Electric bikes saved my life. After a serious motorcycle accident seven years ago left me wondering of if I would ever walk again (leg broken in eight places, broken hip, shattered arm) I fell into deep despair. Many surgeries and a months long stay in rehab hospital followed, I thought my days of two wheeled freedom were over. I gained a ton of weight during recovery, becoming diabetic in the process. Two years after I decided to try something different. A full powered e-bike, with throttle got me back on the road again, and encouraged more. In a bit, my strength increased enabling me to transition to a model with a torque sensor (no throttle) that only operated depending on some level of user input. And this is what ultimately led to my fitness increasing to the point where fully analog bicycling was possible again. The weight came off, my fitness returned - I ride every day now and have a life again.
250W torque-sensing Hase Lepus here. No balance limited-mobility 70yo handicapper here. On/Off Lepus from wheelchair and dual forearm crutches! 25-inch-high, slide-onto seat height!!! Rohloff gearbox. No more cassette shifting here. 250W bicycle path LEGAL E-assist for this NFL-sized rider! Bicycle path laws being changed by communities because high Watt E-bikes/trikes are turning Bicycle Paths INTO Bicycle Expressways!!! NOT GOOD!!! NOT GOOD!!! NOT GOOD!!! Many imported bikes/trikes being sold for less as non-UL-Approved battery packs (fire hazard) are becoming illegal to sell in America! Love family/cargo bikes/trikes that haul families and are 2nd cars for many users! Additionally, my speed is 7-12mph. My self-imposed max speed is 17mph, even if downhill!!!!!!
@@garyseckel295 And if you plug in a non-UL listed E-Bike and it burns your house to the ground you homeowners insurance will walk away from you and you get to eat the total loss. Of course you can go to China and sue the manufacturer ...... good luck with that.
Congratulations man, that’s great! Don’t waste your time with cyclist, they are think they are special because they can power a bike on their all, they think they are a rare breed…😂 Let them be!
At 71 yrs. old I went from motorcycles to a 750 W. ebike. I pedal almost all the time and my fitness level has shot a way up. It is a Chinese hub motor bike with a throttle which I use to maintain an even pedaling cadence. Now I have started riding my unassisted mtb and enjoying the feeling of propelling along under my own power. I just racked up over 6,000 kilometers on the ebike and I do my own maintenance . I have replaced the tires once, the chain three times and the disc brake pads four times. There's not much flat country where I live, so its hard on brakes. I have had to fix a rear flat at the side of the road and it was totally doable. I carry tools, spare tube and a rechargeable tire pump. I turned 74 this year. The ebike has been a life changer for me.
Same age as you, though perhaps not as mechanically inclined. My "regular" mountain bike has been a Trek Fuel EX 9.7, but I realized one day that I hadn't ridden it in months, having occupied (and preoccupied) myself with other things, such as hiking. I decided to get an eMTB and settled on a Velotric Summit 1. Glad I did. Not only am I back on the trails, but now I can chance pedaling until I'm worn out, without fear of being too tired to pedal back to the car (thanks, throttle!). I do my biking in the hour-away mountains, so lots of ups and downs. The eMTB allows me to get up hills that I once could pedal up with the Trek but eventually had to hike-a-bike with the Trek, and that took a lot of fun out of the rides. With the eMTB, the fun is back.
I have a co worker who is nearly 60 (im 26) and we both commute to work by bicycle. He was riding his old hybrid to work but couldn't manage the steep hill the way we both ride home every day and he would get off and push or sometimes drive to work because we are on our feet all day and its super tiring. ( I know this because i ride my non electric steel bike to work every day) He recently got a good quality bosch powered e bike and even when I set off 2 minutes before him he now races up past me on the hill without even trying, he rides it every day rain or shine. Personally they aren't for me at the moment, but as someone who plans on being a lifelong cyclist I can definitely see one in my hopefully distant future if im lucky enough to get old. Here in England the throttle is illegal and they only pedal assist you up to 15mph which really helps the safety side of things. All though you do get the occasional jack ass using a modified one with a throttle doing like 50mph on the sidewalk, I hate those people so much.
This is an example of a good e-bike use. He's using it as transportation. I recently visited London (From California), that's exactly how e-bikes should be integrated with society! A 15mph pedal assist limit is a very reasonable compromise. In CA we have 12 year old kids doing wheelies down the middle of the street on 40mph e-bikes. It's pure insanity!
I’m 61 and have been biking to work since I was 23. I have a climb of about 80 meters over less than 2 km. Kids are flashing past me on their way to fotball practice and I keep thinking I want to continue biking for as long as possible. I expect to be retired before I’m going to feel the need for an e-powered bike.
Similar story here, my buddy just turned 73 and rides with a younger crowd (40s, early 50s). He’s a great guy everyone likes and wants to ride with, but he’d been having a tougher time keeping with the group and felt bad he was slowing us down (the rest of us were fine riding slower, but he worried). He bought an e-gravel bike (Cannondale Topstone), and it’s made all the difference! He uses just enough assist to keep with the pack, and everyone has fun. Great solution!
I grew up in the 1970’s during the bicycle boom. I have always enjoyed riding for the exercise and joy. I have no problem with e-bikes it’s the crazy riders not following the rules of the road much like the crap I experience driving today… it’s not the machine it’s the driver/rider. I really enjoy your channel. Keep up the great work!
It's the same with these E-Scooters I personally never driven one of these yet (because I prefer a bike), IMHO they aren't "wrong" but I see a lot of morons driving around like crazy on these, also with a second person (which isn't allowed) and unilluminated in the dark (and these usually have lights, but they don't turn them on - why do they even have a light switch, why not a brightness sensor and/or always on when the traction power is on). But in the same way I "see" a lot of bikes unilluminated (or with the headlight completely misadjusted/loose) in the dark, some of these are E-Bikes (often MTBs that come without any lighting from the factory, clearly stating that they aren't legal for public roads (but usually police doesn't stop you because of that during the daytime, but in the dark) but most of them are non-electric.
Yes! Usually when someone can hold 22mph on a bike it’s because they’ve been riding forever and it’s much more likely they’ve learned the etiquette and how to ride safely. But when Joe Bag O’Doughnuts buys a Rad chopper that goes 28 without pedaling, he (yes, almost always he) puts everyone else in danger, or at least makes things less pleasant. Still, I’d rather have them on e-bikes than in cars.
The cancer treatment I am undergoing has practically eliminated my testosterone. As a result, energy loss, muscle mass melting away and weight gain are my new challenges. Not to mention the emotional the toll it takes. My e-bike keeps me on the mountain roads on my route. Knowing I have a helping hand of my e-bike (if needed) keeps me motivated to continually turning the pedals to keep the physical fight going.
Some of us because of age and or health find traditional biking to be a challenge. E-bikes can be a remedy, a fountain of youth, restoring that feeling of exhilaration and freedom.
Keep fighting my friend but I don't even have cancer but I have extremely low testosterone a 39 years old from a nasty ice hockey injury that I took when I was 16 I was hitting the back when I was pitting against the boards with the puck
Thank you for another thoughtful video. After five years of mountain biking and about 18 months of convincing from my girlfriend, I finally rented an e-mountain bike. I thought I would find it too easy, offering little challenge or exercise, but I was wrong. Renting that e-MTB was a great decision, and I bought one shortly thereafter. Taking trails at a higher speed adds a new kind of fun and challenge to riding. My bike handling has improved significantly, and the skills carry over to my main mountain bike. The thing that really surprised me was how much more cardio exercise I get than before, both overall and on a per-ride basis. Since you're not having do the bursts of all out effort that can come with trail riding, you have more endurance and you stay out longer. You also ride more often, because when you're on the fence on whether or not you want to go, especially when you're tired from the day before, you end up riding. It's a stunning piece of engineering that is an absolute joy to ride.
I bought an e-bike from a local shop, hoping to replace the car for short trips, and get in better shape (I am a boomer at 62). My city is hilly. Let me translate that for Midwesterners. My city is mountainous. After 40 years off a bike, I needed help to just get started again. I bought a pedal assist bike that looks like a regular bike. It rides better than my 70's10-speed without power. I now watch your channel, which I never would have before, installed fenders, seat and bike rack, and am actually lubing the chain with one-step (didn't do that as a teenager . . .). Yesterday I achieved my first e-bike fantasy -- rode to Walgreens, picked up 2 large packs of adult pull-on's, and pedaled my way to my mom's house with those suckers sticking out of my pannier.
Keep going! I'm 61 and had not ridden in 30 years. Now, I go to the doctor (get props for active transportation with them) optometrist, restaurants, grocery store (love my rear basket for that,) pottery studio, lunch with friends, banking, and a bunch of other stuff. I love it and feel more connected to my community than when I had to drag my car everywhere I went.
Hopefully you will be able to ride a standard bike again. I'm 63 and while I have an e-bike still still get more enjoyment out of regular bikes. Please don't be that boomer who only rides e-bikes.
@@cycologist7069 Hi Cycologist, I mostly ride it without power, starting the assist with a steeper climb or at the end of a ride to get home. This bike is better without power than the 10 speed I depended on as a teenager, though I am sure that is not saying much. Adding the bike type, Yamaha Crosscore
@@edithmaverickfolger4014 I can’t speak on the 10 speed you had as a teenager, but you should check out decent gravel bike. I ride a Marin Gestalt (with road tires) and it’s amazing for me. Super light but not too expensive. E-bikes without out the powers can be quite heavy.
I have been riding to school and then work for over 45 years. This journey has followed me through countless jobs, states, and now continents. I am still doing a physical job, and the Ebike I built is something I finally needed because at near to the age of 60 I have days where I just needed a day of recovery. My bike is a 2006 Specialized 26er with a Bafang 750W mid motor and sadde bags. It was so easy to build, and every part is easily replaceable. It definitely gets up and goes, so I do feel less venerable with traffic having the ability to speed up when needed. :). Have a great day!!
Getting my wife to go for a bike ride with me used to be very hard. She felt that she was holding me back. About 12 years ago, she bought a cheap Costco e-bike that turned her into a serious commuter. We live in a large Metro area, and she loves the fact that she doesn't have to look for parking or deal with traffic. Door-to-door transit times are usually faster on an e-bike than on a car. That bike is excellent for Costco trips, and it's been a great donkey for short bikepacking trips. Personally, I don't feel a need for an e-bike as I ride primarily for exercise, and I don't commute. If I was doing a long commute, I would consider it. There are lots of cyclists and e-bikes in our area. As in any group, we see a few people behaving badly on bikes, but generally, the cyclists I see are at least as well-mannered as car drivers.
@@GeoffreyMeredith ebikes are almost marriage savers in my experience. My wife can pedal on comfortably on her fat tad etrike and I can effectively pedal so hard I almost puke for an awesome workout, and we can be on the same ride. Before my wife would get winded by about 20% of my maximum output. She was miserable and I didn't get a good workout. With an ebike she had a lot of fun as my coach and I had a lot of fun pushing my limits on a ☕ ride.
We don't own e-bikes, but my wife and I enjoy renting them on trips now and then. It really is great for people with differing levels of endurance, or tolerance for getting winded and sweaty. At home, when we ride together, we have a tandem. The original effort-equalizing couples ride! @@IdahoFatTireBikeFun
My Ebike was my gateway into biking. I went from not biking at all 2 years ago to selling my car earlier this year and making my daily commute to work on my bike. I can totally understand the issue with servicing, and many of my local bike shops won't service e-bikes unless they were purchased there. That's actually why I started watching videos on bike maintenence so I can learn to do maintenence on my own! (replacing disc brake pads this weekend!) In the future I want to get a non-ebike and a "nice" e-bike or cargo bike, and I can't imagine I would have committed to a bike-centered life if they weren't so accessible.
On multi use bike paths, it’s not whether it’s an E bike or not, it’s just the speed. Somebody riding a human powered bicycle at 25 miles an hour where people are walking their dogs and pushing strollers is equally dangerous. Bike paths should have speed limit limits.
They do have speed limits, for the most part. When someone drives a Hellcat 160mph through a residential area and kills bystanders, people don't go talking about banning high powered cars and putting 85mph speed limiters. The general public will say "I need to speed for my own safety!" or "that inexperienced driver earned the money for his car!" but when ebikes get brought up the script flips.
Most do, most don't bother to read. We generally ride at around 15mph. When we approach humans and wildlife, we slow to 10mph (or less) vocalizing which side we are passing on. Yesterday on a bike path, this idiot on a regular bike and his tween son on an ebike went by me at 25mph with no warning. My wife who was behind me said he split between her as she was passing pedestrians on the path with no warning either. Not only was he a toolbag, but he was also teaching his son to be one on an ebike as well. People like this are the reason we have all of these dumbass restrictions. Only thinking of themselves because that is their "right" for "FREEDOM" or some bullshit.
It's not technically as dangerous because non-electric bikes aren't 80 pound tanks being haphazardly piloted by non-cyclists, but i get what you're saying, roadies riding full sprint through people because they don't want to lose there strava speed are irresponsible and annoying and i see it all too often. Also bike paths do have speed limits but they're really just suggestions for a safe speed as there is obviously no way to enforce them and in most situations outside of very busy days there wouldn't be a reason to follow them anyway.
Seconding that it's 15 MPH here on Denver multi use trails. Most ebikes out here max out at 20. It's been nothing but easy peasy to drop the pedal assist level, save some battery, and cruise at 15 or lower. It's already a shorter trip than a car because of traffic, and costs me nothing to slow down and save some battery, and enjoy the ride.
I love all kind of bikes. I have e-bike, traditional, road, mtb. Each one I use for a different purpose… riding with my kid in a child seat, shopping, ridding in the forest, commuting. But the most important thing that I achieve is having fun with all of them with their one features.
Couldn’t agree more with this video. I have a normal trek dual sport that I love. I also have a trek e bike that I use as a car replacement and for fun. I started with an Aventon, which tbh was fine and I had a dealer near me to service it. An e-bike allowed me and wife to go from two cars to one. I am more considerate around others and can see the frustration around people who just don’t care. But that’s not an e-bike problem that’s the person and people doing. Think you hit the nail on head. Don’t listen to all those people who are negative. Big fan of the channel!
I'm 65 years old and I use my e-bike for commuting. Taking off from a stop light under throttle and easily maintaining 20-30 mph in traffic greatly reduces road rage among car drivers. If you set your PAS on 1 or 2, your 60 lb eBike feels like a 25 lb hybrid and you will be able to achieve 15-20 mph with similar effort. I often go to the grocery store and load my cargo bike with 100lbs of groceries pedaling uphill on a hot day. The objective is to ride with fast cadence and low torque. Easier on my old joints and still provides cardio.
Itd be cheaper but good luck pedaling up a steep hill with 100lbs of groceries. Ebikes make it easier for older and overweight folks to get into fitness, not one thing wrong with that, it's their money@@terrycruise-zd5tw
@@terrycruise-zd5twI tend to go your way, but I can tell you that a loaded cargo bike handles better than hauling a trailer behind a traditional bike and most can haul more, better balanced, than the trailers available to us. Heavy-duty trailers, that can haul more than 100#'s, cost more than the difference in price of a cargo bike.
I'm a 40 year old dad of a 4 year old and we live in an area with a ton of bike trails (mountain). With him seated in front of me we have had so much fun together on my ebike on the local trails. As he gets heavier we can still go for epic 3-4 hour rides just enjoying nature with each other. It is one of my favorite things in life.
As I celebrate my 50th trip around the sun this year, I reflect on a vibrant past filled with thrilling mountain bike adventures and daily 10k runs. Alas, a knee injury from work threw a wrench in my active lifestyle, leaving me sidelined. But then, like a beacon of hope, I discovered e-bikes! With this newfound companion, I’ve rekindled my love for the great outdoors, rediscovering the joy of movement and fitness. It feels like I’ve been given a second chance, and I’m absolutely loving every moment of it!
I do not own an e-bike, however I do LOVE when I see anyone on a bike. E bike or not, I just enjoy seeing others out enjoying the trails! If an ebike is the way to get someone out of the house, hells yes more power to you! I ride with a big group of friends every Wednesday night, some of them are on a pedal assist bike, lots of the really nice Rocky Mountain power play rigs, most of them are older and had really struggled to get up the big climbs. Now they can ride everywhere that they used to ride before injury and Father Time degrades joints. Some will say “it’s not fair they are cheating” if you feel that way, why don’t you just go get a similar rig so you can scream up the hills as well? My point is that if a bike or e bike gets you out of your home, then it’s a good thing!
Another well done video, thanks Andy! I agree with virtually everything you said about e-bikes. I live in a small west Texas town, 6,000 residents, 2 hours from any larger town with a bike shop. Everyone here knows me as 🎉that guy “with the bikes” or “…who fixes bikes” or “…who used to work at the bike shop before it closed”. Like you, I can’t take on the liability for fixing e-bikes, but I don’t think e-bikes are bad or wrong, and that confuses some of the locals. It is what it is, and it’s always the same struggle for early adopters of any new technologies. I can only imagine what it was like a hundred or more years ago to have a car and have no gas stations, or 150 years ago and have the only bicycle in town. I think the e-bike scene is going to get better, more standardized, easier to deal with, but it will take time. I’m glad you took the time to cover this subject, glad you did such a fine job of explaining why servicing e-bikes is not something every bike mechanic wants to do, and glad you’re enjoying your Golf e-bike. Rock on youngster, and don’t worry about your forehead: “It’s good enough for who it’s for!” 😁❤
There's sumgai in my bicycle club who brags that his self-souped up 55 pound ebike can reach 34 mph, so his bike is essentially a moped. And he's afraid of roads so he only rides the multi-use trails. He's the sort of maniac who gives ebikes a bad reputation.
@tomcollen462 Sounds like his bike is literally a Moped. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but Sumgai here needs to respect the trail and the folks that use it.
German legislation is quite interesting on that matter, we basically have two categories: Most have a "Pedelec", their engine only works while you're pedaling, they're limited to ~25 kph (15.5 mph) you don't need a driver's licence, can use them on all bicycle lanes etc. literally don't even need a helmet. And then we have S-Pedelecs, these are literally like scooters/mopeds (Vespa) can do up to ~45 kph (28 mph), you need the drivers licence for that, insurance number plate and helmet is mandatory and these aren't allowed on bicycle lanes; AFAIK their market share is around 1% or even less. IMHO it's okay to use the bike lane/path when it isn't forbidden for his bike and rather empty, but if there's some traffic around, he should definitely slow down and not rush through there with inappropriate high speeds (AFAIK speeding is one of the main road traffic accident causes together with insufficient (safety) distance).
