Do ebikes take the fun out of cycling ?

I have an ebike a Bafang mid drive converted bike. At first I was never off the bike but just recently I have had a tendency to ride my pedal powered bikes finding them to be more relaxing while also getting a bit more exercise. So do ebikes take the fun out of cycling what do you think ?

I don't cycle for fun I cycle for transport...

I suppose they do... my grin is so wide it makes my face ache.

I don't cycle for fun I cycle for transport...

Yes I do agree that an ebike makes an efficient mode of transport but for pleasure cycling the world just goes by a bit too fast.

I have an ebike a Bafang mid drive converted bike. At first I was never off the bike but just recently I have had a tendency to ride my pedal powered bikes finding them to be more relaxing while also getting a bit more exercise. So do ebikes take the fun out of cycling what do you think ?

ultimately yes, there is no substitute for only moving by ones own energy, which can become a spiritual things, which ebikes never can for me. but, an ebike can be a vital step back to being fit enough to effectively use an ordinary bike, if one has a regular 11 mile commute for example, as I do now on a litespeed, but had to start doing on an ebike to get fit enough

I have an ebike a Bafang mid drive converted bike. At first I was never off the bike but just recently I have had a tendency to ride my pedal powered bikes finding them to be more relaxing while also getting a bit more exercise. So do ebikes take the fun out of cycling what do you think ?

 

It sounds like you have the wrong motor, try a Bosch/Yamaha or Shimano Steps bike.

For a more serous answer..

I had both and found the lightweight bike exhilarating to say the least, but I had to plan my routes to avoid long climbs as they just take the edge off.

Now I have the best of both in my Giant Road E+1 and the carbon bike is long gone and not missed.

Perhaps if I were younger I may feel different, but I am not and I dont

Another point..

I have found that if you leave one of your bikes alone for a few weeks and then get back on it its almost like the first ride.. Almost!!

If I want to have fun I get in a boat and row for a few hours or I walk for 30 or 40 km. I don't associate cycling with fun and never have, a bike has always been a tool to get someplace, even as a boy.

 

I don't say that I don't enjoy riding from point A to point B, it is much more fun than the bus or the train and way more fun than a car in our traffic. But with the hills we have a non e-bike is more like a torture device. I am not like [mention=7885]EddiePJ[/mention]!

Someone told me that if you cant do it without the motor you shouldnt do it at all.. Go sit and watch daytime tv with the rest of the potatoes..

give it ten years and the non electric bikes will be a thing of the past as the rate of development on them atm and huge sales still rising and now also in the us as well.

 

just look at the 26inc wheel and the jump to 27.5 for a example. and sram will no longer make a front mech as with 11/12 spd you only need one front chain ring.

 

they will just get more powerful and get batts that last a lot longer and smaller in size mostly down to tesla and Panasonic.

give it ten years and the non electric bikes will be a thing of the past as the rate of development on them atm and huge sales still rising and now also in the us as well.

 

just look at the 26inc wheel and the jump to 27.5 for a example. and sram will no longer make a front mech as with 11/12 spd you only need one front chain ring.

 

they will just get more powerful and get batts that last a lot longer and smaller in size mostly down to tesla and Panasonic.

So what you are saying is that we will all be riding motor cycles.

give it ten years and the non electric bikes will be a thing of the past as the rate of development on them atm and huge sales still rising and now also in the us as well.

 

No chance of that happening.

all electric bikes have motors so they are motorbikes

No chance of that happening.

 

the problem atm is the price of them and the batts same with tesla cars there just stupid money and most normal ppl cant afford them every one that asks me about my bike and has a go on it says they would buy one but when i tell them the rrp for it of £5500 they run a mile lol.

Someone told me that if you cant do it without the motor you shouldnt do it at all.. Go sit and watch daytime tv with the rest of the potatoes..

Since June not quite 800 miles leisure cycling.

 

The people you are talking about tell them to fu@k off as they know sh1t.

 

Easy to say, harder to do.

 

When I bought my ebike in June my wife thought it would be a 5 minute wonder and waste of money, now almost 800 miles later she is really interested in getting one herself jealous that I am out and about on an ebike.

 

I have two lovely friends both middle age men, one has a Cervelo Carbon racing bike in his garage used twice and one a Giant FS MTB with flat tyres.

 

I have a Haibike with almost 800 miles on it since June ?????

 

Not sure what that says to your smart ass smug friends.

Someone told me that if you cant do it without the motor you shouldnt do it at all.

 

what a knob

He obviously can't speak without disengaging his brain first, perhaps he should remain silent

I have an ebike a Bafang mid drive converted bike. At first I was never off the bike but just recently I have had a tendency to ride my pedal powered bikes finding them to be more relaxing while also getting a bit more exercise. So do ebikes take the fun out of cycling what do you think ?

 

A very good question.

 

For my use they don't take the fun out and have opened up many opportunities to me that I wouldn't have otherwise be able to do.

 

That isn't to say that I think that they are in any way better, as they aren't.

They are very convenient though.

 

I get far more satisfaction out of tackling a climb on a pedal bike than I ever do an EAPC. The sense of achievement just isn't the same, and contrary to what SW believes, the pedal cycle will never be a thing of the past. The simple reason being, that some/many of us enjoy the challenge, and get more pleasure out of knowing that 100% of effort has come from the body. But then many of us are equally content with using an EAPC for their intended use within the letter of the law.

