Are ebikes worth having?

[Vipar]

Only if you want to break your back . Ask Simon Cowal

 

[Rockcrawler]

<Broken link removed>
Wouldn't mind one of these, 60mph

 

[suavecarve]

Only if you want to break your back . Ask Simon Cowal

I dont fancy our chances of pulling a wheely on a tandem

 

[PhilMary]

Looks a beast. Nowhere to attach your supermarket shopping bag though

No need for a "carrier" as you can put one bought item in your pocket, ride home and now you've got a good excuse to go out again.
Phil

 

[PhilMary]

Would be very interested Steve

Me also.
Phil

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[pandas]

Ebikes definitely worth it especially as you get older. Once you ride a decent one you'll be quickly hooked. We go three to four times the distance we would on our old bikes. Surveys have shown they are just as good at keeping you fit. There's some strange notion that they don't involve exercise. Rubbish.

Actually some reports I read suggested that they are better (for some) for fitness as you go further and longer than you would have on a normal bike. We used to give up at the sight of the first slight hill now we are 30 odd miles and more. Understanding a true cyclist would cover 150 miles and not break out in a sweat!

 

[Cyclewalkbob]

You pedal a 16kg + electric bike up a hill on low power mode and you know you have had a workout!

A sensible person would ride up the hill in mid or high power.

Apparently I am not sensible, but I will be next time!

 

[March Hare]

How many miles would I have cycled during Lockdown on a non-electric bike? = zero

How many miles have I cycled during Lockdown on an ebike? = nearly 800 miles

They are brilliant - go and give one a test ride!

I took my folding ebike to work and let four colleagues who were all keen cyclists have a test ride around the car park, and three of the four have since invested in ebikes and love them.

 

[Just smiffy]

My trike with lithium batteries has been a god send to me, it gets me to places I could never have got to before, the farthest I’ve been on one battery so far is 25 miles according to the monitor and strava and it still had plenty more in it.... it’s a little less on more demanding terrain. It cruises at around 13-14mph so keeps up with other cyclists and I’ve had 35mph down hill...
Oh, and I don’t peddle...

 

[Peppadog]

Think this is a great solution.

E-Brommie gives you all the advantages of the fold up bike (I.e we always take ours into cafes, supermarkets etc so never left unattended) plus the “E-ness” of ease of use/ distance you might cover etc.

We don’t have E bikes yet - but think changing or converting our Brommies into E Brommies would be what we’d do.

I bought Nano kits for our Brompton’s late last year. Easy to fit but pricey at nearly £800 each. They ride like normal without power. No drag or noise and brilliant when using power. Again, no noise.

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[Steve N Tracy]

Since lockdown I have cycled 1545 miles and climbed 56026 ft according to my Strava profile, I very much doubt I would have done it without a E-bike as I have dodgy hip and knees.

 

[Peppadog]

Think this is a great solution.

E-Brommie gives you all the advantages of the fold up bike (I.e we always take ours into cafes, supermarkets etc so never left unattended) plus the “E-ness” of ease of use/ distance you might cover etc.

We don’t have E bikes yet - but think changing or converting our Brommies into E Brommies would be what we’d do.

That is exactly what we have done. After much research I bought the Nano kits for both of ours and fitted them in January. If one of you is able, they are a diy fit. Nano provide everything you need to do it. I enjoyed about two hours on each. The second being much easier than the first of course. They will convert them for you for a fee.
At £800 per bike, they are not cheap. But £1600 is nearly a grand less than one new e-Brompton. I can still carry mine folded in one hand, but they are heavier of course due the motor. (the battery lives in the front bags we already had). But the advantage is, without using the battery, or even fitting your bag, there is no discernible difference riding the bike. It is exactly like yours are now. Using the power is silent, no hum or whine from them. Ours came with 4Ah Bosch batteries. I get about 15 miles from it. You can now get 6Ah versions.
Google Nano electric bikes.
Feel free to ask any questions about them.
Edit: this is the long answer!

 

[pandas]

After some advice on here I have now looked at how to check the condition of our batteries. Kalkhoff 5years old 2000m - 17ah 36 volt. pressed the red button for 5 sec and all the 5 light lit up so I believe thats good news. Thank you for your help.

 

[tonyidle]

Got an ordinary pair of Giant hybrids, 12 years old with puncture proof Kevlar tyres, a bit battered but I can easily service them. Light enough for our Fiamma rear bike rack and I can lift them up and off fairly easily. Not worth a whole lot so just have one bike chain with a combination lock that goes through the pair. We leave them chained in city centres, on the beach when body boarding, outside the supermarket . . and if they get nicked they owe us nothing. When parked we leave them outside the van without a care. Good exercise too.

So are ebikes really worth it . . . extra weight on the bike rack or getting a van with bigger garage or mounting tow bar rack, epensive to buy, extra insurance, taking off the battery in cities or shopping in a supermarket and carting them around, more expensive security devices needed, the worry of leaving them about when sleeping.

Struggling to get my head round it.

Simply convert the bikes you already have. Kits are cheap and installation takes maybe a couple of hours.