Great advice!! I disagree about an eBike not giving you exercise. You, especially if you are over 50 and haven't ridden a bike for years, get a lot of exercise if you peddle and only use the throttle, for hills, etc. Even with a low PAS, you do get exercise. Again, this is a great video for newbies!
Not exercise more than walking. I think a lot of people buy an ebike for exercise so I'm just trying to help people understand that it's really that they want it for recreation moreso than exercise. You may end up riding more than you'd otherwise walk which in that case, you'd be getting "more exercise".
I don't know about everyone else but my best way to excersize with one is turn off PAS, not use throttle and just pedal the 80lb hunk of metal with 2 wheels around, and man is it a workout@@Funcentric
@@Frisher1 dangerous idea for most people. Majority of new e-bikers are also new to cycling. Riding a heavy bike without PAS generally means a low cadence which makes balancing that much more difficult. I would never ever advise anyone to be riding on PAS 0.
I know if I go and do my daily 10 miles, I've exercised, I'm ready for a nap. I use it to keep my knees and hips working in a way that I enjoy. And it's cheap compared to physical therapy. If they told you to do 3600 reps of a knee bend, you'ld think they were nuts. But an hour on the bike.....
Love your channel man, found it by randomly, looking up reviews on the HyperGo RC car, but also in the market for an Ebike. Anyways, love your no nonsense, straight forward approach on your videos. Hope you keep it up! Subscribed.
Thanks! I appreciate the positive comments. Just trying to say it as it is. Too many ads out there disguised as reviews which gets annoying. Also spitting out specs of a car or bike without context with other like kind stuff doesn’t help consumers make decisions. My goal is to help people make decisions on what to get and to let them know what to stay away from. Lots of hype out there.
How do you lock down your bike when your out and about? I would like to use this bike instead of using my car to run errands and such. The battery....can you use one at a time or do you have to have both of them in at one time? I use to own a Transalp from Europe (love it! best bike ever!), but after my heart attack I stopped using it and thought this might be a better option. Great info, I just found your channel and I am so happy I did. Breath of fresh air. So over the commercial/info videos. Thanks again!
Thanks for the kind words! So glad I helped you out. My primary lock is a Hiplok Gold rated chain and secondary lock is an old Masterlock Street Cuff. If I was buying a lock now, I’d look at the Litelok X1. Bother batteries on the XPedition (which I did not have at the time of this video), drain at the same time. That’s what you want. It reduces voltage sag. If you run them one at a time, you lose that benefit entirely. The heavier the battery, the less efficient.
I converted my two wheeled recumbent bike to an Ebike, back in 2019, and I love it. To date I have put nearly 9000 miles on it. Yes, it does go through tires quicker, but it is worth it. I use the Pedal Assist mode mostly, but have a throttle when I need the boost. If you can store a bike in your house, you can store an ebike. Also if you take the battery off, it gets really light.
Cool. I toyed with the idea of electrifying my KMX tornado but decided against it in the end. Most ebikes these days weigh quite a bit even without the battery. I wouldn’t necessarily say light as it’ll still be almost 2x the weight of a mountain bike. Depending on the storage options, some may feel worried considerably more about theft of an ebike vs a regular bike, such as in a shared garage space.
You give very good advice except, for 2, that having an Ebike is not for exercising and it does not save money. On that, it couldn't be more wrong. For my part, I save about $2,000 in gas per year, not counting vehicle maintenance, oil, tires, km, etc. I use mine as training tools, to do intervals. But even relaxed with a good pedal assist mode, you still get a good share of exercise. Walking 3 hours a week versus running 45 minutes a week, guess what makes you fitter. Not to mention the benefits on preventing knee issues (osteoarthritis) and heart problems, just because you MOVE more and so on. So the answer to these questions is YES! But, it depends like the questions of duration of the battery, it depends.
I’ll make a video explaining in more detail about how an ebike doesn’t save you money. Basically the mileage on a bike would take quite awhile to recoup the costs of the bike itself and accessories mentioned.
