First 100 miles on my E-Bike
yilunzh.com
yilunzh.com
Biggest advantage: Hills don't exist for me. We live in a city with quite a few hills and day care is about 70-100m below our appartment. Doing this trip twice a day with its 15% slope would take way longer and exhaust me, before the day even started. The way downhill to day care is now something like 10 minutes and back up 11 minutes.
Biggest disadvantage: If you drive on mostly flat terrain, there's no real benefit – it might even slow you down. I get my regular bike to 25km/h easily. An E-Bike accelerates until it hits 25km/h and then it's just a damn heavy bike (17-20kg) that is slower than a regular bike (if you're a somewhat fit person).
Anyways, I love the E-Bike for the simple fact that I go almost anywhere by bike, can take my kid with me and don't have to think about any hills at all.
I think the problem is range, you won't be able to hide much battery, the one on my bike weighs 6LBs and is quite bulky.
In reality it doesn't really matter because the motor will more than offset the extra drag and weight of a heavy bike.
Interesting, that seems to be exactly what I was thinking of. The good thing is, it seems you could use it without a battery, or with differently sized batteries depending on need. If I'm reading this right, the motor, wiring, etc, weighs about 1000g, then a 6Ah battery another 850g, or a 9Ah battery 1250g. So only an extra kilo if you just wanted to use it as a normal bike, and if you're commuting, you might know exactly what capacity you need, and could just take that. Especially in cities, there's a lot of carrying bikes up and down stairs.
Just needs to be a lot cheaper than 3000 Euros!
https://budnitzbicycles.com/bicycles/view/titanium-ebike
I think it’s the closest you’ll find to a bike the looks and operates almost identically to a traditional bike. No wires, no display, excellent weight, etc. Obviously the price is out of control, but still the right idea I think.
1) cars can go a lot faster and on highways
2) cars can haul lots of cargo
3) cars can have 3-6 passengers
4) cars drive just fine in strong wind / rain / snow
5) cars are a lot safer on roads
There are obvious disadvantages too, but, regardless, ebikes are not car replacements. They are good for relatively short trips in places with good bicycle infrastructure.
You can hire a car, or a van, for other tasks that require those advantages. Or even (shock!) use public transport.
I use my bike 90% of the time. But unfortunately, I do need a car for the remaining 10%.
Of course, fit cyclists can cruise at 30+. But to get to that level, you've to put in serious effort and by the time you got the power, you know your responsibilities too. But giving anybody 30km/h vehicle that is legal on shared paths ain't good idea.
If you're afraid of cars overtaking you, get a small motorcycle.
I don't really see how they're more dangerous than scooters in the same vehicle category.
And our laws are often more lax then Europe's. Specifically when it comes to freedoms (like weapons & privacy). Source: former EU citizen.
Sustaining 20-25 is easy for me on a calm day. But on steep roads or windy days it's definitely more in the 10-15 or 15-20 ballpark.
(This is from experience. I am fit, cycle 22km every working day (roughly 5200km per year) with elevation differences and have an excellent bike.
That is true when you're riding uphill and/or into a headwind, but that should also be made up by the fact that the headwind/ascent becomes a tailwind/descent when you ride in the other direction.
The speeds I attain on my conventional bike range from 25 to 30 km/h on flat ground, 10 to 15 km/h going up 5% grades, but between 30 to 40 km/h going down the same grades. Headwinds on flat ground reduce my speed to 20 to 25 km/h (15 to 20 km/h if it's strong), but with a tailwind, I can maintain 30 to 35 km/h (or even up to 40 km/h if it's strong) on flat ground.
The only thing I don't like when riding are side wind gusts, but I suspect that a motor wouldn't make much of a difference in that case :)
> That is true when you're riding uphill and/or into a headwind, but that should also be made up by the fact that the headwind/ascent becomes a tailwind/descent when you ride in the other direction.
Not a great comfort when you are trying to get to work.
And in my experience, after several hours at work, the wind dies down or changes direction by the time I want to go home.
> side wind gusts
I would expect the greater mass of the motorized bicycle to help the rider stay grounded.
> I would expect the greater mass of the motorized bicycle to help the rider stay grounded.
That might be the case when riding a motorcycle (since it weighs quite a bit more than the rider), but even the heaviest e-bikes would still be lighter than the rider.
Doing 50 km/h in good shape and on flat ground. Keeping up with the overground and the cars.
Moreover, if you can do 50 km/h of sustained speed, you should become a professional cycler. The world record is around 55 km in an hour. Pro cyclers can only sustain > 50 km/h speeds for shorter periods:
https://books.google.de/books?id=-TpDCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT79&lpg=PT...