That was a refreshing outlook. I bought a Specialized Levo turbo 3 years ago when I was really unfit so I could keep up with my friends on the trails. Now im much fitter and have a fixie that I ride day to day. The levo takes a whole day to do a full service, rear linkage bearongs, headset, fresh cables, dropper service, fork service, motor out deep clean. But my fixie is only a hour job to do a total strip and rebuild. Both very different and both very good tools for different jobs.
I live in southern Utah. I been riding MTB for thirty years. Built trails ,maintenanced trails and work and repair all my bikes. My family and I own a lot of bikes. I am 64 now and I got a Trek exe this spring and love it. I'm riding twice the miles a week and multiple laps on trails I used to ride one lap on, You nailed this with the ego issue of bikers not liking getting passed or lapped. I have never had an issue with people passing me. it;s not a race. If you want a real race, enter a real race. I get more saddle time and I run mine in eco mode. I love being able to adjust my power levels and use the wattage meter and see how much power I am putting out with the motor vs me. Never knew the wattage I was producing. It allows you to stay in a high aerobic level much longer without killing yourself. Now when a ride my regular bikes, I'm faster too and it feels easier.
I'm 70. I had a stroke a little more than a year ago. It destroyed my balance but as I discovered in therapy, I still like to ride. Started looking around at tricycles and went over to the Richardson (Texas) Bike Mart to try out a Catrike, a tadpole-style tricycle with the two wheels in the front while the third serves as the drive wheel like one of those motorized slingshots. I liked it a lot. While not as fast as my Specialized Tarmac (runs about 3 mph slower in the average speed) it certainly doesn't feel slow because you are so close to the ground. It's not sensitive to headwinds and down a hill or in a turn it's very fast. I was surprised that my wife, who can ride a bike just fine, liked it too. We have both been injured in bike crashes and know that no matter how careful you are, as much as we ride, we're going to occasionally crash. Her friends has been on her about changing hobbies for her health. So I gave her the Tadpole that I bought and I bought another basket case tadpole, rebuilt it and now it rides just fine. Don't worry, I'm getting to the electric part. So now I start using social media to see about connecting with the Tadpole community. I used to race a long long time ago. I actually was in two races with Lance (He won both of them). I certainly don't race anymore but for me my ride is a fitness thing. A way to get outside and use my body. I don't need an electric bike yet. Now if I was commuting to the office or using the bike as transportation for my life then I would get an e-bike with a throttle and a 1500 watt motor and a big ass battery and rip it up. I have nothing against it and it would be fun. What I see in the tricycle communities around me are a lot of folks that never got any exercise, slapping motors on their tikes and going for 40 mile group rides and making a day of it. Now if you have an electric motor on your bike I don't want to know how far and fast you went. It's not the same. I also don't want to ride with you because it's not the same. The other thing that bothers me are the electric bikes on the bike paths. There is a stretch of twisty, dark forest trail near me where I have almost been involved in accidents with reckless e-bikes more than a dozen times. So dangerous. If you are on an e-bike on a bike trail please be careful! So I'm not against e-bikes but there are a couples of exceptions.
We really enjoy our ebikes. Have a radwagon cargo bike. Fortunate enough that multiple mechanics in town will do mechanical work, just not electrical. Grateful when I don't have the time or when I'm really up a creek and don't have the ability. I pay whatever bill without arguing and buy other supplies from them so hopefully that helps. I've had a couple electrical problems with my Rad over the last year. It is frustrating to not have a professional to diagnose it. Instead you're online reading forums, or the company page. Eventually might get to being online with customer service. Obviously it's hard to diagnose a problem over the phone/chat window. So go through a period of guess, wait for them to send you something, then see if it works. I tell people about that when the inquire about what ebike they should buy. My bike has been great for hauling my kids around town and getting large grocery loads. I wouldn't do it without the e-assist. I mostly use the trails and city side streets. I simply don't feel safe in traffic with kids, too many speeders and careless drivers. I do slow down around pedestrians, signal my approach, and find e-assist means I don't mind slowing down because it's so easy to speed back up. If things are really packed for a bit with strollers or dogs, I'll just go out in the grass if possible. Again, thank you e-assist. My wife has a Tern cargo bike from a store in town. It's definitely a nicer bike in so many ways. Makes me wish we had started with one, but the price was just too much for someone who had never spent more than $100 bucks on a bike. The first one though helped us come to the conclusion that if you can afford something from a local dealer, you definitely should. I think that there's going to be a ton of discarded Chinese ebikes down the road in a few years. Not sure if there's a business opportunity to get some running again, but maybe a volunteer organization could find a place. I found your discussion and viewpoint really mature, especially compared to all the stuff I read out there. The NYT should watch your video.
I'm an old boomer, 72. For several years I got around on a regular bicycle because cars cost too much. I'm a transportation rider, not one of you lycra- wearing sport geeks. I also used to ride a motorcycle, but that was just too dangerous with all the heavy traffic in my city. Then I got this Chinese e- bike through the mail! Wow. My city is quite hilly but this has some power with two strong hub motors and a huge 60AH battery. I usually ride around just using the rear 1000W motor. But on a steep hill I click on the front 750W as well and BAM, like the afterburner kicking in on a jet. I love it ! Remember when Wiley Coyote put on the ACME rocket shoes to catch the Road Runner. That's what it's like.The astonished young people are the road runner. Haw Haw, I'm as fast as you, punk! Beep Beep, comin' thru! This thing gets with the program. I switch it on and GO. Gently twist the throttle, the hills disappear. This thing also has mag wheels, meaning no spoke hassles and wheel truing, which for me is a huge advantage. I also don't have to mess around with deraileur adjustments either, since I don't have to pedal unless I want to, and I usually don't. The bike requires little maintenance, mainly just replace the disc brake pads, which is simple. The only downside is it's more of a hassle to change a flat. Unlike my motorcycle I can ride this thing anywhere: street, sidewalks, off road, in parks...nobody cares, i.e. "oh, it's just a bicycle." Cops ignore me. Park anywhere, just lock it to a pole or fence ; No insurance, no tag, tax or registration, no gas stations. Because this is a strong e- bike, I can load up the dog trailer with cargo and easily ascend hills, no problem. This bike is a poor social security boomer's magic carpet. Huffing and puffing up those hills? Fuggetaboutit!
Im 67 years old, been mountain biking since the clunker days. I bought a 750 watt middrive motor and mounted it on my 35 year old cannondale i put almost 1000 miles on it since march, i havnt had to do anything to it other than adding a shift sensor which was an option i should have added when i put it on. As long as i can get my leg over the seat im riding, moving those big muscles in my legs is good for me even if it is "easy"
I have a similar setup on my Trek Dual Sport. As for the easy pedaling thing, I think a lot of people don't understand how pedal assist works and think we just run around all day in throttle mode. I am pedaling all the time on my bike. Usually leave it in 0 or 1 PAS. Kick it up to 5-7 for crossing busy roads for a boost and up steep trails where I don't want to shift or work too hard. Low impact of ebikes is a great thing. I've talked with my doc about it and he was basically like, "If it gets you out there, it's a good thing:.
i was on the fence about e bikes, was living in a coastal city at sea level, didn't climb too much elevation. but when i moved to a higher elevation plus having to climb an avg of 1,000ft every day changed my tune. purchased an Allant8s+ i did a ton of research into who had the most torque on their bicycles. its got 4 function pedal assist, works really well you can control how much boost you have, 1-2 settings take a lot of effort to get to the 28mph max assist, but the 3-4 settings really make it fast, but you have to shift for optimal gearing. its about a 34mile round trip daily to work, only takes two hours on the e bike, and I'm still fresh enough when i get there, where as it takes about 1:34 mins on a normal bicycle, luckily there's a really great bicycle path that runs along where i need to go. and i don't have the issue of people walking along it, like most multi use paths, because its so far away from pedestrians. i generally still think of them as a safety risk, reaching 28mph on a standard bicycle takes some effort, and the Allant 8s+ weighs about 55 Lbs, 24.9 kg + another 15 lbs in my bags on the back so cornering takes getting some used too. an issue i find, is that the youth on the throttle assists, riding tandem on these cheap imports, they struggle to slow down. and they like to max speed into oncoming traffic, youth will be youth i suppose never changing lol.
Boomer here and a life long cycling enthusiast. I waited till 40 to have kids; within 5 years I was hardly cycling... until I retired in my early 60's. That's when I got myself a Giant e-mountain bike and it's awesome. It's fairly light, has no throttle, and I choose to ride on a low battery assist mostly. Last year I did a 100+km trail and rode with the battery off for a bit so I would have assist at the end, should I need it. I have no interest in a throttle for now, and I steer clear of inexpensive bikes made in China because I don't want my house to go up in flames. The batteries from reputable companies like Giant seem to be more reliable. By the way, I love watching your show because the bikes you work on are the types of bikes I used for my long-distance tours in my heyday. I toured all over Europe for many years on a Trek mountain bike with slick tires. I liked the fit and sturdiness of the frame because without Google maps, I often found myself off-road on pretty rutted trails or on cobblestone streets in tiny villages.
I just got an e-bike. I am 81 and been a cyclist off and on all my life. My bike up until now has been a Trek 1500. I love the bike. But going up hills, and dealing with wind is definitely a challenge at times. And my e-bike eliminates both. Cadence, and effort a choice. I am a mostly daily rider. On Trek, usually 17 miles. Now maybe 23 in same time frame. I learn something new about the machine every day. But I get it that it is not really a bike, per se. I is a motor-bike. It has turn signals! It does not feel like a road bike. It feels like a truck that has qualities of a bike. Bottom line, it is a game changer for me. A new cycling reality. And fun. I did watch the entire video, and really enjoyed it. I mostly like that you like who are, and share it. Thanks. Ron
Bikes are awesome. I think this is the second golden age of the bicycle. They changed the world when the "safety bicycle" came along. This era is making a bike accessible to so many more people. That does come with down sides, and some people shouldn't be riding a bike on public roads, period...but this is a great era for the bicycle. My trucks battery needs to be disconnected as my high end diy ebikes have become the daily drivers. It dies slowly from inactivity and voltage drain. I enjoy wrenching on them as well. I've rebuilt the mid drive motors I use, and can fix anything on my rides. Decades of bike handling skills come in handy on a high end E bike.
I love getting outside and just smelling the roses as I ride my bike , I’m in no rush , don’t have to prove anything to anyone , I’m retired taking time to smell the roses and enjoying the small things in life are what I look for in a bike ride , that being said , whatever flips your lid …go for it you only live once , I love working on my old bikes and get a lot of self satisfaction in doing so , that’s why I appreciate watching someone like the bike farmer work and talk at the same time , as for me working on my bikes consumes all my attention I’m not an expert and probably don’t do a great job but it makes my day to tinker on my bike , I guess am ranting here just like the bike farmer but all this to say that what makes me have fun and be fun to be around may not be like the next guy , live and let live , ebikes seem so cool I’d love to own one but they are expensive so not in the cards , I also like the simplicity of my old clunker . Salute to all bikers let’s remember when we were little tikes ruling the world on our bikes . Cheers
but riding a regular bike would extending the lives even more. People get knee pain from riding a regular bike the wrong way, not because they have Arthritis.
I'm 66, fat, and have wonky knees. Riding my pedal bike on multi-use trails is the one activity where my knees feel great. Most of these trails are flat or low grade. Adjust your seat to the right height and it's not that tough.
What excersse try riding A Bike against the wind on a regular Bike . And the legs do the Work How is pedeking With your Hand on the throttle excersise I use to have a Moped it's the same thing You know how many Over weight People I seen on EBikes
@@FuchsHorst Ha, ha you obviously don't have bad arthritis! I have ridden bikes for decades. My knees only hurt when the arthritis got bad when I got older. Same bikes, older age, worse knees. If I lived someplace flat I wouldn't need an ebike, but we have 9% grade hills around here or worse. I inherited my arthritis, not much to be done other than get along with it. Have a good day.
Wife and I are 75 and 76. In reasonably good shape. Been riding regular bikes for years and now also e-bikes. Great fun as it allows us more freedom to ride longer distance, not fight headwinds, carry picnic lunch, etc. HOWEVER…..riding a e-bike safely requires a different mindset. Much Like a motorcycle. Be mindful of faster speed, longer stopping distances, bike weight, Rear flat repair complexity, and most importantly your own physical limitations. Great topic! Thanks, Key West Rick
I've cycled most of my life since I was a kid. Now I am in my late 60's and last year I switched from a Scott road bike to an electric road touring bike (Eleglide T1). It is purely pedal assist (no throttle) and is fully road legal here in the UK. It has been a game changer for me and I am not sure I would be enjoying my cycling so much, or even cycling at all, if I hadn't bought it. I do mostly cycle touring on a mix of roads and gravel trails, up to around 30 to 40 miles in a day and do lots of multi-day rides staying at B&B's overnight. It has given me a new lease of life and a renewed enjoyment of cycling and I am cycling more with this bike than I was with my previous one, which I believe is quite common with e-bike riders. If electric bikes are used correctly they can be a real benefit for many people who perhaps wouldn't otherwise cycle.
You are who e-bikes are for. You have experience so you aren't stupid. You're over 65 and could use some muscle help. You don't want to fall, so you'll be safe. Your story is a perfect use for e-bikes.
So I got a pair of cargo ebikes. The wife and I consider them mopeds, and they are fun. We put the kids on the back as well. They have their purpose and it got the wife back on a "bike" and it brought back the joy she had as a kid. I see now that I could buy an affordable lightweight bikes thanks to your channel. Another UA-camr, Johnny Nerd Out, has diy options I'm considering for future ebikes that would allow me to service them myself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge. I love you channel.
Research from the past 50 or so years shows that whenever more infrastructure is added to alleviate traffic congestion - adding more roads or widening existing ones - it consistently results in even more road users with the same problems of traffic congestion. Stop building for cars and start building for bikes, we'll see a massive shift.
I will say this ... I have a 3-4 year old e-bike; it's basically hardtail just like this one, with a hub motor, from a large major manufacturer. It truly is an awesome bike; great for commuter riding. And it's built with all Shimano components, very easy to find parts. But I can totally see your standpoint as a shopowner; especially the liability question. For myself, I pride myself on being able to service and fix anything I own. I just like working with tools with my hands. My current "stable" is an early 90s Trek 930, and this commuter e-bike. Each has their places. And both are fun.
Hi. I bought this summer in July - around-ish, a mid drive Bafang kit of 750w for my Canondale Trail 6 fron 2017 27.5 bike. Since then i love riding. I say i'm 43 and all my childhood was spent on a bike. But getting older i have had some lung issues and couldn't ride anymore, starting around 4 or 5 years since. This motor changed my life, i'm so happy pedaling. The problem was when i was pedaling my lungs were iritating, so i got a facemask and it was better, but still got lung iritations. My body is kinda weak so i have to protect my throat and chest somehow while on bike, and full power pedaling got my lungs very iritated so i stopped biking and got to work with my car. Since i bought that Bafang motor, the car is in the garage waiting for me :). I think ebiking (all sorts of it) is the best finding in the late 50 years, and it's the best way to commute, absolutely the best. I'm glad that now i can pedal, i love pedaling, i like also the throttle, but a bike is not a bike without pedaling, so i pedal
Sounds to me like his answer is, "Given today's litigious society, I'm not willing to risk the assets I've managed to accumulate through many years of hard work to please people who may wind up suing me, with a lawyer on contingency so they don't have to spend a dime, for everything I've got. The insurance company maybe isn't the problem. I think his approach is entirely sensible.
@@teacherguy5084 Yes. My point was this is a nice line he can tell those seeking his services why he can't in a way that is less confrontational and offensive to them. Everything you said is the actual reason, but you can't spew that at people unless you want to retire your shop.
Thanks BikeFarmer for providing your viewpoints. I can appreciate your position on servicing off-brand e-bikes, hey it's your business after all, and it's indeed unfortunate that there's some subset of the population that might indeed sue you instead of taking responsibility for their personal decisions and/or actions. I don't see you as being a hypocrite at all, your golf e-bike fills your need for golf course transportation, that's all, and that's wonderful. I used to ride a lot recreationally when I was younger, and I still own my 94-95 Trek 820 Singletrack, which I ride when accompanying my wife on local bike paths and trails. She was not a regular rider back in the day, and we're older now (mid-60's) so when we decided to take up regular riding again I bought her a Liv (Giant) adventure e-bike (Class 1, pedal assist only no throttle). I'm finding that I can't quite keep up with her with my Trek, so I will probably save my pennies so I can buy an e-bike for myself. On occasion I have taken her bike out on solo rides and I love the ability to ride further for the same amount of expended energy. So haters, please don't hate based on the type of bike we may be riding, but rather appreciate that e-bikes are just plain fun, and may be the reason that we can ride at all. Reserve the hate, or at least disrespect, for those who are not riding responsibly and courteously.
I didn't ride my bike for years because I live in a hilly area and I do not find riding up steep hills to be fun. Sure the exertion is good for you, but the reward wasn't worth it for me, so my bike collected dust. I managed to get a job that is close to home, close enough that it didn't make sense to drive, but too far to reasonably walk, but of course have significant hills between. I looked into ebikes and saw all the cheap Chinese ones out there, started doing research and which actually were "good" and then found out about DIY ebike conversions. That was just the ticket. I added a motor to my old bike and it has worked great. It got me back in the saddle and riding up hills is just like riding on flats for the most part. Any maintenance I do on it is just normal bike maintenance with standard bike parts. I still have my truck, but I now have to gas it up like once every two months. My bike has the throttle available, and could probably do like 33 MPH, but I always keep it in the low pedal assist setting. I do want to get SOME exercise on it still!
I got my ebike 2 years ago from a local manufacturer. I purposely chose this brand in part for the fact that they provided service support. I’ve had a user error issue and it was great to be able to drop it off and get it taken care of within a few days. I’ve put 1,700 miles on my bike and it’s my favorite way to run local errands. When I go to the local mountains, it’s great to just park the car and use the bike (on the bike path) for the entire trip. There’s a 15% grade up to the lakes, so the e-bike definitely makes that part of the ride more pleasant. 😂
I have a cheapo (even though to us $900 is not cheap money) Chinese ebike and love the crap out of that thing. I have ridden analog bikes of all kinds my whole life as well (42 now). Road bikes, mountain, comfort, old school ebikes from 2010s. This cheap Chinese bike is my favorite item might be the best thing I ever bought, ever. I get that much enjoyment from it. I have over 2400 miles on it so far, still doing well. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined so should be able to perform maintenance (besides the tires I've replaced). One of my favorite things to do on it is throttle to the countryside and turn off everything and gain strength/exercise pedaling that beast around on dirt roads. When exhausted, Ill power it up and fly back home. Im also an amputee so on days where my prosthetic is bothering me or has a blister and I can't pedal, I can still get out and throttle. Edit because I should add I still ride my regular "analog" bikes half the time, even though my son told me "regular bikes are lame" lol.
