Does getting an e-bike mean you eventually give up "conventional" bikes??

I love my KTM Macina Lycan....but it's very much for off road and I still want to continue road cycling...the snow and ice has gone for now, and tonight went for a first "conventional" ride of 2019, an 18 miler in the dark on my road converted rigid MTB winter hack, in a balmy 3c with 9 miles out into a stiff wind....I was jiggered when I got back....and that was a relatively level/undulating loop, and made me wonder about the 27 miles/875m ascent off road jaunt I did in January on the KTM which left me feeling much less fatigued!!!

Will I eventually phase out the conventional bike or convert one to electric?! Has this happened to anybody on here?? I'd like to do the road biking as a pure workout to increase fitness but use the KTM to go for blasts off road which have the emphasis on fun and enjoyment, not some gruelling workout like mountain biking used to be....!!!

dongle

EMBN were talking out of their ar5es about a Speedbox 2...think they were talking about the badass dongle??

I quite like road cycling though but don't get the "climbing" obsession...

I also like the look of the Focus Paralane "squared" which is a drop bar true road e-bike at 12.5kg...and taking out the battery it's 9.5kg and can be ridden like this(bloody lighter than any of my Carrera road bikes!)....climbing on this would be ok lol

i can hit over 30mph with my bike and avg 23mph easy not seen anyone on a road bike i could not over take on a fs mtb

 

the price you pay is half the range is about what i get with a 500w batt.

I have a gravel push bike and have done an 80 mile route and returned home knackered, I been out a couple more times but it has all but remained sat unused awaiting some leccy that may happen in the next few weeks when it arrives.

Other wise it's leccy push bike or none.

Been caught out without power a few times including a good few miles from home with a child trailer attached. Managed fine, but was glad to have the power back afterwards. I have no desire to go back to normal cycling, if anything I want more power. So I've just done a shunt mod and the torque has improved noticeably

if anything I want more power.

Sounds like you've definitely caught the bug. From experience I can state that before you know it, you'll regularly be hauling around 10kg of batteries to support your habit!

At 64 years old I started ebiking in 2013 and owned an emtb and an unpowered lightweight roadbike . After the initial e-bike novelty wore off I used them both more or less equally. However, Now I am 70 I only own 2 bikes, 1 x E-Road and 1x E-Hybrid, and to be honest I ocasionally sense a mild desire to try an unpowered road bike for the windless warm evenings on flat routes, but not enough to go out and buy one, but when I had one I found that the longer e-bike rides definately improved my fitness levels enabling faster and longer rides on the normal bike.

Since 2013 I have had 7 bikes owning up to 3 at any one time and found that the new bike always feels like the best thing ever and is ridden exclusively until one of the others re inserts itself into my head, and then I swap over and have another favourite for a few weeks. The thing I like about a lightweigh unpowered bike is the speed.. My personal best on a fast road segment on the unpowered bike has remained unequalled by me on my e-bikes for 4 years.

Perhaps I should buy another.

We've electrified our tandem, bought a 2nd hand Raleigh Motus solo, and kept one non-electric solo (old Giant hybrid) for when we both go out but not together. The nice Giant does feel a little like treacle for the first mile or so, and a lot more tiring on hills, but I'm glad we have kept it and still enjoy short rides on it.

I haven't ridden a conventional bicyle any distance for about 40 years and have no wish to do so, but really enjoy my electric bikes.

My convention road bike fits comfortably in the hack car, whereas the E-bike is a bit of a struggle and only fits in the SUV.

Plus, if going where it needs leaving for longer than a "coffee stop", one would be a lot less distressing to lose than the other, so the conventional bike still gets a lot of use.

I would never buy an ordinary road bike, but I do find myself sometimes thinking about a dongle.

I was a keen and strong cyclist and only bought an e-bike originally to help with pulling a large heavily loaded trailer.

 

But despite that restricted e-bike use, it undermined my fitness and I found myself increasingly using the e-bike.

 

Only three years later I'd completely abandoned unpowered cycling due to the loss of enough fitness in my hilly area, and I owned three e-bikes.

 

So yes, e-biking destroyed my unpowered cycling. However I was in my late sixties then so that would have been an influence.

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I am a road club cyclist who in the spring, summer and autumn (warmer weather and older age) cycle anything from 100/150 miles a week with some 70/100 miles rides, Sportives and Audaxes thrown in for good measure. I ride a Van Nicholas titanium road bike amongst others but last year my wife purchased an ebike for when we go away in our motorhome and I converted a new Carrera Subway 2 with a Yose Power rear wheel kit and really enjoyed the ebike experience and I think the bug has bitten.

 

I am now looking to build a full suspension C/D mountain bike as I enjoy the challenge to get something to work as others do on the forum as well but at the moment trying to learn as much as I can. Just built my first rear wheel converting my Yose hub motor from 700C to 650B and all appears fine with it so far.

