E- bicycles

Pondy

Pondy

Muppet
 At the summit of the picturesque fens
Where I live the landscape is as 'flat as a witch's tit'. There are no hills for miles.
Everybody is encouraged to ride push bikes to reduce pollution, keep everyone fit, blah blah blah.

All I now see bloody everywhere is push bikes doing around 40mph with no physical exertion required. They are all electric. How's that helping?

E-bikes are expensive to buy, require electricity to charge them (still made up of burning coal) and give no health benefit to anyone!
Oh and of course to be 'trendy' you have to ride with no hands :roll:
 
No effort, sounds good to me. When I’m out on the moors in my Zed and I see all the silly sods on their bikes struggling up the hills, blocking my way, I think where the hell is the fun in that. Not for me. We have very big hills around here by the way.
 
An E bike as an electrically assisted pedal bike (so the motor does nothing unless you pedal at the same time) and is limited to 15mph (or close to that). Once you start exceeding that speed it becomes a motorbike and you need tax, insurance, number plates, helmet etc etc. Loads of illegal "E-bikes" for sale on Ebay etc.
 
Couldn't have gone to work all last year without mine unless spending 4k at least on taxi's.

They help folk get excercise, you can use the motor as much or as little as you want, most have 4 power settings, so eco setting barely gives any assistance so is just like riding a normal bike, saves using the car if you have the time and want to cycle if you have health issues, can't see any problem with them personally. Fastest I went was 34mph downhill freewheeling on my hybrid, cross between a road bike and mountain bike. :thumbsup:
 
I'm nearly 70 and live in Shropshire's finest hilly countryside and love to cycle. Without an electric bike I would have given up cycling. For just over 2K I get a 60 mile (hilly) range and still do 40 miles in a morning. And no....... it has not been 'adjusted' to power without me pedalling, which is still hard up some of our hills.
 
I love cycling mainly around the Peak District on a non electric bike although that love can soon disappear on some of these bloody hills!
 
You need an ebike :D Revolutionised mountain biking for me. I hate riding up hills, an ebike allows you to cruise up hills assisted, and then hammer down as normal. Theyre perfect for slogging up a fireroad, a climb that would take an hour before can be dispatched in 20 minutes.
 
Kids doing only 2-3km to school and back on e-bikes, with their noses embedded into the screens of their fekin phones weaving all over the bike lanes are the bain of my life here in NL at the moment.
Lazy, entitled, detached, dangerous little fekkers!
:headbang:
 
If god had intended us to ride bikes he wouldn't have invented cars.

Leave well alone and save yourself some money
 
For those that have them, what e-bikes do you have? Always intrigued me, as an ex-MTB whose knees now couldn't really handle a Welsh fire road in 2023
 
Chris_D said:
Kids doing only 2-3km to school and back on e-bikes, with their noses embedded into the screens of their fekin phones weaving all over the bike lanes are the bain of my life
Click to expand...
Women on the school run doing only 2-3km to school and back in their SUV's, with their noses embedded into the screens of their fekin phones weaving all over the bike lanes are the bain of my life! Just saying.
 
inkey$ said:
For those that have them, what e-bikes do you have? Always intrigued me, as an ex-MTB whose knees now couldn't really handle a Welsh fire road in 2023
Click to expand...
I've been to the Ardennes on quite a few occasions with my road bike and absolutely love it down there. The thing I don't love so much are the climbs and there are lots of them of course. If you do the Amstel route there are also cobbles which can destroy a bike if it's not set up properly. So I'm currently researching the sh!t out of gravel e-bikes which means I can get a boost on the climbs and leave the power alone for the rest of the time without worrying about riding a big heavy bruiser of an e-bike.
I also go to the Veluwe a lot and currently use an MTB for the gravel trails but I'd prefer a gravel bike tbh so it would prove its' worth around there too perhaps.

At the moment I'm finding there are pros and cons, especially when it comes to the limited range of drive systems and batteries and groupsets. Price is also a big factor and you're not doubling the price of a decent non-electric gravel bike. You're quadrupling! So it's a major investment just to get a slightly more enjoyable riding experience.