Of course, short stretches of 40 or 50 km/h is doable, but most fit cyclers cannot sustain that for 3 mile stretch. So, either you are near-pro or overestimating your average speed ;).
Ps. I pass the vast majority of (clearly non-recreational) cyclers (> 95%).
The speed is not overestimated. The overground and the car have a well defined speed for comparison. Sometimes a friend would happen to drive along on the road on his way home and be surprised that I keep up with his car.
I cycled every day for a decade. That's a good training I guess.
My first one was a cheap/old 26" dirtbike with hydraulic brakes. It was OK but the front shock and relatively skinny wheels were a limiting factor.
My second bike is a mid/high quality 27.5" dirtbike with a good front shock and good hydraulic brakes. And it's a really good bike all year. I highly recommend getting fairly large wheels with wide tires and a good front shock for a conversion bike.
I’ve seen people do similar and it gives me a nervous fit. Looks insanely dangerous from a bystander POV.
Personally, i feel like you should just not have the 25kmh limit and need a license.
I'm from that country with the bikes 'n dykes (The Netherlands) and lately it seems a trend that elder use e-bikes instead of whatever else they were using (car, moped, bicycle, legwagon). They're severely slowed down if they were to use a regular bike. This way, they can get some fresh air and actually see some of nature and adjacent cities/village.
The biggest disadvantage to me is the high price. Combine that with these elder who'd also use these e-bikes to go for longer routes but then they'd not put their bike locked securely (and you should use some good locks). Cause yeah, losing 1-2k EUR from just doing groceries is a shame. They're also a bit more difficult to transport in public transport than a regular bike and more so a folding bike (latter is freely used on Dutch railways called NS).
I also notice that the e-bikes can pass me on longer courses, but if we're going from traffic light to traffic light I accelerate way quicker on my regular bicycle than e-bikes. If I do my best, I can slowly pass an e-biker.
If you wanna take your kid with you, a "bakfiets" (a bicycle with a way to transport items in the front of the wheel see [1]) also works. Especially common in Amsterdam.
The Cube Design Museum in Kerkrade had an exhibition (in NL/EN/DE language available) about bicycles with all kind of bicycles of the past and the future, including experimental designs. When I went, IIRC in september 2017, they also had an exposition about toilets, and a floor about past failed designs (a lot of electronics but not solely), There's World of Bricks (Lego) as well in the Continuum Museum nearby. Recommended! (Disclaimer: not affiliated.)
[1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakfiets
[2] http://www.cubedesignmuseum.nl/nl/blog/persbericht-fietsen-v...
The author's answers to this question focus solely on the bike technology itself. This is a common thread in a lot of discussions about cycling: If we only built the right bike, more people would ride. This is usually followed by a CAD rendering of the perfect bike, that looks like nobody would want to ride it.
I don't think it's the bike. I think that there are a lot of cyclists who are simply not candidates for e-bikes because riding under their own power is part of the attraction. I'm one of those people. A friend of mine who loves his e-bike finally gave up trying to understand why I don't want one.
So you have to reach the same people who were deterred from cycling in the past for reasons good and bad. The motor addresses the issue of effort, but not safety, weather, or a variety of other factors, including the fact that driving a car is fun for a lot of people. The e-bike could produce a marginal uptick in cycling, in the short term, but not a revolution.
I had to return the bike after a week. :)
For example, buying 1kg of beef has the same ecological impact as driving 63 miles in a car[0]. However, that 1kg supplies you with only 2,500 calories[1]. At ~50 calories per mile[2], you get 50 miles of biking out of the beef--less than what it took to get the beef to you. It feels like you're saving the environment by not driving, but you're actually doing the exact opposite!
Of course, most environmentally conscious people aren't going to have a diet that meat-rich. But it's something to keep in mind if you're trying to reduce your carbon emissions by biking.
[0] http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html
[1] https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=23568
[2] https://www.livestrong.com/article/135430-calories-burned-bi...
Don't be absurd. Nobody should worry that they're hurting the planet by riding a bike. Your calculation omitted the impact of creating and disposing of the car. Your calorie projections assume riding at a strenuous pace, most bike commuters don't. You assume a nearly all beef diet which is ridiculous. There is no reasonable calculation that would show biking worse than driving for the environment.
Hmmm... Communting to work is fun for people? I want to live where they live.
Keep the car for weekend cruising, the bike probably makes the boring commutes more fun than a car would.
