Pete Prodoehl 🍕Damn, this ebike things is actually pretty cool. I did my normal ride in the cemetery without using the motor and my stats are pretty damn close to my acoustic rides.
I’m probably going to have a lot to say about it this week.
So, the "cheating" part. I started riding last year for a few reasons.
- To get exercise (physical health)
- To get outside more (metal health)
And I occasionally bike instead of using a car. (I'd like to do that more if possible.)
It seems possible to use an ebike and not consider it cheating. Cheating sounds weird, but like if my goal was to cycle for fitness opting out of pedaling with all my might or getting assist can feeling like cheating.
Then again, I am not a young man. Two people mentioned to me that an ebike can really help to get you out and on a bike if you're not in 100% health, have an injury, more tires than usual, etc.
Those are things I didn't think of. I've canceled a few rides due to my knee acting up. Typically biking does not bother it (stairs are difficult sometimes, especially this past weekend) but if my knee is acting up & I can ride with assist, that might help prevent further injury.
I really never had an ebike in mind until @mathias loaned me his Ride1Up and wow, it's been really nice.
I showed it to my neighbor as he was headed out biking to work this morning and he said "I haven't tried one because I'm afraid I'll like it too much." and I 100% agree with that statement.
So I'm starting to rethink the second bike plan I had a week ago...
My plan was to get rid of the 1970's Raleigh (which looks so good but is not a good bike for me) and the Raleigh MTB my neighbor gave me that I put on the basement trainer.
I was using my partner's Trek 7100 which is practically a clone of my 7200, so my thought was get a very similar (old/used) bike just for the trainer, but it could also be a backup bike.
A better trainer bike is great for indoors in winter, rainy weather, but doesn't help with some other goals...
Goals like riding farther, riding to stores/errands more, and maybe even riding to work. All those would be a little better with ebike power.
The riding to work... that's a whole thing. I can ride there (about 6 miles) pretty easily, but when it's too hot out or too cold out or I'm exhausted at the end of a long day I just don't know if I'd have it in me to do the trek home.
But then I think of doing it on an ebike and I'm like "yeah... hell yeah".
monkeyflower jelly bean@rasterweb yep! I had a 1Up roadster and loved it. Here in San Francisco I biked acoustic but .. Hills. With an e-bike I bike so much more than I did, I think it gives me more exercise than being exclusively acoustic bike. Also it's often faster than driving in city & nearby areas - I lockup just out front and don't need to look for parking, wait for the Uber or whatever. If I go to brunch or dinner with drivers and then we meet up somewhere else, at least 75% of the time I'm settled in by the time they walk in.
Kevin Miller@rasterweb I used to ride that far to work everyday with an ebike. The best part was that the bike commute was faster with an e-bike than a car.
@kevm My car commute if I take the fastest route tends to be under 15 minutes. On my acoustic bike I'd estimate it at 45 minutes though I think an ebike could do it closer to 30-35 minutes.
Joe Steinbring 
@rasterweb @kevm When I was commuting to work at UWM everyday, I was averaging 30 minutes door-to-door by car and 15 minutes door-to-door by bicycle. A large portion of that was the fact that I can bring my bicycle into the building where I couldn't do that with a car (more than once? 😂). The big difference between acoustic v e-bike with that was how sweaty I was on the other end of the journey. Some offices have shower rooms for people who can get by bicycle. Being able to avoid that helps.
@rasterweb @kevm Yeah, I get it. That's why I've been riding the bicycle instead of the motorcycle more often this year. The "heat dome" is more manageable in shorts than in kevlar-reinforced jeans, a coat, and a back protector.
@joe I always come close to fainting when I see a motorcycle dude in the summer wearing leather everything and I can't imaging how hot it must be.
@rasterweb It's not too bad when you're doing 40 miles an hour, but when you're stuck in traffic, it gets rough. When I was commuting by motorcycle to the previous employer, I would always get stuck at the same intersection for multiple light cycles pointing uphill at a 30° angle. You are overheating while you are also trying to keep the bike from rolling back into the car behind you. 😂
@joe Even more reasons I’ll never ride a motorcycle! 😆
@joe @rasterweb in Austin the temps got up there. On an electric moving at 15 mph you stay pretty cool even in hot weather.
@rasterweb acoustic! 🤩love that term.
My data point was from when I lived in Austin and commuted from north of the river through the downtown across the river. By car that is 30 minites sans traffic and 50 minutes with traffic. I did it in 25-30 with electric along a lovely creek bike path. Much more enjoyable. 🙂↕️