E-bike article in today's Guardian

[fishingpaul]

I think the phrase electric bike,gives the thought of an elecric propelled and not electric assistance bike,powabyke riders seem to be the worst advert for this i have seen several crawling along without making any contribution whatsoever in the way of peddaling, maybe pedelec is a better suited phrase,my electric bike is used for both a little exercise and some enjoyment and is chosen instead of my car on most dry days,at work most people dont notice its an electric bike because i always try and assist ,but if you mention that it is electric the usuall reply is why not get a normal bike,my reply is with a normal bike i would get no enjoyment as i would be exhausted on the hills,so i would not use it and would get no exercise at all.

 

[simonbarnett]

Beats me why any of us care what anyone else says or thinks. We know we're onto something good. If they're young/fit enough good luck to them on ordinary bikes. Very few really get rude so just be proud and ignore them- or choose a virtually undetectable ebike like a Cytronex.

 

[Barnowl]

Totally agree Simon. I did choose a Cytronex and to be honest it's never been identified as an electric bike. I only got the comments when I told people. Not that I care since they were only light hearted. Great bikes for anyone.

Fishingpaul - I think on balance I prefer the term E-Bike to Pedelec. I don't think people would appreciate the difference.

 

[Rab C Nesbitt]

Honest to God - what a shower of torn faced gits some of these Gruniad readers are ! Here's this poor guy with Guillain-Barre syndrome who's not asking for any sympathy, just to be cut a little slack.

(I hope the guy makes a full recovery -only reason I know this can happen is that Morten Wieghorst who played for Celtic was struck down with this but came back after about 1.5 years- all Celtic supporters became experts in this disease . . )

Anyway, these diddies are harping on about cheating and not being "quite right". Listen , the previous posters in the forum are right about ignoring them - that's what we should do . . . . however . . . . if you get these cheating jibes thrown at you and you want to fight fire with fire, could I suggest a few replies or bon mots as we say in the Gorbals :

Guardian Reader " That bike's cheating . . ."
You : "Did anybody feckin' ask you what you thought ? . . "

Guardian Reader " That bike's cheating . . ."
You :"Listen son, we're not racing . . . so how is it cheating ? . . now feck off"

Guardian Reader " That bike's cheating . . ."
You: "Aw, you bike it without any help at all , eh? Your mummy must be really proud of you . . ."

To be honest, out on the road most when bikers have noticed the e-bike (at lights for example) most of them think it's great and say they could do with the help in their home straight or in big head winds. Only ever had one negative that I can remember

 

[Tiberius]

To be honest, out on the road most when bikers have noticed the e-bike (at lights for example) most of them think it's great and say they could do with the help in their home straight or in big head winds. Only ever had one negative that I can remember

Yes, its non-cyclists who say its cheating.

I suppose that cyclists are just pleased to see another rider out there. The non-cyclists have spent the last ten years thinking of excuses why they can't cycle and have to take the car instead. An electric bike blows most of those excuses away. Some of them will think that's neat, but a lot of them are upset at having their cosy view of the world threatened.

Nick

 

[uk_steve]

thats the internet for you


a bet a lot of them posters wouldnt have the nerv to say it to the face of someone or the original poster

anyway we are all proud of electric bikes here on this forum i know i dont post much but i do love electric bikes!,

its improved my getting out and about 100000000000%++++++++++++



thats all what matters to me

 

[derrick7]

Advice on insurance

Hi dkhora

Could you advise who your insurers are? Todate I have found it impossible to find an Insurer who will offer a comprehensive policy such as you describe.

Martin

I insure a Giant Lafree for £500.00 fully comp. for £36.00 p.a. from these people iLoveMyBike.co.uk cycle insurance | ETA.

Derrick - Llanberis

 

[jerrysimon]

Interesting I need to compare that against my existing policy on my home insurance though that just covers theft. This looks a lot more comprehensive.

Regards

Jerry

 

[themutiny]

I went for a cycle with fecn a couple of weeks back. We did nearly 60 miles. At the halfway point we stopped at a pub and got some mild abuse along the cheating lines from a couple of retards who didn't look like they could spell thirty miles, let alone ride it, assisted or otherwise, who then climbed into a car. Fecn bore the brunt with his agattu, I don't think they would have twigged my Cytronex if I hadn't told them. It started off reasonably good natured, but seemed to deteriorate.

 

[WALKERMAN]

I passed some pedestrians while out on my Pro Connect the other day and heard one of them remark, "That's one of them lazy bikes"

 

[jasono]

@ jasono the comment how many people have thrown a leg over a bike is me literally

i can take my leg off because i have a false limb

Hi Steve, I can't argue with that

Yep, it is best to ignore the moaners. It is interesting that most of the "you're cheating" brigade seem to prefer 4 wheels and polution to cycling anyway. I've got a folding bike that i use when working away and in the past have received comments such as "That's a girls bike" or "Weirdo" - mind you that may be down to me and not the bike Once again these were from non cycling folk

 

[Patrick]

I think that some of the negative comments are motivated by some people's intolerence of anything that seems different. The mentality reminds me of a Pont cartoon:

 

[flecc]

You should hear the comments I get when I'm cycling with these.

