Electric bike- it’s the future.

[YorkshireT]

I’m an enthusiastic if time poor cyclist, have a nice carbon road bike and a very nice full suspension mountain bike.

However, this past year I haven’t done my usual amount of riding- time really. I also lost the will to commute on it, I have a near 1 mile steep hill plus other v steep hills to negotiate coming home. I mainly do 12 hour days and couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. Also I couldn’t be bothered getting changed and having a shower at the office.

Anyway, my mate is big into his e mountain bikes. I always took the Mickey out of him, saying he was lazy. We went out for a 30 miler the other week and I had a quick blast up a steep hill, and thought, that’s actually great and has its place.

I just bought a Trek e mountain bike to add to the fleet, and it’s already singularly the best purchase I’ve ever made bar none. As long as it isn’t raining I do the 10 mile commute in, in under 25 mins (faster than I ever could on my road bike) and home in 30. It flattens the hills totally. But you feel like superman, it only applies assistance when you pedal. It’s addictive to ride it. It’s nothing like riding a moped.

I am averaging about 20- 25mph on it as I cannot help but make it crack as fast as I can go. I now get in quicker than the car when it’s busy. I was surprised when using my heart rate monitor to see I’m still getting into the 130s on my heart rate which is equivalent to me doing a flat 10km/h jog. So I’m actually getting really good exercise, but without the pain. I could go slower or turn up the assist to make it easier if I wanted.

It’s such fun that just because I could, I took a 16 mile route home the other night, I’ve done nearly 100 miles in a week and if it were summer I’d be on it every single day and basically ditching the car.

I even just wear my office clothes. The first morning I did it I dressed up perhaps a bit too warm and made it crack a bit too much so was a bit sweaty, but I wear less now and I’m not sweating so don’t need a shower or change of clothes.

I’m already starting to feel much healthier and when spring comes and I can do it most days I expect the weight may fall off me. I know I’m burning good calories as my Garmin tells me, but my hunger has shot up.

So in summary highly recommended these ebikes. Has anyone else got one?

[colin39]

You can buy a mid drive ,it bolts on just in front of the crank. The full kits aint cheap but if you look around some are really high wattage.
Read up on endless-sphere/forums/
And alway use a good bms (battery managment system)
Ours in work has been clocked between ilford and ongar avaraging 50mph. The lad know his stuff.

[ROSIE13]

I'm a keen cyclist and bike mechanic.i mainly ride mountain bikes and have done for 25 years.i have ridden E mountain bikes a few times recently and have to say they are fantastic.demoed a specialized levo fsr at grizedale and it was the most fun I've had on a bike in ten years even though grizedale isnt one of my favourite trail centres going downhill it felt like a normal bike but climbing technical terrain was so easy but still fun.I was able to do multiple runs and explore more.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by ROSIE13

I'm a keen cyclist and bike mechanic.i mainly ride mountain bikes and have done for 25 years.i have ridden E mountain bikes a few times recently and have to say they are fantastic.demoed a specialized levo fsr at grizedale and it was the most fun I've had on a bike in ten years even though grizedale isnt one of my favourite trail centres going downhill it felt like a normal bike but climbing technical terrain was so easy but still fun.I was able to do multiple runs and explore more.

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They are nice bikes, I heard there had been a few issues with the 2019 ones though they are having to resolve.
My pal has his name down for the latest Haibike, it’s over 5k though, with a new motor made by the company that made it for the mars rover, 650 battery I think, lights built into the frame, looks amazing but he could buy a car for that.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by colin39

You can buy a mid drive ,it bolts on just in front of the crank. The full kits aint cheap but if you look around some are really high wattage.
Read up on endless-sphere/forums/
And alway use a good bms (battery managment system)
Ours in work has been clocked between ilford and ongar avaraging 50mph. The lad know his stuff.

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Ha ha, just make sure the police don’t stop you if you are on it!

[Deano]

This is really interesting as I would love to cycle and desperately need to get fit but every direction from my home involves hills far too big for me to do and I just destroy myself and it puts me off riding.

Will have to try one out somewhere and see if it will work for me.

[novocastrian]

They are getting very popular i was out in the summer on my roadie heading up a short punchy climb and another roadie came alongside for a chat, he was effortlessly riding up this hill & then i realised he a had an ebike

turns out he was a club rider on his way to meet up for a club ride , he had recently had a hamstring op so used the ebike during his recovery so he could still go out on the rides and not get dropped..

everywhere is uphill / downhill from where i live and can the appeal of them.. but havnt crossed over... yet...

