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Hey all! I’m back in the swing of freezing saddles this year. I have been sidelined from riding for the past two days due to the snow but can usually get out for at least a mile every day. My commute is from Laurel, MD to Arlington VA 5 days a week now that classes have started up (I teach at Marymount University) so I’m good for 50 miles roundtrip as long as roads are safe. Unfortunately the recent snow/ice seems like it will prevent full commutes a couple of days this week, but I’ll be out to get some miles in. I should be able to get the team max of 100 points each week (just need two days of full commutes to do it!). Cheers!

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@Dewey 179843 wrote:

In cold weather keep the battery indoors when not riding, maybe try a neoprene sleeve if you’re out riding for a few hours. https://www.fahrer-berlin.de/en/e-bike/fahrer-akku-cover/

I’m lucky and have an understanding other who permits my bikes to always remain indoors and I have a nice large research lab that has space for a bike at work. Best parking spot on campus!

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@TwoWheelsDC 179814 wrote:

Ah shit…I forgot about the cold weather factor. I can charge the battery inside overnight but it’ll have to stay outside while I’m at work. Thankfully, I don’t think my commute will be pushing anywhere near maximum range, so I expect I’ll be okay in winter. Also, having boost for my PM commute is much less important.

Agreed! I am confident that the cold weather will sap some power, but with a round-trip being doable I think a one way trip and charging at each end will make it usable throughout the winter.

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What have I started! I personally ride the bike wherever I please. If I’m on bike paths, I just stay in eco mode. It’s not like I can’t ride a regular bike just as fast as an ebike. I just can’t do that 5 days a week without a little motor help. This far the bike has been great! One charge can take me on the full round trip which was my goal. I plan to charge daily at work and home however to keep the battery in the ideal 20 to 80 percent charge window. The literature suggests this will vastly increase the useful charge cycles I can get. The bike has made cruising at 28 mph quite easy. The real benefit has been on uphills where it helps me maintain a decent speed without being exhausted and allows me to take the lane with confidence on Lee Highway. Now I just need to find the best way to cut through DC as the traffic light starting and stopping really wants into my time.

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@TwoWheelsDC 179630 wrote:

I’ve considered the Juiced, but looking at the options in the price range, I think I like the RadPower Radcity more. I’ve actually considered going full cargo bike and getting a Radwagon…but my commute is only 25 miles round trip, so I really would only want the e-bike for lazy days or errand days, so a cargo bike makes sense. If I was going to be commuting on it full time, I’d go for a regular frame.

Interestingly, I find the cheaper bikes more attractive because I like the idea of having a throttle, which would greatly add to my ability to ride 25 miles in my work clothes.

Thus far i’ve got two commuting rides on the Juiced. It performs well. Cuts about 30 minutes off my commute each way, so I gain an hour of my day back. Not too shabby. Its worked great for a couple of grocery trips as well. I’ll just consider it my cargo bike. It certainly handles like one (the thing is a tank).

I like the Rad bikes, but none have a big enough honking battery for the distances I need to cover. I’m planning for a pretty big loss in charging power during the cold winter months and have read that keeping the charge between 20-80 is ideal for longevity so a bigger pack was essential. Juiced and Stromer were the only I could find with such large packs.

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@NovaEbike 179598 wrote:

I bought a Juiced Cross Current for my 40 mile roundtrip commute last year. I was doing ~200 miles a week on it for about 9 months until I lost enough weight and was strong enough to move to a regular bike. It was up to the task in my opinion. I commuted all summer and winter on it. The only battery degradation I saw was during the extreme cold snap in early January. I kept it (and charged it) in insulated workroom but it was only heated when I was in there. During that cold snap I had to move the battery and charger into the house to get a full charge. I’d also say that I had the 17.4ah battery and that would be enough to go one direction in full assist without range anxiety on the way home. But if you hang out in level two, with the occasional jump to level 3 or sport, you’ll easily be able to do your whole commute on one charge cycle which will extend battery life.

As far as maintenance, I went through a motor and a controller in that time. I also broke the frame where the seat tube goes into the frame which was bizarre. You’ll go through some spokes, I relaced my wheels with 11 gauge spokes and that stopped them breaking. If you go with the Juiced, I’ve got quite a few spare parts I can sell you. I’ve got 2 extra motors in wheels, an extra controller, brake pads, etc. Hell I’d even sell you my battery. It’s all been taking up space in my work room collecting dust since April.

Thanks for the info! I’ve done the full commute on my Jamis Renegade commuter. Its doable a couple days a week, but I don’t think I can get my fitness up to be able to do 5 days a week in a reasonable time long term. Perhaps with a faster road bike though…

I’m curious how much the replacement parts were and if they were covered under warranty (mainly the motor and controller). I’ve gone through normal bike bits and pieces so know about those costs. Just not sure on motor and controller replacement costs. Cheers and see you on the roads!

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@Brett L. 179528 wrote:

If you go through Beltsville, be extra careful of the 4way stop on Rhode Island and Sellman. As stupid as RI and Route 1 in Beltsville is, that intersection North of it is worse

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I’ve noticed that in the few commutes i’ve done so far. Luckily it hasn’t been too crowded when i’ve traveled through.

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@dasgeh 179534 wrote:

Oh, this again. As someone whom the roadies FLY by when I’m going 20mph on ebike on the Custis daily, I’ll put in a plug for being responsible trail user — slow when passing others, so that the difference in speed is reasonable, leaving plenty of space when you pass, and not riding faster than you can see/stop. Otherwise, ride where you feel is best for your circumstances.

