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Comment by pi-rat | Hacker News Reader

I live in a hilly city, and the green part of the city council here ran a campaign this year were they cover 25% of the cost of an ebike (up to ~$550 for bikes and ~$1100 for cargo-ebikes). Now I see Tern GSDs and Riese & Müllers all over the place. Bought one myself, and it really removes the hills from the equation when deciding to bike or not.

They got bike counters at major routes, but sadly haven't released stats for 2020 yet. Number of bikers have been at a stand still for the last 8 years, looking forward to see the effect of COVID + sponsored ebikes when the new numbers are out.

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Friendly reminder to get your chain checked periodically.

Mine snapped within the first 9 month of daily driving (1200km), when I bought it first. Now I just replace it every checkup (800km)

Well maintained chains will last 4500km. Cassettes (all steel) are good for two chains.

The e-bikers passing me in the hills seem to mostly enjoy using quite high gears, which I assume places a higher load on the chains.

It’s also a very heavy bike, with a extra long chain, able to carry two kids and a load of groceries. The chain is probably under some serious strain when going uphill, even when correctly geared and well maintained.

Almost all of the bikes passing me are regular types, eg this[1], meaning no more room for kids and groceries than a regular bike.

That said they might indeed have a heavy-duty chain for all I know.

[1]: https://www.buddybike.no/elsykler/c4/hvit

Mid-drive bikes will go through them quicker than hub-drive. Mine will last about 1250 miles with a 250W Bosch CX motor. If I run it unrestricted then it's even worse.

The front chain ring needs replacing with the chain although I think that is a quirk of the Bosch CX. I can get away with reversing it to extend the life.

I haven't needed to replace the cassette yet.

This is on a well maintained bike, I don't see any difference between summer and winter riding.

A chain checker will tell you when it needs replacing:

https://www.parktool.com/product/chain-wear-indicator-cc-3-2

I carry a "missing link" and small chain link removal tool with me in a little pouch attached to my bike so that I can be ready for a chain break (also a spare tyre tube and tyre removal tools).

My e-bike _really_ likes to eat chains. I've had it for 2 years and I'm on my third chain now. I don't do anything fancy, just ride it for 7km on pretty flat bike paths twice a day for around half the working year (so I'd estimate I've done ~2100km on it so far).

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