The exception in volume of pedal bike sales could well be for commuting, and city use aside, an ebike makes a lot of sense, so sales could escalate in that direction, whilst pedal bike sales fall. But generally commuting could hardly be considered fun use. Having said that, I love my off road commute to work, and look forward to it, so there will always be exceptions.

 

Sadly though my constant battle to fight muscle wastage in my legs, and the strain that it puts on my knees is a depressingly constant reminder that I cannot physical do, or achieve what I want without generally using a level assist. Even sitting here writing this, the pain certainly isn't great. It bugs the crap out of me, as my fitness is very good.

This year hasn't been a good one in respect of my time in the saddle, and I am at least 1.5k miles down on where I was last year. I continue to ride almost every other night off road, and commute two days a week off road, but the pleasure riding distance has gone from 20-25 miles in an evening, down to a very poor average of about 12 miles per evening. This frustration is compounded by the fact that I love pushing for elevation gain, and if I could, I'd quite happily sit spinning my way up a climb all day long.

 

So cutting this short, as I am out of time, for me it isn't the ebike that has potentially taken the fun out of riding, it is health and frustration of not achieving goals..

 

To be fair though, I still love every second of being out riding, be it assisted or non assisted, and only yesterday whilst riding in the rain, covered in mud and freezing cold, I was thinking that I wouldn't swap for anything. I just love being in the saddle, and nothing compares to the fix that it gives, and all too often I will go to bed after a ride, and just want to get back out of bed because I can't sleep, and want to do it all again.

Edited November 20, 20169 yr by EddiePJ

Someone told me that if you cant do it without the motor you shouldnt do it at all.. Go sit and watch daytime tv with the rest of the potatoes..

Since June not quite 800 miles leisure cycling.

 

The people you are talking about tell them to fu@k off as they know **.

 

Easy to say, harder to do.

 

When I bought my ebike in June my wife thought it would be a 5 minute wonder and waste of money, now almost 800 miles later she is really interested in getting one herself jealous that I am out and about on an ebike.

 

I have two lovely friends both middle age men, one has a Cervelo Carbon racing bike in his garage used twice and one a Giant FS MTB with flat tyres.

 

I have a Haibike with almost 800 miles on it since June ?????

 

Not sure what that says to your smart ass smug friends.

Actually, not a friend, just someone I met on the road... One of the anti cheating police I think..

Also said was if it dont hurt your not doing it hard enough...

Couldn't say much more as I left him behind puffing and panting.

I would say its an extreme version of a common view held by a lot of cyclists that I meet.

If you want to p*ss of the roadies, just buy a replica yellow jersey and wear it on your ebike.

They really do not like that sort of thing..You have to earn it to wear it.. which says it all!

i cant beat road bikes on the flat fkn impossible if that is how fast they can go.

 

No, for me electric bikes put the fun into cycling.

 

I live on the Welsh border in an area with up to 20% gradients and to get anywhere is hard work. I'm not fit and I don't have the strength or stamina to pedal up the hills without the help of my electric bike's motor which makes the impossible possible. For 26 years, an earlier bike had remained unused in the garage, covered with cobwebs and little prospect of seeing the local countryside. Then I bought my first electric bike just over a year ago and found myself going for 12 mile rides gradually increasing to 40-50 miles on day rides touring castles via local single-track and quiet lanes. It would have been impossible on a non-electric bike.

 

The non-electric bike, on which I managed to complete the London-Brighton marathon in 1986, was donated to a charity shop in the summer and I haven't looked back. Electric is the way forward for me. I love it, it takes me to places I would never otherwise visit and it is fun getting there.

I often have to ride through Keighley town centre on the emtb, and in traffic and around the back streets it it AWESOME. So much so that i keep thinking that it is so much fun it must be wrong in some way!

I often have to ride through Keighley town centre on the emtb,

 

Is that a local village ?

Is that a local village ?

Yep. A suberb of Bradford....

So do ebikes take the fun out of cycling what do you think ?

 

I totally bypassed regular bikes. I just never had one. Right now, I'm sat in the warm, doing next to nothing, coughing, spluttering, sneezing and sweating with the man flu. The dog's giving me the furry eyeball, he still needs to go to the loo and I can barely get up the stairs without breathing out of my ass.

 

It's raining heavily and I'm not relishing venturing out in it.. However, once these all in one flu capsules kick in, after I've finished this lemsip with honey and buttercup syrup concoction, I should be good to go for a good 10 minutes or so. The ebike will make his half hour walk go by in 6 minutes and get me up the hill without flaking out.

 

Fun, not quite. But it would be a lot less fun without one right now.

I have always cycled for fun, off road mainly, cycling on the road only as a means of teenage independence many moons ago! I rode my non assisted Orange Five at the weekend, and really enjoyed it, whilst my girlfriend's daughter rode my E-bike. She absolutely loved it, so that's two people who had fun this weekend because of one bike, and three if you count the fact that her Mum was overjoyed that I'd got her out of the house and away from the damned screen!

Mark

Where I live there are hardly any flat bits.

I used to ride an ordinary bike as a teenager, couldn't wait to get a motor bike.

Bikes can be overrated if you want to use them for transport. For instance, as a fit teenager, I would ride mostly downhill for about 4 miles to a beach. Have a strenuous swim, then be faced with 4 miles of uphill work to ride home.

Even then it was daunting.

That is why bikes are not very popular here.