 

Don't think I will give up with my road cycling yet but you never know.

Edited February 13, 20197 yr by lyme

I just got back from my first trike ride (un-powered) since September. I am out of shape... My problems are the first km and the last km, they have brutal slopes (think >13%) so on the way out I am not warmed up and on the way home I am knackered. At 64 this year I think that I am entitled to a motor for those 2 km of a 30 km ride

I was a keen and strong cyclist and only bought an e-bike originally to help with pulling a large heavily loaded trailer.

 

But despite that restricted e-bike use, it undermined my fitness and I found myself increasingly using the e-bike.

 

Only three years later I'd completely abandoned unpowered cycling due to the loss of enough fitness in my hilly area, and I owned three e-bikes.

 

So yes, e-biking destroyed my unpowered cycling. However I was in my late sixties then so that would have been an influence.

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Good point about age. I was in my early 60's but from a non cycling/not exercising background so experienced a massive gain in cycling fitness by using an ebike which more that offset any age decline. But I will be 70 this year and my general fitness decline is becoming apparent.

But I will be 70 this year and my general fitness decline is becoming apparent.

 

Wait 'til you're my 83!

 

Then you'll know all about loss of fitness (he said just after returning from a one hour walk).

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Sounds like you've definitely caught the bug. From experience I can state that before you know it, you'll regularly be hauling around 10kg of batteries to support your habit!

 

Hehe, I think a bafang ultra will cover my needs, or a big nasty hub

Wait 'til you're my 83!

 

Then you'll know all about loss of fitness (he said just after returning from a one hour walk).

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So that was 1/2 mile???

 

... I'm certainly finding walking and cycling falling off at 72

So that was 1/2 mile???

 

I normally walk quite fast at three to four mph, but that slows when walks are long. Today's country walk was shorter since I was standing still at times taking some bird photos like this redwing at some distance:

 

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Will I eventually phase out the conventional bike ...?! Has this happened to anybody on here?? I'd like to do the road biking as a pure workout to increase fitness but use the KTM to go for blasts off road which have the emphasis on fun and enjoyment, not some gruelling workout like mountain biking used to be....!!!

 

If you want to use two wheels to explore mountainous, off road terrain. Then you generally travel more and thus get to see MUCH more using an e-bike, and the experience is generally a fair bit more pleasurable!

 

However I've found that while you can increase your fitness using an ebike, in general, you push yourself more, and thus get fitter on a conventional bike. I suspect that if you're (very) fit to start with, fitness will decrease if you use the ebike exclusively.

(although if you're unfit to start with, you may NEED the ebike to allow you to get out there, and that's the most important thing)

 

So it depends on what you want to get out of cycling.

 

Personally, I think having both types of bikes is the best of both worlds, then you can pick whichever one suits your purpose for that particular day. (and often I'll do something like do a hard workout or commute on a conventional bike one day, but then take the ebike the next to allow myself to do an extended recovery ride).

I like the picture. I think I have slowed down to a typical 3mph already (used to do steady 4 or a little over, now just occasional 4); partly back issues rather than energy. Excellent you are keeping up 4 sometimes ... I hope I can in 10 years time.

 

Does anyone know a supplier of electric walking boots?

I think I'd still be riding a conventional bike if I could. Peripheral arterial disease has dictated the move to e-road, and I can now ride on the club leisure rides again but I'm finding the battery range a bit limiting. I'm very tempted to get back on the carbon bike and see how it goes, but suspect I'll be disappointed.

Excellent you are keeping up 4 sometimes ... I hope I can in 10 years time.

 

4 mph is for shorter level walks like half a mile to the local shops. After the break there I can repeat it going back until I hit the hill at the end. Then it's at least halved!

 

But it's increasingly dependent on how I feel from day to day, the times when I'm not up to it are becoming more frequent. There's no fighting the effects of age, the armchair always wins in the end.

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I'm maybe a youngster at 50, but have collected 6 bikes over the last decade- a Carrera Vanquish, a TDF(heavy but would make a lightweight tourer) for the road, an ON-ONE Inbred I built that is my "conventional " Hard tail and looks set to share some bikepacking duties, a Carrera Fury(last nights road hack MTB) and a Claud Butler Virago I rebuilt last year both of which take turns commuting... Adds up to a fair bit of flexibility and choice and the KTM was a major jump financially, but I really don't need any more bikes (I took my GT Pantera to Tenerife last year it lives there now!)....

Sometimes having too many bikes can be detrimental to getting out- indecision etc... Road? Mountain bike?

Then there's the 4 kayaks and I usually walk our collie 7 or 8 miles a day at weekends (and once or twice 3-4 miles during the week when light after work-)This is where the KTM can help me fit 2 things in per weekend day that are leg dependent, if it's a walk/kayak that's fine as I'm on my butt for one activity!