On balance, I still am not a fan of e-bikes (previously known as ‘I just don’t get E bikes’)

[2manyoranges]

I think we can all agree ~ goodness - that E bikes are a good thing for a group of people who suffer from some form of physical impairment or frailty, like the instances stated above.

Where they are used to genuinely substitute for car journeys that’s a very sensible thing too.

Nice to hear of instances where people have got back into cycling and then later purchased a non E bike.

I’ll reserve the right to be a bit fed up when perfectly fit people hassle me from behind in single track when I’m actually going at a fair good pace, and do Strava Laps just to show max speed and lay down some stutter bumps….

 

[dyna-ti]

I love the simplicity of a conventional bike.

Simplicity ?. Gears, cogs, derailleur mechanisms, pulleys, wires etc etc. Far from simple

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

I think we can all agree ~ goodness - that E bikes are a good thing for a group of people who suffer from some form of physical impairment or frailty, like the instances stated above.

Where they are used to genuinely substitute for car journeys that’s a very sensible thing too.

Nice to hear of instances where people have got back into cycling and then later purchased a non E bike.

I’ll reserve the right to be a bit fed up when perfectly fit people hassle me from behind in single track when I’m actually going at a fair good pace, and do Strava Laps just to show max speed and lay down some stutter bumps….

Indeedy. I know 2 people, both coppers, who've stopped using the car for the commute due to a combination of cost and there being nowhere to park. They now use ebikes.

From what I read that is a phenomenon being repeated on a very large scale across the country, partocularly in London and the larger cities.

How anyone can think that is a bad thing is beyond me. The average car journey in Greater Manchester is reckoned to be less than 1000 metres, an astonishingly obscene figure. Everyone who ditches a car journey for one on an ebike - or an analogue bike if they prefer - gets a big round of applause from me, and hopefully that drowns out the cynical and arrogant sneering we hear from some quarters.

I do wonder a little at your last paragraph. On the days when Im not doped on tramadol and set forth on a normal bike I can run absolute performance rings around any compliant ebike. On road or off I can easily show them a clean pair of heels. In fact its good fun teasing them by letting them get close then nipping up another MPH or so to 17MPH, whereupon theyre working twice as hard. Naturally, being the grumpy old fart that I am I get highly annoyed when I'm on my ebike and people do this to me!

 

[2manyoranges]

Indeedy. I know 2 people, both coppers, who've stopped using the car for the commute due to a combination of cost and there being nowhere to park. They now use ebikes.

From what I read that is a phenomenon being repeated on a very large scale across the country, partocularly in London and the larger cities.

How anyone can think that is a bad thing is beyond me. The average car journey in Greater Manchester is reckoned to be less than 1000 metres, an astonishingly obscene figure. Everyone who ditches a car journey for one on an ebike - or an analogue bike if they prefer - gets a big round of applause from me, and hopefully that drowns out the cynical and arrogant sneering we hear from some quarters.

I do wonder a little at your last paragraph. On the days when Im not doped on tramadol and set forth on a normal bike I can run absolute performance rings around any compliant ebike. On road or off I can easily show them a clean pair of heels. In fact its good fun teasing them by letting them get close then nipping up another MPH or so to 17MPH, whereupon theyre working twice as hard. Naturally, being the grumpy old fart that I am I get highly annoyed when I'm on my ebike and people do this to me!

Goodness I must learn the art of ‘E-bike baiting’ in that way. Fun sport.

I’ve not noticed any movement to ebikes for commuting around our city (I cycle from our village into the city every day) but that migration from car to E bike sounds promising - and I agree about that 1km figure…dreadful.

I’ve noticed that on hard tails we indeed can do a higher average speed than compliant ebikes. We’re quite handy in singletrack and downhill. Where we get hassled from behind is on long singletrack draggy climbs and inclines. That’s when the E-ness of the E-bike gives a different performance curve to a non E bike.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Goodness I must learn the art of ‘E-bike baiting’ in that way. Fun sport.

Oh my days, honestly, it can be hilarious fun. It should be an Olympic sport, its that entertaining.

Of course, on days when my hip is aching and im confined to the ebike its a childish, puerile waste of time, and the people who do it are childish eejuts.

 

[2manyoranges]

Oh my days, honestly, it can be hilarious fun. It should be an Olympic sport, its that entertaining.

Of course, on days when my hip is aching and im confined to the ebike its a childish, puerile waste of time, and the people who do it are childish eejuts.

Just looking at some reviews whilst travelling for work - latest Trek Fuel is eye watering in a number of ways - 13,250 English Pounds…..18.9kg weight on Planet Earth. Strewth.

We really like long haul days, and the distance we do means E-riders carrying one or even two spare batteries. I do feel that this is a bit like climbing in the great ranges with oxygen - turbocharges you when you have it, but you hit a wall when you run out - a deadweight bike of 18.9kg is a boat anchor indeed.

 

[amoto65]

It depends which ebike you are looking at, as I said mine weighs 13 kg and I can do 50 mile rides with over half the battery left around the peak District. The ebike variations are as unlimited as analogue bikes these days.

 

[greencat]

Indeed, I only know one ebiker who brings a spare battery - and then only one of our rare all day rides with 40 miles across very hilly terrain. Most of the time they waste us as most climbs are long hard slogs and one or two are ex-motocross champions (but now in their late 60s) so know exactly how to the most out of a motorised bike.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Ive 2. My first is a Carrera subway E the Mrs Chopper bought me for our wedding anniversay a few years ago. Its had some good reviews as a no nonsense machine, and I love it. I typically manage 35-40 miles on the battery despite its relarively small stated capacity (I think its rather more than the 317kwh they claim), and ive never flattened it entirely. Its essentially become my car. Its comfortable, rolls well, is easy ro maintain and has been utterly reliable in nearly 7000 miles of use (Im very careful not to damage to exposed torque sensor, which a lot of people somehow manage and then blame the bike for their cackhandedness.)

My Trek Powerfly was rather more expensive, but buy a car for 4 grand itd be knackered in 3 or 4 years and we'd be congratulating ourselves on what a good little car it had been. The Trek has the potential to still be in good order and in regular use in decades from now, yet people seem to think that is good for a car wuth a relatively short life left and expensive for a bicycle with decades ahead of it. What an odd perspective folk have.

 

[dyna-ti]

My Trek Powerfly was rather more expensive, but buy a car for 4 grand itd be knackered in 3 or 4 years and we'd be congratulating ourselves on what a good little car it had been. The Trek has the potential to still be in good order and in regular use in decades from now, yet people seem to think that is good for a car wuth a relatively short life left and expensive for a bicycle with decades ahead of it. What an odd perspective folk have.

Its not just that, its the fact that its a bicycle with standard bicycle parts that are interchangeable, can be fixed, replaced etc etc just like a non ebike, and that means it can easily last decades. But its also the fact that you can replace the motor and battery, effectively making it a brand new ebike.
Not an easy thing to replace the engine or gearbox etc on a £4 or £5k car, and there you're looking at spending the same amount again.

All in all the simplicity of renewing a motor or battery make the Ebike such a good proposition.
Its only a shame theres no rainproof cover or inbuilt heater

Which Powerfly is it you have ? sus or hardtail ?