I just laugh it off and treat it as a joke.
.

 

[uk_steve]

Hi Steve, I can't argue with that

he!he! yeaht thats just my sence of humor

 

[uk_steve]

You should hear the comments I get when I'm cycling with these.

I just laugh it off and treat it as a joke.
.

oh wow thats great pics

 

[Barnowl]

I think that some of the negative comments are motivated by some people's intolerence of anything that seems different. The mentality reminds me of a Pont cartoon:

LOL: Brilliant cartoon. Thanks for posting

 

[Phil the drill]

My (rather long winded) answer to all the silly comments - if any one is interested enough to listen, is this:-

I was once a fit keen cyclist. Jobs etc. overtook me and I gave it up for several years (although I kept relatively fit - boxing and rugby) for some of those years.
Eventually I got so busy @ work I stopped all of these, becoming unfit and ending up off work with severe stress related illness for several months. I was borderline high blood pressure (Aprrox 140/90+ with a resting heart rate of 70+bpm).
I couldn't get to the gym as family pressures meant |I couldn't take off the necessary time several nights of the week, so I decided to try to get fit by cycling to work. Oh dear..... I live in a very hilly area and my 18 mile (round trip commute) on a push bike all but killed me the first time I tried it. It took nearly an hour to get to work and when I got there I was virtually incapacitated for the next hour. Worse still I had to cycle home again afterwards .
By chance I discovered e-bikes - after an initial foray with a Powabyke and a rather nasty smash, I discovered the Wisper 905. I bought one (took a risk buying over the net without seeing it!) and started to use this to get to work. Initially it was still hard work on this (even after I had re-geared it to suit), but |I forced myself not to use the throttle (pedal assistance only) and used it almost everyday.

Okay, it is now 20 months since I started doing that....results:

1. I can now cycle on my normal bike to and from work with relative ease, in half the time I initially could and don't need to sit down and recover afterwards.

2. My blood pressure - recently checked by my astonished GP was 123/70 and resting heart rate 53bpm. I am MUCH fitter than I was.

3. The 'Lycra' who bad mouthed when I overtook him on my e-bike several months ago was recently spotted again when I was on my cyclocross bike and thoroughly trounced up the 3.5 mile hill that starts my way home. I doubt he recognised me, but I gleaned immense satisfaction from it . Incidentally - I would sheepishly have to admit to being a 'Lycra' at the time myself!

I still use the Wisper at the beginning and end of the week to cart all my gear into and out of work and give my knees a rest - don't want to damage them unnecessarily. I use my ordinary bike on the other days to keep my fitness up.

All the above is down to getting on an e-bike. Without it none of it would have happened. I'd probably be even more stressed, on anti-hypertensives - getting set up for the premature heart attack. No numpty brained Gruniad reader can dispute these facts. E-bikes can be very good for you.

So Mr. Critic - if you don't like them, fine, but leave us alone. Go have your own (avoidable) health problems - I hope you enjoy them - you sad, sad, twerps.

Phil

Edit: I forgot to mention, I also lost 2 1/2 stone - without dieting

 

[jerrysimon]

Phil great testimony

Its so easy to let work take over your life, been there done that and had the depression to prove it lol

I will be 50 next year and its all behind me thankfully. Now life just gets better and better.

For me it all about having fun and I am having a blast with ebikes

Regards

Jerry

 

[Phil the drill]

Phil great testimony

Its so easy to let work take over your life, been there done that and had the depression to prove it lol

I will be 50 next year and its all behind me thankfully. Now life just gets better and better.

For me it all about having fun and I am having a blast with ebikes

Regards

Jerry

Thanks for the comments Jerry.

I beat you to fifty - I've already passed that milestone - officially Life now begins there - and as far as I can see it seems pretty true. Enjoy .

Cheers, Phil

 

[Alex728]

i find that sometimes cultural stereotypes act in my favour - being of SE Asian ancestry many people have this sort of generic idea of "Oriental people" irrespective if they are from China / Japan / Malaysia / Singapore / Phillipines - much of which comes from the media, including the TV programmes exported to the West from Japan...

So it seems to be thought of as normal that we ride bikes (including e-bikes), collect gadgets and indulge in what may be viewed as bizzare or eccentric behaviour (such as the elderly Japanese couple and their cycling Dalmatian )- but at the same time many movies give chavs the impression that we may also be experts at martial arts and the use of improvised weapons, so they tend to leave us alone