I hate e-bikes

[dougnutz]

I have been lurking it the forums for weeks now and finally posting today. I hate e-bikes… with a footnote. I have commuted for the last few years by regular pedal power. I don’t bike to work every day but average about 3.5 days a week. In Seattle it rains from early fall to mid spring and during that time the only bikers you see on the trails are the “hard core” Lance Armstrong types or the commuter types like me. There is one particular hill on my commute that is just brutal. It’s about 2+ miles long and steep the whole way. Even after two years of commuting I can only manage about 5-6 mph up hill on a good day. For the last year or so I have been huffing and puffing up that hill only to have an e-biker or blow past me casually pedaling along. Grrrr I hate e-bikes. Finally about a month ago I decided I have had it with that hill, I want a battery!

Today was the maiden voyage of my converted e-bike and it was fantastic. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kit or combination would be the best starting place for me; I want to thank everyone in this forum. ES has been a huge resource for me to read and learn about motors, controllers, batteries and kit vendors. Thanks to everyone, my first e-bike is a success and an absolute joy to ride. Of course now I am addicted and will probably gain wait and spend all my extra cash on e-bike parts…

 

[Ypedal]

So you " Hated " ebikes ! :wink:

Welcome to ES btw !!!..

Got pictures of your ride ? 8)

 

[dogman dan]

Heh Heh, yeah, soon you'll be huffing the poison gas from puffed lipo batteries and everything.

If you want to keep the weight down, start looking for bigger front chainrings. Or use less than full throttle. You can still enjoy a nice workout on an ebike, just set your throttle to a certain setting, then find the gear that allows you to pedal just a few mph faster than that. Then ride 4x the normal distance in the usual amount of time.

But once you get sucked into riding faster than you have a gear for, you will get soft. Hard not to do that, for sure. I deliberately found a slower motor for my daily commuter. Now I can't throttle faster than my tallest gear.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

I have been lurking it the forums for weeks now and finally posting today. I hate e-bikes… with a footnote. I have commuted for the last few years by regular pedal power. I don’t bike to work every day but average about 3.5 days a week. In Seattle it rains from early fall to mid spring and during that time the only bikers you see on the trails are the “hard core” Lance Armstrong types or the commuter types like me. There is one particular hill on my commute that is just brutal. It’s about 2+ miles long and steep the whole way. Even after two years of commuting I can only manage about 5-6 mph up hill on a good day. For the last year or so I have been huffing and puffing up that hill only to have an e-biker or blow past me casually pedaling along. Grrrr I hate e-bikes. Finally about a month ago I decided I have had it with that hill, I want a battery!

Today was the maiden voyage of my converted e-bike and it was fantastic. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kit or combination would be the best starting place for me; I want to thank everyone in this forum. ES has been a huge resource for me to read and learn about motors, controllers, batteries and kit vendors. Thanks to everyone, my first e-bike is a success and an absolute joy to ride. Of course now I am addicted and will probably gain wait and spend all my extra cash on e-bike parts…

Is that Dexter Avenue?

 

[Drunkskunk]

.... Grrrr I hate e-bikes. ... Of course now I am addicted and will probably gain wait and spend all my extra cash on e-bike parts…

Welcome to the forum!

Don't think of it as gained weight, think of it as free insulation to protect you from the cold wet winters, where you can now ride with the hardcores.

I've got family and friends up in Seattle. They tend to refer to the seasons as Damp, Wet, Soaked, and Drenched.

 

[FMB42]

Gain weight?

Not very likely...

You'll probably lose weight while putting in extra working hours to pay for your next ebike(s) and/or while trying to clear space for them all.

This is not to mention the weight that your wallet will be losing...

All "kidding" aside, we're glad to hear that your ebike has "worked out" for you (pun intended).

 

[dougnutz]

Got pictures of your ride ?

Ya I will be taking pictures and posting them soon

Heh Heh, yeah, soon you'll be huffing the poison gas from puffed lipo batteries and everything.

As much as I paid for this battery I hope I don't smoke it too soon, I still need to be able to afford X-mas gifts. My wife is still looking at me sideways after this conversion

Now I can't throttle faster than my tallest gear.

I did go for an 11 tooth free wheel, thanks to ES posters, and that has helped. I can still help the bike out at full throttle. Though I find myself wondering how long before I just "smile and cruz"

 

[snowranger]

You can justify it by hauling huge bags of groceries for your wife up that hill. I haul two kids on mine.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Remind your wife on occasion that since you are using the car less, the car will last longer, and you will be spending less of your money on gasoline.

