Greetings cyclinge fiends-I am now officially an 'old geezer'.........

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I am not against the principal of ebikes.I can understand how they can be useful and fun for young and old.

It's just for me personally cycling is my only form of exercise.I've tried gyms and running and jogging but it's not for me.

I just think that if i got an ebike i could get lazy by the temptation of pressing a button

 

[Widge]

Thanks for all your thoughts and opinions,folks. Much appreciated.

I too am sceptical about the intrinsic nature of ebikes....that they remove the whole point of cycling under your own power and might induce laziness amongst those of us who cycle for the pure joy of of putting the pedal to the metal!
I have ridden a couple of examples during the last year-these where HUGE ugly travestys of bike design with enormous batteries and motors-monster forks and frames-weighed upwards of 40 kilos and looked like the worst cast iron shopping bikes you can imagine. Impossible to pedal meaningfully without the motor permanently engaged. Mind You.....great fun WITH the motor turned to max-power!! But not for me. (Not that I have anything particular against monster shopping bikes you understand?)

But NO and behold......the 'Orbea Gain' looks like this-the power-assist is relatively subtle by all acounts-and at 13kg it rides pretty much like the bike it looks without the 'motor' switched on.
'Apparently' only close inspection reveals its cheatiness!
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Orbea-Gain-D40-2018-Electric-Road-Bike_109757.htm

But....I would of course want to inspect and try one in the flesh......but there is no indication of any reaching retailers in the West Country as yet that I can find.
It's a lot of money to buy 'on spec' even if I already have a feel for this type of road bike and the size I would need etc.

Check it out if you have a mo?

(Not the orange one perhaps!! ).....the White/grey looks more like my cup of tea........

Thanks All

w

 

[Tal]

Wow ... to my untrained eyes it looks like a regular bicycle to me!

Uhhh, I love the orange one!

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I am not against the principal of ebikes.I can understand how they can be useful and fun for young and old.

It's just for me personally cycling is my only form of exercise.I've tried gyms and running and jogging but it's not for me.

I just think that if i got an ebike i could get lazy by the temptation of pressing a button

This is one of the reasons I don't like them, apart from the battery weight and substantial expense. I'm nowhere near 60 but in recent years I haven't done very much riding, so my general fitness level is not as good as it once was. To improve my fitness I need to put a bit of effort in and clock up some miles, and some of those miles are going to be a bit uncomfortable until my body gets used to the exertion again. It would be very easy in my shoes to get out the chequebook, buy an e-bike, make minimal effort and let the assistance take the strain when it comes to climbing any sort of gradient or riding into the wind. The trouble is, if you cheat in this manner when relatively unfit with an ebike your everyday flat-terrain level of cycling effort is going to remain near your peak capability. If instead, you force yourself to do some hard slogs and get fitter and stronger as a result, then everyday cycling is going to be a breeze because you have some fitness/strength left in the tank.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I'm very interested in the Gain. I'm in line for surgery soon to sort out my legs and if it turns out that the wait is going to be more than a few months, I'm definitely going to try one. My online searching so far seems to indicate that finding one in the right size to try is going to be quite a challenge. If anyone has tried one I'd be very interested to hear about it.

 

[Blue Hills]

I am not against the principal of ebikes.I can understand how they can be useful and fun for young and old.

It's just for me personally cycling is my only form of exercise.I've tried gyms and running and jogging but it's not for me.

I just think that if i got an ebike i could get lazy by the temptation of pressing a button

Yes, that's similar to why I think them risky for the young.
I too tried gyms and running

 

[Blue Hills]

The other concern I have about ebikes is that they might not be as green as they appear. Popped in a major ebike retailer a year or two ago (way back from a ride on my revered 20 year old trigger's broom ridgeback) and asked about continued availability of spare compatible batteries etc. Was told that it was quite the done thing to scrap your ebike every 8 years or so.

 

[Widge]

Hi Blue Hills.....
Yup!
The thing about 'ordinary' mechanical' bikes is that you know damn well they are going to be serviceable with bog-standard parts way down the line.

