Like the title said, I had a blast riding an e-bike and didn’t have anyone else to share this to, so I’ll tell anyone who is willing to read about it.
I’ve been getting into riding bikes for the past several months, and decided to try an e-bike at a store and I can’t get over how much fun it is. Riding at 20 mph feels way more fun than driving any car at like 65+ mph. Just the feeling of the wind going past my face felt much better than any of the creature comforts in my car
I have to put in a conscious effort to show emotions on my face, but with riding this e-bike, I had the dumbest, biggest smile on my face from the moment I got onto the bike. Everybody I passed, I wanted to walk up to them and tell them that I was having so much fun and that they should try out this bike. Of course, I didn’t because I have the social skills of a brick, but the urge was still there
I also wanted to buy the bike that day so bad, but I knew I needed to practice some form of self-restraint and wait to make sure I truly wanted that bike and not needlessly spend money for retail therapy
Anyways, bikes are cool, public transit is cool, and micromobility is super cool. I hope everyone can feel the same joy/happiness I felt while I was riding this bike sometime in their life
I hope your day goes well. If it doesn’t, I hope it gets better. Thanks for reading!
I have had one for 2 years or so, have about 1000 miles on it. It is the best possession I’ve ever had. I have cycled all my life, but getting older and out of shape, was doing it less. I ride much more now, and plan trips around cycling that I would not before.
The great thing is that you can adjust the pedal assist level to suit what you want. For utilitarian trips, commuting to work or picking something up across town, you can turn up the power and go fast with less effort. If you want exercise, turn it down and work out.
I would get (I got) a good brand bike from an established shop. The ebike needs more specialized maintenance. Even if you are a decent bicycle mechanic, you are probably going to want someone who knows how to work on it. I have had no problems with mine, but I have had it professionally maintained.
Yeah, the bike I was looking at had a stipulation that if you want the warranty for the whole duration, you need to bring it in for an annual maintenance check-up. Reading comments like yours makes me want to go out and buy it ASAP
I have a couple hundred miles on an ebike and it’s been amazing to be able to take my kids out on some cycling adventures
I got mine about a year ago after a test-drive, I absolutely do not regret it.
Previously I had done a moderate to low amount of biking when I could, but now I commute ~20Km to work and another 20 back most every day in the spring, summer, and fall. I even commute occasionally in the winter when paths have been properly cleared.
I went upper ‘mid-range’ and ended up spending up spending about $3000 CDN on it, (as a daily commuting vehicle, it’s much cheaper than a second car would be.) I researched reputable brands, and I would absolutely not trust a strangely branded discount Li Ion battery from the internet.
You still have to put in a decent amount of work peddling, but the electric motor makes the bike’s speed, acceleration, and range much better than it would be normally.
The infrastructure of your area and what you would be doing with it will play a big part in what sort of ebike is right for you. I prioritized distance, speed, and carrying capacity, but I am going about 40 Km a day on it, so other bikes might be better suited to other purposes.
Ebikes are sooo much fun. I just have a regular bike, and I used to ride it most places whenever I could. But where I live at now is a little farther away from things than I used to be, plus it’s a little hilly. I’m thinking of getting an ebike just to make that a little more convenient, even though I do really need the exercise hah
Good news for you: apparently people who ride e-bikes just ride more and still get exercise. As long as you’re actually using pedal assist, and not pure throttle.
ebikes are amazing. I’m disabled and they help me so much in being able to go places!
I love that they are a great equaliser. In group rides, those who are not so ‘athletic’ can easily keep up with the group so it reinforces the social element.
E-bikes got me regularly using pedal and exercise bikes! They make regular biking so much more accessible and they’re zippy too. I was able to take my class 2 e-bike up to 40km/h (50 on downhill sections).
The speeds addictive so I went and bought an electric dirtbike.
This is so cool! I have been wanting to try an e-bike for a few weeks, but haven’t found a place around me to ride one. Do you know what model or brand you rode was? Right now a lot of them are expensive for me but I would love to ride one sometime!
The one I tried out was a Pedego bike, and they are expensive. They’re not the most bang for your buck e-bike, but I want to purchase one from them because they have a 5 year warranty and there is a Pedego shop near me. To give you an idea, the bike I want spec’d out comes to around $3000 before tax. The same bike from other brands is about $2000 +/- $200 (RadCity and Aventon) and has only a 1-2 year warranty
Specialized (that’s the brand name) is probably a much better bike and there is Ride1UP which makes an extremely valuable bike too
If I was willing to take more risk, I would be happy to buy the RadCity or Ride1UP, because that’s a huge amount of savings right there. The Specialized Vado 3.0 is too close in price for me to make it worth getting that bike over the Pedego with only a 2 year warranty
If you feel savvy enough, you could try to convert a bike over to an e-bike. From my understanding, the kits are pretty easy to retrofit onto a bike and most of them should be plug and play with a few zip-ties to secure everything to the bike. I hope you do get the chance to find a bike shop near you that lets you try one out. They are really fun!
