at a steady pace in favourable conditions on either an ebike or a skinny road bike is much the same.

The differences become more apparent as conditions worsen. to the point where in my case I would be pushing the road bike but still aboard the ebike.

Put another way, if I always rode on the flat in no wind, I wouldn't have an ebike.
 

CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
Caveat: I really, really like e-bikes, I've ridden them in Denmark and they're great fun, and virtualy no effort, BUT:

Cycling is, (for this overweight middle aged bloke at least), still more about the exercise, the good feeling after you've powered yourself around a nice chunk of the country under your own steam, putting in that bit of toil and enjoying the reward of the views and the isolated back roads that bit more because you earned them.

I'd have an e-bike in a heartbeat, but probably only when the previous paragraph has become too difficult because of health problems or old age. It's too much of an outlay for me just now with not quite enough payoff, I don't yet need cycling to be quite that easy. It'll come though, so I get it, I suppose it's just weighing up if that point has come yet.
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Cycling is, (for this overweight middle aged bloke at least), still more about the exercise, the good feeling after you've powered yourself around a nice chunk of the country under your own steam, putting in that bit of toil and enjoying the reward of the views and the isolated back roads that bit more because you earned them.

Most of us have absolutely no need for any sort of labour-saving devices; in fact we could probably do with doing MORE activity, not less.
Given the low speed the OP rides at, and the fact that an e-bike is going to weigh twice as much as his current bike and have at least twice as much rolling resistance, I see very little benefit in it TBH. Most of the assistance would probably just be overcoming the extra weight rather than doing much to reduce the effort.
 
I recently got an ebike for my commute. In terms of exercise it can be as hard or as easy as you want it. As said above, what it’s really good at is getting you home when you are too tired or conditions worsen.

For the OP I suspect it would be useful as the minute you get to your healthy threshold you can just peddle slower and use more of the electric assist.
 

Mike_P

Guru
Location
Harrogate
An ebike can increase your overall cycle use especially if you live in an area with little in the way of level or near level roads. Mine means I can commute without needing a shower on a short but steep route which if I needed a shower it probably would be quicker overall to walk. Also gets used for top up shopping purposes while the other bikes still get used as they did previously.
 

HMS_Dave

Grand Old Lady
If an E-bike gets people onto a bike, and out of their car where they may not have done then so be it. A good thing indeed...
 
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