With a holey-monkey ebike with flavour of the month electric components who knows how serviceable they might be a few years hence??

hhmm....decisions decisions............when to bite the bullet..........???

 

[smokeysmoo]

Opinions on a post-card please to the Winward Home for Grumpy Old Geezers, Barking, South Devon

I can't comment on e-bikes per se having as I have, no experience of them

However, aesthetically, if I was in the market for an e-road bike right now, and after looking at the other offerings at Tredz from Giant, Raleigh and Bianchi, then the Orbeas would be at the top of my list, because even though the spec on them isn't great for the money, (yeah yeah I know your paying for the electrickery bits so the spec has to suffer elsewhere), all the other bikes are completely and utterly repulsive, IMO of course, and like they say, if you don't like the way it looks your unlikely to bother riding it.

Orbea as a brand I would recommend though, great bikes yet not something you see everyday, and I like that about a bike

 

[buzzy-beans]

I honestly think I would sooner be loaded into a box rather than be forced to go electric!!

 

[youngoldbloke]

I honestly think I would sooner be loaded into a box rather than be forced to go electric!!

Lets hope you're never in the position where you need to consider the option ......

 

[Pale Rider]

In an attempt to assist the OP and others who asked about the Orbea.

The assistance offered by the compact motor is relatively modest, and in any case it couldn't deliver a lot of power for long due to the small capacity battery.

This set up may well suit a rider who is coming at ebikes from already being a reasonably fit cyclist.

It wouldn't suit Mr Sedentary Late Middle Aged Spread who hasn't ridden a bicycle in decades.

Slightly against the Orbea is the general point that the control of hub motors is less sophisticated than that of crank drives.

A quality crank drive - usually Bosch or Yamaha - has speed, cadence and torque sensors which makes it feel more like a bicycle to ride, something which may be appreciated by an experienced cyclist and lost on an inexperienced one.

I would urge anyone thinking of the Orbea to also try something like the Giant Road E, which has the Yamaha crank drive motor.

The difference in terms of poke and feel of the ride will be signifcant.

Crank drives also offer no resistance when switched off/the bike is freewheeling, but some hub motors do drag.

The first thing I would do on inspecting an Orbea is lift the back wheel and spin it - it may spin like an ordinary bike wheel, which is fine, but it may not.

I see Tredz has a 2016 Road E for about the same price as the Orbea.

The Giant is the more capable ebike in every respect.

But as observed, that's not much good if you can't live with the looks.

 

[Blue Hills]

Do you have any advice about battery companies/types pale rider?

I get the impression that this is one of the key factors if you want to stick with a bike long term.

Personally I think quality suppliers of these contraptions should guarantee continued power bits supply until you pop it or give your heirs a substantial refund/cashback. A not unreasonable expectation I think.

 

[Pale Rider]

If the bike/battery is by a reputable maker, you would first rely on them for spares.

Bosch, for example, guarantee to supply apares for seven or eight years after the product drops from the current range.

All ebike batteries are made from rechargeable cells, similar in size to an AAA cell, wired in series and in parallel to give the required voltage.

If a pack fails, replacement cells are readily available even if they might not be the exact spec of the originals - usually better spec as battery technology inches forward.

There are also re-celling companies who will do the job.

Similar applies to motors and controllers - widely available.

Where you might fall out of bed with the Orbea is the tiny amount of Orbea-only components, whch effectively amounts to the button on the top tube.

Even if replacements cease to be available, no doubt you could wire it using an ordinary switch.

So an ebike is like an ordinary bike - there is nearly always a way of keeping one going.

But as with ordinary bikes, some repairs may be more than the bike's worth.

A cheap Chinese ebike with a burned out motor and a knackered battery wouldn't be worth spending the several hundreds it would cost to get it going.

https://bmsbattery.com/65-battery-cell

 

[Blue Hills]

Yes had the idea that bosch was a good idea.

The route i would very probably go if eventually going electric.