More on E-Bikes

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: an ebike kept me pedaling through my entire 2nd pregnancy. And they keep us pedaling with 2 kids whenever it’s safe to do so. They’re amazing things.

I often have conversations with non-bike people that start out focusing on the bakfiets — how awesome it is to take the kids around, get fresh air and exercise, not worry about parking or gas — that turn to “oh, I could never push that thing and two kids up hills”. “But you could”, I explain, “because of this little motor.” Most had never heard of the concept of ebikes before, and the idea definitely peaks their interest – especially with city-dwellers.

I like to think about the future of cycling being in the hands of the “bike-curious” crowd, and e-bikes are a great way to raise their curiosity.

I really hate watching car commercials. They always show the car going super fast on empty roads. What a ridiculous fantasy!

I think the best combination of bike and electric motor will be mid-drive – motor mounted near the bottom bracket, not inside the wheel hub so regular bike wheels and spokes can be used and maintenance would be easier. Less unsprung weight is also better. That will probably be my next purchase.

Once you actually ride electric bikes you might get why the throttle is very useful, and regenerative breaking is a gimmick that doesn’t actually regenerate much of anything to be useful or extend battery life. Unless you coast down the side of a mountain for a couple if hours…

…also I’ve read (and it makes sense) that throttles for front wheel motors do lead to problems when traction isn’t very good. Suddenly you have a level of control complexity akin to a motorcycle with a manual transmission. That road leads to tests & licensing. With a pedaling sensor, a front wheel motor could be perfectly safe & easy to use.

I love, love, love my e-bike (Stromer ST1 Elite). When I first bought it I was taking the bus to work and spending an hour and 50 minutes each day in round-trip commuting time. The e-bike lowered that to only 50 minutes for a roundtrip 14 mile commute. I now work in Rosslyn, and even though the commute is only 5.2 miles each way it is reliably much faster than driving (~30 mins in car vs. ~18 mins for bike). The only problem I have now is people stopping me on the street who are REALLY interested in the Stromer and want to ask a zillion questions (this happened twice yesterday on the way home!). I’ll need to factor these delays into my overall commute time

I continue to love my e-bike for my daily commute and errands. It gets me to work in ~20 minutes when either the metro or driving take closer to 45. I can get there in my suit and tie without sweating, even in the summer. It’s also great for zipping to and from meetings during the workday, which I do pretty frequently. Finally, it makes hauling groceries, kids, trailers and other errands a breeze.

I also find that it makes me a better behaved cyclist. There’s no motivation to try and maintain momentum, so I stop at every light.

I built mine on an old mountain bike from an ebikes.ca kit. They aren’t the most cost effective route but offer good parts, turn-key installation, and great support. On the throttle vs. pedalec debate, after trying both I’ve found that I prefer the throttle. I find it easier to modulate the motor during starts to set off smoothly and maintain traction. It’s also helpful not to have the motor kick on if you’re just soft pedaling up to a light while changing gears. I also tend not to use it once I’m up to speed, since leg power can keep you going just fine.

The Riide bike linked in the article looks interesting. Keeping the design a simple to maintain single speed has a lot of merit. The only thing that troubles me about their design is that the battery is integrated into the frame, so you have to bring the whole bike indoors for charging. I may store my bike in our foyer/living room, but that might not be feasible for many apartment dwellers.

I know it has come up in the past, but can we make the e-bike meetup a reality this spring? I think it would be great for those e-bikers among us to meet and for non e-bikers to have an opportunity to check them out/ask questions.