I built an bike 6 or 7 years ago but only took it once to work (a 20 mile commute). It was underpowered and under-batteried but it was an interesting starting point. I mean to try it again.
Winter is a great time to get geared up for the next season, and there might be some seasonal discounts to take advantage of right now!
You should not be asking why bicyclists are not riding e-bikes. You should be asking why motorists are not riding e-bikes.
0.6% of Americans bike to work.[0] 86% of Americans drive, 89% of them alone. If even 1% of motorists switched from driving to e-biking, that would increase the bicycling population by over 100%.
> The motor addresses the issue of effort, but not safety, weather, or a variety of other factors,
The US has a really bad built environment.[1]
> including the fact that driving a car is fun for a lot of people.
Automobile manufacturers spend billions and billions on advertising, convincing people that driving is fun.
[0] https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2015/acs/acs-32....
Indeed. The issue is the infrastructure.
Thus the "infrastructure" could include public transportation. In my spouse's case, public transit encouraged her to ride her bike because it provides an alternative on days when it's too crappy to ride.
I can't see adoption increase. I myself won't ride a cycle, because
1. There's way too much pollution on the roads. I'll die breathing that air
2. If I don't die breathing that air, some car or bus driver who doesn't give a shit about other people's lives and is on their phone while driving will hit me and perhaps kill me (or worse, leave me disabled for life)
I want to cycle to work everyday. I want the exercise. I want to live, and to be healthy, and to protect the environment.
But the flip side is, I might die.
The cabin air in modern cars is highly filtered.
" Most dust filters will stop 100 percent of all particles that are 3 microns or larger in size, and 95 to 99 percent of particles 1 to 3 microns in size. The combination dust and odor filters have a layer of activated charcoal or baking soda to absorb odors and air pollutants. Some of these filters may even be lightly scented to enhance the driving experience."
https://www.knowyourparts.com/technical-resources/filtration...
So yes. Being in a car with AC on is much better.
As far as car interior air goes, I've noticed that when I walk to a nearby market during times when there is a fair amount of traffic I can really notice the smell from the cars, but when I myself am driving on that same road in similar traffic I cannot smell it.
My guess is that the rate of exchange of air between the car and outside is low enough that at least for short trips (a few miles, say) it mostly remains air that was from my neighborhood, which is half a mile away from any heavy traffic road.
Note: this is without using the AC.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Yes there's probably a fine on car drivers, but typically you pay a smaller bribe and get out.
Bus drivers are difficult to punish due to unions, etc
> The brakes are often too soft to handle continuous elevated speed. What ends up happening is that I spend more money overtime to upgrade the bike to my desired state. So far I spent about $1500, including parts and tools, this is accounting for a fairly cheap used bike on craigslist ($200). Had I bought a new bike, I would have had to spend probably close to $1900. To make it exactly the way I want it, I estimate that I have to spend an additional $800 to get install IGH, bigger brakes, and more efficient tires with less rolling resistance.
Frankly, the author's setup just sounds dangerous. The several-$K all-in-one bicycles that they refused to get on grounds of cost are expensive because they are actually built to handle the rigors of e-bike usage, and have incredibly useful features like hydraulic disc brakes. The brakes on that department store bike are "disc" brakes, but they're certainly not hydraulic, or even good, at that price point.
Plus, a 1000-watt motor is ridiculous: that's the kind of power generated by a pro sprinter, and over twice what a pro climber generates on average. A 100-watt boost would be enough of an advantage to make most hills easy, and would probably weigh and cost far less.
He used an alu bike...
mechanical disc brakes worked for a decade before hydraulics.
My bad -- the name "IRON HORSE" threw me off. Still, the thing supposedly weighs 37.75 lbs., which is terrible for a bike. For $1500, he could get something with much better parts weighing 20-25 lbs.
A 20-25 lb steel bike with sufficient robustness does not really exist for $1500. Something like a surly ogre is about 30lbs. To shave off that extra 5-10 lbs you're looking at some very performance oriented parts and/or construction with extremely elevated prices.
when electrifying you value robustness over light weight. The energy from the motor more than makes up for the few extra lbs it has to haul.
Riding an electrified road bike at 30 mph all the time sounds terrifying and potentially dangerous.
'Course, my average speed is about 8mph. I like to stop, look at things, and read the signs, and sometimes travel along hard-pack dirt roads.
Their e-trekking bike is about 54 lbs. I know what I'm going to get for myself when I get older.
EDIT: Pro deal is 50-60% of retail, so you can buy a used bike for about half of the sticker price.
