Recommend me an e-bike!

In My Humble Opinion
22

I guess as a guy that rides both e and non e-bikes, wears a heart monitor, and records to Strava, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Guess I need to wear a heart monitor when I’m sitting on the couch and see if I average 130-140 over the course of a couple hours.

I see plenty of people on non-ebikes riding the flat trails here going 12 MPH and that’s about like sitting on a couch for me. Just because I see a ton of people riding non-e-bikes in a way that gets you minimal exercise doesn’t mean you can’t get a good workout on the same bike. Same is true for e-bikes.

23

Ok, let me rephrase:
For most people riding an ebike doesn’t count as exercise.

24

I ride the Los Gatos Creek trail two or three times a week. I see more e-bikes all the time and I’m concerned by the bozos who barrel down the trail at full speed. There’s too much chance of a pedestrians and other bikers who aren’t paying attention and inevitably stop or cross over to the other side of the trail without looking. There’s bound to be a nasty accident or two before too long.

There was a issue several years ago when people started riding Segways on the trail. There were a lot of complaints and they ended up being banned. I doubt that will happen with e-bikes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some stepped up enforcement in the near future.

25

Seeing as the OP has bought a bike, I’ll drop my question in this thread, as it is related.

Summary: pay to fix my old bike, or put the money towards an e-bike?

My kid has finally learned to ride a bike, so she has a little 5 speed kid-sized mountain bike. It would be nice to do street and trail riding with her. Towards that end, I’ve been cleaning up my 30 year old mountain bike.

The rear derailleur is working well, and clicks through all of the gears. The front one is not so good, though. Right now it mostly works for the large and medium gear, but won’t go into the small. It also doesn’t upshift with lots of pressure on the pedals. (Alternatively, I can get it to do just the small and medium gears…)

The wheel are not completely true, but at least I’ve got them adjusted so they’re not rubbing on the brakes.

At this point it rides fine, just as long as I don’t need the smallest front gear, but I think this is about as far as I can get it on my own. The actual mechanics of working on a bike are within my abilities, but the knowledge to know what needs tweaking in response to the displayed problem is outside of my experience.

So the choices are, ride it as is, pay a pro to take it the rest of the way, or put that money towards an e-bike.

Looking at price lists around here, a tune-up will be in the $125-250+ price range. If all it needs is somebody with experience adjusting the front, and maybe replacing the cable, then probably around $150. Of course it only goes up from there. There is no top end to how much can be spent on a bicycle.

That is a big chunk of the cost of an e-bike, but will I actually use one? At 15 miles one way, I suspect it will take just a bit too long to commute to work, and if it’s a nice day I’ll be tempted to take the motorcycle. There isn’t really anyplace else I go that I would use the bicycle to get to. So probably purely recreation and exercise, AKA a spider habitat in the garage, which I have now for free.

For bike people. I have Shimano Deore XT shifters on the handlebars, but the derailleurs are Shimano Deore DX, which they only made for 3 years in the early 90s. Supposedly they’re the same as the more expensive XT, but weight 50 grams more, or something. Just an odd fact I discovered when researching repair instructions.

Finally, for the last 20 years most of my 2 wheel experience has been on a motorcycle, so I spend all of my time on the bicycle looking for non-existent rear-view mirrors. Anybody use those little helmet mounted rear-view mirrors? Are they any good? Would handle bar mirrors look stupid on a bicycle? I know the helmet ones look stupid, but I have no need to impress anybody.

26

Looks pretty similar to the one I bought last year (which was a few hundred more expensive when I bought it), and it’s served me well thus far. The only complaints I’ve had with mine is that I needed a wider seat and the brake pads it came with only lasted a few hundred miles before they needed to be replaced. Admittedly I use the throttle more than I use pedal-assist, since I mainly using for getting home from work at night and I don’t need more exercise after I’ve already worked 8 hours and walked 10-12 miles in that time, but the pedal-assist works great and makes going uphill a breeze.

Here in Washington, the bike the OP is buying is classified as a Class 2 e-bike, and can be used on any path regular bicycles are allowed on, and can also be legally operated on the sidewalk. Some of the heavier-duty bikes like Ubcos are only allowed on paths approved for motorized vehicles, but at that point you’re stretching the definition of “bike” since those things are basically motorcycles in all but name.

27

Are you sure it is a problem with the derailleur itself? Check the adjustment of the limit screws; also, the clicky index shifter could be seized up with solidified grease in which case it won’t work until you open it up and clean it out.

All the necessary information is in Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance.

28

I’m nowhere near the committed, frequent bicyclist that others are in this thread, but I DO have the handlebar-mounted rearview mirror (only on the left side though). Essential for safety – couldn’t live without it. Does it look stupid? I don’t think so, but who cares? Are you worried the other kids will point and stare at you and call you names? Say your mama made you get the mirrors (and BTW she dresses you funny)? :rofl: Seriously.

29

I was out on my bike yesterday, and probably half the bikes I saw were e-bikes. But only one person seemed to be using throttle-only. Everyone else was pedaling, and that gives you exercise, whether you want to believe it or not.

At this point, continuing to claim e-bikes “don’t count as exercise” is purely prejudice.

30

I’m a multi-decade motorcyclist and at that beautiful age where I don’t give a shot what people think about how my safety choices look. I tried the helmet mounted mirrors and never could meet a sense of what I was looking at. I went with a left side bar-end mirror and find it indispensable.

31

I’ll be the first to admit I have some prejudice against e-bikes in any leisure role.

I just see a lot of people sitting on e-bikes that are dressed as if it is freezing on a nice summer day.
Those people are not getting any meaningful exercise. They are making less effort than a leisurely walk.

