The strange business of sharing a bike ride with someone using an electric bike

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Hopey

Well-Known Member
Location
Edinburgh
That's incredibly nice of you, she is so lucky. :whistle:

Hah, I can see how that sounds. Any big purchase has to be okayed by both of us. That's why I don't have a mountain bike yet :highfive:
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
We have a Monday group that goes out for 50-60 mile rides. One member has an ebike, a road version, which is limited to 15mph and the motor is hardly audible. I don't understand the fuss from the OP.

We have a great time with a friend who couldn't otherwise join us. We take the mick, sometimes we push it to 18 to make him work but generally we ride at 15-16. Yesterday 56 miles and 2700 feet we averaged 14mph. On tough climbs we get to chase him down :laugh:

We're all retired, it's great fun!!
 

Alan O

Über Member
Location
Liverpool
Have you been foolish enough to go on a ride with someone who is riding an ebike and if so did you enjoy the ride?
Yes, very much so, and I enjoy it every time. And I think you're just plain wrong if you see it as a competition.

E-bikes are excellent for helping older and less abled folk to keep enjoying cycling with their friends for a lot longer than they could manage on ordinary bikes, and the groups I cycle with welcome them. I've been out riding with a number of friends for whom it would be impossible without their e-bikes, the oldest being a few years past 80.

Am I peeved when, at my sprightly age of a mere 60, my 80+ yo friend overtakes me with a buzz on the hills? Absolutely not, I'm just delighted to still have his company on our rides.

If you denigrate e-bike riders, you're just a snob, in my view.

However, riding with someone who has a motor brought out the worst in me

You said it.
 
Last edited:
Location
Loch side.
I found your description of your reaction to the affair quite funny. I now just want to go and hire an e-bike and go for a ride with some half-wheelers I know. And, I'll smoke a cigar as soon as I'm out front doing my bit of pulling and the downwind is in my favour. I may even plug in an iPod and pretend not to hear those bastard half-wheelers when they complain about my "accidental" micro-accelerations every now and then. I'll definitely fit some sort of irritating electronic beep too, possibly one with chicken sounds or a Model T honk. I think I'll even take some extra clothing and ask someone, mid-ride, if they don't mind carrying it for me.

On the other hand, if I find myself in the reverse situation I'll make literal the metaphoric term "piss on his battery".
 

Heckler

Well-Known Member
The proper ones require effort.you must peddle to move..
And after 15mph there bloody hard work.

That is a fair point.

My partner has an e-bike and it has made us cycling together a much more enjoyable sociable experience. I hold back on the flats, she holds back on the hills and we both get chance to have a look at the scenery.
 
I found your description of your reaction to the affair quite funny. I now just want to go and hire an e-bike and go for a ride with some half-wheelers I know. And, I'll smoke a cigar as soon as I'm out front doing my bit of pulling and the downwind is in my favour. I may even plug in an iPod and pretend not to hear those bastard half-wheelers when they complain about my "accidental" micro-accelerations every now and then. I'll definitely fit some sort of irritating electronic beep too, possibly one with chicken sounds or a Model T honk. I think I'll even take some extra clothing and ask someone, mid-ride, if they don't mind carrying it for me.

On the other hand, if I find myself in the reverse situation I'll make literal the metaphoric term "piss on his battery".
Take your phone and engage in a lengthy conversation with a friend while occasionally taking hands of the bars to have a yawn and stretch ^_^
 
Yes, very much so, and I enjoy it every time. And I think you're just plain wrong if you see it as a competition.

E-bikes are excellent for helping older and less abled folk to keep enjoying cycling with their friends for a lot longer than they could manage on ordinary bikes, and the groups I cycle with welcome them. I've been out riding with a number of friends for whom it would be impossible without their e-bikes, the oldest being a few years past 80.

Am I peeved when, at my sprightly age of a mere 60, my 80+ yo friend overtakes me with a buzz on the hills? Absolutely not, I'm just delighted to still have his company on our rides.

If you denigrate e-bike riders, you're just a snob, in my view.



You said it.
Oh yes I am a snob but not where cycling is concerned. I don't think my friend was actually cycling if you consider cycling as an exercise where the legs are spinning pedals.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
That's not a proper Ebike.

The proper ones require effort.you must pedle to move..
And after 15mph there bloody hard work.
I think a lot of contributors have not realised it not a normal ebike OP is talking about.
A normal ebike riding companion shouldn't be a problem alongside a normal roadbike, one will gain at one end of the spectrum, the other at the opposite end.
But the ebike in OPs story is far from a normal ebike...and its rider sounded like a tit as well.
 
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