Also ... biking with a trailer just isn't fun. I'd much rather bike on a loaded-down heavy bike than on a lighter bike dragging a trailer behind it.
And there's the fact that I'm sure you must be underestimating something, because a bike trailer has additional weight from its frame, wheel, and tire to add on that a fully-loaded bike does not. I don't see how it's possible that, for equal carrying capacity, adding a trailer could somehow reduce total mass.
The wheels of the bike trailer add additional rolling resistance, and more I think than putting the same weight on two wheels. That is, the trailer wheels are smaller, which means there's more force against the direction of travel.
Most bike trailers have two wheels side-by-side. If you are biking down a dirt road, then odds are there are packed ruts side-by-side, with a grassy strip in the middle. With a 2-wheel bike, it's easy to go along one of the ruts. With side-by-side wheels it's more likely that one of the wheels will be in the grass.
(My spouse uses a trike, and has this problem.)
I think username223 doesn't understand where the weight comes in, and is estimating what the weight "should" be based on a road bike + trailer combo.
A bike like mine, for bike camping, is heavier than a road bike. I also use it for dirt roads, so it needs to handle more shocks and vibration. The racks and fenders, and of course the gear, adds more weight. There are also not one but two kickstands on mine - the one on the front tire is needed if I'm carrying front panniers, because otherwise the wheel may twist and the weight pulls it down.
This then calls for a stronger frame, which adds even more weight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touring_bicycle gives more on the topic.
I haven't found it to be a problem. Mind you, I go slow, even downhill. I don't usually like biking faster than I can run.
hydraulic alone doesn't provide greater braking power vs cable pulled calipers.
So to simplify the point I'm making, he needs better brakes.
The author made a cool thing and did everyone the service of documenting the process. Why is everyone so quick to crap on his project?
The law recognizes this too, which is why e-bikes are primarily regulated by power output or top speed.
If that is what you want, fine, but then stick to roads, stay off bike paths.
But even if we assume it's the power draw and the motor itself is terribly inefficient, we're still talking 80% efficiency? Chain drive is 95% efficient if badly maintained, but then the human power loses that, too, so we don't need to consider it. So we're still talking 800W, which is 3-4 times as much as needed to sustain 20 mph on flat ground, and utterly out of range of any human for any time period beyond a minute.
The power and speed limit of normal ebikes is a feature. It keeps us from making the same mistake we have with cars, which only ever got faster while driving discipline declined and were at any point beyond human ability anyway.
I understand that mid-drive motors can deliver much more torque than hub motors. Maybe the OP is being realistic about what he needs in the Arizona hellscape where he lives.
On even terrain I don't have any reason to be driving around at over 15mph (and I don't), but we do have morons who will, and that's why the law is so restrictive in the EU.
They don't bother with ebikes anyway, so they're reckless with a moped, which is way more dangerous.
The 250W limit in Europe is stupid (plus it shouldn't be a European law, it's not the correct scope).
Finally, you can be reckless with rollerblades or a bike, you don't need a motor. I guess it's more a problem of "250W is more than enough for people" just like 640kb was, for politicians.
Do you think there should be no power limit, or that it should be a different power limit?
I don't see why the regulations for electric bikes should be much different from gasoline bikes (aka, mopeds). If your e-bike is powerful enough, then it's comparable to a more powerful moped.
Do you think we prevent people from drive on the sidewalk because they will be reckless? I think the greater the momentum disparity, the more likely it is that an error, like loss of control, results in injury or death. This is a wider brush than "reckless".
Hows the battery holding if you carry extra weight? How much does the total setup, you included, weights?
Edit: I would consider an extra charger and charge at work for that range, in case you want to stop by somewhere on your way to or back from work.
At your given budget I would have used a better bike and a smaller motor/battery. The combination of beefy motor on an inferior quality bike could be flat-out dangerous.
You can. You just move the motor, battery/controller to another bike.
What the author did is a great way to check the feasibility of the idea for himself without breaking the bank.
Don't weight ten hours of learning about bicycle assembly as though it were ten billable hours if it isn't. Compare it against the ten hours you were going to do other things in: reading, watching TV, going out for a walk, whatever.
If I was the OP, I would do this exact thing: after putting some more miles on the bike and saving up that gas money, get a nicer bike and swap the motor. Better yet, sell this e bike for $2k now that it’s all upgraded and use that money for a full upgrade.
Were I to do it over again I'd get a nicer model, because in practice I almost never lock up my bike outside anyway so the theft concerns aren't an important factor.
Though, it doesn't matter if you don't ride in the rain, and many people don't.
