Cyclist age

[flecc]

Eh? Speak up! Mumble, mumble grumble.
.

 

[coops]

Polled! any chance of "stickying" this thread Russ? I dug it out from page 7 & its an interesting poll: though I realise not everyone will want to disclose the information, the results so far show quite a spread of ages & thats good & maybe goes some way to encourage people that ebikes are beneficial for all, regardless of age! (- its how young you feel that counts after all, innit & I for one feel younger with mine )

Come on all you new ebike owners, lets make this poll a representative cross section of the world's electric cyclists' ages .

Stuart.

 

[Trawlerman]

I'm 33 and love electric cycles.

I'm currently between cycles and am using a convention MTB right now - a Raleigh Max. My next electic cycle will most likley be a Powacycle Salisbury when pay day comes around again.

I use my cycle for commuting to work and back, which dependant on what work is in can be anything from a mile upto 15 miles. The electric cycle allows me to do this with ease.

As i'm also Diabetic it allows me to stay mobile without facing the extortionate insurance costs associated with owning a motor vehicle. It also means that I can get to work and back without aggravating my condition too much.

 

[ITSPETEINIT]

How old?

I've posted my nearly most intimate details on my profile for all to see. Good place to put 'em. Saves a lot of searching.
If there is going to be a dual band of ages (eg "50 going on 20") that's a big permutation! Before someone works it out that's 2401. Nobody is 50 going on 50 and 49 going on 51, is not going to be admitted

 

[danieldrough]

Hi everybody (its Dr nick)

Just added another vote for the over 50's.

Steve

 

[Clueless]

Likewise i am 43

 

[Krow]

43 here...

trying to sell my brother he should go electric on his 42nd birthday!

keith.

 

[joanieb]

I'm 36 ( although I feel like I am about 50 most days ) and I got my bike because I have a very young son, have just gone back to work and don't have a lot of time to exercise. I'm way too unfit to do the 4 miles home from work on an ordinary bike so an electric bike means I get a bit of exercise plus its a cheap way to travel.

I love it. I park in the office car park which is reserved for the senior directors only, I don't pay car parking anymore saving ten pounds a day and its a lot of fun.

Sadly my new Ezee liv which arrived last week appears to be so effective that I don't think I am getting much exercise from it.

Oh and people take the mick out of me for having an ebike and say that they are for oldies. Seems like this poll just confirmed that !

 

[flecc]

Oh and people take the mick out of me for having an ebike and say that they are for oldies. Seems like this poll just confirmed that !

Not so Joanieb! Tell them that electric bikes are for environmentally responsible people of all ages who would otherwise be using their cars, and why aren't they doing so too!

In China riders of every age use them routinely now.
.

 

[coops]

Thought I'd "bump" this thread for any members who may be unaware of it & wish to add their stats to the poll

P.S. if you are 41-50, in order that you can still poll I'd suggest you ignore the obvious one digit mistake in the age grouping & poll as "51-50"

 

[TwistNgo]

Hi joanieb, I'm 30 and people take the mick out of me as well !

I bought the bike because I have an undulating 3 and a half mile ride to work. When I do this ride on my normal mountain bike I arrive to work a sweaty mess ! also I have to wear different clothes and then dry myself down then change into my work clothes which seems to all take forever !.

Now with my electric bike I get to work far faster, I can arrive not a sweaty mess !, I can wear my work clothes for the cycle trip, I don't pay tax, insurance or petrol, I'm enviromentally friendly, I can park closer to work than my co-workers, whos having the last laugh now !

 

[Ian]

The "mickey taking" gets a bit wearisome, while it normally has no malice it has no logic either, it's even been suggested I get a "proper moped", although that was retracted when I pointed out the advantages mentioned in the previous post plus the ability to use cycle facilities. The annoying thing is that people using "proper mopeds" and higher don't get the "mickey taken" and don't get accused of cheating, although how you can cheat without competing beats me.

 

[electric.mike]

Ian
cheating always makes me laugh, even with a push bike you only need one gear to make it go, so any more must be cheating,surely the purists don't have more than one to make it easier do they
mike

ps
perhaps intelligence enters the equation

 

[Ian]

Strangely enough Mike, the one cyclist I know who is perhaps qualified to accuse others of cheating, a purist who commutes 18 miles each way on a single speed, fixed wheel elderly roadster, has never made an adverse comment about electric bikes.

