Electric Bikes

Kieran_Burns

Has anyone tried lifting one of these things?

I had to move one out of the way in our bike rack at work and almost put my back out. :shock:

I lifted the front wheel to move it to one side and holy hell it weighed a bloody ton! I know that this is where the motor is but I never thought it'd be that heavy - the guy the rides it lives in the village less than a couple of miles from work, so I have no idea why he uses it anyway, but you NEED the motor to move that huge amount of weight

Gawd - the brakes must be good to stop it.

bails87

I can see why people buy them. But it must be a bit of a 'trap'. You turn the motor off and try to pedal it, it's really hard work so you think that riding a bike is always that difficult and you have to have to motor. So you never try a bike that weighs less than a car.

There's one in the communal basement where I live. I had to put my 'hack' bike down there for a day or two, I was tempted to chain it to the electric bike as it was the least movable object down there!

rick_chasey

My grandfather used them for a few years in his late '70s.

Is fine if it's flat. Work well in Holland.

Increased the distance he could travel by about double.

londonlivvy

Yep, I had a go on one holiday as I'm up the duff and still wanted to try and get up Col des Saisies with the boyf. Longer story on the blog but essentially, the man in the bike shop said it weighed 25kg and I could well believe it. And whilst the range was theoretically 98km, if I used all the assistance I wanted (charging along up a hill at impressive rate with very little effort) I got a range of about 8km. So ended up using a lot of effort and some assistance. I have since come to the conclusion I would have been better off renting a carbon bike with a triple so I could take it steady and getting the boyf to push me in the steep sections. At least the downhill would have been fun then. This was stupidly unstable and ended up having to descend at max 30kmph. DULL.

I guess electric bikes are handy if you want to do smallish trips with not much effort in hilly country. But honestly, I think people would be better off having lots of gears and discovering leg muscles.

blog if interestedhttp://minxcompendium.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/electric-assistance.html

CiB

I rolled up behind some old boy last summer as he was pootling 'tween villages on his leccy bike. We had a bit of a chat about how his gave him enough range to shuffle between a few locations & villages doing what he did (pig inseminator maybe??) and he loved it. It was fast enough for him, got him where he needed to be without too much effort and did so in a degree of comfort. All good as far as I could see; the only downside was his limited speed as evidenced when I wished him well with a cheery wave and dropped him in about 5 yards.

Horses for courses innit? Who had some horsey pics earlier? Oh yeah...

rolf_f

My Ex had one. Got her into doing (a bit irregular) cycle commutes until she decided to get an unmotorised one. In that respect I think they are great.

Initialised

Someone at work has one. It's so heavy she can't get it up a hill on the way home. I told her to sell it and get a CF or Al hybrid, she hasn't listened yet.

Apparently it has a 250W motor. Last time I checked my output peaks around 500W so I really don't get the point of the extra weight. I can't see them taking off until rules on output are relaxed a bit.

Corporate Camper

CiB wrote:

I rolled up behind some old boy last summer as he was pootling 'tween villages on his leccy bike. We had a bit of a chat about how his gave him enough range to shuffle between a few locations & villages doing what he did

I see him about all the time; old chap with a pretty impressive handlebar moustache? I've often wondered what he did... the bike is outside The Fountain pub is Steeple Claydon quite often...

iPete

Took me a while to catch an old guy in a suit heading up richmond hill. Wasn't until the downhill when I had a chat and realised he was on an electric.

Have seen a few hacked ones around doing upwards of 20mph.

I'm interested to see what and how heavy Bromptons Project X is going to be like. Can see the appeal for getting around town sweat free, kind of make sense in a city and the weight will come down.

CiB

Corporate Camper wrote:

CiB wrote:

I rolled up behind some old boy last summer as he was pootling 'tween villages on his leccy bike. We had a bit of a chat about how his gave him enough range to shuffle between a few locations & villages doing what he did

I see him about all the time; old chap with a pretty impressive handlebar moustache? I've often wondered what he did... the bike is outside The Fountain pub is Steeple Claydon quite often...

Sounds familiar - it was between Twyford & S Claydon where I met him. I presume there's no more issue with wobbling home on an electric bike over the limit than there is on a proper bike.

rhext

I have a feeling that they're not targetted at already-enthusiastic cyclists :-)

To me they seem like a great idea for people who either can't cycle at 15MPH (and there are an awful lot of those), or who want the convenience of cycling, but without the effort (and there are a fair few of those too). I'm a little surprised you don't see more of them the way fuel prices are going, although I do pass a few even in Derby.

Stone Glider

They have become popular among those whose cycling days are drawing to an end. A decent electric bike can extend the pleasure from cycling for those who lack the ability to sustain a 'collegiate' pace.

roger_merriman

clearly for some they work well, see some now and again. they are heavy but then shopper type hybrids don't tend to be feather weight any how.

One of my folks neighbours had one to try, while in fairness it got up most of the hills, which is no mean feat in it's self! The range due to the lye of the land was fairly woeful.

mudcow007

there's a bloke i use to see in the morning riding an electric bike, he siad he worked for a wheel chair manufacturer so built it him self, it was easily rocketing along at least 30mph +

worryingly its a BSO with BSO brakes

its cool chasing him, i haven't been able to catch him yet though

Gizmo_

I had a go on one of these at the New Forest show last week, a Raleigh. Essentially it was a bit like a Boris Bike to ride - a heavy, slow-witted sit up and beg. However: with only the slightest provocation it lurched forward at the sort of rate I'd associate with a proper 'get away from the lights' start, and cruised along at 'towpath' speed with only a tickle on the pedals. My OH - not a frequent cyclist due to fear of hills - had a go and thought it was ace.

So it's definitely not for those of us who have designs on doing the Etape or LEJOG, but for the sort of person who takes the car or bus for those little two-mile trips when a bike would be better (and walking is too slow), or those weekend bimbles out to country pubs... it's brilliant.

Not too sure about the environmental credentials of lithium-ion battery production, but it can't be worse than a car. The only thing that worries me is that you can buy a fully electric scooter for £1k, and I'm not convinced you can get a properly useful e-bike for that (yet). A few more years' advance in battery technology though...

Ben6899

I think Gizmo_ has summed it up really well. A friend of ours has just bought one - he is not in top health and so an electric bike is a perfect way to leave the car at home and get some fresh air.

He freely admits, however, that if it ever conks out 20miles from home then he'd be f***ed!

bails87

I've just been reminded of this relevant thread: viewtopic.php?f=10007&t=12792828