The advantage of a DIY eBike is that you can repair it yourself. Plenty of ebike dealers have no knowledge of the electronics and if something stops working, then the bike gets send back to the factory. As it is a seasonal business you may be without a bike for weeks in summer time.
[1] https://hackaday.io/project/25337-smart-bldc-controller-for-...
The only problem I've had with the underlying bike is one incident where I slammed on the throttle from a full stop and the motor wrenched the whole back axle out of its alignment and jammed the wheel at an angle to the body of the bike. I guess the nuts securing the axle had worked themselves loose. Luckily I was close to work and was able to walk my bike in, and bring some tools the next day to loosen and re-tighten the nuts.
Overall I think it's been great. I wouldn't go back and buy a more expensive bike if I could. The nearly car-like prices of "good" bikes are too much.
Besides, the pedal assist power is adjustable so if I hit a hill I can just press the + button on the controller on the handlebar and I get more power. That functions like shifting into an easier gear, without having to pedal like mad to get anywhere.
As I understand it, the EU standard says there's supposed to be no power assist past 25km, which is about 16mh. That is, for e-bikes which don't require a license.
I agree. If you want a more powerful e-bike, you should have a license.
The author's bike is not street legal. It's classified as a motorcycle under US and Arizona law.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws#United_S...
That is the way it works, you need a license, plates and insurance for more powerful ebikes(Speed Pedelec Fietsen), which can go quite fast; upwards of 50kph.
I can't imagine anything past 15 MPH for the general public is a safe thing based solely on the bike handling skills of the majority of the general public. I literally put hundreds of hours into developing top-level bike handling skills that 99% of the population will never reach in order to ride quickly because once you reach a certain speed threshold, the threats (drivers not expecting you) and risks (more kinetic energy between you and the ground and you and a vehicle) go up significantly.
It's pretty easy for most riders to get to 25 MPH or above when going downhill. That's why I take the lane in those situations and keep an eye out at every single intersection.
I think a lot of the situations that you describe could be prevented by taking the lane (riding between the center and left tiretrack position of the lane you're in) to discourage car and bus/truck drivers from passing you when it's not safe to do so. It will also make you more visible to passing traffic as well as traffic at intersections.
> Oh, how they love to lecture about how you MUST ride as far to the right as safe
Fortunately, my state (Virginia) has an exception (based on the Uniform Vehicle Code wording) to the keep as far right as practical rule that states that it doesn't apply if the lane is too narrow for a bicycle and other vehicle to safely travel side by side within the lane. If you take the width of a cyclist (2 ft), the distance between the end of the handlebar and edge of the road (minimum 2 ft), and the distance between the edge of the handlebar and the passing vehicle (at least 3 ft in most states), then you can argue that the cyclist needs a minimum of 7 feet. A typical passenger vehicle is about 6 ft wide. At typical lane is anywhere from 10 ft to 12 ft wide.
So for most lanes, you don't have to keep right at all. I haven't checked to see whether that's the case in Oregon or Idaho though.
If you're talking about keeping up with traffic going more than 35 MPH, then the e-bike should have its brakes upgraded. I've gone down steeper hills before on my conventional bike at speeds up to 35 mph. With my cantilever rim brakes, it takes some distance to stop (quite a bit more than a car since you're effectively limited to a single wheel and a smaller contact patch relative to a car).
So if you have an e-bike that could keep up with 35 to 40 mph traffic, you'll still have to allow more distance to brake and leave plenty of following distance.
The second paragraph gives you the flavor of it:
> Under federal law, an electric bike with a maximum assisted speed under 20 miles per hour can be sold as a bicycle, not a motor vehicle. Under New York state law, riders would need to register these as they would a motorcycle, moped, or car. But there’s no clear way to register them. Because of this regulatory patchwork, e-bikes are legal to sell as bikes anywhere in the U.S. but effectively illegal to ride in New York, since they can’t be registered as motor vehicles.
This happened with boats here as my little plastic kayak with a tiny electric assist has to be registered and taxed as if it was a full sized bass fishing boat with a v8.
You're lucky to merely have to pay some money for your "power kayak".
In my state, to actively discourage the construction of home built boats, if I want to build a 15 foot sailboat, I need to work with the coast guard and state DMV (spoiler, they don't actually work together, the finger pointing is hilarious) to get a hull number assigned, then fight the DOT to get it titled (boats are titled where I live, and its agonizing although it only costs $5) and its quite a fight involving official inspection because most "homemade" boats are people trying to register are Crestliners with the serial numbers filed off, then I can fight the DNR to register myself obtaining a DNR customer number, and then fight the DNR to register the boat, essentially linking my CG hull ID number to my DNR customer ID number for a mere $17/yr, ironically the total cost of all of this for the first year would only be roughly $30 but it takes like 100+ hours of phone calling and meeting people and filling out forms. I pay $35 for a quart of good topside marine paint so the point is not the expense but the bureaucracy agony. All that for basically an inland lake dingy with a sail on it.