I Just discovered your channel. Great job! My wife and I took up casual bike riding when we turned 40. We mostly ride in the Grand Teton park and could make 20 miles max. The hills are certainly a challenge and we would have to walk our bikes at times. We our now 60 years old. We purchased our ebikes two years ago and it has been a game changer. We have class 3 Priority Currents. No throttle. No more walking on the hills and we can make 30 miles comfortably. It is unfortunate that some folks are biased against ebikes. When you are riding, one will find bad trail etiquette regardless of the mode of travel. Difference in speed and weight is the issue. Our ebikes our no faster than the serious cyclists on the trail, but they do weigh more. The Current is on the lighter side for the torque it has. Lots of hills in the Tetons. Given the weight and speed a certain skill level is required to operate them. For myself, a long time motocrosser, it was not a big deal for me. For my wife, she is still learning and she has been riding bicycles regularly for 20 years. We have over 400 miles on our ebikes. Generally ride at 15 Mph with a max of 20. We have a bell and announce ourselves when passing. We also only ride single file on the correct side of the bike path and wear a proper certified ebike helmet.
I almost died in 2021 twice from Covid, & was diagnosed with Long Covid as well, & was in really terrible shape after all this, & pretty much given up on life, because I wasn't getting any better, so as a last ditch effort, I bought an ebike, & it CHANGED MY LIFE!!! 💯 Within a month I sold my cars & been commuting full time on them ever since here in Reno, & even do it as a single father, my son loves ebikes as much as his father. I also ride bmx bikes as well, once I got healthy enough, & it got me to lose 80lbs & quit smoking after 35 years, you feel pretty stupid lighting a cigarette up after you just had a nice ride, pretty counter productive!😂
I currently have 4 bikes. 2 of them are now e-bikes: a carbon LeMond gravel bike and a Surly Big Easy cargo bike. I can ride EVERY day without having to blow my knees out, and I have my regular road bike for conventional rides and a fat bike for winter riding here in Minnesota. Anyone who hates e-bikes has obviously never tried one because they make everyone smile. E-bikes get more people on bikes and out of their cars, and allow me to keep riding even during “recovery” days.
It sounds like you may have submitted to the experimental jabs promoted by Dr. FAXXI? I am sorry to hear it. I took Vitamin D instead, my wife got it but I never did. I never wore a silly mask or 2. Keep riding hard and look forward.
Well said! My wife and I are long time analog mountain bikers and ebike commuters and we really love the benefits of both platforms... We have had emtbs also and enjoyed ripping around the trails but I gave them up due to the intense maintenance and depreciation. MTB fills our physical challenge and social cups while our commuters allow us to cover great distance in the fresh air, in reasonable time and without significant exertion... I'd have ALL the bikes if I could... Love your work Mr B Farmer - keep it up!
Electric cargo bikes are the best!!! Great way to get around for errands and haul the kids as well. I still have a smile everytime i am on one of my ebikes. A tern gsd is just such a great way to get around and easily can replace a car. A belt and internal gear hub is just a math made in heaven for an ebike.
Agreed. eBikes are great car replacements and the people who say that ebikes should be banned are often getting groceries in their truck, running errands in their truck, commuting in their truck and driving their MTB or gravel bike to the trailhead and don't see the irony in that.
I agree. I have a Specialized Turbo Levo, and despite aging and some health concerns, still have over 3,000 miles on it. Accepted lots of upgrades, esp to brakes. Class 1 bikes are the best for mixed use, because you cannot get the high speeds otherwise without pedaling. But a throttle bike can get you into a little trouble. Really, I think it is the best and most fun think I own!
It does no good to hate on hardware. My problem with ebikes is the people who ride them, and have power beyond their bike handling capabilities and are too new to understand basic bike courtesy. That said, I also saw a pretty legit-sounding survey that says ebike riders, on average get, MORE exercise than regular bike riders because they go out more often and stay out longer. (Yes, I know, we are not "on average" bike riders here.)
@shauncasey8295 Looking at a single person's habits is the opposite of what surveys and studies are for, and it isn't misleading to say that if you give a thousand random people ebikes and another thousand acoustic bikes that the ebike group will on average get more exercise; it's true. Since the average random person will ride an acoustic bike around the block twice and then leave it in the shed until it's eventually featured on this channel.
@@shauncasey8295as they say there’s lies, there’s damned lies, and then there’s statistics :) I don’t believe those reports for a second, there’s no reliable way to collect such data on actual usage, it’s just paid research for marketing purposes
huge advocate for ebikes. have a cargo ebikes that's fun and replaces so many car trips. live near a multi use trail that i use for dog walks, runs, and bike rides. have noticed a lot more ebikes, but they have not caused any problems. certainly no more problems than regular bikes. it is always nice to see people on the trail would otherwise would not be using it. they tend to stick to a leisurely pace, too. i use my bell a lot on blind curves and tunnels. think they are perfectly safe as long as people are reasonably considerate, which they have been in my experience. only concern would be younger kids who seem more reckless and tend to ride at night. but overall, i love ebikes and hope to see the continued growth and use of them. (would definitely prefer more dedicated bike infrastructure, but that is a different conversation. one that may be more salient with the prevalence of ebikes).
I've ridden bikes since the 80's, mostly road bikes. Still have a couple from the beginning. My new one is a gravel bike by Specialized and I adore it. I ride mixed about 120+ miles a week. That said, I also have a Juiced e-bike that I love. My wife has one too. The e-bike lets me do things at 60+ I could not do anymore. I love to mix and match on my bikes, depending on my mood or health. No one should feel they are "cheating" on an e-bike. I ride mine hard with minimal pedal assist and I get a fine workout...with 100+ lbs of bike to haul around, you can really work hard if you choose to.
My eMTB has been a blessing for me - I used to have riding buddies on normal bikes, but when they got tired of climbing challenging trails in the woods, I found it hard to stay motivated to go out alone time and time again. I bit the lemon after a few years and bought an electric, not expecting the enormous advantage. My average HR is maybe 10bpm lower on a ride, but I go three times as far and stay out double the time. So for me, it's actually increased my excercise level substantially. I still use my normal trail bike, and always take it when I ride with buddies(or even offer them the ebike if their not quite as in shape).
I resisted e-bikes until age 72. I need to keep my heart rate within a safe range. I ride dirt and gravel roads exclusively. I noticed my heart rate rising into the danger zone when climbing. I relented and bought two e-bikes, a gravel bike and a mountain bike. Oh man! I can tackle the most difficult portions of my rides with gusto while keeping my heart rate in a safe range. I have not given up my "push" bikes. I used these bikes regularly but on trails that do not adversely affect my heart rate. I have built bikes from scratch and have experience working with electrical circuits, so I am not intimidated by having to diagnose and repair my e-bikes. My e-bikes allow me to ride vigorously while keeping my healthy.
I bought a Riese and Müller (spent a few $) and it’s changed so many things for me. You are right, an ebike (done right) can be a car replacement. I use it for all my errands and it’s saved thousands of miles on my car. And I don’t live in a city, I live in a rural setting, so it takes tens of miles to do anything. I originally tried to ride on the trails but it just doesn’t suit. It’s for the road, it’s for replacing the car and getting outside and exercise. And that’s what it’s good for and worth it. 😊
It’s way to easy for a e-bike rider that lacks bike handling skills, to get in over their head. Gonna be a bad outcome of crashing an e-bike at 18- 28 mph😢, when most analog speed are 10-13 mph.That said , love my specialized turbo Vado.
I am riding my road bike easily with 22 mph on flat terrain. Downhill I reach 31-53 mph. I don’t think of crashing. I make sure I am going as fast as the situation allows to stay safe (including the other riders as a potential risk).
@@gnufoo8478 trying to figure out how this applied to the OP's comment? if you are unexperienced, you really shouldn't be riding that fast. you need bike handling skills to be able to avoid the common inevitable falls which include sand or water in corners, bad drivers etc. bragging about going fast on an e bike while being inexperienced just tells me your time on a bike is limited
@@bmxscape Seem you didn't get me. I tried to say that you don't need an ebike to be fast, because the OP(?) assumes that ebike go 5-12 mphs faster than non-ebikes. This is wrong. What do you call "bregging"? and why on an ebike? And why do you assume I am inexperienced? I say you should go as fast as you stay safe, implementing the expertise and capability of analyzing your environment. Of course there is always a remaing risk, which nobody can exclude-not even at walking pace. And btw… why do ebike riders always lack handling whereas the remaining part of non ebike heros doesn't? Why do I actually answer you? For one moment get rid of stereotypes…🧐
@@gnufoo8478I ride an ebike (and regular bikes) and have been cycling for 40 years. Most people on ebikes have not been riding for 40 years. Most people on e-bikes are out of shape, have very little cycling experience, and can go faster than their skills safely allow them to. It’s not that difficult to figure out how that could become an issue.
So I’m stationed in a small rural town in Japan. I bought a mamachari “mom bike” as a way to get around and because riding bikes in Japan is just a vibe on its own. It was a 6 speed and I could power up hills with a kid in tow. My wife doesn’t drive and needed away to get around, and these hills can be tough, so I bought her a Panasonic Gyuuto e-bike. That thing is freaking sweet. Besides hauling ass on it if you wanted to, hills are non existent with the pedal assist. My wife has a practical way of getting around town, and I have a toy to joy ride with.
Thanks for the honest conversation around this topic. People can choose to be polarized around a particular topic or just simply do what speaks to them without the drama. Sounds like you have adopted the latter, healthier approach. By the way, where did you get your shop apron? That looks like a quality piece of gear.
69 years old. Been riding 60 years. Truck bikes, krate bike, 70s race bike, mountain bike, converted to expedition bike. Got an ebike to commute over a mountain pass in L.A. Health. It did pay for itself in gas alone and pretty quick. So fun, and made the pass ride doable. 13 years later I still have the bike, and ride it in the sierra foothills. Still have and ride my “legit” bikes. Never stopped. I do pedal, do work at it, but can go farther and in places I never could before. Better yet, I can go places and as far as I used to be able to go. It’s a pedego interceptor, a fairly established ebike company, and one of their first models. I did have to solve problems, the worst being the rear wheel being unhappy with the tork, and high speed pothole encounters, the shop and I kept replacing spokes and rebuilding that wheel until I took it to a motorcycle wheel builder for bigass spokes. I understand that one would not want to work on these things. So many controllers, so little time.
I bought Aventon… yes they are direct to consumer, but they also sell through stores and I bought mine at my local bike shop run by a bunch of hippies (like many excellent bike shops are). Key for me is this shop services them.
@@daneish96 How much of a pain is it? I have a regular bike with a Gates belt drive, Shimano Alfine 8 internal gear hub, and disc brakes, and it's slightly more work to take the rear wheel off, but it only takes a minute. It's absolutely worth never having to deal with a chain, a derailleur, or rim brakes ever again. I can't imagine an e-bike is much more complicated. First is loosening the 15mm axle nuts, same as any normal bike. Because the horizontal dropouts are rear-facing, I have to remove the brake caliper (two easy-to-access 5mm bolts). The belt drive means I have to back off the two 3mm tensioner screws a few turns to get the belt off the pulley. And the internal gear hub takes a 2mm stick (spare spoke or an Allen key) to release tension on the shifter cable in order to disconnect it. The first time was a learning process, but it's not hard at all.
I love my ebike. It replaced my truck! Helped me get through the winter and everything else. Id love to always have an ebike, and maybe get a good regular bike as well. We'll see! For a daily commuter theres nothing better than one, in my opinion. Servicing it has been a pain as i have one bike shop that doesn't want to touch it, so ive had to learn how to do maintenance for my own bike. Which is fine, i see your point about maintenance and highly respect that. If there was more people able to ride bikes(of any kind) to work or as commuters i think it would be for the best. Its not the wasiest in bad weather, but still.
When I grew up in the 60's my bicycle was freedom and fun. I loved exploring the city streets and parks, trekking to the waterfront to fish and doing some ad hoc street rally races with time trials. I have noticed that children are less inclined to ride bicycles now. I suspect the reasons are parental safety concerns, traffic tolerance and opportunity. Now I see children on motor scooters, motor boards and cheap electric bikes more often than a bicycle. Soon we won't need legs!
Great video! I'm so thankful that I've been able to get back out on the road with a huge chunk of missing cartilage in my knee. I have a little over 40 miles on my new Aventon Soltera.2. It's fantastic! I bought it at a local shop a couple of weeks ago. It's relatively low weight and just feels like a regular bike with a bit of help on the hills. My wife and I went on a nice long bike ride tonight and my knee feels great!
Personally I think ebikes are a blast to ride and they are a game changer for my dad who is well into his 70s. But I think that pedal assist ebikes need to actually be pedal assist ebikes. A lot of them have throttles and the speed limiters can be trivially bypassed. People going 30mph on their 80 pounds electric mopeds need to do so on the street. Where I live there's sometimes speed limits posted on bike lanes, but I've never heard of these speed limits being enforced. Otherwise it is merely suggested to use the street if going faster than 20mph, but its not a requirement, and obviously not enforced.
I’ve been an avid mountain biker for 20+ years. When I started I really got into XC riding. As time went on I moved into more trail/enduro oriented bikes with bigger travel and bigger tires. Lately I’ve been riding more paved trails in my area and even just installed gravel tires on my XC bike. Maybe my next bike will be a gravel bike or perhaps even a road bike? A couple years ago I demoed a Turbo Levo at my local trail and it was a blast! My only point in saying all this is that if I had the money I’d own a bike for every occasion. I just love riding. It all has its place. Anyone that disagrees is just looking for something to argue about.
It isn;'t the bike, it's the rider. I've been mute-passed by ten times more acoustic riding chamois-sniffing pathletes than e-bikers. Just ride responsibly.
For real. Ask yourself whether it's ok for your ego for any other rider to pass you on the hills from time to time. Then ask yourself if it matters whether that person passing you is a lady on an ebike or a 20-something guy in lycra on a plastic racing bike.
I've been a bike riding and wrenching fool for a good 40 years now. I've owned 100s of bikes in my life, was a huge flipper back in the early 2000s. I've always had at least 10 bikes at any given point in time. Anyway, I've had several ebikes now, have three right now. I built up a 2003 Gary Fischer disc brake bike and put a $1000 ebike mid drive kit on it and its a beast. Love it for hitting hard stuff I'm too old to do now, it makes it possible and is fun AF. I also bought a hard used Chinese rear hub ebike and pretty much rebuilt it and installed two broken spokes. I took the rear hub apart and the plastic gears were worn out and I found them on Alibaba, replaced them and greased the hub motor and all was good with that. I also replaced the screen, the controller as well as the rear derailleur and throttle. All that stuff is really pretty easy and its all accessible for purchase. I had a good $1000 into the bike once I was done and ended up getting lucky and sold it to a guy for that amount so I broke even but learned a ton for free. Oh I also replaced the folding telescoping stem as it was worn out from use. They are not that difficult to service in my opinion they are just a little different. Its the future, ebikes are not going away so if you want to not go there I get it but its a revenue source your not going to have so someone else will take that slot for you I'm sure.
My only issue with E-bikes are the way most delivery drivers are operating them - a lot of them have their eyes down while riding or riding with 1 hand looking at their phone. A lot of the delivery drivers lack empathy and common decency at red lights - they pull up right beside you on the left, blocking the lane and in the way of you starting off. I don't care about most things, but blatant rudeness of basic etiquette from other riders (Most people on regular bikes don't do this, maybe 1/10) A lot of delivery drivers ride at 10 kmh looking down at their phone and block the entire sealed bike lane. Ebikes are fine, but most people on Ebikes in my city are delivery drivers being very rude. I usually just say nothing because it's common.
Used to train hard at home. Had (still have) an expenses indoor trainer and followed a training program that got me train HIIT 5 days a week. When I got on trails, I could feel my body wanting to move hard. I thought my health was better than it had ever been. But your health is not static, and things happened. I had to stop training because my own body literally protested. I just got an electric cruiser bike this year, and it got me back out and more than ever. At lowest pedal assist, my torque sensor ebike practically feels like a normal bike. But more power is there if I ever need it to get home. I actually ride slower than I used to on my carbon dropbar bicycles . More upright position to look around and my favorite part is letting the wind hit me. Now my (e)bike is a tool for commuting and leisure rides.
Im in favor of ebikes because they get more people riding. That being said.. I'd never own one. I dont need electrical circuitry on my blissfully simple transportation.
It really doesn't need to be any more complicated than this. I'd rather deal with an occasional jerk doing 35 mph down the bike path than to take all the e-bikes off the road and see all those riders put back into single occupancy automobiles.
@@zwicker5585It's odd sometimes how we, including me, enthusiastically endorse ebikes and electronic gadgets and carbon fiber frames for others but would never use them ourselves. My 🚲 technology preferences probably ended in the 90s.
@@IdahoFatTireBikeFun yeah I’m in the same boat. I’m even a huge tech guy when it comes to other products, but I find the utility and ease peaked in the late 80s early 90s
I destroyed my ankle in 2020 and doc was not sure I will be able to walk, not even think about bikes. 7 surgeries over 2 years. Got gravel ebike (250watt pedal assist with Bufang M800 motor) and it was a life changer. I'm now walking, although not huge distances and more importantly back on bikes. Ride my mountain bikes at least 2 x a week on trails including some hard technical rock gardens. Not at the same level as before the accident but doing smaller jumps and having fun. 2400 miles last year and 1400 so far this year. Will never run or do backpacking but the ebike really gave me freedom and helped me get back to more or less normal life.
e-bikes are just a new tool, ride what you want. My problem is with the ones that are more like electric motorcycles that just rip. Keep those off the greenways and everyone will be just fine.
