Regular vs Electric Bike

Cezzy, The 2017 Cycle Show is on at the NEC Birmingham on 22-24 September.

They will have a test ride circuit specifically for e-bikes, so if you can get there, it is an ideal opportunity to have a very short test ride on a variety of e-bikes.

I own two, an electric and a regular one, simply because its easier and more cost effective to get both, including a decent non electric with all the bells and whistles that trying to get an electric one with half the features.

I tend to drive the non electric more, so that's where my money is. Converting is also an option, but I never quite liked having the electronics somewhere improvised. A true e-bike comes with the frame ready to accept those components by default.

The electric is used leisurely. I got one that I found a good deal (about 500), rather than one with all I ever wanted. because honestly If I'm going electric I dont care about many of the added features like weight and gears. I'm simply steering the thing while the motor does the work.

The 5 years immediately prior to this I had a used electric one that has served me well. It was foldable, but the weight was always an issue, I had issues with the rear brake built into the hub motor and the battery died, so I used it for a while as normal bicycle until I graduated.

Notice that at the time I lived in London, so it was pretty much a necessity due to the hassle of having a car and the expense of public transport there. Most other places a car would be a much better choice, or if you want to stay fit, a regular bicycle.

Word of experience: never underestimate how much a flat tire will render your electric bicycle useless. The back tire requires the motor wiring to be removed. Its generally easier to patch the tire there and then, but not always possible depending on the puncture (and they will get soft and prone to punctures, as they age, if you drive it everyday) and will set you some time as the glue dries. This is not trivial or something you'll want to be carrying around with a flat tire. With a regular one, all needed are some simple tools, a spare tube and some 15min time.

Words of wisdom...

Get an electric one if you cant use the car: large cities such as London, etc. Live with the fact you wont be able to leave it in many places you would with a regular bicycle, so plan to have something foldable that can be taken indoors, into a vehicle or public transport

If you live in a place where a car can be used - stick to that. Invest in a fuel efficient vehicle such as a diesel or a small engine petrol for city driving. A petrol scooter is easy to park and wont get stolen easily, so consider that too.

For all other purposes, stick with a good quality non electric bicycle.
For off-road use, non electric should be best. If its hard, you should hike by foot. The battery wont last much there either.

No new ebikes can be operated by throttle alone (well not quite true, mine has a "walk assist" throttle which will take it to an unladen 4mph) , they are all assist, so you still have to peddle and put some effort in, just not as much.

As stated I use mine for my daily commute . I certainly haven't given up on life and find that attitude extremely patronising and quite frankly rude.

I regularly ride my ebike above the 15.5 mph assist limit (average speed is around 19 mph) only having it kick in on hills and for starting off.

I run, up to half marathon at the moment, but prefer not to get to work all hot and sweaty then having to do a physical manual job, before having to ride all the way home again after a hard shift.

My bike allows my commute to be relative easy and is just as quick as using my car or motor scooter.

I'd certainly consider an ebike. I currently ride to work on a conventional bike but when I arrive I have to take time to shower and get changed.

I expect with an ebike I could just ride to work in my work clothes and then I could get straight on with it after arriving. Sounds very convenient to me.

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Unfortunately these myths about ebikes won't go away, I guess possibly it's from a lack of experience with the technology as like the post above, a lot of people seem to confuse them with electric mopeds requiring no work from the rider. Which simply isn't true, the rider still needs to pedal the bike but for the same amount of effort they can go further, faster and don't need to worry about hills or head winds.

I find the snobbery puzzling as well, I'd say I'm a pretty decent bike rider but I'm pleased to see people getting out and enjoy cycling on ebikes. It's strange that there's such criticism for ebike riders but not those with motor vehicles where there genuinely is no effort.

John

I thought some bikes don't need you to contribute?