eBike Anyone Ebike?

[scottyb]

Been watching and waiting for several years now. Lot of great bikes and now the knock offs are reasonable in price. They are made in the same factories and to the same spec as the high priced brands.

Stoked for minor runs around town duties and occasional jaunt on tow path or gravel grinding.

Heres to phun on two wheels!

Cheers

 

[CalG]

I have been looking at them.

BUT!

The cheap ones are HEAVY!

 

[Tricia]

An E-Bike is definitely in my sights, but for now I'll enjoy my Trigger3

 

[Tom K.]

My wife and I are lifelong biking nuts. Road, gravel, mtb. All of it.

We are just entering semi-retirement, and find ourselves wanting to ride more, though we both ride at different levels.

So.......she has been somewhat patiently waiting since September for an Orbea Gain road e-bike, which I would characterize as a light-powered e-bike. It looks like a regular road bike, and will weigh just over 25 pounds.

Hoping to pick it up next Friday. It's been a long, long wait.

She can hardly wait to drop me going up a hill!

 

[Rod9301]

I'm having a hard time understanding the rationale behind a road e bike.

I own a e mountain bike, 180 mm travel, and i got it so i can have more fun, which for me means twice the downhill.

I can go uphill on a regular bike, no problem.

But with the e bike, i cover twice the terrain.

However, i don't see the twice the fun in a road bike?

Is it so did can do more downhill?

 

[CalG]

I'm having a hard time understanding the rationale behind a road e bike.

I own a e mountain bike, 180 mm travel, and i got it so i can have more fun, which for me means twice the downhill.

I can go uphill on a regular bike, no problem.

But with the e bike, i cover twice the terrain.

However, i don't see the twice the fun in a road bike?

Is it so did can do more downhill?

Some of the dedicated road riders in this area sport "stickers" that read "Ride Fast or ride alone". It's an attitude I suppose.
An E-road bike would let those who can't keep up not need to ride alone.

 

[Rod9301]

Ok, that makes sense

 

[Tom K.]

@Rod9301, for us, it's simply the desire to somewhat equalize our biking strength, so we have more fun riding together.

As it is, if we road ride together, I don't get the workout I'm hoping for, or she kills herself. No fun for either!

Plus, it's WINDY and HILLY as shite here, and sometimes it's nice to do a three hour ride without being relegated to the couch for the rest of the day, feeling about as lively as a spent, crumpled tissue.

But I hear you on the long travel mtb front! We are blessed with an extensive of quite rough and steep moto trails right out our back door. Two weeks ago, I sold my KTM 250 and am thinking a modern, long travel mtb might be its replacement. N+1 for life, baby!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I'll be interested in your thoughts on the Orbea. My wife is now "gravel curious" and would like to ride with me, but as you know, there is a point where you are riding as slow as you can go, and the other person is killing themselves to keep up. Orbed has an e-gravel bike. Look does too, it looks sweet, but....

 

[Tom K.]

I'll be interested in your thoughts on the Orbea. My wife is now "gravel curious" and would like to ride with me, but as you know, there is a point where you are riding as slow as you can go, and the other person is killing themselves to keep up. Orbed has an e-gravel bike. Look does too, it looks sweet, but....

Stay tuned. It's verifiably enroute between Orbea USA in AR and the LBS in Bend OR.

Projected pickup this coming Friday.

Stoked wife!

 

[crgildart]

Some of the dedicated road riders in this area sport "stickers" that read "Ride Fast or ride alone". It's an attitude I suppose.
An E-road bike would let those who can't keep up not need to ride alone.

It's only cheating if you get caught!

A 19-year-old Belgian cyclist got caught cheating at the world championships after racing a bike that had a motor hidden in the frame

 

[crgildart]

The idea of a downhill MTB with a lightweight motor powerful enough to take me back up for several laps sounds like a winner to me.. Lift served laps places where there aren't any lifts spinning..