I was going to build a ebike with my teenage son last summer, however it would be illegal for him to ride it in our state regardless of power output until he gets his drivers license. Also during the electric skateboard/scooter fad about a decade ago my home town banned them from city sidewalks, city property (aka parks and trails) and city roads, and the anti-e-skateboard code would cover e-bikes. So I'd only be able to ride it out of town, and my son could only ride it out of state.
The BBSHD is available from many places and seems to be a good kit with a good rep. Kits are modular and most battery packs are quick swap so if you're willing to fill backpacks and bike baskets with spare batteries you could go thousands of miles between charges if you're willing to pay for that kind of ridiculous privilege. Before I found out state law prohibits it, I was hoping to cruise some of our rural completely empty state bicycle trails purely for fun, requiring more range, so I'd likely need a slightly larger battery, but its all modular and very easy to install as large of a battery as you're willing to pay for. Being modular it doesn't matter that OP didn't like his electronic controller, luckily there are plenty to substitute, including all manner of software patches, and OP did not list the exact controller and firmware OP has and is dissatisfied with, unfortunately. The ebike battle seems to start with discovering what is even possible, first, and of course that changes from month to month...
I find it interesting that OP wanted higher efficiency tires, whereas I was interested in the idea of lower efficiency larger tires to make potholes more survivable. I don't really care if my drive to the food store takes 16 minutes of battery charging or 17 minutes of battery charging, but I would like to avoid flat tires and wiping out on the way.
Of course law enforcement is spotty, much like every other law, especially driving. I didn't see any point in putting my son (or myself) in some cops crosshairs so I gave up on that project. Oh well.
Now, I think waiting for kids to be 16 and get a license is overkill. But I would support a drivers ed program for kids to teach them how to be safe on e-vehicles, and requiring that course to be completed before kids can ride at 25-30mph in traffic.
It is a class three bike. The electric motor will only activate under 28mph. There is no throttle, the motor multiplies your pedal force by 55-200% depending on the setting (eco-turbo).
I can beat the bus on a few bus routes. I use to take the bus if the route had too many hills but now I maintain 17mph without getting winded on steep hills. An electric shortens and flattens any bike trip, I'm never sloughing up a hill, and I'm never asking myself if it's worth riding the bike. Even if bus or uber is faster it wont be twice as fast. Biking is still fun and still a workout, I'm a out of breath with sore legs after a ride.
I'm sometimes self-conscious about 'cheating'. I'm not sure how fast I should be going on a mixed use bike path. I'm afraid this bike will get stolen one day, even with a ulock and cable. If not stolen, vandalized.
I think that electric bikes could be the future of city transit if the price comes down. Secondary problems include theft and weather.
[0] https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/hybrid-bikes/electr...
I live about 6 miles from where I work in Los Angeles. I ride my bike (not an E-bike) in three or four times a week. It takes me 25 minutes on average. By contrast, it takes me at least 35 minutes to drive, not including time to park and walk to the office.
I ride on neighborhood roads most of the way for safety, I have to do some personal cleanup when I get there and Los Angeles is particularly bad where traffic is concerned. With all that in mind, it's still worth considering for others in a similar situation.
My commute is mostly on roads with cars. I don't ride as fast as I can. Driving defensively, you want to be able to break and avoid a collision.
I witnessed a really bad accident, where a car t-boned a cyclist. This has cured me of riding as fast as I can into work.
I see a lot of normal bikers as well as e-bikers going faster than is safe and I think e-bikes contribute to riders putting themselves into jeopardy.
I also have a motorcycle license and I've been riding motorcycles for about 5 years in traffic. A lot of the risks are very similar to the ones you experience on an e-bike in my opinion.
Edit: The best tip I can give to two-wheel riders is to increase visibility as much as possible, and be observant of cars. Lights and bright colored clothing helps a lot.
I work from home, and there are many stores, restaurants, my Dr, etc. within a 30min e-bike ride, so we tried this experiment.
It's working out rather well in Myrtle Beach, SC.