If you end up averaging 15 on a trail because of the times you slow for others, that still may save you time over a lot of stopping on the roads, but you’ll just have to figure it out.

Be a PAL! Right I’m pretty good at being a considerate rider (I hope!). I wouldn’t expect an ebike to magically make me an inconsiderate idiot!

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@closebr 179524 wrote:

I just can’t get myself to do the e-bike thing. It doesn’t really make sense, I know. If I’m willing to drive or metro part of the way on a mega-commute, why am I not willing to e-bike the whole way? I guess I like being able to Strava my rides without an asterisk. Maybe I fear the day that all bike trails just become roads for e-bikes and regular cyclists are shoved off to the shoulder of the trail. Surely that’s already begining to happen in some places around here. Please, e-bike responsibly.

Lucky for me, i’m not hugely competitive and thus couldn’t care less about strava asterisks. I haven’t noticed being shoved anywhere by ebikes yet. If they ride faster than me because they have a motor, it has no effect on my existence and I haven’t felt threatened by them (unlike those evil scooter riders ). The real idiots I see are the roadies in full kit chasing KOMS. They’re the ones blowing stop signs, stop lights and passing me unsafely on trails more than any ebikes that I’ve observed. I’ll just ride like a PAL no matter what I’m riding!

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@closebr 179529 wrote:

These are all very solid routes. Here are some other suggestions:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18131[/ATTACH]

Heat maps FTW! Pondering the Garmin 520 Plus which supposedly has these heat maps built in to recommend good routes based on garmin’s treasure trove of riding data.

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@Brett L. 179527 wrote:

Here are three different possible routes:

1) 33 miles, longer but significantly fewer lights
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28047803

2) 30 miles, ART to E Cap
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28047820

3) 32 miles, ART to S Cap
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28047829

I don’t know NoVA very well, so take the route west of the Potomac with a heavy dose of salt.

Thanks a bunch! These all look like viable options. Especially with an ebike propelling me along at a decent average speed if I can avoid lots of stops!

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@closebr 179520 wrote:

Ok, I must admit that I considered an e-bike as an option to do my 44 mi. round trip daily commute, but I never ended up doing it. I just budgeted in the time, but it was tough. My long commute was from NW DC to Laurel. Your commute is essentially the opposite direction that mine was, with some additional distance added getting up the Custiss.

I’m not sure you should take advice from anyone, if you do this commute consistently, you will be a stud. Just try not to e-bike it every day.

You could also try going early morning and take your bike on metro (before 7 am) for part of the trip. Or stash bikes on both ends of your metro trip, or get a folding bike. You also carpool into DC with your bike in the car and then bike the rest of the way. You could do the alternating driving thing, where you drive to work one day then bike home and alternate. You could ride your bike to a Zipcar and then drive the rest of the way home (night rates are cheap with Zip) and then do the oposite the next day. Also, now that Uber and Lyft have pool options, they’ve gotten a lot cheaper, so it could be a viable option for connecting you from work to metro and metro to home, if you only had a bike on one leg of the metro trip. Also, don’t forget the MARC, it is a good way to get from Laurel to Union Station, then you could ride from there to work. Also Metro and MARC have bike locker options that are fairly affordable, if leaving a bike at metro is a problem for you.

All good ideas! I do have the option to carpool with my other half to her office at UMD and bike from there. That’s a more manageable 30 mile roundtrip, which works well. But if I can ebike in similar time without any time in the car, i’d like that option

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@closebr 179510 wrote:

Definitely no good way to get to the CCT from Laurel. I’d recommend going the way you go, Konterra, Route 1 sidepath to Rhode Island cut through, then when you get to Hyattsville, take the ART, it will cut off a lot of hills and save you time overall. Once you get to Nats Stadium go around and take Maine Ave. to Jefferson Memorial, then I’d cross the bridge into VA and take the MVT up.

P.S. I think your e-bike choice is terrible! You can do that commute everyday without it, it’s only 50 miles a day. Trust me, I know:)

I can do it without an ebike, but perhaps not in a reasonable amount of time :p.

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@ginacico 179509 wrote:

You said this, and I just wanted to highlight it. Still, be prepared for some … er, critique?… from people who hate ebikes blowing by them at 20+ on multi-use trails like CCT, Anacostia Riverwalk, Met Branch, or the Custis. Fair warning.

I’m not all that familiar with the DC portion of your route, but strategically I would pick the straightest roads with the fewest lights and least traffic. It will take some trial and error, and your options may change when you get the ebike. If you can achieve 20+ average, feel free to take the lane even on streets with bike lanes (like M Street). When you get to Arlington, Wilson Blvd is fairly calm. Some people take the lane on Lee Hwy and are fine with it. Just ride carefully and predictably on the roads, and you could reduce the commute time.

Beast of a commute indeed. Thanks for subtracting one car, and good luck.

Indeed. I’d limit the ebike-superness to non-trail usage to hopefully avoid any kerfluffles. Any other critiques I would brush off with the justification of riding half a century a day in commuting. I think that justifies an ebike. Might try to get a new Garmin 520 plus with cyclemap live routing to help identify the best cycling roads too…

[ebubar]

Selling my lightly used 2014 Giant Defy 1 (bought new last spring). Complete bike with 105’s. Size medium for a good price (listed for 600 but we can work on that) if you want a complete bike.

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