Thanks so much for this video, it’s really refreshing. I wish I had watched this a week ago, as I just actually bought an e-bike and I’m feeling some cringe at myself for being impatient and catching myself in the hype. I think the drone is the proper analogy… unlike other cameras I’ve bought, the ability to actually use it is so limited I just don’t even bother anymore. But I’m wondering if there is hope for me yet. What I’m going through is that I just took mine out for my first real ride. I live near a big park and figured being able to get up to the top of the hills and cruise around further than a walk and exploring would be really joyful. On my first ride I found that the not yet comfortable with the bike yet feeling left me feeling uncomfortable, not able to enjoy as much. In addition I found the “cheat” of being able to do easily get up the hill to be a really surprising let down (? Weird I know) I’m hoping that the discomfort and newness wears off and it becomes a thing I look forward to. I’m hoping I can feel that joy of cruising that only bikes create. Not sure. So, and no need to pull punches if not, I wonder if this buyers regret will stick or if I will find what I hoped to get from it which was moderate exercise, a bit more freedom, and just, bike joy? In other words: with you as someone who loves Ebikes, in a best case scenario could I expect to feel good about it after getting used to it and using it for a while? Or did I just not know what I was buying? Anyways, great video, I am realizing that these e-bike companies basically pay a lot of influencers to flood UA-cam with videos and there is no level headed commentary like yours to be found!
Thanks for recognizing it. You’ve already experienced that the hype isn’t leading you to what you expected. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the bike in a different way. Although you may be missing the challenge and accomplishment of making it up the hill, you get to enjoy the view and time up there longer. You may be able to more easily join friends that you otherwise may not have joined if you were on a regular bike. I think one of the great values of an ebike is that it allows people of different experiences, skill set or willingness to still bike together. If going solo, you may find that getting up hills faster allows you to experience more hills and do it more often. Good luck and ride safe!
I bought a MTB for £199, converted it with a front wheel hub conversion kit which cost me £230.00, but then I ended up buying for hidden costs throughout the months, like two batteries (as I don't drive and use the bike everyday for conversion), then I wanted indicators, then bike mirrors, then locks like you say etc. and I'm at about the £800 mark so far that I've spent on the bike... Not so much up front which is good, but yeah it stacks up!
Thanks for your channel, but I gotta somewhat disagree with your exercise stance on e-bikes. Sure, if you use a high PAS, or throttle only you won't get any exercise to speak of. But if you ride w/o power you'll get more exercise on an e-bike than a non-powered bike simply because of the weight difference. My e-bike weighs 88 lbs after adding things like a rear basket & different seat, but I swear it feels like 300 lbs of resistance on my legs when I'm riding on a flat surface w/o power. So for me it's the best of both worlds; I use it to exercise only when I want to, otherwise it's throttle only. My landlord has been an avid rider for over 30 yrs & has one of those high dollar carbon fiber bikes that weighs very little, I think under 20 lbs. He is adamant that he gets more exercise than I, & that may be so, but he has to ride fast & far to do so because there's very little if any resistance on his bike. My legs feel like I'm on a weight machine when the power is off. Just sayin... Thanks again. Luvin my Kepler.
Thanks. I guess it’s that I disagree with how people are trying to achieve exercise. It also seems that people are pushing it. Not saying this is going, but some people justify the cost of the bike by telling themselves they’re getting exercise. Surely it beats sitting around on a couch munching on snacks, but there’s so many other activities that are better designed for exercise. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s no shame in riding for the fun of it. So many people call us ebike riders cheaters that I think many e-bikes feel like they need to defend themselves. Not necessary. Each to their own and just enjoy whether it is exercise or not.
Well for starters it's hard to find people who will work on the electronics part of an ebike. I lived in many big cities and even then it was very hard to find people who will work on the electronics of my ebike. I sold mine and just got a normal commuter.
@@bluejaycamp That’s a terrific idea. For sure. Test before you buy. But are the companies renting these doing so for the purpose or providing a test or to just commute? If the latter, likely not much selection.