[wanye]

completely agree. i used to be a regular rider up until about 10 years ago, and then since we moved in a house at the top of a massive hill, i've not rode it at all in the last 3 1/2 years. my cycle home from work is basically 4 miles uphill.

i bought an ebike last month (volt pulse) after a year or so of umming and ahhing... mostly because everyone i know said its a lazy thing and a waste of time... why not just get back into riding and get fit so i can go up the hill unassisted?

not one person had a positive comment about them... but then none of them had really ridden one either. i took one for a test ride and within minutes i'd decided i wanted one.

i've yet to start riding it to work properly (did it last week on a day off to try it out) due to the weather (and it being dark when i leave the house and get home), but as soon as it starts getting reasonable again in hopefully feb/march i'll be using it at least 2 days a week to ride to work (driving in 1 day a week, and working from home the other two)

people say its lazy... they seem to think that it does all the work for you like a moped or something. all it does is *assist* - you still have to do stuff, it's just not nearly as hard as it should be. plus, once i get fitter, i can lower the level of assist so that i am doing a bit more of the work.

in short. great bit of kit, wish i'd gotten one years ago

[bighal]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

I’m an enthusiastic if time poor cyclist, have a nice carbon road bike and a very nice full suspension mountain bike.

However, this past year I haven’t done my usual amount of riding- time really. I also lost the will to commute on it, I have a near 1 mile steep hill plus other v steep hills to negotiate coming home. I mainly do 12 hour days and couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. Also I couldn’t be bothered getting changed and having a shower at the office.

Anyway, my mate is big into his e mountain bikes. I always took the Mickey out of him, saying he was lazy. We went out for a 30 miler the other week and I had a quick blast up a steep hill, and thought, that’s actually great and has its place.

I just bought a Trek e mountain bike to add to the fleet, and it’s already singularly the best purchase I’ve ever made bar none. As long as it isn’t raining I do the 10 mile commute in, in under 25 mins (faster than I ever could on my road bike) and home in 30. It flattens the hills totally. But you feel like superman, it only applies assistance when you pedal. It’s addictive to ride it. It’s nothing like riding a moped.

I am averaging about 20- 25mph on it as I cannot help but make it crack as fast as I can go. I now get in quicker than the car when it’s busy. I was surprised when using my heart rate monitor to see I’m still getting into the 130s on my heart rate which is equivalent to me doing a flat 10km/h jog. So I’m actually getting really good exercise, but without the pain. I could go slower or turn up the assist to make it easier if I wanted.

It’s such fun that just because I could, I took a 16 mile route home the other night, I’ve done nearly 100 miles in a week and if it were summer I’d be on it every single day and basically ditching the car.

I even just wear my office clothes. The first morning I did it I dressed up perhaps a bit too warm and made it crack a bit too much so was a bit sweaty, but I wear less now and I’m not sweating so don’t need a shower or change of clothes.

I’m already starting to feel much healthier and when spring comes and I can do it most days I expect the weight may fall off me. I know I’m burning good calories as my Garmin tells me, but my hunger has shot up.

So in summary highly recommended these ebikes. Has anyone else got one?

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So does it still assist you if you are travelling over 15.5mph? If so you need to tax and insure your bike.

Seems there is a point when ebikes need to be taxed and insured to use on the roads and are banned from cycle paths.

What if my electric bike breaks the rules?
If your ebike doesn’t meet these regulations – either because the motor is more powerful than 250W, or if it assists you when you’re riding more than 15.5 mph – it will need to be registered, insured and taxed as a motor vehicle. In this case, you will also need a driving licence, and you must wear a motorcycle helmet.

These other kind of bikes (also called speed pedelecs) cannot be ridden on cycle paths and must be approved by the DVLA. So while it’s easy to de-restrict an ebike to get the motor assisting you with higher speeds, it is not very wise to do so, both for regulatory and safety reasons.


Read more at cyclingweekly/news/p...0TqJlv8ytFL.99

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[malt1977]

I’m still on the fence about e-bikes...

I fully understand that for some people it is the only way that they can get out and enjoy cycling, but for me, at this time, I like to know that all I’ve ridden I’ve done under my own steam. This isn’t to say that I will never have one, just not yet.

One thing I do find a little off though is people on e-bikes recording rides on Strava and not logging it correctly, all the sudden, people start getting KOM’s when you know that they are nowhere near as fit as the people they have beaten... ok, rant over.