Speaking of provocative titles, I remember seeing a book entitled "Hitlers Gift",...now doesn't THAT pop out at you? it is a record of the timeline of how Hitlers ascension to control of Germany, and his policy of dis-allowing Jews to work in government jobs, ended up backfiring. The place to study cutting edge physics at the time was one of two universities in Germany. Once Jewish professors could not teach physics there, they left Germany for the USA (some went to England first, but eventually ended up in the US atomic bomb program).

A good companion book to be placed next to "Heisenbergs War"

 

[dougnutz]

Remind your wife on occasion that since you are using the car less, the car will last longer, and you will be spending less of your money on gasoline.

ya that was part of my original sales pitch. If I can go a few months or so with out additional expense (read "bigger batteries" ) then I should be in the clear for a while

Speaking of provocative titles

I really feel like I have crossed over into a whole new hobbie, more than just transportation. Even before I purchased the kit I was addicted. I spend my lunch hour reading about battery chemistry :?

Is that Dexter Avenue?

nope, it's a trail along 520 from Redmond to Bellevue

 

[x88x]

Even before I purchased the kit I was addicted. I spend my lunch hour reading about battery chemistry :?

Hahaha, I know the feeling. I've been spending the last few weeks reading more technical data than I have for some engineering courses, and there's still volumes that I haven't even touched. Congrats on your conversion.

 

[John in CR]

Don't worry about the wife. Sure there's some up front cost, but it's really a cheap hobby. Plus over the long haul it can more than pay for itself. Where I live gas is about $5/gal, and over the past 23 months I figured that I saved over $2000 in gas with an electricity cost of about $50. That savings is dwarfed by what I saved that would have otherwise been spent on some other hobby.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Its counter-intuitive that if you have electric power...you will get more exercise. That doesn't sound right, but if you have to manual-pedal all the time (especially with hills), you will bicycle a lot less. Once you have power, its a lot of fun to ride, so you ride more often! You will likely lose weight, firm up some of your parts, and feel healthier.

 

[Evoforce]

Welcome to the ev grin crowd. You will have many years of enjoyment and be on the cutting edge of technology while keeping your e-bike up to date! Good luck!

 

[dogman dan]

For my 30 mile daily commute, taking the car is $15 total costs. The ebike total costs are $3. So its like an extra hours pay to ride the bike. It takes extra time, but the time is better enjoyed than any extra hour side job. 100 days of riding paid for the bike, and 100 more paid for another, and another, and nicads, and lifepo4, and lipo, and so on. Meanwhile, the car hasn't had a major repair in years now. If you figure in adding just one more year before you have a car payment again, what's that worth? Say $300 x 12. So every year and a half or two years you ride the bike saves another $3400 or so. There is the real savings, putting off shopping to replace that commute worn out car.

Looking at it that way, I get paid about $30 to ride my ebike to work 30 miles roundtrip. For a shorter trip, the miles shaved off the car use get less, but even so, an ebike can pay for itself in a year or less.

 

[JimB]

Talk about addictive. We had single recumbent bikes with Bionx PL-350's, then the wife wanted a tandem recumbent. Set it up with Bionx, but not enough power to pull our 60-ish year old rumps up the hills, so now there is a 750w hubmotor with PAS, and we ride 100 miles on the weekends. The PAS works exceptionally well, probably because it is hauling a lot more bike and body weight than the 750w does on my single recumbent. Oh, yeah, there's one there now too! As a side note, IMO Bionx really screwed themselves when they boosted the price so drastically.

 

[DAND214]

I hate my E-Bike too. So much I had to have another and another. Garage is full of E-Bikes.
Lots of fun and great a workout. It gets me away from all of the normal daily crap we all seem to live in.
Yeah I Really Hate My E-bike :lol:
Dan

 

[chroot]

I used to be ride motorcycle round year include winter, very hot climate and rain. Finally, I determined build a ebike
and found really unlimited FREEDOM anywhere no restriction or anything that does not allow my motorcycle ride through
such the trails, sidewalk, or anywhere but only limited on street.

I fell in love with ebike and it gave us stress free by electric assist enable solid commuter easy on hills and flat road.


btw Welcome to ES!!

