From transforming daily commutes to bridging the gap for non-cyclists, e-bikes are the most significant evolution in cycling since the mountain bike—and that’s a win for all.
Are there any clear winners in this space to consider? Shopping for ebikes feels like going on amazon to shop. Lots of options of dubious pedigree
Shimano for gearing and Bosh for the motor is my preferred combo in e-bikes. It’s reliable and easily serviceable, and parts are easy to get.
I’m looking to maybe get a new bike somewhere next year, since mine is a hand down that’s quite old and I want to treat myself. I think I will go with Canyon.
I’m still in the shopping phase too so I don’t have direct experience with this but I’ve read that sticking with known bike brands is a good policy. Just be ready to spread your wallet wide open.
I also read that for the purposes of getting it serviced, go with a local bike shop. Some will not do work on brands they didn’t sell.
I have a class 2 ebike and i’ve gone from 0km on bicycle per week to roughly 60km on bicycle per week. It gave me the boost i need for hill and slope as i live in hilly place, and it also help me lug grocery for the short grocery run, while also help me with my cardio and some exercise as i still need to pedal, and help with my mood. It enable me to skip the traffic line and straight to the front row, and skip looking for parking at peak hour.
I’ve seen all sort of people on an ebike going their business, all independent from car. I’ve also have a lady asking me about ebike because she doesn’t want to rely on her son to fetch her everyday. All these in a country with little to no bike infrastructure and mostly not having public transport. It’s a straight upgrade from the greatest micromobility tool human ever created, and it’s made accessible for everyone.
Though i must say, class 1 and 2 ebike are real bike, beyond that it’s a moped with pedal.
Why not evolve all the way and get a motorcycle?
It’s too fast and too dangerous for me, considering I’m not sitting in a cage designed for crashes. I also don’t like wearing a full face helmet all the time, and the thick clothes suck in summer. It would also have to make me drive on the road instead of bike lanes, and a lot of my ways are on gravel like ground and through woods, up and down the hills, taking shortcuts between places. I use it for long and very short distances like going to the shop a kilometre away.
An e-bike is still a bicycle when the battery runs out.
It has cheaper replacement parts, isn’t as heavy and doesn’t need registration or insurance.
I like riding my bike, in every weather besides thunderstorms, I just don’t like working against the wind and uphill, and an e-bike cancels both out.
I ride about 7000 km each year with it.
I think people will also ask motorcyclist why not just drive. While motorcycle is really good way to travel within city, cycling got an added benefits as its really good for your physical and mental health. You get your daily exercise by just riding it to places, and there is solid proof that people with ebike(at least on class 1) are still gonna put in energy on their ride and are likely to ride it further and longer, thus improve on their health.
If your purpose is only about going from point a to point b as fast as you can, then yeah go for motorcycle.
Riding my e-bike is still a physical workout, just one that takes me further than my regular bike. I can take bike paths or forest paths and don’t have to always use the roads. E-bikes are quiet.
I’m a runner who cycle commutes to keep my fitness up. I never loved cycling, but I preferred it to the bus. I did over 20,000 kms (12,500 miles) over the years on my road bike, and basically never touched it outside of commuting.
Then I got an ebike. I’ve fallen in love with cycling now and cycle everywhere at the slightest excuse. I’m doing far more mileage, and riding for fun, and utility as well as commuting.
I live in a really popular cycling area which is very mountainous. Ebikes have massively changed the demographic of cyclists here. I would normally never have seen anyone over 50 cycling here because it’s too arduous for most people
Now it’s not unusual to see an octogenarian tootling up the mountain passes on an ebike, and it’s even nicer to see so many people smiling when they’re cycling, instead of the stone-faced lycra crowd
I noticed that even before I got my own. I always made jokes about “80 year old people smiling on their bike and chatting while going uphill”
I ride an ebike to work and to the grocery store when I feel like it and I think it’s great.
I got a ride1up Turris. It tops out at 28 mph, which feels like a good pace on a bicycle. When the weather is nice, I use it to commute about 15 miles round trip to work, which requires about 0.4 kWh of electricity and a little over 20 minutes each way. This is compared to about 0.7 gallons of gas and about 15 minutes each way in my 20 year old truck.
So, if I charge the battery half at home and half at work, I pay about 10 cents a day for energy for the bike vs about $3 a day for the truck.
I hope lots of people start commuting on ebikes, given their decreasing cost. it would be a great way to reduce our carbon footprint and get a little exercise. It’s just the right amount of exertion where I feel like I get my blood flowing but don’t get to work all sweaty and gross.
I want to be a fan of ebikes. I actively looked for one for over 6 months and then I bought a regular bike. Majority of ebikes are far too heavy. Ebike manufacturers are focusing on long distances and only high end very expensive bikes are light.
I’m generally a fan. I see a lot more people biking around my suburban sprawling American city, and I’ve noticed the majority now are ebikes. Probably half of those are cargo bikes, so they really seem to be enabling more trips outside a car, and that’s pretty great.
Ebikes are electric motorcycles.
Well technically true, ebike can mean electric motorcycle and electric bicycle.
There is a massive spectrum of electric moving things and the terms are sadly not very clear.
Electric bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles are still all different things with some grey area. Their legal requirement and registration brackets in particular country are probably about the best divisions.
Yeah, (kick)scooter and (motor)scooter are different thing yet it’s normally just referred to as scooter. Motorcycle is a catch-all term for anything two wheeled driven by an engine, but somehow in some place it mean the one with higher cc and the lower cc are called moped, and then in some place moped is a kind of motorvehicle that ride below a certain speed.
Even when ebike are divided by class, in some country class 1 and 2 does include the motor power, while other just define it by their speed and the availability of a throttle. This is why when politician that never into these thing talk about it, they tend to mixed it up and people will go into a fit of rage about how ebike is all bad.
They’re bikes but I’m Marmite on them.
The people riding them are often inexperienced who can buy better performance without putting in the time to learn how to wield that. The number of mountain bikers I run into who pass closely on uphill sections only to slow down to a crawl at the slightest descent is infuriating.
Worse is the lime type bikes that allow complete cycling novices suddenly travel at 15mph on shared paths with absolutely no respect for anyone around them.
Marmite?
Something you either love or hate.
I’m pretty coriander on these new terms.
Your genes determine whether they taste like soap?