And most of them are illegal - I think we're currently in the "Wild West" phase. The manufacturers (some of them, not the legit brands) ship them legal, with a little nudge/wink thing like "don't flip this switch to remove the limiter so you can go 40+ mph... Here in California, the police can impound those bikes as unregistered/uninsured motor vehicles and you're SOL for whatever you paid for it. It's still fairly loosely enforced, but a couple of beach cities by Los Angeles are cracking down and impounding them. Much to the shock of the parents who paid for them, I'm sure.
yeah fair point. in the eu the regulation is 25kph for assisted speed (which is nothing for a road cyclist for example) and I think is a perfect number
@@hrobaky_ymy town has a 15 mph on any bicycle not on the roadway. E bikes or powered anything are banned from the sidewalk/ greenway. I like it that way but I do worry about kids on e bikes / scooters in the road, but so far it’s had minimal problems in town
Thanks. I’ve been warming up to e-bikes lately. While I’ve always thought the utilitarian versions for commuting and general errands are fantastic and will lead to a happier healthier population who build bike infrastructure going forwards. For trail riding, really my pererred type of fun and exercise, I’ve had concerns about accidents or trail damage. After watching my local cycling community awhile I’ve seen fellow riders able to continue riding with their friends as they loose some ability to age. I figure okay when I’m older I’ll get one because I’m going to ride until I pass away. 👍 I heard a good argument for a younger guy to get one recently though which was that an e-bike can help you improve your mountain bike handling at higher speeds which for racers and people who are comfortable going fast is intriguing I’m still not getting one until I use up the parts on my “analog” bikes.
I use my DIY eBike with Vincita pannier bags to get groceries about 95% of the time. It works beautifully and Aldi even lets me park inside the store! YMMV, ask them if it's okay first.
My wife has a Giant Roam. Pedal assist and it’s so much fun. I love to take it around the block on sport mode. More importantly it lets her get out and ride. She has multiple health conditions that won’t be fixed by riding an acoustic bike. So we get out and ride and life is great. She beats me up the hills and I get to pretend that I’m mad but really her smiling as she buzzes past me makes me smile. Go ride!
In Metro Manila, Philippines, e-bikes, at least the cheap ones, have become popular. These vehicles are very useful for getting around neighborhoods with little or no cars or other motor vehicles. E-bikes are prohibited from operating on major highways. I think the problem with e-bikes, particularly in the Metro, are the drivers who are undisciplined and don't care about pedestrians and cars. They put their lives and other people in danger. To many people, however, e-bikes are the answer to their mobility. Because of their rising popularity, there are new laws now for the safety of both riders, pedestrians and cars.
To quote a line from an article I just read: "He [Grant Petersen] is less dogmatic about e-bikes than one might expect (“Better than a car”)." I find this to be right on point - save the dogma for dogma-worthy issues. Ride the bikes that make you happy, ride the bikes that serve you best.
14:21 i agree with this so much. People get so weird about e-bikes and it's funny to me, more butts on bikes is cool to me! I think where they get bothersome is e bikes FLYING by pedestrians and making me (just a dude on a bike) hated by pedestrians just by association. And as a trail builder we have to deal with the whole class 1 or class 2 situation and the e bike snowball effect we're experiencing by letting them on our trails. "If he can bring that e bike then i can bring my surron right?" So they can be bothersome absolutely. But if someone's only problem is that e bikes are passing them then they gotta look in a mirror😂 at the end of the day they get people outside that would otherwise not be outside and that's a great thing!
As someone who owns 6 e-bicycles this was a great video. I can totally understand the possible issues on the service side of things. Glad you’re still open minded about them.
Great video. Like I said in our last conversation, I've realized it's the trail manners around my area THATS my trigger, not the E-bike. And it's funny we have friends coming to visit, and they want to rent E-bikes and ride some of the Lake tahoe bike paths. So hear i go trying an E-bike on paths just like you talked about 😢😅.
A person can be rude/dangerous on any bike and the weight difference isn't that big when you come down to it. E-bikes certainly allow people to get dangerous more easily, but not exclusively. I agree on trail manners to the point I've started calling out people who are ignoring them. Though sometimes it just a loud "Jesus Christ"
Have two e-bikes and two acoustic bikes. Love them all. 64 years old. Live in a very hilly area. Ebikes flatten the steep climbs and allow me to ride in my area which would be really a tough situation without them. I have a Tern HSD cargo bike. Great for errands and I sometimes take it to town for groceries which is a 32 plus mile round trip with a couple steep climbs. I also have a nice Trek road/gravel ebike that has been a joy to ride. My beloved Mercian is almost 30 years old and I love riding it. Love it. I recently bought an older LeMond to use as my Zwift trainer bike for indoor cycling. What a great thing for lousy weather! I love e-bikes. Love acoustic bikes. Love cycling. More fun than driving! Probably be at around 5,000 miles this year on my various bikes. My mental and physical health is better for it.
As a side comment, my wife wasn't a cyclist. She wouldn't pedal anywhere for any reason. I bought her a fat tad etrike because she was worried about her balance and her physical fitness was poor due to seven years in the US Army and three kids. She loves her fat tad etrike. Dave's Bike Shop had a recumbent bike in the basement, and I bought it for her at her request. She loves her recumbent bike and it's an amazing abdomen workout. I bought her a mamachari three speed cruiser brake bike and a thrift store city bike. She loves them. Now she is on a Mullet which is our daughter's old mountain bike with a rear rack for paniers and drop bar racing handlebars up front. Yesterday and the day before, she was a human cannonball sprinting at 13.5 mph average speed over 30 miles each day! She went from never cycling to now training for the 1000 kilometer round-trip Shikoku Circuit! Sometimes ebikes can be the gateway drug into muscle powered 🚲! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Your opinions are spot-on and reflects the current state of bike/e-bike repair. There is a slowly emerging sector of E-bike shops that can get those repairs done, as well as training/certification classes that can be taken from the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA) that is helping increase the numbers of the profession, so if you are worried about the future of E-bike repair, the future seems bright.
The problem I have is people that do not know the rules of riding whipping around on their ebikes. On a really wide trail, coming real close to my dog. Who let them know the error of their ways in no uncertain terms. And kids on ebikes, really? That's just lazy.
One of my sore spots is a lot of these ebikers weren't cyclist and they don't have any trail manors. They don't call out on your left, they sometimes pass in the dirt on the right on the rail trail. Throttles are a problem I've seen bikes that go 40 mph on sidewalks. Just because it has peddles they assume they can go anywhere we go. They are wearing out our park electric lift stand. We do charge extra for tire changes, I call it my pain ass up charge😉 Its love hate for us, if we didn't sell ebikes we would be out of business. 95% of my sales lately have ebikes. I could talk for hours on how my conversations have changed. Thanks for doing what you do
I don't like them, for disabled folks or very elderly I understand. For the guys in their 20s I see blasting away at 30mph on the bike bath, blasting music, no ear buds, smoking cigarettes, and even drinking, no, these are dangerous and detrimental to biking. E bikes aren't bicycles, they are motor driven cycles
My problem with them is that you get boomers (like myself) who haven't ridden a bicycle since their childhood and don't have bike handling skills or understand cycling etiquette. And I agree - they aren't bicycles. They're small motorcycles.
👍😊🚲🚲 Having been a full time bicycle commuter, using mostly multi use paths, the biggest problem was "zoned out" pedestrians, not paying any attention to where they were. A bicycle bell or horn only works if the intended receiver can hear it! Electric bicycle riders were never a problem.
I’ve been a fairly serious cyclist since 1987, but I've never ridden competitively. I live in Arizona, and my style of riding has always been a mixture of dirt roads, trails, and paved roads. I have two titanium bikes; a Salsa Fargo, and a Why Cycles El Jefe set up as a singlespeed. My wife wanted to join me on my rides back in 2020, so I got her a Trek Powerfly 5. It has been the perfect bike for her. It only provides varying degrees of pedal assist up to 21 mph. She can keep up with me most of the time, but she often kicks my butt on the big hills. I’m 64, and I intend to keep riding a traditional bike for as long as I can. But the day may come when I will need to get an ebike for myself. In fact, I wouldn’t mind getting a couple of fat ebikes so my wife and I can explore some of the sandy washes in our area.
Got an e-bike and sold my car - one less car on the road, one less car/insurance/maintenance/registration for me. And I'm biking again after a 20 years of not. . .what's not to like? Luckily - I have three LBS within 2 miles of me that work on e-bikes. Most of the service I do at home (in fact, that's how I came to this channel, thank you Bike Farmer for showing me how!). I do go on trails, but I behave appropriately for the trails. Fast on the streets, slow and respectfully on the trails.
Thanks for breaking your silence, Bike Farmer..! Now can you do a rant on those people at Walmart in those electric shopping carts?? lol! Right now, I use conventional bikes for exercise while I still can...maybe an e-bike is in my future...I see young kids whipping around the streets on those things, drinking a cup of coffer or, an energy drink and not pedaling at all.(I know!) I wonder if we are promoting a generation of sedentary bike consumers.
Fair. I love my throttle for getting going from a stop, especially with my kids on the back. I like it for instant speed when I have to be in traffic. But yeah. A lot of times I wish throttles cut out at 10mph or something.
To me, this is your best video yet! I love the thoughts in discussion versus a rant. So much better than having to take a side all the time. I have road bikes, mountain bikes, and an E bike, and I use them all differently, and I love them all. Thank you for this video.
The main issue is ass e-bikers on the multi-use paths. I've had a personal altercation when an e-biker came flying around a corner and my partner had to swerve and go off the lip of path and then crashed to ground (he was an older guy but he was "ok" thankfully for the soft ground) to avoid the dumb ass with his 10 ton e-bike. He did stop & apologize, but shit like this is why. You see it all the time. e-bikers just zooming around the paths, not paying attention, on their cell phones. There's a couple that hooked up a boombox so they can play music while they ride. This shit gives "e-bikers" a bad name. I am at the point that if you have a throttle and/or non-pedal assist, it should be banned on the multi-use paths. full stop. I really don't care about compromise at this point.
You are spot on! I’ve had the same experience. I am 73. Never ride a moped. There is no E-bike. A bike is pedaled by a person. An electric motor cycle is motorized.
Non-pedal assist ebikes are already illegal here in Germany for non-road use, but the cops don't really care. You can get them directly from China without any speed limiter, which is illegal as well, and some people are going 20-30 mph on shared bike/pedestrian paths or on forrest trails. It's so dangerous.
My experience is just the opposite. When me and my friend ride our ebikes on the muti-use greenline and green way, the riders on “regular “ bikes are the ones that come flying past us! There is a speed limit on the paths and if speeding and riding dangerously is your issue then I would suggest enforcement of those rules. No need to be prejudice against all ebike riders!
@@PLAZALOT58 I frequently commute on a multi-use trail which allows Class 1 & 2, prohibits Class 3, and has a 15 MPH limit. Every time, on a 9 mile ride, I encounter several people riding Class 3's at 20+. Every single ride. I encounter a few lycra/carbon bike yoyos doing the same thing, but they are far outnumbered by the speeding ebikes. Interestingly, when I'm doing my normal cross town commute (which is shorter but requires 1,000 feet of hill climbing), I almost never see the lycra/carbon bike yoyos. The multi-use trail is the only 'road' in the area with a 15 MPH limit. Everywhere else they could ride, they could do 20+ and they would be under or just barely over the limit, but they go speeding on the trail.
I love bicycles, always have. At one point I worked on everyones in the neighborhood, about 50 years ago. Currently have a e-assist specialized and love it, still ride my '97 Trek 2100, still love it. Hat class 3 scooters, most times I see many flying on them while peddling 1 RPD. Rotation per Day !! Still looking for a small frame Cannondale M800, Beast of The East from the late 80's was my dream bike and couldn't afford one back then. Love your channels and most times you opinion, Keep up the great channel
being 72 and a life of doing centuries for the fun of it, I've now built 5 bikes. I live in Chicago and the ease of using an E-Bike around the city makes it worthwhile. Parking is easy find a bike stand or light post to lock to, instead of paying for street parking. While I prefer to use various levels of pedal assist, having a throttle when needing to get across a busy short light cycle intersection is great, and like HP in a car sometimes instant power can save yer ass. Now I use mid-drives I've done conversions and frame-up builds from Costerbrake, CVT rear ends, IGH, and derailers. 36v to 72v, but 52v is the sweet spot. I would never buy a factory-built E-Bike, Chinese or Other, mainly because they use custom specialty parts like Batteries so if they go bad in a couple of years have fun finding replacement parts. While I would consider using a hub motor in a special application they really screw with things like the center of gravity and if it's a rear take gearing out of the mix and front screws with handling. The available mid-drive conversions are reliable, and you can get parts and have enough after-market support to dial the bike in. Batteries are another matter, only a moron would buy the cheapest one they can find on Amazon, you have to go with a known reputable battery maker and a battery that can supply the required amperage for your needs and the motor you are using. Battiers likely will be your biggest cost, again the reason I will not buy the cute factory design to slip into the custom frame Bottle mount, triangle bags seat bags will be around when it comes time to replace or upgrade. We ride streets, bike lanes, and bike paths here, You never know when a kid or a dog is gonna zig instead of zag, and when a Yawho is gonna open a car door. So ya there will always be some idiot riding beyond the conditions on a bike that will go as fast as a competitive bike racer in their flip flops, but in the city, they don't last long. I don't ride trials but I see no problem with responsible use of E-Bikes on them. So that's My Rant.
Hello from France, e-bike have their share of hate for good reasons, sometimes for stupid reasons, most of it came from people who don't (want to) understand the rules of bike paths. I like fat bikes, boomers on hub motor, cheap folding, fat bikes on the other hand no so much. E-bikes help people to commute, go shopping and many times it's faster than public transport and an be cheapper. Many old timers, can ride and group ride, this help their social life and fight old people solitude. Cyclists, no one care if u pass an e-bike, it's pathetic, please don't look at the display to see the speed it's even more pathetic. For reference i worked on old bikes and commuters bike for a while, was a Zoomo mechanic, and now riding an electric cargo bike fixing cycle logistic cargo bikes. I love Surly Bikes and building wheels, ride save
eMTBs are AMAZING for the sport. I am a ride leader for a local weekly MTB ride and it has been SO encouraging to see folks come back to MTB after they felt their fitness (due to age or just life in general) wasn't enough to enjoy riding with people. I absolutely love having these folks join my group rides because it is the enjoyment of the ride, not what you ride. If someone has an $11,000 S-works and is mad about someone with a $5K orbea emtb keeping pace with them, that is totally on them and is IMO toxic. I've had people complain to me and I am usually pretty blunt that they are in the same speed/level group so they can get good and join the race pace groups or stop thinking about others. Over the last year or two that acceptance of eMTBs has been generally open arms and enthusiastic. The biggest growth is in older Dads getting an eMTB so they can keep pace with their teenagers. What could possibly be more wholesome than technology making it easier for a parent and child to spend time together in nature?
And if a sudden obstacle arises and those senior citizens can't handle getting to a halt safely, they crash with way more speed than reasonable and/or get buried under their heavy bike. Also many seniors I know don't use front brakes because on their former bikes they never had then or they were rubbish. And then they're afraid of the shiny new disc brake and need three times as long to come to a halt. That's not meant to be a no-go, but this safety aspects should be considered as well. Handling heavy bikes can be learned and who wants to drive them should do this.
@@keystonestu I'm quick on my feet and quick on my bike and not that scared. The dangers I see are not primarily to myself. But is it so unreasonable to prove that you can handle a motorized vehicle you want to drive in public space before you are allowed to do so?
@@difflocktwo yes, I can. Look, it's not something absurd I'm proposing here. E-Bikes are machines that allow anyone to reach speeds that might be far beyond what they could achieve by sheer muscle power while having elements to control these machines that were not even originally designed to do so, like bicycle brakes and handlebars. It is a motorised vehicle, there's no doubt about it. And they are allowed and driven in spaces that were up to now exclusively the domain of much slower, solely muscle powered traffic. You really think it is an absurd idea to let someone who wants to take part in this with a motorized vehicle take a little test before doing so? By your logic, not needing to prove anything, we should also abolish all driving licenses for cars, motorbikes, trucks... Maybe all licenses at all. Brain surgery? No need for a doctors license, your janitor can do it! You need some medicine? Why go to a licensed apothecary, just let your grocery store cashier give you something...no one needs to prove to anyone they can do a certain thing qualified!
I also, like many of the people who commented, have a similar story. Growing up in the fifty's, my bike was my world. My vehicle to new and bigger places. However time has a way of catching up with us. A heart attack and stoke later, that E-bike was my gateway back into the world of the living. To see people enjoying the parks & being able to ride through the fall leaves, I felt alive again and yes it was on a Chinese e-bike. I own 3 Chinese E- bikes. I love my bike's and have logged over thousands of miles. Maybe I'm lucky, no major problems. your comment about older people in regards to the weight and torque of these bike's not to worry yourself about us baby boomers we are a lot tougher then you know kid! I also ride a 500cc Chinese motorcycle. The quality is top notch. If you look into half the components in your Ford or Chevy, where do you think the parts come from? You guessed it, China or some other country. That heart attack and stoke I spoke of was 9 years ago and thousand of E bike miles later. Built to last. Go boomers!!!!
Electric bikes saved my life. After a serious motorcycle accident seven years ago left me wondering of if I would ever walk again (leg broken in eight places, broken hip, shattered arm) I fell into deep despair. Many surgeries and a months long stay in rehab hospital followed, I thought my days of two wheeled freedom were over. I gained a ton of weight during recovery, becoming diabetic in the process. Two years after I decided to try something different. A full powered e-bike, with throttle got me back on the road again, and encouraged more. In a bit, my strength increased enabling me to transition to a model with a torque sensor (no throttle) that only operated depending on some level of user input. And this is what ultimately led to my fitness increasing to the point where fully analog bicycling was possible again. The weight came off, my fitness returned - I ride every day now and have a life again.
EXCELLENT!
250W torque-sensing Hase Lepus here. No balance limited-mobility 70yo handicapper here.
On/Off Lepus from wheelchair and dual forearm crutches! 25-inch-high, slide-onto seat height!!!
Rohloff gearbox. No more cassette shifting here. 250W bicycle path LEGAL E-assist for this NFL-sized rider!
Bicycle path laws being changed by communities because high Watt E-bikes/trikes are turning
Bicycle Paths INTO Bicycle Expressways!!! NOT GOOD!!! NOT GOOD!!! NOT GOOD!!!
Many imported bikes/trikes being sold for less as non-UL-Approved battery packs (fire hazard) are becoming illegal to sell in America!
Love family/cargo bikes/trikes that haul families and are 2nd cars for many users!
Additionally, my speed is 7-12mph. My self-imposed max speed is 17mph, even if downhill!!!!!!
THIS IS JUST GREAT!
@@garyseckel295 And if you plug in a non-UL listed E-Bike and it burns your house to the ground you homeowners insurance will walk away from you and you get to eat the total loss. Of course you can go to China and sue the manufacturer ...... good luck with that.
Congratulations man, that’s great! Don’t waste your time with cyclist, they are think they are special because they can power a bike on their all, they think they are a rare breed…😂 Let them be!
