E-bike anyone?

Lifetime cyclist here. Outfitted an old mountain bike with an electric pedal assist system to commute (pre quarantine).

Holy smokes, it is a ton of fun. I find myself riding way more just for the joy of riding. Mostly on gravel trails. Great socially distanced activity.

Anyone else have one of these?


And my non e-bike, still ride it, though less now.

I have a nice carbon fibre road bike, but lately mostly on a nice spin bike inside the house. What was the brand, how much was it and how hard was it to install the e-bike assist motor?

Hmmm, I have an old Softride mountain bike that I gutted when the cables exploded, so I might have to look at adapting to an eBike it when I get around to rebuilding it 😎

It is a 750watt Bafang mid drive. Install took about 2 hrs. You need some specialized tools to remove crank and bottom bracket. Full kit costs about $1000 in the US. Way more fun than spinning indoors.

My better half has an eBike. Much fun to ride...but boy is it heavy compared to mine...wouldn’t want to pedal it when the battery dies. What’s the extra weight of this add-on?

It is about 25 lbs with the battery. Yes, got to watch the battery level. Had to do half a mile of 4% grade at the tail end of a 50 mile ride when i first got it and looking for its limit. I found its limit the hard way 😀

I have a Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 for about a year. These are a blast to ride. They are heavy and weigh 50 lbs. If you turn off the assist, the bike feels like it is restricting your effort. I typically will run at 15% assist level and then increase the assist depending upon hills and traffic. Highly recommended for transportation purposes and general fun. I live on top of a small mountain/big hill and there is no way I would bike for simple errands without an e-bike. I would feel comfortable going out for a 50 mile biking trip just for fun on one of these.

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-vado-4-0/p/170303

Friend has a Van Moof: https://www.vanmoof.com/en-NL

Tried it out, and was impressed with the build quality (and the security features), but I must say that I like the exercise of a normal bike, the light weight and the simplicity. I'm a bit mad though, having borrowed a colleague's fixed gear bicycle from my organisation's garage (with his permission) for the entirety of the lockdown period - fun controlling it down hills!

Electric bikes are great for those of "reduced mobility", or for those who do not want to break a sweat when pedaling uphill, or fast on a flat (this last bit is known as cheating).

Seriously, they're great for around town commuting or for day trips, but I wouldn't have one personally.. They weight a tonne!

They are also great if you have longer commutes, that you would prefer to do daily (vs sitting in public transport or burning gas). Cycling 35+ km every day, with about 350m elevation can become quite exhausting...an eBike can make that feel more like a shorter commute, whilst still allowing for some exercise.

That was my original plan for this conversion, then COVID happened. I have a 15 mile round trip commute with 1000 feet of elevation gain. Not my cup of tea to do on a regular bike daily. With an e-bike it is like riding those miles on a flat route.

Now my commute is 15 feet, and I take the e bike out on 20-40 mile gravel rides up and down the foothills of the Cascade Mountains on a lark.

Working at a bike shop I get to play with a lot of cool stuff and my first crack at a quality e-bike was quite eye opener. Now the problem is... which one to add to the collection!

(hint... avoid the cheap stuff... nasty!)

Thread revival time!

There must have been some big improvements in electric bikes since this thread started and I'm guessing there'd be a few more owners here too, though I couldn't find much reference or missed them in the "Great day for a ride" thread.

I've been incredibly lucky and just won one of these in an instagram/Facebook competion 🥳😎🤩

Specs here: https://ampdbros.com.au/collections/ace-fat-tyre-electric-motor-bikes

Reminds me of one of these:

I never had a Chipper, Tomahawk or Chopper as a kid but Dad did custom build me a long forked bike in my teens. 😎

To say I'm excited is a massive understatement. I've only had four or five cars that cost as much as these!
I've got to be patient though as it's a long weekend here in QLD so the courier can't even pick it up until Tuesday.
Brushing up on Queensland rules, local bikepath routes and security; chains that take more than two minutes with an angle grinder, gps (android) tracking and insurance.
I took a walk alongside the bike path along the Brisbane River yesterday and was surprised how jumpy I was with bikes and especially e-scooters approaching me from behind. I think I'll need a handle bar mounted mirror.

There's lots to explore locally but the hills have put me off using a pushy here. I did used to ride to work when in the NT.
The bus driver yesterday told me that they dont allow e-scooters on board due to the fire risk and the bike racks on the front of local buses is now a thing of the past.
The big adventure for the future will be the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail which is apparently the longest in Australia, but I've just thought a ferry out to the inhabited Islands in Moreton Bay would be another great option.
I'm looking forward to things again 😁🥳

E-bikes are to biking what pickleball is to tennis.

Took the picklEbike 🤣 out for its first proper run.
River Cities are great for having flat routes. 😁

Only had to take one detour; one of our two botanic gardens was shut down and evacuated by the Police due to a knife wielding man.

You thought radium dials were a risk to your health.
Pah! You haven't experienced one of the small batch of experimental Brisbane dials.