I don't get why some people don't get ebikes.

[Aech]

And yeah, as a vegetarian for 35+ years, someone's eating my share of them. Vegetarianism is a minority sport though (roughly 10% of the population are either vegan or vegetarian. They just feel more prevalent because they'll tell you ):

Well done Sir you made me laugh with that last line.

I choose steaks because that's the comparison the video I linked to earlier made - and it does demonstrate the carbon impact of some of the foods we eat (posters were previously sceptical that human + extra food + bike was more emissions than human + less food + ebike).

I can totally believe human + less food + ebike is a better result for the environment.

The calorie intake for a Tour de France rider is often quoted as 5,000 to 8,000 KiloCals per day depending on the stage and riders have lost weight over the course of the 3 week because it's hard to consume that many healthy calories.

In comparison you usually put 1.4x the energy into a battery compared to what you can later get back out it, but electric motors are often 90+% efficient at converting electrical energy into rotating mechanical energy, so a roughly for every 1KwH of energy turned into moving a bike you need 1.5KwH of energy into the battery, therefore a ebike is approx 66% efficient at turning energy into motion.

In contrast most ICE cars struggle to better 30% efficiency and the energy requirements to move 90Kg of human + 1500Kg of car verses 90Kg of human + 25Kg of ebike is a very one-sided equation.

I hear you re: bike maintenance costs, but the Trek report cited in the video does talk about lifecycle emissions which presumably has a figure for maintenance emissions - and they are also assuming a bike (of either kind) lasts approx 20K km. That doesn't feel wildly off the mark.

That sounds like a modern bike is not built to last anything like as well as old bikes, my old ten speed racer I had BITD lasted me many more miles than that and the only stuff I bought regularly for it was tyres, brake blocks and spray paint (the paint was 'cos I kept pulling it apart and respraying it to match the bikes I saw racing on TV)

If an ebike gets people out of their cars then that can only be a good thing, assuming the ebike lasts longer than a couple of years. Ideally it should last a decade or two with some maintenance and a few battery replacements as they wear out and hopefully the batteries can be easily recycled.

 

[greencat]

That sounds like a modern bike is not built to last anything like as well as old bikes, my old ten speed racer I had BITD lasted me many more miles than that and the only stuff I bought regularly for it was tyres, brake blocks and spray paint (the paint was 'cos I kept pulling it apart and respraying it to match the bikes I saw racing on TV)

When I think about what's finally killed my bikes, it's usually frame failures.

Kirk revolution - drop out snapped off
Dawes Ranger - cracked bottom bracket shell
On-one Inbred - Rusted out Bottom bracket shell
Whyte 901 - broken seat tube
4T titanium - broken seat tube x 2
Ritchey logic - broken down tube.

Knowing what I now know (or more likely who I know), I would have probably attempted some frame repairs on the steel frames. Although I had one bike shop owner I trusted warn me about the Dawes a few years before it failed. He said it's a 10 year old (at the time) mountain bike, and 531 forks of that era weren't meant to take that kind of abuse. He'd had a few customers where the forks had simply collapsed.

The inbred probably lasted the longest. I reckon that must have done closing on 50K miles. Some of the others probably didn't make it to 5K.

Nowadays, I'm a bit more likely to look at the economics of it - including my time. I've just had an ebike fail. I can do all of the mechanical stuff (and have already replaced complete drive chain, brakes, tyres, tubes) - but can do limited trouble shooting on the electrics (I've replaced a charging port twice, charger twice, troubleshooted and fixed some dodgy brake sensors) - but it seems the motor, charging controller or something else has gone. That's potentially £200+ of parts not counting labour. It's done 3.5 years of commuting, complete with shopping etc in extremely heavy weather at times - and cost £350. It's replacement cost £363 - and I can transfer over any working parts from the old one over to it when they wear out. Pretty sure, I can part out some of the rest for around £100 too.

My spare commuter ebike, costing £400, has just done 2K miles and only had a set of brake pads and a chain replaced.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Two cyclists ride to a restaurant. First guy orders a regular combo, burger, large fries, soda, regular size. Second guy says, "I rode the electric today, I'll have the Lesser Calories eBike Combo"
Cashier replies, "Oh, that will cost extra, because you are paying for the delusions"

Does anyone seriously believe that the e bike rider eats less when they cycle, because of the battery? That's not how human appetite functions. We devour everything. Technology only speeds up the process

 

[Aech]

Does anyone seriously believe that the e bike rider eats less when they cycle, because of the battery? That's not how human appetite functions.

Speaking only for myself but on days where I'm less active I eat less, conversely on a day where I'm doing manual labour or go for long bike ride I am ravenous by tea-time and will have a larger portion.

Maybe I'm the odd-ball here but I have a distinct correlation between energy expended during the day and my food intake, and no I am not actively trying to regulate my intake in order to avoid putting on weight, if I'm hungry I eat, that's all there is to it. I have never counted calories or tried to watch my weight yet my weight has remained the same for the last couple of decades.

Maybe I'm just lucky or just a freak ?

 

[madjh]

What I don´t understand is why e-bikers need approbation. I don´t care if you like e-bikes. I don´t and I don´t need to understand why you prefer that over this. I don´t need a dictator to tell me what I have to like or do or not. You like it, perfect, enjoy it

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Speaking only for myself but on days where I'm less active I eat less, conversely on a day where I'm doing manual labour or go for long bike ride I am ravenous by tea-time and will have a larger portion.

Maybe it's a North American phenomenon. Super size everything. I see people riding e bikes to the fast food drive through

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I don´t care if you like e-bikes

I care from a recreational standpoint. Commuting use I am fine with. My problem is with the privilege of going out recreationally to enjoy nature, while turning the wild lands of the less fortunate into a wasteland.

Marketing:
Ignored reality:
All the stuff about less calories and less cars is distraction from the big pit. One ton of lithium requires 1.9 million litres of water to create.

 

[Russell]

Chances are, lots of us have got more lithium sat in unused phones, laptops, go karts and other devices in our houses than in an e-bike battery.

 

[greencat]

It's all about where you draw the line, isn't it? Nature doesn't need us walking or cycling or ebiking into it. If it was able to express a preference, it would probably be that we shouldn't bother.

There is definitely a good point around destroying other people's natural resources to enjoy our own (but the point could be extended to clothing, boots, even normal bikes - never mind driving, flying or other forms of travel there). But lithium battery recycling rates are also really poor in comparison to lead acid ones. Hopefully, that will change.

 

[synchronicity]

The e-bikers I see in my area are not at all doing it for commuting though are they?
They are invariably mountainbikers.
They usually have 4 ebikes vertically stacked on the back of their SUV.
They always seem to drive to the start point / trail head. Well okay.
But you're not telling me that is better for the environment than having 4 normal bikes.
I'm not having it. It's worse.

Because now they are using a car and an e-bike instead of a car and a normal non-e-bike.