At 71 yrs. old I went from motorcycles to a 750 W. ebike. I pedal almost all the time and my fitness level has shot a way up. It is a Chinese hub motor bike with a throttle which I use to maintain an even pedaling cadence. Now I have started riding my unassisted mtb and enjoying the feeling of propelling along under my own power. I just racked up over 6,000 kilometers on the ebike and I do my own maintenance . I have replaced the tires once, the chain three times and the disc brake pads four times. There's not much flat country where I live, so its hard on brakes. I have had to fix a rear flat at the side of the road and it was totally doable. I carry tools, spare tube and a rechargeable tire pump. I turned 74 this year. The ebike has been a life changer for me.
Same age as you, though perhaps not as mechanically inclined. My "regular" mountain bike has been a Trek Fuel EX 9.7, but I realized one day that I hadn't ridden it in months, having occupied (and preoccupied) myself with other things, such as hiking. I decided to get an eMTB and settled on a Velotric Summit 1. Glad I did. Not only am I back on the trails, but now I can chance pedaling until I'm worn out, without fear of being too tired to pedal back to the car (thanks, throttle!). I do my biking in the hour-away mountains, so lots of ups and downs. The eMTB allows me to get up hills that I once could pedal up with the Trek but eventually had to hike-a-bike with the Trek, and that took a lot of fun out of the rides. With the eMTB, the fun is back.
76 here and I love riding my magicycle when I want, live on a hill that rises 430 ft within .5 mi so my old conventional bike was a no go.
I have a co worker who is nearly 60 (im 26) and we both commute to work by bicycle.
He was riding his old hybrid to work but couldn't manage the steep hill the way we both ride home every day and he would get off and push or sometimes drive to work because we are on our feet all day and its super tiring. ( I know this because i ride my non electric steel bike to work every day)
He recently got a good quality bosch powered e bike and even when I set off 2 minutes before him he now races up past me on the hill without even trying, he rides it every day rain or shine.
Personally they aren't for me at the moment, but as someone who plans on being a lifelong cyclist I can definitely see one in my hopefully distant future if im lucky enough to get old. Here in England the throttle is illegal and they only pedal assist you up to 15mph which really helps the safety side of things. All though you do get the occasional jack ass using a modified one with a throttle doing like 50mph on the sidewalk, I hate those people so much.
This is an example of a good e-bike use. He's using it as transportation. I recently visited London (From California), that's exactly how e-bikes should be integrated with society! A 15mph pedal assist limit is a very reasonable compromise. In CA we have 12 year old kids doing wheelies down the middle of the street on 40mph e-bikes. It's pure insanity!
@@ATHIP12 Yeah, I think kids and maybe anyone without a driver's license should need to take a safety course.
I’m 61 and have been biking to work since I was 23. I have a climb of about 80 meters over less than 2 km. Kids are flashing past me on their way to fotball practice and I keep thinking I want to continue biking for as long as possible. I expect to be retired before I’m going to feel the need for an e-powered bike.
Similar story here, my buddy just turned 73 and rides with a younger crowd (40s, early 50s). He’s a great guy everyone likes and wants to ride with, but he’d been having a tougher time keeping with the group and felt bad he was slowing us down (the rest of us were fine riding slower, but he worried). He bought an e-gravel bike (Cannondale Topstone), and it’s made all the difference! He uses just enough assist to keep with the pack, and everyone has fun. Great solution!
I grew up in the 1970’s during the bicycle boom. I have always enjoyed riding for the exercise and joy.
I have no problem with e-bikes it’s the crazy riders not following the rules of the road much like the crap I experience driving today… it’s not the machine it’s the driver/rider.
I really enjoy your channel. Keep up the great work!
yep
It's the same with these E-Scooters I personally never driven one of these yet (because I prefer a bike), IMHO they aren't "wrong" but I see a lot of morons driving around like crazy on these, also with a second person (which isn't allowed) and unilluminated in the dark (and these usually have lights, but they don't turn them on - why do they even have a light switch, why not a brightness sensor and/or always on when the traction power is on).
But in the same way I "see" a lot of bikes unilluminated (or with the headlight completely misadjusted/loose) in the dark, some of these are E-Bikes (often MTBs that come without any lighting from the factory, clearly stating that they aren't legal for public roads (but usually police doesn't stop you because of that during the daytime, but in the dark) but most of them are non-electric.
Yes! Usually when someone can hold 22mph on a bike it’s because they’ve been riding forever and it’s much more likely they’ve learned the etiquette and how to ride safely. But when Joe Bag O’Doughnuts buys a Rad chopper that goes 28 without pedaling, he (yes, almost always he) puts everyone else in danger, or at least makes things less pleasant. Still, I’d rather have them on e-bikes than in cars.
The cancer treatment I am undergoing has practically eliminated my testosterone. As a result, energy loss, muscle mass melting away and weight gain are my new challenges. Not to mention the emotional the toll it takes. My e-bike keeps me on the mountain roads on my route. Knowing I have a helping hand of my e-bike (if needed) keeps me motivated to continually turning the pedals to keep the physical fight going.
E-viagra
Some of us because of age and or health find traditional biking to be a challenge. E-bikes can be a remedy, a fountain of youth, restoring that feeling of exhilaration and freedom.
Keep fighting my friend but I don't even have cancer but I have extremely low testosterone a 39 years old from a nasty ice hockey injury that I took when I was 16 I was hitting the back when I was pitting against the boards with the puck
God bless you, and eff cancer!
Thank you for another thoughtful video. After five years of mountain biking and about 18 months of convincing from my girlfriend, I finally rented an e-mountain bike. I thought I would find it too easy, offering little challenge or exercise, but I was wrong. Renting that e-MTB was a great decision, and I bought one shortly thereafter. Taking trails at a higher speed adds a new kind of fun and challenge to riding. My bike handling has improved significantly, and the skills carry over to my main mountain bike. The thing that really surprised me was how much more cardio exercise I get than before, both overall and on a per-ride basis. Since you're not having do the bursts of all out effort that can come with trail riding, you have more endurance and you stay out longer. You also ride more often, because when you're on the fence on whether or not you want to go, especially when you're tired from the day before, you end up riding. It's a stunning piece of engineering that is an absolute joy to ride.
I bought an e-bike from a local shop, hoping to replace the car for short trips, and get in better shape (I am a boomer at 62). My city is hilly. Let me translate that for Midwesterners. My city is mountainous. After 40 years off a bike, I needed help to just get started again. I bought a pedal assist bike that looks like a regular bike. It rides better than my 70's10-speed without power. I now watch your channel, which I never would have before, installed fenders, seat and bike rack, and am actually lubing the chain with one-step (didn't do that as a teenager . . .). Yesterday I achieved my first e-bike fantasy -- rode to Walgreens, picked up 2 large packs of adult pull-on's, and pedaled my way to my mom's house with those suckers sticking out of my pannier.
Keep going! I'm 61 and had not ridden in 30 years. Now, I go to the doctor (get props for active transportation with them) optometrist, restaurants, grocery store (love my rear basket for that,) pottery studio, lunch with friends, banking, and a bunch of other stuff. I love it and feel more connected to my community than when I had to drag my car everywhere I went.
Hopefully you will be able to ride a standard bike again. I'm 63 and while I have an e-bike still still get more enjoyment out of regular bikes. Please don't be that boomer who only rides e-bikes.
@@cycologist7069 Hi Cycologist, I mostly ride it without power, starting the assist with a steeper climb or at the end of a ride to get home. This bike is better without power than the 10 speed I depended on as a teenager, though I am sure that is not saying much. Adding the bike type, Yamaha Crosscore
@@edithmaverickfolger4014 I can’t speak on the 10 speed you had as a teenager, but you should check out decent gravel bike. I ride a Marin Gestalt (with road tires) and it’s amazing for me. Super light but not too expensive. E-bikes without out the powers can be quite heavy.
I have been riding to school and then work for over 45 years. This journey has followed me through countless jobs, states, and now continents. I am still doing a physical job, and the Ebike I built is something I finally needed because at near to the age of 60 I have days where I just needed a day of recovery. My bike is a 2006 Specialized 26er with a Bafang 750W mid motor and sadde bags. It was so easy to build, and every part is easily replaceable. It definitely gets up and goes, so I do feel less venerable with traffic having the ability to speed up when needed. :). Have a great day!!
Getting my wife to go for a bike ride with me used to be very hard. She felt that she was holding me back. About 12 years ago, she bought a cheap Costco e-bike that turned her into a serious commuter. We live in a large Metro area, and she loves the fact that she doesn't have to look for parking or deal with traffic. Door-to-door transit times are usually faster on an e-bike than on a car. That bike is excellent for Costco trips, and it's been a great donkey for short bikepacking trips. Personally, I don't feel a need for an e-bike as I ride primarily for exercise, and I don't commute. If I was doing a long commute, I would consider it. There are lots of cyclists and e-bikes in our area. As in any group, we see a few people behaving badly on bikes, but generally, the cyclists I see are at least as well-mannered as car drivers.
@@GeoffreyMeredith ebikes are almost marriage savers in my experience. My wife can pedal on comfortably on her fat tad etrike and I can effectively pedal so hard I almost puke for an awesome workout, and we can be on the same ride. Before my wife would get winded by about 20% of my maximum output. She was miserable and I didn't get a good workout. With an ebike she had a lot of fun as my coach and I had a lot of fun pushing my limits on a ☕ ride.
We don't own e-bikes, but my wife and I enjoy renting them on trips now and then. It really is great for people with differing levels of endurance, or tolerance for getting winded and sweaty.
At home, when we ride together, we have a tandem. The original effort-equalizing couples ride!
@@IdahoFatTireBikeFun
My Ebike was my gateway into biking. I went from not biking at all 2 years ago to selling my car earlier this year and making my daily commute to work on my bike. I can totally understand the issue with servicing, and many of my local bike shops won't service e-bikes unless they were purchased there. That's actually why I started watching videos on bike maintenence so I can learn to do maintenence on my own! (replacing disc brake pads this weekend!)
In the future I want to get a non-ebike and a "nice" e-bike or cargo bike, and I can't imagine I would have committed to a bike-centered life if they weren't so accessible.
The e-bike was your gateway to riding a motorcycle
@@jele5116 go on
On multi use bike paths, it’s not whether it’s an E bike or not, it’s just the speed. Somebody riding a human powered bicycle at 25 miles an hour where people are walking their dogs and pushing strollers is equally dangerous. Bike paths should have speed limit limits.
They do have speed limits, for the most part. When someone drives a Hellcat 160mph through a residential area and kills bystanders, people don't go talking about banning high powered cars and putting 85mph speed limiters. The general public will say "I need to speed for my own safety!" or "that inexperienced driver earned the money for his car!" but when ebikes get brought up the script flips.
Most do, most don't bother to read. We generally ride at around 15mph. When we approach humans and wildlife, we slow to 10mph (or less) vocalizing which side we are passing on. Yesterday on a bike path, this idiot on a regular bike and his tween son on an ebike went by me at 25mph with no warning. My wife who was behind me said he split between her as she was passing pedestrians on the path with no warning either. Not only was he a toolbag, but he was also teaching his son to be one on an ebike as well. People like this are the reason we have all of these dumbass restrictions. Only thinking of themselves because that is their "right" for "FREEDOM" or some bullshit.
Yep. Show respect for moms and babies, pedestrians, and anybody who can't "take the lane." Slow down. Talk to them.
It's not technically as dangerous because non-electric bikes aren't 80 pound tanks being haphazardly piloted by non-cyclists, but i get what you're saying, roadies riding full sprint through people because they don't want to lose there strava speed are irresponsible and annoying and i see it all too often. Also bike paths do have speed limits but they're really just suggestions for a safe speed as there is obviously no way to enforce them and in most situations outside of very busy days there wouldn't be a reason to follow them anyway.
Seconding that it's 15 MPH here on Denver multi use trails.
Most ebikes out here max out at 20. It's been nothing but easy peasy to drop the pedal assist level, save some battery, and cruise at 15 or lower.
It's already a shorter trip than a car because of traffic, and costs me nothing to slow down and save some battery, and enjoy the ride.
I love all kind of bikes. I have e-bike, traditional, road, mtb. Each one I use for a different purpose… riding with my kid in a child seat, shopping, ridding in the forest, commuting. But the most important thing that I achieve is having fun with all of them with their one features.
Couldn’t agree more with this video. I have a normal trek dual sport that I love. I also have a trek e bike that I use as a car replacement and for fun. I started with an Aventon, which tbh was fine and I had a dealer near me to service it. An e-bike allowed me and wife to go from two cars to one. I am more considerate around others and can see the frustration around people who just don’t care. But that’s not an e-bike problem that’s the person and people doing. Think you hit the nail on head. Don’t listen to all those people who are negative. Big fan of the channel!
I'm 65 years old and I use my e-bike for commuting. Taking off from a stop light under throttle and easily maintaining 20-30 mph in traffic greatly reduces road rage among car drivers. If you set your PAS on 1 or 2, your 60 lb eBike feels like a 25 lb hybrid and you will be able to achieve 15-20 mph with similar effort. I often go to the grocery store and load my cargo bike with 100lbs of groceries pedaling uphill on a hot day. The objective is to ride with fast cadence and low torque. Easier on my old joints and still provides cardio.
cargo bikes are expensive, wouldnt it be cheaper and more practical to just buy a cargo trailer for a regular ebike?
Itd be cheaper but good luck pedaling up a steep hill with 100lbs of groceries. Ebikes make it easier for older and overweight folks to get into fitness, not one thing wrong with that, it's their money@@terrycruise-zd5tw
@@terrycruise-zd5twI tend to go your way, but I can tell you that a loaded cargo bike handles better than hauling a trailer behind a traditional bike and most can haul more, better balanced, than the trailers available to us. Heavy-duty trailers, that can haul more than 100#'s, cost more than the difference in price of a cargo bike.
30 mph under throttle is 100 percent illegal and just like seat belts, those laws will be enforced some day.
@@Adventures4vida it's not illegal if you're on the street and you're going below the speed limit
I'm a 40 year old dad of a 4 year old and we live in an area with a ton of bike trails (mountain). With him seated in front of me we have had so much fun together on my ebike on the local trails. As he gets heavier we can still go for epic 3-4 hour rides just enjoying nature with each other. It is one of my favorite things in life.
As I celebrate my 50th trip around the sun this year, I reflect on a vibrant past filled with thrilling mountain bike adventures and daily 10k runs. Alas, a knee injury from work threw a wrench in my active lifestyle, leaving me sidelined. But then, like a beacon of hope, I discovered e-bikes! With this newfound companion, I’ve rekindled my love for the great outdoors, rediscovering the joy of movement and fitness. It feels like I’ve been given a second chance, and I’m absolutely loving every moment of it!
I do not own an e-bike, however I do LOVE when I see anyone on a bike. E bike or not, I just enjoy seeing others out enjoying the trails! If an ebike is the way to get someone out of the house, hells yes more power to you! I ride with a big group of friends every Wednesday night, some of them are on a pedal assist bike, lots of the really nice Rocky Mountain power play rigs, most of them are older and had really struggled to get up the big climbs. Now they can ride everywhere that they used to ride before injury and Father Time degrades joints. Some will say “it’s not fair they are cheating” if you feel that way, why don’t you just go get a similar rig so you can scream up the hills as well? My point is that if a bike or e bike gets you out of your home, then it’s a good thing!
Another well done video, thanks Andy!
I agree with virtually everything you said about e-bikes. I live in a small west Texas town, 6,000 residents, 2 hours from any larger town with a bike shop. Everyone here knows me as 🎉that guy “with the bikes” or “…who fixes bikes” or “…who used to work at the bike shop before it closed”. Like you, I can’t take on the liability for fixing e-bikes, but I don’t think e-bikes are bad or wrong, and that confuses some of the locals. It is what it is, and it’s always the same struggle for early adopters of any new technologies. I can only imagine what it was like a hundred or more years ago to have a car and have no gas stations, or 150 years ago and have the only bicycle in town. I think the e-bike scene is going to get better, more standardized, easier to deal with, but it will take time.
I’m glad you took the time to cover this subject, glad you did such a fine job of explaining why servicing e-bikes is not something every bike mechanic wants to do, and glad you’re enjoying your Golf e-bike. Rock on youngster, and don’t worry about your forehead: “It’s good enough for who it’s for!” 😁❤
There's sumgai in my bicycle club who brags that his self-souped up 55 pound ebike can reach 34 mph, so his bike is essentially a moped. And he's afraid of roads so he only rides the multi-use trails. He's the sort of maniac who gives ebikes a bad reputation.
what's the difference between a modern e-bike & a classic moped?
electricity & about 80 yrs.
@tomcollen462 Sounds like his bike is literally a Moped. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but Sumgai here needs to respect the trail and the folks that use it.
@@tomcollen462 agree 💯
@@grumpy9478 Maybe it is about the trails that say no motorized vehicles and the e-bikers who circumvent those rules?
German legislation is quite interesting on that matter, we basically have two categories: Most have a "Pedelec", their engine only works while you're pedaling, they're limited to ~25 kph (15.5 mph) you don't need a driver's licence, can use them on all bicycle lanes etc. literally don't even need a helmet.
And then we have S-Pedelecs, these are literally like scooters/mopeds (Vespa) can do up to ~45 kph (28 mph), you need the drivers licence for that, insurance number plate and helmet is mandatory and these aren't allowed on bicycle lanes; AFAIK their market share is around 1% or even less.
IMHO it's okay to use the bike lane/path when it isn't forbidden for his bike and rather empty, but if there's some traffic around, he should definitely slow down and not rush through there with inappropriate high speeds (AFAIK speeding is one of the main road traffic accident causes together with insufficient (safety) distance).
That was a refreshing outlook. I bought a Specialized Levo turbo 3 years ago when I was really unfit so I could keep up with my friends on the trails. Now im much fitter and have a fixie that I ride day to day. The levo takes a whole day to do a full service, rear linkage bearongs, headset, fresh cables, dropper service, fork service, motor out deep clean. But my fixie is only a hour job to do a total strip and rebuild. Both very different and both very good tools for different jobs.
I live in southern Utah. I been riding MTB for thirty years. Built trails ,maintenanced trails and work and repair all my bikes. My family and I own a lot of bikes. I am 64 now and I got a Trek exe this spring and love it. I'm riding twice the miles a week and multiple laps on trails I used to ride one lap on, You nailed this with the ego issue of bikers not liking getting passed or lapped. I have never had an issue with people passing me. it;s not a race. If you want a real race, enter a real race. I get more saddle time and I run mine in eco mode. I love being able to adjust my power levels and use the wattage meter and see how much power I am putting out with the motor vs me. Never knew the wattage I was producing. It allows you to stay in a high aerobic level much longer without killing yourself. Now when a ride my regular bikes, I'm faster too and it feels easier.