I built my own back in like 2013 or so by converting a mountain bike. Looooved that thing and it was so much fun; it could hit about 40 MPH on a flat stretch. Could have probably gone faster, but at that speed, even pedaling in the highest gear wasn’t fast enough.
While my build was quite solid, I failed to upgrade the brakes and foolishly relied on the rim brakes that came with it. If you’re expecting this to end in disaster, thankfully, that wasn’t the case. However, I did have to Fred Flintstone along with the brakes to get the thing to come to a complete stop from speed.
It was more for leisure than transit, so I stopped using it after a while. But, man, that thing was fun.
I really want a bike. I use rented escooters out and about which is fine but you can’t rely on one always being around and you’re limited to the area where they operate. I’d love to get an ebike but I live in a tiny flat with no outside space so there’s nowhere to store it. Bikes get stolen fairly regularly where I am as well so wouldn’t trust it chained up outside either.
Tern and Brompton make folding ebikes that are pretty small when folded. They fit in corners out of the way, or under a desk or table.
Hadn’t thought of that, thanks will look into it
If you just want a faster way to move around without a car, electric longboards are a good compact option. My partner just got one and he absolutely loves it. He can keep up with my regular bike and we can go way farther than if we were on foot, and fits in the corner of our small apartment.
I wouldn’t recommend e-boards to someone who didn’t skate before though. It’s really really easy to wipe out on one, and if you don’t know how to bail, and how to foot brake (connectivity issues, they can be quite dangerous, as a small stone, or a crack in the asphalt, can easily throw you off balance if you’re not anticipating it.
For a casual user, I’d definitely recommend an e-scooter though.
I feel like I would look like an idiot on one of those, I’m not the most graceful person ever! They look fun though
I’ve been on the fence about getting one for a while. The benefits seem well worth it, but a few things are holding me up:
- Price
- Prices are all over the place. You can spend $800 or $5000.
- Quality & longevity
- similar to price. Which brand? Is a $3000 bike really worth it? Will a $1000 bike be good enough, and last long enough?
- Safety: Please don’t light my house on fire with sketch LiIon battery safety 😬
Maybe I’m overthinking it.
What do the rest of you have to say on the matter?
Yeah, I think manufactured e-bikes (not converted/retrofit) have become a lot more popular in recent years. I think price points are all over the place because of so many different factors. Things like do you want a folding bike, a cruiser, a mountain bike, a motorcycle-style, a cargo bike, or a commuter bike? Not only is the form factor a thing to consider, the quality of components are important too.
Even trying to spec out a conversion is difficult too because there are a lot of different kits and a lot of different brands for the components. It’s all confusing and I think it’s due to e-bikes being so new to the scene. I’m sure when cars first came out, it was hard to know which brand to go with, but now that they’ve been around several decades, it’s easier to pick which one you want.
To go over your points, I’d try to figure out the form factor you want and be realistic with what you are looking for. In regards to price, the bikes I considered ranged from $1000 - $2500 ($3000 is probably pretty good, but you reach “luxury” at that point). If you can try one, I’d recommend it, otherwise it’s hard to figure out what you don’t want from a bike. Regarding quality, I think a good indicator is warranty length and leniency. 1 year is standard, 2 years is good, and 5 (very lenient policy) is the best I’ve seen so far. And another is if they say the brands of the parts they use. So things like the drivetrain, the tires/wheels, and brakes are things I would try to see if I could buy from that brand. Or you can watch reviews to get a feel if the brand is good or not
Lastly, in terms of battery safety, it’s recommended to go with a well-known battery cell brand. Don’t buy an e-bike if they won’t tell you what brand the cells inside are. Cells are what makes up a battery and if you don’t recognize the brand name, it might be a good thing to pass on it. Think brands like Samsung, LG, Panasonic (CATL and BYD are other big ones too). The battery itself might be from a random company, but if the cells are from a good company, you should be fine. The battery shouldn’t be left outside, it should be brought into a climate-controlled environment if not in use. And the likelihood of it catching fire is low if you take precautions.