I like your videos my friend, but I also have to say your wrong about the exercise, yes it’s not super over the top and you can’t drive a mile in pas 5 and think your exercising, but you if ride 20 miles instead of 1. Take it from a guy that is 100 pounds lighter than a year ago. And yes it’s all about diet and exercise and better choices but I believe it has a large part in my weight loss. Beats watching TV and seating around . But I push myself I have a minimum ride of 20 miles and usually push it to 29 miles and run at pas 3 but travel at 25 to 35 mph and I run a 58t crank.
Thanks. I should have stated that the joy of riding an ebike will make one want to ride more. So even if walking provides no more exercise than walking, at least it’s something. Like you said, you’re riding instead of sitting on the couch. So good for you. Glad ebiking is helping you in more ways than one.
It also sounds like you’re using the ebike to set yourself goals. That’s also fantastic. Sometimes I wish I could get feedback like yours before making a video. Like a version 2.0 or something. Thanks again for your feedback.
Yup! There’s so much hype in this ebike space. Reminds me of when everyone and their mom had a DJI Mavic Pro. Then a year later, Facebook marketplace and Craigslist were flooded with used ones because owners realized what they really wanted was a quad for playing and not in fact a drone for videography.
I don't have an opinion on whether it should or shouldn't be. But it's definitely not. The only reason why people ride ebikes over alternative modes of transportation that are more convenient, harder to steal is b/c of the familiarity with ebikes. Most people know how to ride a bike but there's a bit of effort to learn to ride the other stuff. Parking of an ebike is a lot more risky than other micromobility products. No one really steals Onewheels and EUC's and esk8's mostly b/c thieves dont' know how to ride them and owners typically take them into wherever they are going. I wouldn't recommend parking an ebike unattended for more than 15 minutes. Benefit of an ebike is if it has cargo and you're planning to carry more than what fits in a backpack.
As far as EV cars being the future, yes for commercial purposes or ride share but we won't be seeing over 50% of private cars on the road that are electric in our lifetime....in America.
I bought an ebike years back bc my liscense was suspended. Worked great for that. Was the first in town in one.
Great advice!! I disagree about an eBike not giving you exercise. You, especially if you are over 50 and haven't ridden a bike for years, get a lot of exercise if you peddle and only use the throttle, for hills, etc. Even with a low PAS, you do get exercise. Again, this is a great video for newbies!
Not exercise more than walking. I think a lot of people buy an ebike for exercise so I'm just trying to help people understand that it's really that they want it for recreation moreso than exercise. You may end up riding more than you'd otherwise walk which in that case, you'd be getting "more exercise".
I don't know about everyone else but my best way to excersize with one is turn off PAS, not use throttle and just pedal the 80lb hunk of metal with 2 wheels around, and man is it a workout@@Funcentric
@@Frisher1 dangerous idea for most people. Majority of new e-bikers are also new to cycling. Riding a heavy bike without PAS generally means a low cadence which makes balancing that much more difficult. I would never ever advise anyone to be riding on PAS 0.
I know if I go and do my daily 10 miles, I've exercised, I'm ready for a nap. I use it to keep my knees and hips working in a way that I enjoy. And it's cheap compared to physical therapy. If they told you to do 3600 reps of a knee bend, you'ld think they were nuts. But an hour on the bike.....
Love your channel man, found it by randomly, looking up reviews on the HyperGo RC car, but also in the market for an Ebike.
Anyways, love your no nonsense, straight forward approach on your videos. Hope you keep it up! Subscribed.
Thanks! I appreciate the positive comments. Just trying to say it as it is. Too many ads out there disguised as reviews which gets annoying. Also spitting out specs of a car or bike without context with other like kind stuff doesn’t help consumers make decisions.
My goal is to help people make decisions on what to get and to let them know what to stay away from. Lots of hype out there.
How do you lock down your bike when your out and about? I would like to use this bike instead of using my car to run errands and such.
The battery....can you use one at a time or do you have to have both of them in at one time?
I use to own a Transalp from Europe (love it! best bike ever!), but after my heart attack I stopped using it and thought this might be a better option.
Great info, I just found your channel and I am so happy I did. Breath of fresh air. So over the commercial/info videos.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the kind words! So glad I helped you out. My primary lock is a Hiplok Gold rated chain and secondary lock is an old Masterlock Street Cuff. If I was buying a lock now, I’d look at the Litelok X1.