 

[dougnutz]

For my 30 mile daily commute, taking the car is $15 total costs. The ebike total costs are $3. So its like an extra hours pay to ride the bike. It takes extra time, but the time is better enjoyed than any extra hour side job. 100 days of riding paid for the bike, and 100 more paid for another, and another, and nicads, and lifepo4, and lipo, and so on. Meanwhile, the car hasn't had a major repair in years now. If you figure in adding just one more year before you have a car payment again, what's that worth? Say $300 x 12. So every year and a half or two years you ride the bike saves another $3400 or so. There is the real savings, putting off shopping to replace that commute worn out car.

I've seen various estimates for operating a car, most seem to be about $.50 per mile. I wonder if anyone has done the same for ebikes.

Welcome to the ev grin crowd. You will have many years of enjoyment and be on the cutting edge of technology while keeping your e-bike up to date!

Thanks

I fell in love with ebike and it gave us stress free by electric assist enable solid commuter easy on hills and flat road.

Ya the stress free aspect was probably the biggest seller. I would ride my pedal bike most days to avoid traffic. My commute is only 8 miles and it takes me only 30 min by bike and about the same by car (on a good day). I'm really hoping the E-bike will prove to be as reliable as my pedal powered bike

 

[Argus]

Its counter-intuitive that if you have electric power...you will get more exercise. That doesn't sound right, but if you have to manual-pedal all the time (especially with hills), you will bicycle a lot less. Once you have power, its a lot of fun to ride, so you ride more often! You will likely lose weight, firm up some of your parts, and feel healthier.

110% agree with this statement. My daily commute is 25km each way, with 8km on hills. Before I got my ebike I could only commute 3 days (mon/wed/fri), I could never manage a full week. Even on those 3 day's, I have would find excuses: windy, raining, snowing, or I was feeling lazy. You really don't have an excuse not to ride when you have an ebike.

Funny how most people think that you'll get less of a workout with an ebike, but it is completely the opposite. If your pedaling on flats, you are actually pulling an additional 20-25lbs (battery/motor) more then other cyclists. In the first 6 months of ebiking, I lost 25lbs. So your not just cutting costs, it also increases the likely hood to lose some fat if you want to. :lol:

 

[liveforphysics]

Just riding a motorcycle with no pedals can be a hell of a full-body workout depending on your riding style. Spend a few hours on a technical trail through the woods on a dirtbike, or a few hours of carving corners on a superbike, and even on a cold day you find your leathers are soaked in sweat, legs, back, arms, neck are exhausted. And thats riding something that doesn't even have pedals to pump.

 

[kentlim26]

EBIKE = they are my two magic legs. without them, how am i going Look for food that taste inside my mind . in my country has thousands of stalls selling food. im not my neighbourhood uncle who ate the few stalls, same food all year round.

kentlim

 

[Kingfish]

Is that Dexter Avenue?

nope, it's a trail along 520 from Redmond to Bellevue

I know that trail; it's the one I take nearly every day. I am likely the guy that whizzed past you. Did I ring the little bell at you before passing? If so, you’ve been Kingfished! No one on the Eastside is faster ~ at least... I haven't met them. hehe

Welcome to the Club. You won’t be gaining weight with those kinds of hills – just going farther… a lot farther. The 520 hill is only the beginning: Try the Chilly Hilly or the Flying Wheels events. Try climbing Inglewood Rd. or SE 43rd Way from E. Lake Samm, or up the Tolt Rd. from FC-Redmond Road, or the Issaquah-FC Road from SR-202, or maybe SR-202 between FC and Sno Falls – that’s a good hill climb. These are all good short steep hills. But the steepest I encountered in the last year were two on my Road Trip this last summer: Eureka Peak Grade and the Gold Lake Road both heated my motor well and good; nothing local like it. Snoqualmie Pass via I-90 is actually a pretty easy grade; Stevens Pass once past Skykomish would be more daring at least before the road widens.

Maybe we need to have a Seattle eBike Hillclimb Challenge?

Anyways – your perspective will change over time as you get used to the new ability. I suspect it will positively affect your work as well (when you’re not distracted by ES forums) :wink:

See ya around friend, KF
ding-ding ♪ ♪

 

[dougnutz]

Ya I remember that bell and your jacket flapping in the breeze behind you!

I think you are the only e-biker I have seen ring a bell

See you on the trail...