In terms of actual safety, accidents do happen, but the frequency is on-par with pedestrian and vehicle accidents. Best thing you can do is use caution and be defensive when riding. Things like wearing a helmet at the very least, having lights, being visible, and avoiding any roads with high speed limits
These are all great points, I didn’t even think of the battery manufacturer as a variable, good call-out.
One point I do disagree on is that confusion will go down over time. I think it’s going to keep getting worse in general as manufactured devices are increasingly being thrown together with low quality white labeled parts. (This ties into being able to buy parts from the component manufacturers, if you can’t they might be white labeled trash).
So, essentially:
- Warranty length may be an indicator of quality and reliability
- Ensure you can buy parts from the component manufacturers
- Ask about the battery cell manufacturer, ideally this is a company with a positive battery reputation like Samsung, LG, Panasonic and others
- Ride the bike to see if it’s a good fit for your needs
I think a small motorcycle is a lot more practical and will probably last longer as well, no battery to die. I’ve always felt like ebikes are too small/lightweight for the amount of power they have as well. The whole industry is literally just reinventing the motorcycle. I don’t mean that in an insulting way, just IIRC motorcycles started out as converted bicycles.
My biggest concerns with ebikes are being able to replace the battery down the road (no pun intended) and the lack of “safety gear culture” that we see with a lot of motorcyclists. Plus the legal grey area they occupy right now.
Something like a Honda Navi can be had for cheaper than a lot of ebikes out there.
It does feel like the new wave of e-bikes (from manufacturers to promoters to customers) have ignored the existing world of motorcycles in a strange way. Which kind of makes sense given that electric motorcycles have just recently become relevant and are still in their own (ugly and impractical, IMO) fledgling stage. As well as the fact that ignoring regulations and conventions enabled e-bikes to get as big as they have.
But it’s kind of unfortunate. At least in the US, I think we’re going to see some bad accidents, grifts, and unhappy customers result in a backlash that will cause lawmakers to implement crappy, knee-jerk regulations.
If it’s not clear, I’m in favor of e-bikes. I just think we need proactive regulation.
Electric engines completely change the crash & fall dynamics.
As someone with long bike riding experience - for commuting - you couldn’t pay me to write something so irresponsibly dangerous.
You essentially have a weak motorcycle with zero safety features.
I’ve been a long time bike user, either for downhill entertainment or for simple commutes like going to the store. Stopped after I lived on a steep hill with a shoulder-less highway at the bottom.
What sort of crash and fall dynamics are you thinking of? I’m picturing essentially the same, but with a heavier bike, which you might compare an aluminum framed bike vs a steel framed bike to?
The engine being present changes how crashes work - for one thing, they may still drive if you fall or slip, they often can go faster, and the acceleration pattern is also very different.
- Price
I retro fitted a Bafang mid drive motor onto my Jamis a couple years ago. It’s so much fun - it takes away all of the hills and makes it see. Like you’re just pedaling along a flat piece of road all of the time
Good to hear! I love my class 3. Was able to commute with it for the past year and it has been such a good part of my day. I usually pedal the whole way so I can go as fast as possible, and it’s helped me stay active. It’s really nice to be outside in the wind, unless it’s raining hard :)
I read the title as “I tried out-riding an ebike and enjoyed it” and thought ‘I’ve tried that a few times as well and it nearly killed me!’
I ride an electric unicycle as my main mode of transportation, it’s a ton of fun. I’ve been trying to convince my dad to get himself an ebike lately and he’s tried out a couple different ones with day rentals, a class 1 and a class 2. He prefers the class 2 because it’s easier to control how much assistance the motor is giving on a moment to moment basis. The only real difference is the presence of a throttle on the class 2. Which did you try?
I tried class 2. I would not want a class 1, because if you’re gonna spend a lot of money on a bike, you might as well have the throttle (the only difference between the 2, they have the same top speed). I’m on the more athletic side and sometimes I feel lazy and put on the throttle from time to time
They’re so much fun, right?! My wife surprised me with a ebiking trip along a very scenic trail for Father’s Day, and we were both instantly hooked. There were a few small hills and I was pulling our toddler in a little chariot behind me, and the pedal assist made them both feel like nothing. I had that same big dumb grin that you described, and the same urge to just share with everyone how cool it was. We’re thinking about getting e-bikes for each other as early Christmas gifts to each other now.
What a coincidence, I went e-biking for the first time last weekend from a rental place. I’m used to normal biking so it was easy mode. Riding 50km barely took me out, when 10km would be a decent effort normally.