So maybe limit them to Handicapped and over 65?
@@whazzat8015 limit yourself to handicapped and over 65? please do.
Hi Tom 😁
I'm 70. I had a stroke a little more than a year ago. It destroyed my balance but as I discovered in therapy, I still like to ride. Started looking around at tricycles and went over to the Richardson (Texas) Bike Mart to try out a Catrike, a tadpole-style tricycle with the two wheels in the front while the third serves as the drive wheel like one of those motorized slingshots. I liked it a lot. While not as fast as my Specialized Tarmac (runs about 3 mph slower in the average speed) it certainly doesn't feel slow because you are so close to the ground. It's not sensitive to headwinds and down a hill or in a turn it's very fast. I was surprised that my wife, who can ride a bike just fine, liked it too. We have both been injured in bike crashes and know that no matter how careful you are, as much as we ride, we're going to occasionally crash. Her friends has been on her about changing hobbies for her health. So I gave her the Tadpole that I bought and I bought another basket case tadpole, rebuilt it and now it rides just fine. Don't worry, I'm getting to the electric part. So now I start using social media to see about connecting with the Tadpole community. I used to race a long long time ago. I actually was in two races with Lance (He won both of them). I certainly don't race anymore but for me my ride is a fitness thing. A way to get outside and use my body. I don't need an electric bike yet. Now if I was commuting to the office or using the bike as transportation for my life then I would get an e-bike with a throttle and a 1500 watt motor and a big ass battery and rip it up. I have nothing against it and it would be fun. What I see in the tricycle communities around me are a lot of folks that never got any exercise, slapping motors on their tikes and going for 40 mile group rides and making a day of it. Now if you have an electric motor on your bike I don't want to know how far and fast you went. It's not the same. I also don't want to ride with you because it's not the same. The other thing that bothers me are the electric bikes on the bike paths. There is a stretch of twisty, dark forest trail near me where I have almost been involved in accidents with reckless e-bikes more than a dozen times. So dangerous. If you are on an e-bike on a bike trail please be careful! So I'm not against e-bikes but there are a couples of exceptions.
We really enjoy our ebikes. Have a radwagon cargo bike. Fortunate enough that multiple mechanics in town will do mechanical work, just not electrical. Grateful when I don't have the time or when I'm really up a creek and don't have the ability. I pay whatever bill without arguing and buy other supplies from them so hopefully that helps. I've had a couple electrical problems with my Rad over the last year. It is frustrating to not have a professional to diagnose it. Instead you're online reading forums, or the company page. Eventually might get to being online with customer service. Obviously it's hard to diagnose a problem over the phone/chat window. So go through a period of guess, wait for them to send you something, then see if it works. I tell people about that when the inquire about what ebike they should buy.
My bike has been great for hauling my kids around town and getting large grocery loads. I wouldn't do it without the e-assist. I mostly use the trails and city side streets. I simply don't feel safe in traffic with kids, too many speeders and careless drivers. I do slow down around pedestrians, signal my approach, and find e-assist means I don't mind slowing down because it's so easy to speed back up. If things are really packed for a bit with strollers or dogs, I'll just go out in the grass if possible. Again, thank you e-assist.
My wife has a Tern cargo bike from a store in town. It's definitely a nicer bike in so many ways. Makes me wish we had started with one, but the price was just too much for someone who had never spent more than $100 bucks on a bike. The first one though helped us come to the conclusion that if you can afford something from a local dealer, you definitely should.
I think that there's going to be a ton of discarded Chinese ebikes down the road in a few years. Not sure if there's a business opportunity to get some running again, but maybe a volunteer organization could find a place.
I found your discussion and viewpoint really mature, especially compared to all the stuff I read out there. The NYT should watch your video.
I'm an old boomer, 72. For several years I got around on a regular bicycle because cars cost too much. I'm a transportation rider, not one of you lycra- wearing sport geeks. I also used to ride a motorcycle, but that was just too dangerous with all the heavy traffic in my city. Then I got this Chinese e- bike through the mail! Wow. My city is quite hilly but this has some power with two strong hub motors and a huge 60AH battery. I usually ride around just using the rear 1000W motor. But on a steep hill I click on the front 750W as well and BAM, like the afterburner kicking in on a jet. I love it ! Remember when Wiley Coyote put on the ACME rocket shoes to catch the Road Runner. That's what it's like.The astonished young people are the road runner. Haw Haw, I'm as fast as you, punk! Beep Beep, comin' thru! This thing gets with the program. I switch it on and GO. Gently twist the throttle, the hills disappear. This thing also has mag wheels, meaning no spoke hassles and wheel truing, which for me is a huge advantage. I also don't have to mess around with deraileur adjustments either, since I don't have to pedal unless I want to, and I usually don't. The bike requires little maintenance, mainly just replace the disc brake pads, which is simple. The only downside is it's more of a hassle to change a flat. Unlike my motorcycle I can ride this thing anywhere: street, sidewalks, off road, in parks...nobody cares, i.e. "oh, it's just a bicycle." Cops ignore me. Park anywhere, just lock it to a pole or fence ; No insurance, no tag, tax or registration, no gas stations. Because this is a strong e- bike, I can load up the dog trailer with cargo and easily ascend hills, no problem. This bike is a poor social security boomer's magic carpet. Huffing and puffing up those hills? Fuggetaboutit!
Im 67 years old, been mountain biking since the clunker days. I bought a 750 watt middrive motor and mounted it on my 35 year old cannondale i put almost 1000 miles on it since march, i havnt had to do anything to it other than adding a shift sensor which was an option i should have added when i put it on. As long as i can get my leg over the seat im riding, moving those big muscles in my legs is good for me even if it is "easy"
I have a similar setup on my Trek Dual Sport. As for the easy pedaling thing, I think a lot of people don't understand how pedal assist works and think we just run around all day in throttle mode. I am pedaling all the time on my bike. Usually leave it in 0 or 1 PAS. Kick it up to 5-7 for crossing busy roads for a boost and up steep trails where I don't want to shift or work too hard. Low impact of ebikes is a great thing. I've talked with my doc about it and he was basically like, "If it gets you out there, it's a good thing:.
You sure an old aluminum frame can take the stress? Steel is ok but aluminum can go at any moment if it wasn’t designed for a motor.
i was on the fence about e bikes, was living in a coastal city at sea level, didn't climb too much elevation. but when i moved to a higher elevation plus having to climb an avg of 1,000ft every day changed my tune. purchased an Allant8s+ i did a ton of research into who had the most torque on their bicycles. its got 4 function pedal assist, works really well you can control how much boost you have, 1-2 settings take a lot of effort to get to the 28mph max assist, but the 3-4 settings really make it fast, but you have to shift for optimal gearing. its about a 34mile round trip daily to work, only takes two hours on the e bike, and I'm still fresh enough when i get there, where as it takes about 1:34 mins on a normal bicycle, luckily there's a really great bicycle path that runs along where i need to go. and i don't have the issue of people walking along it, like most multi use paths, because its so far away from pedestrians.
i generally still think of them as a safety risk, reaching 28mph on a standard bicycle takes some effort, and the Allant 8s+ weighs about 55 Lbs, 24.9 kg + another 15 lbs in my bags on the back so cornering takes getting some used too. an issue i find, is that the youth on the throttle assists, riding tandem on these cheap imports, they struggle to slow down. and they like to max speed into oncoming traffic, youth will be youth i suppose never changing lol.
Boomer here and a life long cycling enthusiast. I waited till 40 to have kids; within 5 years I was hardly cycling... until I retired in my early 60's. That's when I got myself a Giant e-mountain bike and it's awesome. It's fairly light, has no throttle, and I choose to ride on a low battery assist mostly. Last year I did a 100+km trail and rode with the battery off for a bit so I would have assist at the end, should I need it. I have no interest in a throttle for now, and I steer clear of inexpensive bikes made in China because I don't want my house to go up in flames. The batteries from reputable companies like Giant seem to be more reliable. By the way, I love watching your show because the bikes you work on are the types of bikes I used for my long-distance tours in my heyday. I toured all over Europe for many years on a Trek mountain bike with slick tires. I liked the fit and sturdiness of the frame because without Google maps, I often found myself off-road on pretty rutted trails or on cobblestone streets in tiny villages.
I just got an e-bike. I am 81 and been a cyclist off and on all my life. My bike up until now has been a Trek 1500. I love the bike. But going up hills, and dealing with wind is definitely a challenge at times. And my e-bike eliminates both. Cadence, and effort a choice. I am a mostly daily rider. On Trek, usually 17 miles. Now maybe 23 in same time frame. I learn something new about the machine every day. But I get it that it is not really a bike, per se. I is a motor-bike. It has turn signals! It does not feel like a road bike. It feels like a truck that has qualities of a bike. Bottom line, it is a game changer for me. A new cycling reality. And fun.
I did watch the entire video, and really enjoyed it. I mostly like that you like who are, and share it. Thanks. Ron
Bikes are awesome.
I think this is the second golden age of the bicycle.
They changed the world when the "safety bicycle" came along.
This era is making a bike accessible to so many more people.
That does come with down sides, and some people shouldn't be riding a bike on public roads, period...but this is a great era for the bicycle.
My trucks battery needs to be disconnected as my high end diy ebikes have become the daily drivers.
It dies slowly from inactivity and voltage drain.
I enjoy wrenching on them as well.
I've rebuilt the mid drive motors I use, and can fix anything on my rides.
Decades of bike handling skills come in handy on a high end E bike.
I love getting outside and just smelling the roses as I ride my bike , I’m in no rush , don’t have to prove anything to anyone , I’m retired taking time to smell the roses and enjoying the small things in life are what I look for in a bike ride , that being said , whatever flips your lid …go for it you only live once , I love working on my old bikes and get a lot of self satisfaction in doing so , that’s why I appreciate watching someone like the bike farmer work and talk at the same time , as for me working on my bikes consumes all my attention I’m not an expert and probably don’t do a great job but it makes my day to tinker on my bike , I guess am ranting here just like the bike farmer but all this to say that what makes me have fun and be fun to be around may not be like the next guy , live and let live , ebikes seem so cool I’d love to own one but they are expensive so not in the cards , I also like the simplicity of my old clunker . Salute to all bikers let’s remember when we were little tikes ruling the world on our bikes . Cheers
E-bikes are extending the lives of many people who would otherwise not get exercise because of mobility issues.
but riding a regular bike would extending the lives even more. People get knee pain from riding a regular bike the wrong way, not because they have Arthritis.
I'm 66, fat, and have wonky knees. Riding my pedal bike on multi-use trails is the one activity where my knees feel great. Most of these trails are flat or low grade. Adjust your seat to the right height and it's not that tough.
What excersse try riding A Bike against the wind on a regular Bike .
And the legs do the Work
How is pedeking With your Hand on the throttle excersise I use to have a Moped it's the same thing You know how many Over weight People I seen on EBikes
@@FuchsHorst Ha, ha you obviously don't have bad arthritis! I have ridden bikes for decades. My knees only hurt when the arthritis got bad when I got older. Same bikes, older age, worse knees. If I lived someplace flat I wouldn't need an ebike, but we have 9% grade hills around here or worse. I inherited my arthritis, not much to be done other than get along with it. Have a good day.
@@FuchsHorst Not always, but I hear you. Also, you can have a regular bike AND an e-bike.
Wife and I are 75 and 76. In reasonably good shape. Been riding regular bikes for years and now also e-bikes. Great fun as it allows us more freedom to ride longer distance, not fight headwinds, carry picnic lunch, etc. HOWEVER…..riding a e-bike safely requires a different mindset. Much Like a motorcycle. Be mindful of faster speed, longer stopping distances, bike weight, Rear flat repair complexity, and most importantly your own physical limitations. Great topic! Thanks, Key West Rick
I've cycled most of my life since I was a kid. Now I am in my late 60's and last year I switched from a Scott road bike to an electric road touring bike (Eleglide T1). It is purely pedal assist (no throttle) and is fully road legal here in the UK. It has been a game changer for me and I am not sure I would be enjoying my cycling so much, or even cycling at all, if I hadn't bought it. I do mostly cycle touring on a mix of roads and gravel trails, up to around 30 to 40 miles in a day and do lots of multi-day rides staying at B&B's overnight. It has given me a new lease of life and a renewed enjoyment of cycling and I am cycling more with this bike than I was with my previous one, which I believe is quite common with e-bike riders. If electric bikes are used correctly they can be a real benefit for many people who perhaps wouldn't otherwise cycle.
Talked my mother in law into a pedal assist bike and she loves it. Lots of hills in town but now she's biking like she did 15 years ago.
You are who e-bikes are for. You have experience so you aren't stupid. You're over 65 and could use some muscle help. You don't want to fall, so you'll be safe. Your story is a perfect use for e-bikes.
So I got a pair of cargo ebikes. The wife and I consider them mopeds, and they are fun. We put the kids on the back as well. They have their purpose and it got the wife back on a "bike" and it brought back the joy she had as a kid. I see now that I could buy an affordable lightweight bikes thanks to your channel. Another UA-camr, Johnny Nerd Out, has diy options I'm considering for future ebikes that would allow me to service them myself.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge. I love you channel.
Hopefully, they'll help us get improved infrastructure
It seems like the infrastructure you speak of would take a lot of cars off the road. Parking lots could be smaller too.
Research from the past 50 or so years shows that whenever more infrastructure is added to alleviate traffic congestion - adding more roads or widening existing ones - it consistently results in even more road users with the same problems of traffic congestion. Stop building for cars and start building for bikes, we'll see a massive shift.
I will say this ... I have a 3-4 year old e-bike; it's basically hardtail just like this one, with a hub motor, from a large major manufacturer.
It truly is an awesome bike; great for commuter riding. And it's built with all Shimano components, very easy to find parts.
But I can totally see your standpoint as a shopowner; especially the liability question.
For myself, I pride myself on being able to service and fix anything I own. I just like working with tools with my hands.
My current "stable" is an early 90s Trek 930, and this commuter e-bike. Each has their places. And both are fun.
Golf is fun. The idea of an e-bike to haul clubs is pretty cool.
Hi.
I bought this summer in July - around-ish, a mid drive Bafang kit of 750w for my Canondale Trail 6 fron 2017 27.5 bike.
Since then i love riding. I say i'm 43 and all my childhood was spent on a bike. But getting older i have had some lung issues and couldn't ride anymore, starting around 4 or 5 years since. This motor changed my life, i'm so happy pedaling. The problem was when i was pedaling my lungs were iritating, so i got a facemask and it was better, but still got lung iritations. My body is kinda weak so i have to protect my throat and chest somehow while on bike, and full power pedaling got my lungs very iritated so i stopped biking and got to work with my car. Since i bought that Bafang motor, the car is in the garage waiting for me :).
I think ebiking (all sorts of it) is the best finding in the late 50 years, and it's the best way to commute, absolutely the best. I'm glad that now i can pedal, i love pedaling, i like also the throttle, but a bike is not a bike without pedaling, so i pedal
So the answer you give is "My insurance company won't allow me to work on e-bikes due to the liability risks".
100% LOGIC AND COMMON-SENSE LIMITATION!
Sounds to me like his answer is, "Given today's litigious society, I'm not willing to risk the assets I've managed to accumulate through many years of hard work to please people who may wind up suing me, with a lawyer on contingency so they don't have to spend a dime, for everything I've got. The insurance company maybe isn't the problem. I think his approach is entirely sensible.
@@teacherguy5084 Yes. My point was this is a nice line he can tell those seeking his services why he can't in a way that is less confrontational and offensive to them. Everything you said is the actual reason, but you can't spew that at people unless you want to retire your shop.
Thanks BikeFarmer for providing your viewpoints. I can appreciate your position on servicing off-brand e-bikes, hey it's your business after all, and it's indeed unfortunate that there's some subset of the population that might indeed sue you instead of taking responsibility for their personal decisions and/or actions. I don't see you as being a hypocrite at all, your golf e-bike fills your need for golf course transportation, that's all, and that's wonderful.
I used to ride a lot recreationally when I was younger, and I still own my 94-95 Trek 820 Singletrack, which I ride when accompanying my wife on local bike paths and trails. She was not a regular rider back in the day, and we're older now (mid-60's) so when we decided to take up regular riding again I bought her a Liv (Giant) adventure e-bike (Class 1, pedal assist only no throttle). I'm finding that I can't quite keep up with her with my Trek, so I will probably save my pennies so I can buy an e-bike for myself. On occasion I have taken her bike out on solo rides and I love the ability to ride further for the same amount of expended energy. So haters, please don't hate based on the type of bike we may be riding, but rather appreciate that e-bikes are just plain fun, and may be the reason that we can ride at all. Reserve the hate, or at least disrespect, for those who are not riding responsibly and courteously.
I didn't ride my bike for years because I live in a hilly area and I do not find riding up steep hills to be fun. Sure the exertion is good for you, but the reward wasn't worth it for me, so my bike collected dust.
I managed to get a job that is close to home, close enough that it didn't make sense to drive, but too far to reasonably walk, but of course have significant hills between. I looked into ebikes and saw all the cheap Chinese ones out there, started doing research and which actually were "good" and then found out about DIY ebike conversions. That was just the ticket.
I added a motor to my old bike and it has worked great. It got me back in the saddle and riding up hills is just like riding on flats for the most part. Any maintenance I do on it is just normal bike maintenance with standard bike parts. I still have my truck, but I now have to gas it up like once every two months. My bike has the throttle available, and could probably do like 33 MPH, but I always keep it in the low pedal assist setting. I do want to get SOME exercise on it still!
I got my ebike 2 years ago from a local manufacturer. I purposely chose this brand in part for the fact that they provided service support. I’ve had a user error issue and it was great to be able to drop it off and get it taken care of within a few days. I’ve put 1,700 miles on my bike and it’s my favorite way to run local errands. When I go to the local mountains, it’s great to just park the car and use the bike (on the bike path) for the entire trip. There’s a 15% grade up to the lakes, so the e-bike definitely makes that part of the ride more pleasant. 😂
I have a cheapo (even though to us $900 is not cheap money) Chinese ebike and love the crap out of that thing. I have ridden analog bikes of all kinds my whole life as well (42 now). Road bikes, mountain, comfort, old school ebikes from 2010s. This cheap Chinese bike is my favorite item might be the best thing I ever bought, ever. I get that much enjoyment from it. I have over 2400 miles on it so far, still doing well. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined so should be able to perform maintenance (besides the tires I've replaced). One of my favorite things to do on it is throttle to the countryside and turn off everything and gain strength/exercise pedaling that beast around on dirt roads. When exhausted, Ill power it up and fly back home.