Bother batteries on the XPedition (which I did not have at the time of this video), drain at the same time. That’s what you want. It reduces voltage sag. If you run them one at a time, you lose that benefit entirely. The heavier the battery, the less efficient.
I converted my two wheeled recumbent bike to an Ebike, back in 2019, and I love it. To date I have put nearly 9000 miles on it. Yes, it does go through tires quicker, but it is worth it. I use the Pedal Assist mode mostly, but have a throttle when I need the boost. If you can store a bike in your house, you can store an ebike. Also if you take the battery off, it gets really light.
Cool. I toyed with the idea of electrifying my KMX tornado but decided against it in the end. Most ebikes these days weigh quite a bit even without the battery. I wouldn’t necessarily say light as it’ll still be almost 2x the weight of a mountain bike.
Depending on the storage options, some may feel worried considerably more about theft of an ebike vs a regular bike, such as in a shared garage space.
You give very good advice except, for 2, that having an Ebike is not for exercising and it does not save money. On that, it couldn't be more wrong. For my part, I save about $2,000 in gas per year, not counting vehicle maintenance, oil, tires, km, etc. I use mine as training tools, to do intervals. But even relaxed with a good pedal assist mode, you still get a good share of exercise. Walking 3 hours a week versus running 45 minutes a week, guess what makes you fitter. Not to mention the benefits on preventing knee issues (osteoarthritis) and heart problems, just because you MOVE more and so on. So the answer to these questions is YES! But, it depends like the questions of duration of the battery, it depends.
I’ll make a video explaining in more detail about how an ebike doesn’t save you money. Basically the mileage on a bike would take quite awhile to recoup the costs of the bike itself and accessories mentioned.
I’m curious how many miles you ride a year.
@@Funcentric 4000 MILES
Thanks so much for this video, it’s really refreshing. I wish I had watched this a week ago, as I just actually bought an e-bike and I’m feeling some cringe at myself for being impatient and catching myself in the hype.
I think the drone is the proper analogy… unlike other cameras I’ve bought, the ability to actually use it is so limited I just don’t even bother anymore.
But I’m wondering if there is hope for me yet. What I’m going through is that I just took mine out for my first real ride. I live near a big park and figured being able to get up to the top of the hills and cruise around further than a walk and exploring would be really joyful. On my first ride I found that the not yet comfortable with the bike yet feeling left me feeling uncomfortable, not able to enjoy as much. In addition I found the “cheat” of being able to do easily get up the hill to be a really surprising let down (? Weird I know)
I’m hoping that the discomfort and newness wears off and it becomes a thing I look forward to. I’m hoping I can feel that joy of cruising that only bikes create. Not sure.
So, and no need to pull punches if not, I wonder if this buyers regret will stick or if I will find what I hoped to get from it which was moderate exercise, a bit more freedom, and just, bike joy? In other words: with you as someone who loves Ebikes, in a best case scenario could I expect to feel good about it after getting used to it and using it for a while? Or did I just not know what I was buying? Anyways, great video, I am realizing that these e-bike companies basically pay a lot of influencers to flood UA-cam with videos and there is no level headed commentary like yours to be found!
Thanks for recognizing it. You’ve already experienced that the hype isn’t leading you to what you expected. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the bike in a different way.
Although you may be missing the challenge and accomplishment of making it up the hill, you get to enjoy the view and time up there longer.
You may be able to more easily join friends that you otherwise may not have joined if you were on a regular bike.
I think one of the great values of an ebike is that it allows people of different experiences, skill set or willingness to still bike together.
If going solo, you may find that getting up hills faster allows you to experience more hills and do it more often.
Good luck and ride safe!
I bought a MTB for £199, converted it with a front wheel hub conversion kit which cost me £230.00, but then I ended up buying for hidden costs throughout the months, like two batteries (as I don't drive and use the bike everyday for conversion), then I wanted indicators, then bike mirrors, then locks like you say etc. and I'm at about the £800 mark so far that I've spent on the bike... Not so much up front which is good, but yeah it stacks up!