My bike did cost me over $3k, however I too went through the process of evaluating what it would cost to build my own. aconsidering my weight (300lbs) The Pedego Stretch was one of the few bikes designed to handle that weight, and has the largest battery in the Pedego lineup. I've been happy with my purchase (including 0% APR financing for 1 year - making it a cheaper monthly payment than the lease I traded in - and that cost goes to $0 this coming summer).
It definitely opened up possibilities beyond a standard bike, and removed the feeling of being 'trapped' while working from home with no car while my wife has it at work.
However mostly it just seems really high for the bike to be $0.14/mile. My back of the envelope calculation for electricity cost is: ~$0.10 per KWHR. The battery pack is sub 1 KW so even with charging inefficiency should cost no more than $0.10 to charge. Divided by roughly 50 mile range means an electricity cost of $0.002 per mile. I could be way off, hence why I'm curious.
Over those 4 years, he'll ride 15 miles/day * 253 working days/year, or 4000 miles/year, or 16000 miles.
So.... $1400 / 16000 = $.09/mile
He also included maintenance, so if he spends $200/year in maintenance (not unreasonable if he takes it to a bike shop for maintenance), that gets him up to $0.14/mile.
There are certain bicycles that use partially enclosed chains and sprockets for which chain maintenance is greatly reduced.
Nuseti mountain bike features a sealed drivetrain - New Atlas
https://newatlas.com/nuseti-inner-drive-system-mountain-bike...
The Sturmey Archer 3-speed gearhub has existed largely unchanged since 1938 and is faultlessly reliable, even when horribly neglected. As long as they're rebuilt every 10,000 miles or so, they'll last a lifetime. They're the standard gearing option on Dutch utility bikes and were once the most popular of all bicycle gearing systems. The only real downside of the Sturmey Archer gearhub is that it offers a narrower range of ratios than a derailleur system, although it's more than adequate for utility cycling in moderately hilly areas.
Newer gearhubs offer eight, eleven or fourteen ratios, matching the gear range of a mountain bike derailleur system. They're less popular than derailleur gears because of the higher cost and marginally higher weight, but I think that they're a vastly superior choice for utility cycling. One great advantage for casual cyclists is that gearhubs change smoothly and instantly, even under heavy pedal load or at a complete stop. Changing gears on a derailleur system requires a degree of finesse to avoid jerky changes and dropped chains.
Rohloff manufacture the most sophisticated of all gearhubs, which have been successfully used on several round-the-world tours.
Of course my legs aren't as strong as an electric motor, but an e-bike could have a beefed up gearhub.
Dahon and Tern are both manufacturers of folding bicycles and both offer a good range of bikes with gearhubs. Folding bikes can be a very practical choice even if you don't use the folding feature very often - they're compact, agile and easy to ride.
You have to change the oil in the hub once a year or every five thousand km. The OEM oil costs seventy dollars a quart, but some people say ATF works fine. A bike shop will do it for you for forty or fifty dollars.
If you use chain drive, the chain will stretch. This is largely invisible on a derailleur bike, since it has an automatic chain tensioner, but on a gear hub bike it has to be done manually, by moving the wheel backwards a couple millimetres in the frame. This takes two wrenches and ten minutes, and must be done monthly or biweekly, or else the chain will fall off when you hit a bump. (Ask me how I know) Belt drive and shaft drive bikes do exist but I have never seen them in person.
For the first year of my bike's life I used a Hebie Chainglider: a plastic slimline chaincase that rides directly on the chain. It didn't seem to do anything at all, after twelve months the chain passed 0.75% stretch, so both the chain and the chaincase went in the trash. A conventional Dutch-style chaincase might work better, but I'm not confident.
I wish there were the political capital to put in more physically separated bike infra in American cities. Sharing infrastructure flat out does not work here, we are not mature or disciplined or standardized enough in our driving competency. A huge part of this is generational, my mom is all "This traffic sucks! Rip out the trees, rip out the sidewalks, put in more road lanes!" even though she bikes once a week to go play bridge with friends, and my dad won't even get on a bike. Millennials probably would like to rip out roads and put in more public transit and bike infra, and get rid of cars. I for sure would like to get rid of death by cycling, and single occupancy vehcicles. But there really isn't the political capital right now to do anything but piecemeal approaches.
So, I would need to carry every time the heavy battery upstairs (3 floors)? I am anyway always full-loaded with bags or whatever and don't want to carry every-time this stupid battery as well.
Then, the really beautiful e-bikes have an integrated battery in the frame, a bit like the iPhones. How should this now work?? I carry the 17-20kg bike upstairs every time?
Ok, only if you have a house with a garage in some suburb you can ride those bikes but then you are usually so far way from the city center that you need a car again.