Im also an amputee so on days where my prosthetic is bothering me or has a blister and I can't pedal, I can still get out and throttle. Edit because I should add I still ride my regular "analog" bikes half the time, even though my son told me "regular bikes are lame" lol.
I Just discovered your channel. Great job! My wife and I took up casual bike riding when we turned 40. We mostly ride in the Grand Teton park and could make 20 miles max. The hills are certainly a challenge and we would have to walk our bikes at times. We our now 60 years old. We purchased our ebikes two years ago and it has been a game changer. We have class 3 Priority Currents. No throttle. No more walking on the hills and we can make 30 miles comfortably.
It is unfortunate that some folks are biased against ebikes. When you are riding, one will find bad trail etiquette regardless of the mode of travel. Difference in speed and weight is the issue. Our ebikes our no faster than the serious cyclists on the trail, but they do weigh more. The Current is on the lighter side for the torque it has. Lots of hills in the Tetons. Given the weight and speed a certain skill level is required to operate them. For myself, a long time motocrosser, it was not a big deal for me. For my wife, she is still learning and she has been riding bicycles regularly for 20 years. We have over 400 miles on our ebikes. Generally ride at 15 Mph with a max of 20. We have a bell and announce ourselves when passing. We also only ride single file on the correct side of the bike path and wear a proper certified ebike helmet.
I almost died in 2021 twice from Covid, & was diagnosed with Long Covid as well, & was in really terrible shape after all this, & pretty much given up on life, because I wasn't getting any better, so as a last ditch effort, I bought an ebike, & it CHANGED MY LIFE!!! 💯
Within a month I sold my cars & been commuting full time on them ever since here in Reno, & even do it as a single father, my son loves ebikes as much as his father.
I also ride bmx bikes as well, once I got healthy enough, & it got me to lose 80lbs & quit smoking after 35 years, you feel pretty stupid lighting a cigarette up after you just had a nice ride, pretty counter productive!😂
I currently have 4 bikes. 2 of them are now e-bikes: a carbon LeMond gravel bike and a Surly Big Easy cargo bike. I can ride EVERY day without having to blow my knees out, and I have my regular road bike for conventional rides and a fat bike for winter riding here in Minnesota. Anyone who hates e-bikes has obviously never tried one because they make everyone smile. E-bikes get more people on bikes and out of their cars, and allow me to keep riding even during “recovery” days.
It sounds like you may have submitted to the experimental jabs promoted by Dr. FAXXI? I am sorry to hear it. I took Vitamin D instead, my wife got it but I never did. I never wore a silly mask or 2. Keep riding hard and look forward.
Well said! My wife and I are long time analog mountain bikers and ebike commuters and we really love the benefits of both platforms... We have had emtbs also and enjoyed ripping around the trails but I gave them up due to the intense maintenance and depreciation.
MTB fills our physical challenge and social cups while our commuters allow us to cover great distance in the fresh air, in reasonable time and without significant exertion... I'd have ALL the bikes if I could...
Love your work Mr B Farmer - keep it up!
Electric cargo bikes are the best!!! Great way to get around for errands and haul the kids as well. I still have a smile everytime i am on one of my ebikes. A tern gsd is just such a great way to get around and easily can replace a car. A belt and internal gear hub is just a math made in heaven for an ebike.
Agreed. eBikes are great car replacements and the people who say that ebikes should be banned are often getting groceries in their truck, running errands in their truck, commuting in their truck and driving their MTB or gravel bike to the trailhead and don't see the irony in that.
I agree. I have a Specialized Turbo Levo, and despite aging and some health concerns, still have over 3,000 miles on it. Accepted lots of upgrades, esp to brakes. Class 1 bikes are the best for mixed use, because you cannot get the high speeds otherwise without pedaling. But a throttle bike can get you into a little trouble. Really, I think it is the best and most fun think I own!
It does no good to hate on hardware. My problem with ebikes is the people who ride them, and have power beyond their bike handling capabilities and are too new to understand basic bike courtesy. That said, I also saw a pretty legit-sounding survey that says ebike riders, on average get, MORE exercise than regular bike riders because they go out more often and stay out longer. (Yes, I know, we are not "on average" bike riders here.)
Those surveys are misleading. If someone on regular bike goes out more often and for longer, who's getting more exercise?
@shauncasey8295 Looking at a single person's habits is the opposite of what surveys and studies are for, and it isn't misleading to say that if you give a thousand random people ebikes and another thousand acoustic bikes that the ebike group will on average get more exercise; it's true. Since the average random person will ride an acoustic bike around the block twice and then leave it in the shed until it's eventually featured on this channel.
@@Kattbirbthere’s no such thing as an acoustic bike, it’s just a bike, really despise that term :)
@@shauncasey8295as they say there’s lies, there’s damned lies, and then there’s statistics :) I don’t believe those reports for a second, there’s no reliable way to collect such data on actual usage, it’s just paid research for marketing purposes
@@Kattbirb What is an acoustic bike? Like, you tell at it to make it go?
huge advocate for ebikes. have a cargo ebikes that's fun and replaces so many car trips. live near a multi use trail that i use for dog walks, runs, and bike rides. have noticed a lot more ebikes, but they have not caused any problems. certainly no more problems than regular bikes. it is always nice to see people on the trail would otherwise would not be using it. they tend to stick to a leisurely pace, too. i use my bell a lot on blind curves and tunnels. think they are perfectly safe as long as people are reasonably considerate, which they have been in my experience. only concern would be younger kids who seem more reckless and tend to ride at night. but overall, i love ebikes and hope to see the continued growth and use of them. (would definitely prefer more dedicated bike infrastructure, but that is a different conversation. one that may be more salient with the prevalence of ebikes).
YOU ARE TRAFFIC!! Thank you for saying that!
I've ridden bikes since the 80's, mostly road bikes. Still have a couple from the beginning. My new one is a gravel bike by Specialized and I adore it. I ride mixed about 120+ miles a week. That said, I also have a Juiced e-bike that I love. My wife has one too. The e-bike lets me do things at 60+ I could not do anymore. I love to mix and match on my bikes, depending on my mood or health. No one should feel they are "cheating" on an e-bike. I ride mine hard with minimal pedal assist and I get a fine workout...with 100+ lbs of bike to haul around, you can really work hard if you choose to.
That is the most mature and informative 20 minutes on e-bikes that I'm aware of, anywhere. Thank you.
Agreed
My eMTB has been a blessing for me - I used to have riding buddies on normal bikes, but when they got tired of climbing challenging trails in the woods, I found it hard to stay motivated to go out alone time and time again. I bit the lemon after a few years and bought an electric, not expecting the enormous advantage. My average HR is maybe 10bpm lower on a ride, but I go three times as far and stay out double the time. So for me, it's actually increased my excercise level substantially. I still use my normal trail bike, and always take it when I ride with buddies(or even offer them the ebike if their not quite as in shape).
I resisted e-bikes until age 72. I need to keep my heart rate within a safe range. I ride dirt and gravel roads exclusively. I noticed my heart rate rising into the danger zone when climbing. I relented and bought two e-bikes, a gravel bike and a mountain bike. Oh man! I can tackle the most difficult portions of my rides with gusto while keeping my heart rate in a safe range.
I have not given up my "push" bikes. I used these bikes regularly but on trails that do not adversely affect my heart rate.
I have built bikes from scratch and have experience working with electrical circuits, so I am not intimidated by having to diagnose and repair my e-bikes. My e-bikes allow me to ride vigorously while keeping my healthy.
I bought a Riese and Müller (spent a few $) and it’s changed so many things for me. You are right, an ebike (done right) can be a car replacement. I use it for all my errands and it’s saved thousands of miles on my car. And I don’t live in a city, I live in a rural setting, so it takes tens of miles to do anything. I originally tried to ride on the trails but it just doesn’t suit. It’s for the road, it’s for replacing the car and getting outside and exercise. And that’s what it’s good for and worth it. 😊
It’s way to easy for a e-bike rider that lacks bike handling skills, to get in over their head. Gonna be a bad outcome of crashing an e-bike at 18- 28 mph😢, when most analog speed are 10-13 mph.That said , love my specialized turbo Vado.
I am riding my road bike easily with 22 mph on flat terrain. Downhill I reach 31-53 mph. I don’t think of crashing. I make sure I am going as fast as the situation allows to stay safe (including the other riders as a potential risk).
@@gnufoo8478 trying to figure out how this applied to the OP's comment? if you are unexperienced, you really shouldn't be riding that fast. you need bike handling skills to be able to avoid the common inevitable falls which include sand or water in corners, bad drivers etc. bragging about going fast on an e bike while being inexperienced just tells me your time on a bike is limited
@@bmxscape Seem you didn't get me. I tried to say that you don't need an ebike to be fast, because the OP(?) assumes that ebike go 5-12 mphs faster than non-ebikes. This is wrong. What do you call "bregging"? and why on an ebike? And why do you assume I am inexperienced? I say you should go as fast as you stay safe, implementing the expertise and capability of analyzing your environment. Of course there is always a remaing risk, which nobody can exclude-not even at walking pace. And btw… why do ebike riders always lack handling whereas the remaining part of non ebike heros doesn't? Why do I actually answer you? For one moment get rid of stereotypes…🧐
Better than those same bad riders driving a car at 55. At least on a bike they are more likely to only hurt themselves.
@@gnufoo8478I ride an ebike (and regular bikes) and have been cycling for 40 years. Most people on ebikes have not been riding for 40 years. Most people on e-bikes are out of shape, have very little cycling experience, and can go faster than their skills safely allow them to.
It’s not that difficult to figure out how that could become an issue.
So I’m stationed in a small rural town in Japan.
I bought a mamachari “mom bike” as a way to get around and because riding bikes in Japan is just a vibe on its own. It was a 6 speed and I could power up hills with a kid in tow.
My wife doesn’t drive and needed away to get around, and these hills can be tough, so I bought her a Panasonic Gyuuto e-bike.
That thing is freaking sweet.
Besides hauling ass on it if you wanted to, hills are non existent with the pedal assist.
My wife has a practical way of getting around town, and I have a toy to joy ride with.
Thanks for the honest conversation around this topic. People can choose to be polarized around a particular topic or just simply do what speaks to them without the drama. Sounds like you have adopted the latter, healthier approach. By the way, where did you get your shop apron? That looks like a quality piece of gear.
69 years old. Been riding 60 years. Truck bikes, krate bike, 70s race bike, mountain bike, converted to expedition bike. Got an ebike to commute over a mountain pass in L.A. Health. It did pay for itself in gas alone and pretty quick. So fun, and made the pass ride doable. 13 years later I still have the bike, and ride it in the sierra foothills. Still have and ride my “legit” bikes. Never stopped. I do pedal, do work at it, but can go farther and in places I never could before. Better yet, I can go places and as far as I used to be able to go. It’s a pedego interceptor, a fairly established ebike company, and one of their first models. I did have to solve problems, the worst being the rear wheel being unhappy with the tork, and high speed pothole encounters, the shop and I kept replacing spokes and rebuilding that wheel until I took it to a motorcycle wheel builder for bigass spokes. I understand that one would not want to work on these things. So many controllers, so little time.
I bought Aventon… yes they are direct to consumer, but they also sell through stores and I bought mine at my local bike shop run by a bunch of hippies (like many excellent bike shops are). Key for me is this shop services them.
Same, bought me Aventon level through my local shop. Has been a great work commuter with over 1,200 miles so far👍
But yes, taking the rear wheel off when I had a gnarly puncture was a pain lol
@@daneish96 How much of a pain is it? I have a regular bike with a Gates belt drive, Shimano Alfine 8 internal gear hub, and disc brakes, and it's slightly more work to take the rear wheel off, but it only takes a minute. It's absolutely worth never having to deal with a chain, a derailleur, or rim brakes ever again. I can't imagine an e-bike is much more complicated.
First is loosening the 15mm axle nuts, same as any normal bike. Because the horizontal dropouts are rear-facing, I have to remove the brake caliper (two easy-to-access 5mm bolts). The belt drive means I have to back off the two 3mm tensioner screws a few turns to get the belt off the pulley. And the internal gear hub takes a 2mm stick (spare spoke or an Allen key) to release tension on the shifter cable in order to disconnect it. The first time was a learning process, but it's not hard at all.
I love my ebike. It replaced my truck! Helped me get through the winter and everything else.
Id love to always have an ebike, and maybe get a good regular bike as well. We'll see!
For a daily commuter theres nothing better than one, in my opinion.
Servicing it has been a pain as i have one bike shop that doesn't want to touch it, so ive had to learn how to do maintenance for my own bike. Which is fine, i see your point about maintenance and highly respect that.
If there was more people able to ride bikes(of any kind) to work or as commuters i think it would be for the best. Its not the wasiest in bad weather, but still.
When I grew up in the 60's my bicycle was freedom and fun. I loved exploring the city streets and parks, trekking to the waterfront to fish and doing some ad hoc street rally races with time trials. I have noticed that children are less inclined to ride bicycles now. I suspect the reasons are parental safety concerns, traffic tolerance and opportunity. Now I see children on motor scooters, motor boards and cheap electric bikes more often than a bicycle. Soon we won't need legs!
Great video! I'm so thankful that I've been able to get back out on the road with a huge chunk of missing cartilage in my knee. I have a little over 40 miles on my new Aventon Soltera.2. It's fantastic! I bought it at a local shop a couple of weeks ago. It's relatively low weight and just feels like a regular bike with a bit of help on the hills. My wife and I went on a nice long bike ride tonight and my knee feels great!
Personally I think ebikes are a blast to ride and they are a game changer for my dad who is well into his 70s. But I think that pedal assist ebikes need to actually be pedal assist ebikes. A lot of them have throttles and the speed limiters can be trivially bypassed. People going 30mph on their 80 pounds electric mopeds need to do so on the street. Where I live there's sometimes speed limits posted on bike lanes, but I've never heard of these speed limits being enforced. Otherwise it is merely suggested to use the street if going faster than 20mph, but its not a requirement, and obviously not enforced.
I’ve been an avid mountain biker for 20+ years. When I started I really got into XC riding. As time went on I moved into more trail/enduro oriented bikes with bigger travel and bigger tires. Lately I’ve been riding more paved trails in my area and even just installed gravel tires on my XC bike. Maybe my next bike will be a gravel bike or perhaps even a road bike? A couple years ago I demoed a Turbo Levo at my local trail and it was a blast! My only point in saying all this is that if I had the money I’d own a bike for every occasion. I just love riding. It all has its place. Anyone that disagrees is just looking for something to argue about.
It isn;'t the bike, it's the rider. I've been mute-passed by ten times more acoustic riding chamois-sniffing pathletes than e-bikers. Just ride responsibly.
Don't forget the Strava screaming at them out loud to pedal harder
For real. Ask yourself whether it's ok for your ego for any other rider to pass you on the hills from time to time. Then ask yourself if it matters whether that person passing you is a lady on an ebike or a 20-something guy in lycra on a plastic racing bike.
I've been a bike riding and wrenching fool for a good 40 years now. I've owned 100s of bikes in my life, was a huge flipper back in the early 2000s. I've always had at least 10 bikes at any given point in time. Anyway, I've had several ebikes now, have three right now. I built up a 2003 Gary Fischer disc brake bike and put a $1000 ebike mid drive kit on it and its a beast. Love it for hitting hard stuff I'm too old to do now, it makes it possible and is fun AF. I also bought a hard used Chinese rear hub ebike and pretty much rebuilt it and installed two broken spokes. I took the rear hub apart and the plastic gears were worn out and I found them on Alibaba, replaced them and greased the hub motor and all was good with that. I also replaced the screen, the controller as well as the rear derailleur and throttle. All that stuff is really pretty easy and its all accessible for purchase. I had a good $1000 into the bike once I was done and ended up getting lucky and sold it to a guy for that amount so I broke even but learned a ton for free. Oh I also replaced the folding telescoping stem as it was worn out from use. They are not that difficult to service in my opinion they are just a little different. Its the future, ebikes are not going away so if you want to not go there I get it but its a revenue source your not going to have so someone else will take that slot for you I'm sure.
My only issue with E-bikes are the way most delivery drivers are operating them - a lot of them have their eyes down while riding or riding with 1 hand looking at their phone.
A lot of the delivery drivers lack empathy and common decency at red lights - they pull up right beside you on the left, blocking the lane and in the way of you starting off.
I don't care about most things, but blatant rudeness of basic etiquette from other riders (Most people on regular bikes don't do this, maybe 1/10) A lot of delivery drivers ride at 10 kmh looking down at their phone and block the entire sealed bike lane. Ebikes are fine, but most people on Ebikes in my city are delivery drivers being very rude. I usually just say nothing because it's common.
Used to train hard at home. Had (still have) an expenses indoor trainer and followed a training program that got me train HIIT 5 days a week. When I got on trails, I could feel my body wanting to move hard. I thought my health was better than it had ever been. But your health is not static, and things happened. I had to stop training because my own body literally protested.
I just got an electric cruiser bike this year, and it got me back out and more than ever. At lowest pedal assist, my torque sensor ebike practically feels like a normal bike. But more power is there if I ever need it to get home. I actually ride slower than I used to on my carbon dropbar bicycles . More upright position to look around and my favorite part is letting the wind hit me. Now my (e)bike is a tool for commuting and leisure rides.
Im in favor of ebikes because they get more people riding. That being said.. I'd never own one. I dont need electrical circuitry on my blissfully simple transportation.
Agreed. Its great for some people. That some is not me. I dont even want indexed shifting on my bike let alone batteries and computers 😂
It really doesn't need to be any more complicated than this. I'd rather deal with an occasional jerk doing 35 mph down the bike path than to take all the e-bikes off the road and see all those riders put back into single occupancy automobiles.
@@zwicker5585It's odd sometimes how we, including me, enthusiastically endorse ebikes and electronic gadgets and carbon fiber frames for others but would never use them ourselves. My 🚲 technology preferences probably ended in the 90s.
@@IdahoFatTireBikeFun yeah I’m in the same boat. I’m even a huge tech guy when it comes to other products, but I find the utility and ease peaked in the late 80s early 90s
@@manysnakes Totally understand your view, but totally SEPARATE safety issues!
I destroyed my ankle in 2020 and doc was not sure I will be able to walk, not even think about bikes. 7 surgeries over 2 years. Got gravel ebike (250watt pedal assist with Bufang M800 motor) and it was a life changer. I'm now walking, although not huge distances and more importantly back on bikes. Ride my mountain bikes at least 2 x a week on trails including some hard technical rock gardens. Not at the same level as before the accident but doing smaller jumps and having fun. 2400 miles last year and 1400 so far this year. Will never run or do backpacking but the ebike really gave me freedom and helped me get back to more or less normal life.