Thanks for your channel, but I gotta somewhat disagree with your exercise stance on e-bikes. Sure, if you use a high PAS, or throttle only you won't get any exercise to speak of. But if you ride w/o power you'll get more exercise on an e-bike than a non-powered bike simply because of the weight difference. My e-bike weighs 88 lbs after adding things like a rear basket & different seat, but I swear it feels like 300 lbs of resistance on my legs when I'm riding on a flat surface w/o power. So for me it's the best of both worlds; I use it to exercise only when I want to, otherwise it's throttle only.
My landlord has been an avid rider for over 30 yrs & has one of those high dollar carbon fiber bikes that weighs very little, I think under 20 lbs. He is adamant that he gets more exercise than I, & that may be so, but he has to ride fast & far to do so because there's very little if any resistance on his bike. My legs feel like I'm on a weight machine when the power is off. Just sayin... Thanks again. Luvin my Kepler.
Thanks. I guess it’s that I disagree with how people are trying to achieve exercise. It also seems that people are pushing it. Not saying this is going, but some people justify the cost of the bike by telling themselves they’re getting exercise.
Surely it beats sitting around on a couch munching on snacks, but there’s so many other activities that are better designed for exercise.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s no shame in riding for the fun of it. So many people call us ebike riders cheaters that I think many e-bikes feel like they need to defend themselves.
Not necessary. Each to their own and just enjoy whether it is exercise or not.
I will use mine for my business and it’s a 30% tax write off for the bike and the accessories.
Nice.
Well for starters it's hard to find people who will work on the electronics part of an ebike. I lived in many big cities and even then it was very hard to find people who will work on the electronics of my ebike. I sold mine and just got a normal commuter.
We are fortunate to have several places where you can rent e-bikes. I recommend doing that BEFORE buying one.
@@bluejaycamp That’s a terrific idea. For sure. Test before you buy. But are the companies renting these doing so for the purpose or providing a test or to just commute? If the latter, likely not much selection.
@@bluejaycamp Renting though doesn’t give much of a sense of the realities of owning. Charging, storage, transport, maintenance etc.
I like your videos my friend, but I also have to say your wrong about the exercise, yes it’s not super over the top and you can’t drive a mile in pas 5 and think your exercising, but you if ride 20 miles instead of 1. Take it from a guy that is 100 pounds lighter than a year ago. And yes it’s all about diet and exercise and better choices but I believe it has a large part in my weight loss. Beats watching TV and seating around . But I push myself I have a minimum ride of 20 miles and usually push it to 29 miles and run at pas 3 but travel at 25 to 35 mph and I run a 58t crank.
Thanks. I should have stated that the joy of riding an ebike will make one want to ride more. So even if walking provides no more exercise than walking, at least it’s something. Like you said, you’re riding instead of sitting on the couch. So good for you. Glad ebiking is helping you in more ways than one.
It also sounds like you’re using the ebike to set yourself goals. That’s also fantastic. Sometimes I wish I could get feedback like yours before making a video. Like a version 2.0 or something. Thanks again for your feedback.
Is this the first video on UA-cam encouraging people NOT to buy crap they don’t need? What a refreshing change.
Yup! There’s so much hype in this ebike space. Reminds me of when everyone and their mom had a DJI Mavic Pro. Then a year later, Facebook marketplace and Craigslist were flooded with used ones because owners realized what they really wanted was a quad for playing and not in fact a drone for videography.
Like it or not it's the future..
I don't have an opinion on whether it should or shouldn't be. But it's definitely not. The only reason why people ride ebikes over alternative modes of transportation that are more convenient, harder to steal is b/c of the familiarity with ebikes. Most people know how to ride a bike but there's a bit of effort to learn to ride the other stuff.
Parking of an ebike is a lot more risky than other micromobility products. No one really steals Onewheels and EUC's and esk8's mostly b/c thieves dont' know how to ride them and owners typically take them into wherever they are going.
I wouldn't recommend parking an ebike unattended for more than 15 minutes.
Benefit of an ebike is if it has cargo and you're planning to carry more than what fits in a backpack.
As far as EV cars being the future, yes for commercial purposes or ride share but we won't be seeing over 50% of private cars on the road that are electric in our lifetime....in America.