Anybody own or into E-bikes?

They've definitely changed things up since the knockoff Vespa-scooter things that I honestly wouldn't get behind into something that I could actually see myself riding.

Especially the ones that are basically motorcycles, just electric.

At any rate, having a car and a bicycle to get me around, I've got a couple of things that demand an amount of my attention anyways.

 

I'm still back in the dark ages of conventional bikes. But I know a lot of people who are getting eBikes. They've evolved quite a lot over the past few years, and many of my friends are already on their second eBike. Naturally the thing that set off the latest craze is lithium batteries, but the motor and control technologies have evolved quite quickly.

From what I can tell, they keep looking more and more like light duty motorcycles. That makes sense... the preferred operating mode is to run them wide open, meaning they're reaching 25+ mph, and are in the territory where motorcycle technology has a reason to be different than bicycle technology, such as much wider tires. When I see eBikes going at "normal" cycling pace, it's usually older riders who might not be as confident with their bike handling skills.

There's a push towards mid-drive, and I have to admit to being skeptical about that. My reason is that even on conventional bikes, the drivetrain wears out after a finite amount of miles. Rear drive means that power isn't being transmitted through the relatively narrow chain.

 

When one of my co-workers boasted about how many miles he was able to put in on his e-mountain bike, I smiled and shook my head. He was bragging about it like he was Superman.

Um... yeah, why wouldn't you be able to ride farther? Your bike's got a motor on it.

Same with the electronic skateboards. If you like these toys, great... but not for me.

I'll continue to get pure exercise on my non-e-bike and conventional skateboard while these electronic athletes continue to get one step closer to this...

 

In my area, over the past couple years, there's been a gradual truce between the electric and conventional cyclists. It's just a different form of recreation, and everybody has to choose an intensity of exercise that suits them. Both "sides" share a common interest of improving the local conditions for cycling. It's all good.

 

We got ebikes in May. We're retired and are full-time RVers
We traveled for about 2 years with regular bikes, and they were great, but we have enjoyed being able to go for rides without worrying about reaching our destination, and getting home again.

We bought rear-drive bikes from RAD. Given an unlimited budget, I would have spent 2 or 3 times more to obtain a mid-drive, with torque sensors, from Gazelle of The Netherlands. My wife is happy, and I am happy too.

 

I'm calmly letting the technology evolve. But the roads where I'd be most interested in "usefully" riding one to do a bit of shopping, etc. remain dubious (at least in parts) for cycles other than full-on-in-traffic motorcycles (for one thing) and I'm not overly interested in the fat heavy direction where it's a beast to use without battery life left. I live a good 500 vertical feet above where I might go to market or the like with one, and the appeal there would be less beastly hill climbing; not sure how the current crop do, not really looking actively. I've occasionally seen glowing posts (not here) about cargo bicycles and the like (not electric) and have had to point out that such things are far more practical in nice flat areas. But I know plenty of folks who manage their way up more hill than I live on "for fun" so it's not like I couldn't possibly, I just find that takes a lot of the fun out of it (I quite enjoy the "ah, yes, old train railbeds are delightful for bikes and lack killer cars" trails we have a few of.) So I drive, or once in a while walk (means I can take the short-cut through the woods.) I have recently gotten my bike in usable shape again, but continue to have doubts about how much I want to play with traffic (relative was struck by a car with serious injuries, which adds to the "yes, it can happen to me" aspect...)

However, there are rumors of some more trails that would help me out (getting off some of the difficult roads) opening up on some long-abandoned trolley ROWs. If that happens I'll go check them out on an ordinary bike. It might nudge the electric assist if it removes enough of the hairy sections from the route to shops, but I find the getting home again uphill part making me choose not to ride.

 

We have a place on Topsail Island NC. Those kinds of bikes were ALL OVER the place this past weekend. They've really taken off.

I stopped a guy at a store and asked him about his. It was really slick looking...matte OD green. He said it does 35 mph and can run up to 12 hours on a charge! One day next week I'm going to time how long it takes me to get to work at 35 mph. I'm seriously considering this for warm weather for my 8 mile "commute".

RadRunner Electric Utility Bike

 

I have mountain bike for that kind of thing. But thanks for the heads up. This would be a pavement bike for going to work....and getting back to the beach house from the bar.

 

Just moved to a house on the outskirts of town. Decided to get some EBikes to deal with the hilly terrain. We are loving it so far!

Rad Wagon delivered last week; Rad Runner still waiting to be shipped

 

Great if you live in town and going to get groceries... As a bike to ride, no. The handling just sucks. The weight distribution is all wrong. Put one into a corner hard and land over the guard rail... The only ones worth riding are mid drive, battery on the seat tube in line with the rider's weight.
Mine is a BMC Alpenchallenge Pro Cross. Super fun to ride with ferrari like handling. Felt, Trek and Specialized all have great handling, fun to ride e-bikes that won't make you feel like an Uner driver... Sadowsky or Squire...your choice

 

It's been interesting to watch Chris Akrigg and Danny Macaskill doing some proper mountain bike trials riding on e-bikes - quite a few videos on their IGs. Mostly it seems like they've been using them to help them get up stupid steep sections and ride places that would be hard to access conventionally.

 

I own an ebike. Bought it shortly before I retired as I insisted on commuting by bike (it was only an 18 mile round trip,mcar was barely blowing warm air by the time id got to work) and Mrs Plank was getting concerned that it was starting to get a bit much for a man then in his late 40's. I live in a village in the arse end of nowhere, and to be fair it was a great all weather tool for commuting into civilisation and back

And then I opted to retire anyway!

I still use it for local bimbling and errand running, but for longer rides I still use a regular bike as they're simply faster, better handling, etc.

But I do like the ebike. For utility riding, local pottering etc its brilliant. I have a Volvo XC90 that rarely gets used now, and when that eventually becomes uneconomical to maintain and keep the ebike will take its place.

Over here road legal ebikes are restricted to 250W, which is about right - gives a boost without a sudden performance advantage, and dodges the need for licence, insurance, etc. You can get meatier ones but theyre legally classed as mopeds, and require all the legal shizzle that goes with it, which is fair enough.

We do have a bit of a problem here with prats flying about on illegally high powered bikes without licence etc, and the police and government are starting to crack down a little. My fear is that this will get out of hand and innocent and law abiding riders like myself will end up being forced to get licence, insurance, etc - when something goes wrong the British way (and the US way from what I see) is to punish the people who were always law abiding anyway by forcing them to comply with even stricter laws, and these illegal ebikes are going to force history to repeat itself.