As a final note: These bikes are so much heavier (17kg and up) and I am wondering if it's that much more effort to ride a light 10kg bike without any electrical motor.
So, I am really curious about the real use case of e-bikes.
Edit: Why the downvote?
I charge the battery in my entry at home every day, but I could probably charge it only once or twice a week and that would still be sufficient.
Maybe it's because you've said you don't understand e-bikes for the ridiculous reason that they don't fit your very specific living situation like what kind of housing you have, which floor you live on and how many bags you're prepared to carry.
Other people have different living situations, and e-bikes suit them. It's not a mystery.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@37.5466469,-122.2920167,13z?h...
A family could get all around this area very nicely on an electric bike. Maybe you bike to an office in Redwood Shores, your wife teaches the College of San Mateo campus up the hill and she can get there on an electric bike there as well. She basically recharges it on the way back on the down hill. Your daughter goes to Hillsdale High School where she can electric bike to and works a part time job at the Whole Foods Market there which can bike to as well.
Your suburb example was flawed because not everyone is trying to get into a big city centre.
I mean, I see that all bike manufacturer start to produce e-bikes and they form a large part of their revenues because they are much more expensive than normal bikes but if I'd make a mini poll here, how many of you guys have an e-bike, how many a normal bike? I bet the rate is 1:10 (e-bike:bike) or even lower.
In the apartment where I live now, there's a dedicated card-access bike room with power outlets, so eBike owners can charge up there. (the room wasn't designed for eBike charging, there are only 2 duplex outlets, but a couple power strips mean that everyone with an eBike can plug in at once.
Though SF is small enough that an eBike is probably not necessary for most people - I lived near the top of Nob Hill and managed to commute on a regular bike for 8 years (2 of those years I was commuting to Marin). When I moved out to the Sunset, then there was an easy route to downtown (the "wiggle") to avoid the hills)
I'm having trouble believing that you're making a serious argument against eBikes, since you dismissed the solution to your problem (removable batteries) because it "looks super clumsy". As a recreational cyclist, I've always looked for reasons to ride a bike rather than looking for reasons why I can't.
I've stayed away from eBikes up till now because I haven't had a commute that really needs it, but I'm contemplating moving to where my bike commute will go from my current flat 5 miles to 15 miles with some short steep climbs in the middle. That's a commute where an eBike makes more sense to me. (but not a 1000W semi-motorcycle, just looking for a bit of boost for my aging knees to get up the hills)
I don't need that power all the time, but there is a rather steep hill on my way home which would be a challenge to get up on a less powerful motor.
I'm a conventional cyclist, but some of my friends have e-bikes.
For the most part, people get along. While cyclists don't know what to expect as e-bikes get more popular, we also recognize that e-bikes provide access to cycling for a larger population. The hope is that the overall popularity of cycling will be better for everybody. There's a general observation that car drivers behave better towards cyclists as cycling gets more popular in any given locale.
At least in my locale, e-bikes are arriving on the scene gradually enough, that people can have a wait-and-see attitude about how they will mix with conventional bikes as they get more popular. For now I have a laissez-faire attitude unless or until problems emerge.
And then there's the "IKEA effect". ;)
Unless you are content with the daily patterns that are constraint by the range of your e-bike.
I live near the mountains, and you need a vehicle to go into the mountains. riding an e-bike into the mountains and then relying on muscle power to move the heavy bike is not realistic.
vs bike: you are less exhausted/sweaty (e.g. important for the morning commute if you don't have a shower at work). Many users are older and suddenly can go up hills again. City often means lots of stopping and getting going again, which is nicer with electrical assist.
The extra watts of the ebike removes the friction.
That's a motorbike. So is an e-bike really, but regulations allow it to be classified as something different so that you don't need a license.
EDIT: should clarify I enjoyed reading the article, and I think electric motorcycles and e-bikes have a bright future. I use a motorbike for my daily commute; non-riders should realise that they are far more vulnerable on two wheels. If you realise this and ride appropriately I think it is a reasonably ok thing to do. Having a bit of power actually makes things safer in an urban environment as it means cars aren't pushed into attempting dangerous overtaking maneuvers.
But I don’t care about that point, what I care about is efficiency in the design.
Just make the best damn, longest reaching, cheapest version that you can while sustaining your business with something people actually want.
My imported bike was far better than any $1000-2000 bikes in the states. They are all a scam.
I'm curious about the second picture: it looks like the motor is in the way of the pedal crank arm?
1. What's an E-Bike?
Until prices go down significantly, I am refusing to buy one.