They are still lapping the ones on the couch, I’ll admit. But calling sitting on a scooter “great exercise” is a bridge too far for me.

32

The shifter was gunked up, and based on a YouTube video, I bathed it in WD-40, which did break down the old grease enough that now it clicks appropriately. If I get things working, then I’ll put in the appropriate lubricant to keep it going.

I can adjust the limit screws, but even when backing them out all the way, I still can’t seem to move the derailleur enough to get three shifts. If I loosen the cable I can get the middle and lower gear, and if I tighten the cable I can get the middle and upper gear. (Unless I have that backwards.) It might just be a matter of finding the happy middle of cable tension.

As the joke goes, I can turn a wrench. I need to pay for the knowledge of knowing which bolt needs turning.

When I asked if a bar mounted mirror looks stupid, what I really meant was, do they actually work at all as the bars are so much more narrow than a motorcycle’s. No point if all the mirror shows is my shoulder.

33

You adjust it to show the street behind/beside you exactly the way you do your car’s side mirrors.

There’s a lot of stuff on YouTube about bicycle mirrors (including ebike mirrors).

34

Since I’ve needed distance vision glasses for about half a century, I’ve used mirrors that clip onto my glasses frames when cycling. They’re very light (my postal scale says ~1/10 of an ounce for the one I’m using nowadays) and you look just a hair to the left of straight ahead to see what’s coming up behind you.

35

Now, an e-bike question: I’m a total ignoramus about e-bikes. Where are some good online resources? I know what I want the bike to do: I want it for close-to-home errands (within 3 miles by road, but involving a ~100 foot hill) and want the capacity to carry a couple bags of groceries that distance and up that hill.

Basically, I keep asking myself why I’m doing all these short trips in a car that could be done in something much lighter and more energy-efficient.

Any pointers?

36

I’ve been biking a long time, and have gone through a lot of mirrors (I would never, ever, ever road ride without a mirror at this point). I started with the small glasses clip on version, and then have gone through a few more iterations. I’ve now moved to this version which is the best version, bar none. I don’t care how Fred’ed out I am, I want to see behind me. Won’t guarantee I won’t die due to someone not paying attention or some 90 year old that shouldn’t be driving, but at least I will see it coming.

37

At least on my bike and bar width, the view is a perfect slice of what’s behind-left of me. Exactly what I want to see, given that unlike a motorcycle, they’re almost never a situation where something is behind me to my right.

38

I heard about another use case: someone with heart problems who would otherwise have to give up cycling. Solution: a custom lightweight e-bike with adjustable pedal assist; in this case the goal is to be able to go on without raising one’s heart rate.

This sounds like a case for one of those (at least the way they look) heavy and cheap-looking utility e-bikes I see on city streets all the time. You don’t need a $5,500 Brompton or a $10000 custom titanium mountain e-bike to get your groceries, and wouldn’t want to use them for that anyway even if you had them.

What you do need is a luggage rack. Then you can attach panniers, a cooler bag, or simply the ubiquitous milk crate. Also, with a heavy bike + groceries + hills one of those 250W motors will not cut it; get the 750W motor and fat tires and it should be able to handle 350 lbs. or more.

39

I’m not sure if I can link google drive links here, but here’s a presentation about trying to decide on ebikes that I found helpful: Ebike guide - Google Slides

A big thing to check is to see if your local bike shops will service certain brands. I live in a small town, and only have a couple of shops, and they are pretty adamant about not servicing brands they aren’t contracted with (so no online cheap brands or even ones like Rad). So depending on your mechanic skill level, that might be something to consider.

40

Or how about me? I’m in decent shape for a guy in his mid-50s (other than the psychic pain involved in typing ‘mid-50s’). But I have a wonky knee and ongoing fallout from a hernia-adjecent surgery a few years ago. I have good biking stamina and aerobic capacity, but when it comes to mashing my way up a hill, one or the other of my issues will make themselves known.

I bought a light (33 pounds) bike with modest (240w) power that has just enough help to keep me below the threshold where pain enters the picture. With the power off, it pedals about as nicely as any bike I’ve ever had, and with the power on, it’s a seamless experience that doesn’t feel like I’m riding a scooter, it just feels like I suddenly got a little stronger.

That bike cuts out a decent number of what would have been car trips, and when I’m out for fun or exercise, I have no problem getting my heart rate up into zones 4 and 5. But without that motor, I probably wouldn’t be biking at all.

41

[quote=“RTFirefly, post:35, topic:984919”]
I want it for close-to-home errands (within 3 miles by road, but involving a ~100 foot hill) and want the capacity to carry a couple bags of groceries that distance and up that hill.
[/quote]+

Add me in. I’ve always enjoyed riding my bike, but at 75 y. o. , getting up the hills or taking off from a standing stop is a real struggle sometimes. I would like to make cycling a more pleasant experience again. Most of my current trips are down to Safeway to fetch a couple of bags of groceries. I have an *awesome * set of panniers on my current bike. Ebike accessories don’t seem to include panniers, but I’ve got to have at least a decent sized basket. I don’t want to trail ride, go more than about 10 miles, or achieve 30 mph.

Looking at the options, I like the Aventon Soltera (lightweight class 2, basket available, cheap) and some of the models Micargi offers. I think the cargo bikes would be overkill for the kind of shopping I do, plus they seem to be very heavy and very expensive. Do any of you have insights into these brands? Comments on Aventon’s page really downrate them for poor customer service, but the company claims they are trying to improve. I can’t find much info on Micargi.

I’m going to check them out some time this week & will report back if anyone is interested.