If I can wangle the purchase tax back claiming I can use it for my (Dutch) business (delivering stuff to clients etc) then I'll plump for one these beauties:

3T Exploro RACEMAX BOOST
exploro-racemax-boost-force-d1-axs-1x12-700c.jpg
 
Chris_D said:
inkey$ said:
For those that have them, what e-bikes do you have? Always intrigued me, as an ex-MTB whose knees now couldn't really handle a Welsh fire road in 2023
Click to expand...
I've been to the Ardennes on quite a few occasions with my road bike and absolutely love it down there. The thing I don't love so much are the climbs and there are lots of them of course. If you do the Amstel route there are also cobbles which can destroy a bike if it's not set up properly. So I'm currently researching the sh!t out of gravel e-bikes which means I can get a boost on the climbs and leave the power alone for the rest of the time without worrying about riding a big heavy bruiser of an e-bike.
I also go to the Veluwe a lot and currently use an MTB for the gravel trails but I'd prefer a gravel bike tbh so it would prove its' worth around there too perhaps.

At the moment I'm finding there are pros and cons, especially when it comes to the limited range of drive systems and batteries and groupsets. Price is also a big factor and you're not doubling the price of a decent non-electric gravel bike. You're quadrupling! So it's a major investment just to get a slightly more enjoyable riding experience.

If I can wangle the purchase tax back claiming I can use it for my (Dutch) business (delivering stuff to clients etc) then I'll plump for one these beauties:

Exploro RACEMAX BOOST
Click to expand...
Interesting Chris_D. I looked at standard gravel bikes a year or so ago (currently riding a hardtail MTB), but it coincided with the rise of ‘better’ e-bikes and my search kind of stopped. Think my heads where yours is at with e-price vs riding experience %, compared to a similar priced gravel bike. Maybe I need to revisit the unlimited cyclescheme next time the window opens too. Could be my opportunity.
 
inkey$ said:
Chris_D said:
inkey$ said:
For those that have them, what e-bikes do you have? Always intrigued me, as an ex-MTB whose knees now couldn't really handle a Welsh fire road in 2023
Click to expand...
I've been to the Ardennes on quite a few occasions with my road bike and absolutely love it down there. The thing I don't love so much are the climbs and there are lots of them of course. If you do the Amstel route there are also cobbles which can destroy a bike if it's not set up properly. So I'm currently researching the sh!t out of gravel e-bikes which means I can get a boost on the climbs and leave the power alone for the rest of the time without worrying about riding a big heavy bruiser of an e-bike.
I also go to the Veluwe a lot and currently use an MTB for the gravel trails but I'd prefer a gravel bike tbh so it would prove its' worth around there too perhaps.

At the moment I'm finding there are pros and cons, especially when it comes to the limited range of drive systems and batteries and groupsets. Price is also a big factor and you're not doubling the price of a decent non-electric gravel bike. You're quadrupling! So it's a major investment just to get a slightly more enjoyable riding experience.

If I can wangle the purchase tax back claiming I can use it for my (Dutch) business (delivering stuff to clients etc) then I'll plump for one these beauties:

Exploro RACEMAX BOOST
Click to expand...
Interesting Chris_D. I looked at standard gravel bikes a year or so ago (currently riding a hardtail MTB), but it coincided with the rise of ‘better’ e-bikes and my search kind of stopped. Think my heads where yours is at with e-price vs riding experience %, compared to a similar priced gravel bike. Maybe I need to revisit the unlimited cyclescheme next time the window opens too. Could be my opportunity.
Click to expand...
Yeah, def take advantage of any rebate/subsidy when it's available.
 
well, my e-bike is a haibike xduro allmtn. actually very old tech now, 400Wh external battery, and early gen bosch motor. good for a range of about 30 miles or so, which is plenty!

nowadays mountain bikes have 600 or 700Wh batteries integrated into the frame, with better motors. they're also getting a bit lighter too.
 
Not tried an electric bike yet but would certainly consider one if it enabled me to keep enjoying cycling. I ride around 3 to 4,000 miles a year now and I love it. Plenty of hills around here which I didn't enjoy much when I first started cycling, even chose routes to avoid them. Now after 10 years I actually rather enjoy them :o

Like most forms of exercise cycling has more benefits than costs, mentally and physically. Once you get over the initial challenges of building a base level of fitness (and condition your bum! :roll: ) its quite addictive. When I was still working I remember my wife being surprised that I would often go out for a ride after a long and tiring day at work - the reason, I'm sure, was those feel good endorphins that you get from exercise :)

I would say that 40 mph is not for the faint hearted - especially given the state of the roads around here!
 
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