Majorca E-Bike Hire for my wife & opinions

dazz_ni45
dazz_ni45 Posts: 468
edited July 2017 in Road general
For the past few years I have had cycling trips to Majorca with a few club mates but next year my wife had suggested we that we go for a long weekend and she could do a bit of cycling for a few days as well.

At the moment she comfortably cycles around 30-40 flat miles but for us both to enjoy Majorca I was wondering hiring an e-bike for her would be a good option as hills would be her undoing? It will give me a good workout on the hills although I appreciate the flats will be slower for me.

Has anyone done this (ie ridden with someone on an e-bike) or is it likely to end in divorce?

Is there any recommendations for hire shops around Puerto Pollensa that hire e-bikes?

What sort of range in terms of either time/distance could we reasonable expect from an e-bike given the climbs in majorca? For example is Cap Formentor and back achievable, or Col de Femenia or Col de Sa Batalla from Puerto Pollensa?

Any advice appreciated!

Many thanks

Comments

  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    I ride often with my wife on her electric bike in the hills of south Shropshire and the mountains of Mid Wales. She drops me for dead on the climbs and I have to ride as hard as I can on the flat and descents to catch up. It's a great workout for me.

    Yesterday she rode from home to Lake Vyrnwy and back - a very hilly round trip of 75 miles - and still had 30 miles of reserve left in her battery. She has a high quality Kalkhoff. Cheap ebikes have a much smaller range - maybe 15-20 miles. So it all depends what sort of ebike you can hire in Majorca.
  • dazz_ni45
    dazz_ni45 Posts: 468
    Mercia Man wrote:
    I ride often with my wife on her electric bike in the hills of south Shropshire and the mountains of Mid Wales. She drops me for dead on the climbs and I have to ride as hard as I can on the flat and descents to catch up. It's a great workout for me.

    Yesterday she rode from home to Lake Vyrnwy and back - a very hilly round trip of 75 miles - and still had 30 miles of reserve left in her battery. She has a high quality Kalkhoff. Cheap ebikes have a much smaller range - maybe 15-20 miles. So it all depends what sort of ebike you can hire in Majorca.

    Thanks for the info. The only hire shop I have found so far that advertises e-bikes is Rent March which hire a Fuji e-traverse. http://www.rentmarch.com/en/ebikes
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,345
    A couple of observations whilst in Mallorca.
    A middle aged couple going up to Lluc quite comfortably, if slowly, on Amsterdam bikes.
    One couple running out of battery power on one bike 2/3 the way up the Sant Salvador. I would have felt sorry for them but they were laughing at us struggling in the 38 degree heat as we passed. :twisted: Check the battery.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
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  • mercia_man
    mercia_man Posts: 1,431
    dazz_ni45 wrote:
    Mercia Man wrote:
    I ride often with my wife on her electric bike in the hills of south Shropshire and the mountains of Mid Wales. She drops me for dead on the climbs and I have to ride as hard as I can on the flat and descents to catch up. It's a great workout for me.

    Yesterday she rode from home to Lake Vyrnwy and back - a very hilly round trip of 75 miles - and still had 30 miles of reserve left in her battery. She has a high quality Kalkhoff. Cheap ebikes have a much smaller range - maybe 15-20 miles. So it all depends what sort of ebike you can hire in Majorca.

    Thanks for the info. The only hire shop I have found so far that advertises e-bikes is Rent March which hire a Fuji e-traverse. http://www.rentmarch.com/en/ebikes

    That Fuji has a Bosch motor - one of the best around. Just had a quick search and it looks like the range would be 37-80 miles depending on how much boost is used. Decent modern ebikes give a computer display of range left when riding so running out of juice is unlikely in sensible use. Old and worn out batteries will considerably reduce range.
  • tourdriving
    tourdriving Posts: 228
    See here http://www.multi-hire.com/ 07470 Pollença (ROAD-HYBRID-E-BIKE-CITY) E-BIKE under family
    https://tourdriving.wordpress.com bike hire and travel links, in 47 countries http://ukbikerentals.com UK Bike & Motorcycle hire in Counties after ABC
  • dazz_ni45
    dazz_ni45 Posts: 468
    Thanks everyone
  • stueys
    stueys Posts: 1,332
    Think it's a great idea, the one appeal of E-Bikes to me is that it allows people of completely different abilities to enjoy riding together
  • banditvic
    banditvic Posts: 549
    My brother in law comes out with us on an electric bike in Gran Canaria. They seem much more geared up for it over there, you can charge your bike in many of the local restaurants. Freemotion for hire of bikes.
  • kayakerchris
    kayakerchris Posts: 361
    another vote for e-bike. My wife has one and we had a lovely week in carcassonne recently. We climbed some big hills and she generally left me for standing on the hills and then I chased her down on the flats. best cycling holiday we have ever had.
    www.hand-surgery.co.uk
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  • AK_jnr
    AK_jnr Posts: 717
    I think Mallorca would be the only place I could get the mrs out. She is so scared of traffic back in England.
    Both times we tried nearly ended in break up. Ha ha. It would be awesome for us to be able to ride together properly.
    Saying that, she is just as scared going down hill!!
  • dazz_ni45
    dazz_ni45 Posts: 468
    It was actually GC I say it in last year which gave me the idea.

    I did think that more hire shops in Majorca would be more geared up for it though. There are only a few that I have found so far, and most of them only have the town bike type e-bike. Not expecting to get a road bike, but something like a fast hybrid would be good.
  • banditvic
    banditvic Posts: 549
    Cant understand why Freemotion are not in Majorca they seem to be the best hire shop I've tried.
    In Majorca its been a bit hit and miss with hire shops.
  • twist83
    twist83 Posts: 761
    If she is capable of 30-40 miles on the flat. I would suggest a little more training would see her able to tackle the climbs out there. Just avoid the really long ones and take it easy.

    Would be a good challenge. Sort a bike with a 32T rear so worse case she can spin her heart out.

    On a more helpful note. When I was out in April. I saw numerous E-Bikes. All different brands. So there must be a few hire shops out there with them?
  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    ...or hire a tandem?
  • dazz_ni45
    dazz_ni45 Posts: 468
    essex-commuter wrote:
    ...or hire a tandem?

    I love her, but not that much........ Sure way to end in divorce!
  • veryslowtwitch
    veryslowtwitch Posts: 321
    Depends on battery size and she will have to do some work. The most important factor will be height gain which will soak up power. I am 70kg and recently used up 50% of a 500Wh battery climbing 1000m doing about 100w myself. Suggest you go to Femenia for a trial to get some idea of capacity, you'll only need a small reserve to get home and then you can work out if formentor is possible.
    If you have major range anxiety then take a charger with you and ask a cafe owner to recharge for 30 mins while you have a coffee. If you can find a couple of friendly cafes then you could ride pretty much anywhere.

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