So maybe limit them to Handicapped and over 65?
@@whazzat8015 so maybe limit yourself to handicapped and over 65? ban cars - a much much worse problem - too?
e-bikes are just a new tool, ride what you want. My problem is with the ones that are more like electric motorcycles that just rip. Keep those off the greenways and everyone will be just fine.
like the Suron ebikes that look more like a motocross dirt bike than a pedal bike with a battery attached.
And most of them are illegal - I think we're currently in the "Wild West" phase. The manufacturers (some of them, not the legit brands) ship them legal, with a little nudge/wink thing like "don't flip this switch to remove the limiter so you can go 40+ mph... Here in California, the police can impound those bikes as unregistered/uninsured motor vehicles and you're SOL for whatever you paid for it. It's still fairly loosely enforced, but a couple of beach cities by Los Angeles are cracking down and impounding them. Much to the shock of the parents who paid for them, I'm sure.
yeah fair point. in the eu the regulation is 25kph for assisted speed (which is nothing for a road cyclist for example) and I think is a perfect number
@@hrobaky_ymy town has a 15 mph on any bicycle not on the roadway. E bikes or powered anything are banned from the sidewalk/ greenway. I like it that way but I do worry about kids on e bikes / scooters in the road, but so far it’s had minimal problems in town
Thanks. I’ve been warming up to e-bikes lately. While I’ve always thought the utilitarian versions for commuting and general errands are fantastic and will lead to a happier healthier population who build bike infrastructure going forwards.
For trail riding, really my pererred type of fun and exercise, I’ve had concerns about accidents or trail damage. After watching my local cycling community awhile I’ve seen fellow riders able to continue riding with their friends as they loose some ability to age. I figure okay when I’m older I’ll get one because I’m going to ride until I pass away. 👍
I heard a good argument for a younger guy to get one recently though which was that an e-bike can help you improve your mountain bike handling at higher speeds which for racers and people who are comfortable going fast is intriguing
I’m still not getting one until I use up the parts on my “analog” bikes.
I use my DIY eBike with Vincita pannier bags to get groceries about 95% of the time. It works beautifully and Aldi even lets me park inside the store! YMMV, ask them if it's okay first.
My wife has a Giant Roam. Pedal assist and it’s so much fun. I love to take it around the block on sport mode. More importantly it lets her get out and ride. She has multiple health conditions that won’t be fixed by riding an acoustic bike. So we get out and ride and life is great. She beats me up the hills and I get to pretend that I’m mad but really her smiling as she buzzes past me makes me smile. Go ride!
In Metro Manila, Philippines, e-bikes, at least the cheap ones, have become popular. These vehicles are very useful for getting around neighborhoods with little or no cars or other motor vehicles. E-bikes are prohibited from operating on major highways. I think the problem with e-bikes, particularly in the Metro, are the drivers who are undisciplined and don't care about pedestrians and cars. They put their lives and other people in danger. To many people, however, e-bikes are the answer to their mobility. Because of their rising popularity, there are new laws now for the safety of both riders, pedestrians and cars.
To quote a line from an article I just read: "He [Grant Petersen] is less dogmatic about e-bikes than one might expect (“Better than a car”)." I find this to be right on point - save the dogma for dogma-worthy issues. Ride the bikes that make you happy, ride the bikes that serve you best.
14:21 i agree with this so much. People get so weird about e-bikes and it's funny to me, more butts on bikes is cool to me! I think where they get bothersome is e bikes FLYING by pedestrians and making me (just a dude on a bike) hated by pedestrians just by association. And as a trail builder we have to deal with the whole class 1 or class 2 situation and the e bike snowball effect we're experiencing by letting them on our trails. "If he can bring that e bike then i can bring my surron right?" So they can be bothersome absolutely. But if someone's only problem is that e bikes are passing them then they gotta look in a mirror😂 at the end of the day they get people outside that would otherwise not be outside and that's a great thing!
As someone who owns 6 e-bicycles this was a great video. I can totally understand the possible issues on the service side of things. Glad you’re still open minded about them.
Great video. Like I said in our last conversation, I've realized it's the trail manners around my area THATS my trigger, not the E-bike. And it's funny we have friends coming to visit, and they want to rent E-bikes and ride some of the Lake tahoe bike paths. So hear i go trying an E-bike on paths just like you talked about 😢😅.
A person can be rude/dangerous on any bike and the weight difference isn't that big when you come down to it. E-bikes certainly allow people to get dangerous more easily, but not exclusively. I agree on trail manners to the point I've started calling out people who are ignoring them. Though sometimes it just a loud "Jesus Christ"
We gotta get school gym programs going where students learn about local rules and skills for cycling!
Have two e-bikes and two acoustic bikes. Love them all. 64 years old. Live in a very hilly area. Ebikes flatten the steep climbs and allow me to ride in my area which would be really a tough situation without them. I have a Tern HSD cargo bike. Great for errands and I sometimes take it to town for groceries which is a 32 plus mile round trip with a couple steep climbs. I also have a nice Trek road/gravel ebike that has been a joy to ride.
My beloved Mercian is almost 30 years old and I love riding it. Love it.
I recently bought an older LeMond to use as my Zwift trainer bike for indoor cycling. What a great thing for lousy weather!
I love e-bikes. Love acoustic bikes. Love cycling. More fun than driving! Probably be at around 5,000 miles this year on my various bikes. My mental and physical health is better for it.
As a side comment, my wife wasn't a cyclist. She wouldn't pedal anywhere for any reason. I bought her a fat tad etrike because she was worried about her balance and her physical fitness was poor due to seven years in the US Army and three kids. She loves her fat tad etrike. Dave's Bike Shop had a recumbent bike in the basement, and I bought it for her at her request. She loves her recumbent bike and it's an amazing abdomen workout. I bought her a mamachari three speed cruiser brake bike and a thrift store city bike. She loves them. Now she is on a Mullet which is our daughter's old mountain bike with a rear rack for paniers and drop bar racing handlebars up front. Yesterday and the day before, she was a human cannonball sprinting at 13.5 mph average speed over 30 miles each day! She went from never cycling to now training for the 1000 kilometer round-trip Shikoku Circuit! Sometimes ebikes can be the gateway drug into muscle powered 🚲! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
AMEN, on SO many points you made!
Your opinions are spot-on and reflects the current state of bike/e-bike repair.
There is a slowly emerging sector of E-bike shops that can get those repairs done, as well as training/certification classes that can be taken from the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA) that is helping increase the numbers of the profession, so if you are worried about the future of E-bike repair, the future seems bright.
Thanks hey!
The problem I have is people that do not know the rules of riding whipping around on their ebikes. On a really wide trail, coming real close to my dog. Who let them know the error of their ways in no uncertain terms. And kids on ebikes, really? That's just lazy.
One of my sore spots is a lot of these ebikers weren't cyclist and they don't have any trail manors. They don't call out on your left, they sometimes pass in the dirt on the right on the rail trail.
Throttles are a problem I've seen bikes that go 40 mph on sidewalks. Just because it has peddles they assume they can go anywhere we go.
They are wearing out our park electric lift stand. We do charge extra for tire changes, I call it my pain ass up charge😉
Its love hate for us, if we didn't sell ebikes we would be out of business. 95% of my sales lately have ebikes. I could talk for hours on how my conversations have changed.
Thanks for doing what you do
I don't like them, for disabled folks or very elderly I understand. For the guys in their 20s I see blasting away at 30mph on the bike bath, blasting music, no ear buds, smoking cigarettes, and even drinking, no, these are dangerous and detrimental to biking. E bikes aren't bicycles, they are motor driven cycles
My problem with them is that you get boomers (like myself) who haven't ridden a bicycle since their childhood and don't have bike handling skills or understand cycling etiquette. And I agree - they aren't bicycles. They're small motorcycles.
👍😊🚲🚲 Having been a full time bicycle commuter, using mostly multi use paths, the biggest problem was "zoned out" pedestrians, not paying any attention to where they were. A bicycle bell or horn only works if the intended receiver can hear it! Electric bicycle riders were never a problem.
I’ve been a fairly serious cyclist since 1987, but I've never ridden competitively. I live in Arizona, and my style of riding has always been a mixture of dirt roads, trails, and paved roads. I have two titanium bikes; a Salsa Fargo, and a Why Cycles El Jefe set up as a singlespeed.
My wife wanted to join me on my rides back in 2020, so I got her a Trek Powerfly 5. It has been the perfect bike for her. It only provides varying degrees of pedal assist up to 21 mph. She can keep up with me most of the time, but she often kicks my butt on the big hills.
I’m 64, and I intend to keep riding a traditional bike for as long as I can. But the day may come when I will need to get an ebike for myself. In fact, I wouldn’t mind getting a couple of fat ebikes so my wife and I can explore some of the sandy washes in our area.
Got an e-bike and sold my car - one less car on the road, one less car/insurance/maintenance/registration for me. And I'm biking again after a 20 years of not. . .what's not to like?
Luckily - I have three LBS within 2 miles of me that work on e-bikes. Most of the service I do at home (in fact, that's how I came to this channel, thank you Bike Farmer for showing me how!).
I do go on trails, but I behave appropriately for the trails. Fast on the streets, slow and respectfully on the trails.
No longer drive anymore here either.
My Class 1 Hase Lepus is everything to me now!
Thanks for breaking your silence, Bike Farmer..! Now can you do a rant on those people at Walmart in those electric shopping carts?? lol! Right now, I use conventional bikes for exercise while I still can...maybe an e-bike is in my future...I see young kids whipping around the streets on those things, drinking a cup of coffer or, an energy drink and not pedaling at all.(I know!) I wonder if we are promoting a generation of sedentary bike consumers.
Fair. I love my throttle for getting going from a stop, especially with my kids on the back. I like it for instant speed when I have to be in traffic. But yeah. A lot of times I wish throttles cut out at 10mph or something.
To me, this is your best video yet! I love the thoughts in discussion versus a rant. So much better than having to take a side all the time. I have road bikes, mountain bikes, and an E bike, and I use them all differently, and I love them all. Thank you for this video.
The main issue is ass e-bikers on the multi-use paths. I've had a personal altercation when an e-biker came flying around a corner and my partner had to swerve and go off the lip of path and then crashed to ground (he was an older guy but he was "ok" thankfully for the soft ground) to avoid the dumb ass with his 10 ton e-bike. He did stop & apologize, but shit like this is why.
You see it all the time. e-bikers just zooming around the paths, not paying attention, on their cell phones. There's a couple that hooked up a boombox so they can play music while they ride.
This shit gives "e-bikers" a bad name. I am at the point that if you have a throttle and/or non-pedal assist, it should be banned on the multi-use paths. full stop. I really don't care about compromise at this point.
You are spot on! I’ve had the same experience. I am 73. Never ride a moped. There is no E-bike. A bike is pedaled by a person. An electric motor cycle is motorized.
Non-pedal assist ebikes are already illegal here in Germany for non-road use, but the cops don't really care. You can get them directly from China without any speed limiter, which is illegal as well, and some people are going 20-30 mph on shared bike/pedestrian paths or on forrest trails. It's so dangerous.
My experience is just the opposite. When me and my friend ride our ebikes on the muti-use greenline and green way, the riders on “regular “ bikes are the ones that come flying past us! There is a speed limit on the paths and if speeding and riding dangerously is your issue then I would suggest enforcement of those rules. No need to be prejudice against all ebike riders!
@@PLAZALOT58 I frequently commute on a multi-use trail which allows Class 1 & 2, prohibits Class 3, and has a 15 MPH limit. Every time, on a 9 mile ride, I encounter several people riding Class 3's at 20+. Every single ride. I encounter a few lycra/carbon bike yoyos doing the same thing, but they are far outnumbered by the speeding ebikes.
Interestingly, when I'm doing my normal cross town commute (which is shorter but requires 1,000 feet of hill climbing), I almost never see the lycra/carbon bike yoyos. The multi-use trail is the only 'road' in the area with a 15 MPH limit. Everywhere else they could ride, they could do 20+ and they would be under or just barely over the limit, but they go speeding on the trail.
@@PLAZALOT58 facts
I love bicycles, always have. At one point I worked on everyones in the neighborhood, about 50 years ago.
Currently have a e-assist specialized and love it, still ride my '97 Trek 2100, still love it.
Hat class 3 scooters, most times I see many flying on them while peddling 1 RPD. Rotation per Day !!
Still looking for a small frame Cannondale M800, Beast of The East from the late 80's was my dream bike and couldn't afford one back then.
Love your channels and most times you opinion, Keep up the great channel
Shout-out to your Timex T80. I don't see them with the three link bracelet these days.
being 72 and a life of doing centuries for the fun of it, I've now built 5 bikes. I live in Chicago and the ease of using an E-Bike around the city makes it worthwhile. Parking is easy find a bike stand or light post to lock to, instead of paying for street parking. While I prefer to use various levels of pedal assist, having a throttle when needing to get across a busy short light cycle intersection is great, and like HP in a car sometimes instant power can save yer ass. Now I use mid-drives I've done conversions and frame-up builds from Costerbrake, CVT rear ends, IGH, and derailers. 36v to 72v, but 52v is the sweet spot. I would never buy a factory-built E-Bike, Chinese or Other, mainly because they use custom specialty parts like Batteries so if they go bad in a couple of years have fun finding replacement parts. While I would consider using a hub motor in a special application they really screw with things like the center of gravity and if it's a rear take gearing out of the mix and front screws with handling. The available mid-drive conversions are reliable, and you can get parts and have enough after-market support to dial the bike in. Batteries are another matter, only a moron would buy the cheapest one they can find on Amazon, you have to go with a known reputable battery maker and a battery that can supply the required amperage for your needs and the motor you are using. Battiers likely will be your biggest cost, again the reason I will not buy the cute factory design to slip into the custom frame Bottle mount, triangle bags seat bags will be around when it comes time to replace or upgrade. We ride streets, bike lanes, and bike paths here, You never know when a kid or a dog is gonna zig instead of zag, and when a Yawho is gonna open a car door. So ya there will always be some idiot riding beyond the conditions on a bike that will go as fast as a competitive bike racer in their flip flops, but in the city, they don't last long. I don't ride trials but I see no problem with responsible use of E-Bikes on them. So that's My Rant.
Hello from France, e-bike have their share of hate for good reasons, sometimes for stupid reasons, most of it came from people who don't (want to) understand the rules of bike paths.
I like fat bikes, boomers on hub motor, cheap folding, fat bikes on the other hand no so much.
E-bikes help people to commute, go shopping and many times it's faster than public transport and an be cheapper.
Many old timers, can ride and group ride, this help their social life and fight old people solitude.
Cyclists, no one care if u pass an e-bike, it's pathetic, please don't look at the display to see the speed it's even more pathetic.
For reference i worked on old bikes and commuters bike for a while, was a Zoomo mechanic, and now riding an electric cargo bike fixing cycle logistic cargo bikes.
I love Surly Bikes and building wheels, ride save
eMTBs are AMAZING for the sport. I am a ride leader for a local weekly MTB ride and it has been SO encouraging to see folks come back to MTB after they felt their fitness (due to age or just life in general) wasn't enough to enjoy riding with people. I absolutely love having these folks join my group rides because it is the enjoyment of the ride, not what you ride. If someone has an $11,000 S-works and is mad about someone with a $5K orbea emtb keeping pace with them, that is totally on them and is IMO toxic. I've had people complain to me and I am usually pretty blunt that they are in the same speed/level group so they can get good and join the race pace groups or stop thinking about others. Over the last year or two that acceptance of eMTBs has been generally open arms and enthusiastic. The biggest growth is in older Dads getting an eMTB so they can keep pace with their teenagers. What could possibly be more wholesome than technology making it easier for a parent and child to spend time together in nature?
E-bikes allow non athletic senior citizens to fly up hills in headwinds with the full Joy of childhood.
And if a sudden obstacle arises and those senior citizens can't handle getting to a halt safely, they crash with way more speed than reasonable and/or get buried under their heavy bike.
Also many seniors I know don't use front brakes because on their former bikes they never had then or they were rubbish. And then they're afraid of the shiny new disc brake and need three times as long to come to a halt.
That's not meant to be a no-go, but this safety aspects should be considered as well. Handling heavy bikes can be learned and who wants to drive them should do this.
@@dereinzigwahreRichi lol just don't leave the house if you're that scared lol
@@keystonestu I'm quick on my feet and quick on my bike and not that scared. The dangers I see are not primarily to myself. But is it so unreasonable to prove that you can handle a motorized vehicle you want to drive in public space before you are allowed to do so?
@@dereinzigwahreRichi You should prove that you can do everything then. Can you prove that you know how to walk in a public space?
@@difflocktwo yes, I can.
Look, it's not something absurd I'm proposing here. E-Bikes are machines that allow anyone to reach speeds that might be far beyond what they could achieve by sheer muscle power while having elements to control these machines that were not even originally designed to do so, like bicycle brakes and handlebars. It is a motorised vehicle, there's no doubt about it. And they are allowed and driven in spaces that were up to now exclusively the domain of much slower, solely muscle powered traffic. You really think it is an absurd idea to let someone who wants to take part in this with a motorized vehicle take a little test before doing so?
By your logic, not needing to prove anything, we should also abolish all driving licenses for cars, motorbikes, trucks... Maybe all licenses at all. Brain surgery? No need for a doctors license, your janitor can do it! You need some medicine? Why go to a licensed apothecary, just let your grocery store cashier give you something...no one needs to prove to anyone they can do a certain thing qualified!
I also, like many of the people who commented, have a similar story. Growing up in the fifty's, my bike was my world. My vehicle to new and bigger places. However time has a way of catching up with us.
A heart attack and stoke later, that E-bike was my gateway back into the world of the living. To see people enjoying the parks & being able to ride through the fall leaves,
I felt alive again and yes it was on a Chinese e-bike. I own 3 Chinese E- bikes. I love my bike's and have logged over thousands of miles. Maybe I'm lucky, no major problems.
your comment about older people in regards to the weight and torque of these bike's not to worry yourself about us baby boomers we are a lot tougher then you know kid!
I also ride a 500cc Chinese motorcycle. The quality is top notch.
If you look into half the components in your Ford or Chevy, where do you think the parts come from? You guessed it, China or some other country.
That heart attack and stoke I spoke of was 9 years ago and thousand of E bike miles later.
Built to last. Go boomers!!!!