E bikes - do you secretly want one?

[reohn2]

........My turn in the not too distant future

Or perhaps

[Annoying Twit]

The local club riders who have them love their E-bikes, for some there comes a time when they reach an age and perhaps with health issues that mean they found they were often driving to the cafe instead of cycling! For them the assistance an e-bike gives them is the difference between cycling with their life long friends or not, it has simply extended their cycling life with their mates.

When I reach that point in my life; then I will definitely want one.

What kind of distances can these people do on their e-bikes?

BTW: I greatly enjoyed a test ride I had on an e-bike some time ago, but that was before the law change that restricted how they can be powered. I could imagine riding one some time in the future.

[hemo]

This one looks interesting?

http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/kalkhoff-bikes/durban_compact_8g.html

"Magnesium alloy forks" would sound alarm bells for me...

That Kalkhoff with hub drive will be fine, don't contemplate any with Impulse 11 drive as the darby german made motor is diabolcally unreliable.

[simonineaston]

What kind of distances can these people do on their e-bikes?

I simply use my Brompton nano for the week-day journey to and fro' the railway stations, which is a total of 7 miles a day, for which it is Jolly Good!

[hemo]

I don't secretly want one but make no secret of the fact that I own 5 bikes all electric.
2 converted bikes, 2 from scratch and one a rare bike.

[landsurfer]

Not for me at this stage in my lifecycle ..... my wife has one and loves it ...."all of the pleasure, non of the pain" .......

[Annoying Twit]

What kind of distances can these people do on their e-bikes?

I simply use my Brompton nano for the week-day journey to and fro' the railway stations, which is a total of 7 miles a day, for which it is Jolly Good!

Thanks. But, I was interested in whether people could use electric bikes on cycling club outings, which are typically longer.

[Grandad]

What kind of distances can these people do on their e-bikes?

Wide variation depending on the age of the bike (more recent ones have made a lot of improvements overall) and the size of the battery.

One of our lady members has a top of the range road bike and with a mixture of assisted and non assisted pedalling has done just over 100 miles. Not sure of the split between these.

A member with a much older model reckons his maximum is 25 miles - all motor assisted.

[nigel8322]

I don't want one but am delighted that my wife has just got one. We have been out cycling together for the first time for years- since she became ill, in fact. Of course, she's got a therapeutic use exemption so it's all completely legit. She beats me up the hills now, but nothing is perfect.....

[hemo]

Mileage is only limited by battery capacity or ah. I simply take extra capacity and it goes in a top rack bag with drop down panniers, the drop downs hold my food, tools and spares. I use Lipo's and also make up or buy 18650 soft packs with bms charge and discharge feature which is easier and safer, these extra batteries are simply then wired in parallel with an inline fuse and watt/volt meter as a fuel gauge. Wiring more packs in parallel increases life span by lessening the stress on individual cells. When mot in use charge to a storage charge of 38v +/- 0.5v and then fully charge up the night before they are needed, storing batteries at full charge for long periods reduces capacity quicker.

[Annoying Twit]

What kind of distances can these people do on their e-bikes?

Wide variation depending on the age of the bike (more recent ones have made a lot of improvements overall) and the size of the battery.

One of our lady members has a top of the range road bike and with a mixture of assisted and non assisted pedalling has done just over 100 miles. Not sure of the split between these.

A member with a much older model reckons his maximum is 25 miles - all motor assisted.

Thanks. 25 miles is too little distance for me. Good for commuting, but not for longer distances. While your lady member stretches the battery out, I wonder how much the additional weight affects the other (say) 75 miles without assistance, if that's how it works out.

However, if I'm thinking about future decades, then battery technology is still progressing. It could be that by the time I really need it, electric bikes will be ready. Without needing additional battery packs as Hemo uses.

[Manc33]

The pack I remember comprised of 14 batteries (18650) and that was a 10 mile pack so to get a good range like 40 miles you need a pack with 56 batteries. With the motor on the front wheel and a 10 mile pack I found it was like riding through treacle once the battery ran out. Living in a perpetually damp and often cold climate doesn't help.

These batteries are the same thing they put in laptops, they are sort of "industrial" batteries.

Lets do the maths then... 1 battery weighs 45g so a 40 mile battery pack (to power a 250W motor) would weigh 2,520g or for arguments sake 2.5KG or about 5.5lbs.

5.5lbs doesn't sound like much at the rear - but you also have the motor on the front wheel thats about 8lbs IIRC so its up to 13.5lbs in total. Thats half the weight of the bike again for a lot of bikes. Thats why I got rid of mine, it was only a 10 miler and when it ran out, the bike felt like a £89.99 full susser from Argos even though this motor/pack was on a light bike (carbon, road).

If you plan to literally use a bike in place of a car and you live less than ten miles from work then yes I can see how one of these things is going to be a godsend, assuming it always stays reliable, but for leisure purposes, forget it. You're "cheating" lol.

[Grandad]

You're "cheating"

Cheating who?

I have nothing but admiration for several of our club members who defy age and physical problems to join our weekly 20 mile clubrun.

I suppose you could say that they are cheating age and infirmity

[mattsccm]

Nope. For me cycling is about coming home cream crackered. If its nice out or the views and situation are good then that's important but I still go out in the pouring rain to ride the same circuit twice about 4 times a week.
Not significantly faster than a real bike for commuting sadly. If I could do the 20 odd miles in say 30 minutes I would love one.
Give it a few years and I might change my mind.

[Cyril Haearn]

Nope. For me cycling is about coming home cream crackered....
..

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