Why do you ride an electric bicycle?

It occurs to me that people here use them for all sorts of purposes.

EDIT: For the record, my reason was mostly the fourth one, though the third one (getting exercise) was appealing until I discovered pedaling was impractical or unbalanced above 30 mph.

Why?

Because chicks dig it.


At least, that's what the sales-guy told me.

:?

None of the above.


I prefer to commute using a bicycle because they're fun to ride. In/on a motorized vehicle, I want the commute to be over with as soon as possible, it's an attitude that appears to be shared by pretty much every motorist regardless of what they operate. But riding a bicycle is quite another dimension, the human scaled characteristics of bicycles allows things like greeting other cyclists en route, makes it easy to stop & talk with someone, or talk while en route. You can also warn "on your right" or such before passing someone, you can also actually see the people you're interacting with, and so on. Motorists "speak" to each other with horns, insults and middle fingers, etc. Cut to the left, squeeze to the right, I want to get there fast, frock everyone else. It's as if they feel no kind of shame while in their anon suits... Seems to work this way for everything from pickups to scooters. For some reason though, big rigs appear to be exempt from this rule, they have very well tamed drivers behind the wheel. Probably a very good thing too... In a nutshell, that's why I ride a bike, and why I got rid of my car. If it takes twice longer, so what? I get quite a lot more then twice the fun in the process - a very good investment by me. During rush hour, I seem to pretty much par with cars anyways.


Winter slows me down a lot & reduces my range significantly. Power assist from an electric bike can help to equal summer commuting times through winter.


Even though they're limited to 32km/h, an ebike boosts my speed on the flats by taking the grunt out of start/stopping, so the effort I didn't produce to go from 0-32, can be used to get into 35-40, and I can hold that up so long as the next light or stop isn't too far away. It also boosts speed by helping hills go by a lot faster.


I also have a big ass trailer now that I no longer have a car, but even empty the extra weight makes a bike very substantially slower to accelerate. When stopped with the trailer loaded to capacity, say at a red light on flat land, the light has the time to turn green and turn back to yellow again by the time I've crossed the intersection. Can't go up more then moderate inclines either, and it better be very short or it's not gonna happen. Power-assist can help here too.


And that's about it.

Downside is that it completely kills off the fun of racing with other cyclists during commutes, a thing that happens often and is a lot of fun, another thing that you just can't do (regularly) in a motor vehicle.

None of the above.

I do it because it's fun and I do it because I can get to work faster on it - while still getting good exercise because I pedal briskly. My top speed just goes up a lot higher than I'd be able to sustain if I didn't have help.

I don't want an electric motorcycle... I have the gearing and the batteries carefully set so that I can pedal and get a good workout, while cranking along at 30mph.

None of the above.

Math and Patrick pretty much nailed it, but I would add a few things-

-Bragging rights. I ride several different types of *zero-emission hybrids exclusively.

-Power-to-weight ratio is optimized on an electric bicycle.

-E-bikes are simple, easy to work on, and FUN to ride!



-Stevil

*The electricity in West Sonoma County, California is renewable. It is generated by geo-thermal "Earth farts" across the valley in Geyserville.

Edit: Oh ya', and chicks dig it!

Phunn!

The poll was mainly regarding pedaling; I was wondering how many people want to pedal. If you chose an electric bike for reasons that have nothing to do with pedaling, that's option #4 -- you wanted an electric vehicle.

If I could get enough gear inches on my bike to make pedaling useful, I'd do it.

CGameProgrammer said:

The poll was mainly regarding pedaling; I was wondering how many people want to pedal. If you chose an electric bike for reasons that have nothing to do with pedaling, that's option #4 -- you wanted an electric vehicle.

Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't get that it's about the use of pedals.
I crank all the time & the pedals were/are an important part of what I was looking for.
I just wanted a slightly faster form of bike so that going across town & back with a little bit of cargo didn't need to turn into a day trip.
Excercise didn't really factor into it, but I guess the third option choice closest.

CGameProgrammer said:

The poll was mainly regarding pedaling; I was wondering how many people want to pedal. If you chose an electric bike for reasons that have nothing to do with pedaling, that's option #4 -- you wanted an electric vehicle.

Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying the parameters, CG.

My app falls between options 3 and 4.

I always pedal off-the-line and up hills to help keep the amp draw from my pack(s) low, and pedal often in the flats.. but pedaling at 30+ MPH induces those dreaded white-knuckle oscillations. The gearing on my bikes is too short for the 40+ speeds, so it's just point and shoot at the upper limits.


-S

Lowell said:

If I could get enough gear inches on my bike to make pedaling useful, I'd do it.

Click to expand...

Time to install that generator to the chainring and disconnect the chain going to the rear sprocket. With the right voltage constant, you could pedal at a constant cadence and recharge the batteries. This way could could contribute human power regardless of vehicle speed.

You could also do some other interesting tricks like pedaling at a stop, pedaling backward, pedaling downhill going at 60mph, etc...