As you say, perhaps intelligence is part of the equation.

 

[Django]

I promise you that this is true. Traversing up a local hill on my Torq I actually had someone lean out of their car and call me a "lazy git".

Out of a car!*!?!! I ask you, how does that work?

Django

 

[stevebee]

Well I'm 44 (how time flys) and have used a Torq for the same reason as many - wanted to get fitter, needed to arrive at work not sweaty (no showers) and seemed the best, albeit expensive initial cost, to achieve this.
Must say that I have been met with some curiosity from my colleagues, but when they see the speed ....

Has got me back into cycling so much that I've ordered a Thorn touring bike .... just have too not use the throttle too much so I can get fit enough to use it ! (electric has spoilt me )

 

[Beeping-Sleauty]

Cheating....

Right,...so who else is a cheat...?

recently i experienced in person, that stupid attitude which drove me to find this forum,

i had pulled up outside my local Halfords, dismounting from my trusty 'assisted steed' i was confronted by a 'serious' cyclist,
clad in the latest hi-vis apparel, furnished with some £1,000 worth of Claud Butler and further adorned with every extra i think anyone would ever need, panniers front & back , bar bags, seat bags, the works, he eyed my Spangly chinese offering and spat - "Thats cheating isn't it...?

i laughed, he grimaced...i laughed louder, now he's really frowning.

After a minute or so, having completed his pre-flight checklist, donned gloves, adjusted helmet and mirrors, unlocked bike, rechecked the panniers, and with no little effort, off he trundled with a grunt and not a little muttering, a small cloud of outraged gloom.

i was still grinning, but it made me think... yes

i cheat that headwind, it no longer brings me to a stand-still.
i cheat that hill, i don't go red, work hard or even get off.
i cheat those old achy stiff knees i used to have, now i cycle every day.
i cheat the weary continual pulling away slowly wearing me down.
i cheat the sweaty arrival, looking flustered and needing 10 mins to dry off.
i cheat the dread of the return journey, knowing it's uphill or working against me.

so yes, guilty, but only if 'cheat' really means positive for me and not negative for anyone else.
thanks,
beeps

 

[rsscott]

I promise you that this is true. Traversing up a local hill on my Torq I actually had someone lean out of their car and call me a "lazy git".

Out of a car!*!?!! I ask you, how does that work?

Django

Along with Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Dimming, I believe there is an alternative Global Dimming and that person definitely falls into said category

cheers
Russ

Russell Scott
Pedelecs UK
​

 

[flecc]

Right,...so who else is a cheat...?

In answer to "so who else is cheating" Beeps, he was!

How does he think all his high tech gear was produced, the fancy alloys etc in his ultra light bike, all his togs, the complete set up that helps him up hills in exactly the same way your electric drive does?

It was all produced using prodigious quantities of electricity of course!

I always point out to these types that if they want to stop cheating, they should either walk or at the very least use a traditionally produced brazed jointed all steel bike like those we used to produce and India still does, since that uses the minimum of electricity in production.
.

 

[ITSPETEINIT]

Cheating or Greening?

In answer to nobody's posting in particular:
I am amazed at the 'other' world's perception of Electric Bikes and of the philosophy of the same.
It is a pity (it does our case no favours) that the promotion of e. cycling and by extension the promotion of e-bikes does not volunteer, whilst saving the planet, that there is a downside - the carbon footprint of manufacturing.
It is not all gain - just a very big percentage gain.
The evolution of transport for homo sapiens began where? The wheel? Did they light a fire to split the rock to fashion it from? (No! not that pole-for-pole-dancing support)
When did the 'cheating' start - with the Hobby-Horse (he's on it again I hear you say)
Everyone who has embraced some of the technological advances brought about by the invention of the wheel has 'cheated' to some extent.
I suppose it is the identification of e-biking with pure cycling (just because the products, in the main, look similar) that makes the user of pure muscle power a 'better person'.
But being 'green' involves being more than just a cyclist of any predilection. None of us are as green as we feel in our minds when we mount our e-bikes.
Whatever our motives, we are doing something for planet (the arguements of denial excluded). I am sure we could all do more. And many, like those whose bigotry we suffer, do precious little.
Name and address supplied