 

[T-Square]

As I posted here https://www.pugski.com/threads/my-new-toy.15390/ I just got an e-bike for around town and the gravel/dirt rail trails around here. In the past month I’ve put 90 miles on it, 20 today.

I’m impressed with the performance. It gets me up hills that I use to have to walk up. I’ve ground up 1/2 mile climbs and some 10-12% grades with relative ease. I’ve been surprised at the hills I’ve gone up with it. Plus it keeps me grinding the pedals and getting a good workout. It has opened up terrain that I would not have used before. That in itself will make going out more interesting.
And it’s fast, which really appeals to me. Wind in the face, bugs on the teeth from the smiles.

As a tool for older riders it is great. E-bikes will keep people out and active.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I've never tried an ebike and I'm looking forward to it. I think Killington rents them so that's on the agenda this summer.

 

[tball]

I'm having a hard time understanding the rationale behind a road e bike.

I own a e mountain bike, 180 mm travel, and i got it so i can have more fun, which for me means twice the downhill.

I can go uphill on a regular bike, no problem.

But with the e bike, i cover twice the terrain.

However, i don't see the twice the fun in a road bike?

Is it so did can do more downhill?

Road e-bikes make a ton of sense for commuting. They can make an otherwise impracticable commute possible.

As to covering twice the terrain on your mountain e-bike, all good as long as you are on trails that allow motorized vehicles or specifically allow e-bikes, yes?

 

[Bruuuce]

We have two Trek Lift+ bikes that came with the purchase of our current house (long story). We used them a bit the first year we had them, but have lost interest and use regular road and mtn bikes now. They did come in handy one weekend when we rode them to a music festival and had a long night. The 500ft climb to our house was certainly easier. One value we've found is when we have vistors from sea level. They can ride with us comfortably on the e-bikes. Without them they'd struggle in our hilly area.

That said, when I'm 70'ish I'm definitely up for an e-mtn bike so I can still enjoy some of the trails I ride that have climbs that otherwise might be out of reach. I assume the weights will drop over time so they are not such a bear to ride without power.

 

[scottyb]

Waiting for the Fedex truck today. Really stoked to get mah Ebike.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Besides being lots of fun it would be hard to justify an ebike around here because there are some tough rooty and rocky sections but most climbs are maybe 150 feet maximum. It would be nice to power through a rock garden on a hot humid day when the mosquitos and horse flies are just waiting for you to slow down.

 

[scottyb]

Pretty easy to assemble, a bit of adjustments. The initial rides around the block are promising. These things are a hoot! The pedal assist feels like being pushed.
I have a rear rack and panniers on order. Look out tow path!

 

[scottyb]

Got a proper 1st ride in this morning after work. Did a nice circuit around town which was mostly roads but I also detoured onto grassy trails on a sliver of park property. There is a short but steepish hill going up to the Bolivar surrender site and I put the pedal assist to the test here. It performed well and I did indeed need to pedal vigorously even using level 5 and a lower gear to maintain speed. Without it I would have been in granny gear at a walking speed by the time I got to the top.

The brakes are manual discs and stop reasonably well but are not hydraulics. The front suspension fork needed to be fully preloaded for my 200+ weight but works well for a spring style unit, it does also have a lockout. The Juggernaut tires worked great on the grass and pavement, I will test them out on the dirt trail nearby on a later ride. The weight of the battery and bike work well together and although its 68 lbs the bike is able to maneuver decently. I will probably look for a set back seat post for it as my longer upper body and arms need a tad more room.

All in all I am very pleased with this bike, it was a gamble to buy on line with out a chance for a ride or even kick the tires. I feel it is excellent bang for the buck and it has many features and stats on bikes costing several thousands of dollars more. I look forward to riding this one on many more rides. It would be a good town or commuter bike but I think it would be a great gravel and rail trail vehicle with easy mtn bike trails being within the outer limit of its abilities.