While not as efficient at direct gearing, it would act like a super wide range CVT and allow power input under any conditions. If you had a differential between the pedals, the generator, and a chain to the rear sprocket, you could have the bike equivalent of a Toyota Prius system.

I chose 1 as I was born with Spina Bifida (spinal cord disease). There's more to riding/pedalling an ebike for me,I receive a small government disabilty pension so affording a car is out of the question.I don't mind not having a car as riding the ebike is one hellava lotta fun.My doctor told me to keep as active as possible so that my body doesn't regress to the point where I'd be wheelchair bound,so I've taken the "if you snooze you loose" attitude.When some days are bad I tend to pedal less and on good days I pedal more.

One thing's for sure because of my ebike I met a bunch of real good lookn' 20 something year old women asking me all kinds of questions about the bike. Geeez I'll be turning 51 this year and to have these young things chatting with me is a real bonus!
There's not one day where I haven't enjoyed the ride even in the rain or when the temperature is -15 celcius.Things are even better now with the Clyte motor.

Eric

I love to exercise and riding the e-bike incorporates it into the day so I don't need to make special time for a work out also I am consious of the environments needs

None of the above.

I got a power-assist vehicle as a way to educate myself about electric vehicles... well, eVessels actually. Where the little vehicle incorporates the main components as larger traction systems.

Then I discovered how E-legal my vehicle was, so I am happy to ride and show off the tech - what might be if/as the laws are fixed.

Then I discovered (quickly) how much bloody fun power-assist is.

Then I realized how much the assist makes for a safer vehicle (than pedal or kick only.)

Then I realized how the assist can reduce my exposure to air pollutants in smoggy urban canyons and tunnels.

Until recently, I lived in a "car free" community where many (pedal) bike, and are proud of the fact... But my commutes are 40km round-trip, and I never saw my bike-friendly neighbours more than just a few kms away from their own neighbourhood. The assist helps me go *farther*, not *faster*.

tks

Lock

My wife wanted an antique bike for Xmas one year. I bought her one in need of restoration, but all the lbs places had no interest in antiques. So I ended up learning most of what I needed to know to restore her bike. I was already interested in electricity and electronics, so when, in the course of my research, I saw a hubmotor for the first time, it made a lot of sense. Add in arthritis and a strong desire to deprive islamofascists and other oil enemies of their inflated revenue, and an ebike was in my future.

For me it started out just about Sunday fun. No commuting or saving gas or the world or anything. The learning part has been great though.

I actually went out looking for a pedal MTB to buy, but got a good deal on a display model currie. Just by chance I guess. And now I'm a ES'er soaking up the learnin'.

As a teen I went from a 12-speed to motor-scooter to car. Now I'm going backwards! I've gone from car to motor-scooter to ebike to my old high-school pedal 12-speed. At this rate I'll be riding a plastic big-wheel by 2009.

I started out with a Zappy scooter. Where I work, there aren't any parking places where it's free all day within about a 1 mile radius. I wanted to put the scooter in the trunk of my car so I could park in the boonies and ride the scooter the rest of the way to work.

I don't ride the Zappy anymore since it tried to kill me, but it did get me into electric vehicles. I just do it for fun now. I hope someday I can build an electric car that will take me the 45mi round trip to work.

After 5 car accidents in time period of 4 years of driving. The result was 2 total loss car and 1 car with major mechanical problems. This cause me huge amount of time spent car less and transportationless. I decided to buy an electric scooter as transportation as well as a toy vehicle to travel to work without burning gas. Bought the Schwinn s1000. It's odd looking so i keep getting weird looks while traveling so i bought a mountainbike and convert it to electric using Crystalyte hub motor and dewalt battery pack. The sensation of the first rides on the electric bike is timeless. I will never forget the ev grin. Now i blend in with the rest of the bike rider with the exception of shooting up a huge hill still going 25mph while pedaling effortlessly like an olympic bicyclist.

Pretty simple for me. I like riding - be it horses, motorbikes, e-bikes or bikes - & do pretty much all in a year. I hate traffic & tolls - & being a little different allows me to be avoid both. Wind on your face, relaxed thoughts while listening to music ...it does not get much better.

I guess that I would fall in the category 3 and 4. I enjoy the extra range and speed that it has. I have thought about an electric vehicle for a while now. An E-bike is a simple way of getting into ev's without breaking the bank.

I had to pick "I want to get exercise while going faster than I would on a normal bicycle"

but I really fall under the missing option "I want to get exercise while going farther than I would on a normal bicycle"

tks
locK

I wanted a commuter vehicle for going to work on nice days, as I only have a 14 mile round trip. I rode my bike for years, but, it gets old fast. Especially at night when I have to go home and it's all uphill. Now, I can pedal if I want or not.

Would of never bought one if I didn't loose my driver’s license. Now I'm hooked. Definitely the fourth one.

I've been interested in electric vehicles for quite some time now, and this is a good way to get my feet wet without spending 20k+ required to get good range on a EV car. I am also looking forward to the extra workout, and money savings it can bring.

I can't say that I ride one yet though, since I am still waiting on my batteries to come in (should be here in a couple hours).