I wonder how often this happens?

[RobF]

Quite a few posters who ask for advice about a bike are never seen again after buying one.

Hopefully, they are happy with their purchase, but I suspect many ebikes - like ordinary bikes - are bought with the best intentions, but then used only a handful of times.

An example appears to be a lass called Kelly Bear on here, who bought a Pedego for a commute.

More than two years later, it's on ebay having done only 40 miles.

Any other stories/reflections about unused ebikes?

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/received-my-new-bike-today.17411/

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pedego-Comfort-Orange-Cruiser-Electric-Bike-ebike-Bicycle-UPGRADED-48v-battery-/162188008957?hash=item25c3289dfd:g:30oAAOSw0UdXugse

 

[chris_n]

I'll wager there are hundreds if not thousands of sub 50 mile ebikes in the UK.

 

[flecc]

Yes, for at least the last ten years there have been many e-bikes on ebay with hardly any mileage. Some will be suspect of course, but most of the photos show little evidence of wear, assuming the photos are newly taken and not original shots.

I think in many cases it's due to a misunderstanding about them, buyers assuming their new "electric bike" will waft them up steep hills with no effort on their part. Disappointment follows.

If only public and dealers would say electric assist bike.
.

 

[soundwave]

i got mine off ebay with 160 miles on it and saved 2k on the rrp

then the seller bought another and sold that as well pmsl.

 

[trex]

we'll have to wait until KB drops in this thread to know why.

her original thread was this:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/is-a-28-mile-round-commute-too-far.17145/
We did give her good advice though.

 

[IR772]

Add: exercise bikes, motor bikes, metal detectors, SLR camera, video camera, gym membership etc etc.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

In case you wonder over 500 miles on my bike.

 

[KeithMac]

My Gtech has just clocked 200 miles, I use it for work so good motivation to ride it!.

 

[SteveRuss]

My friend bought a bike to go cycling with me (a 100% human powered version). We rode to Bath and back from Bristol. He hasn't ridden it since and that's over a year now. I suspect that same initial enthusiasm and consequent lethargy could be with any item from cameras to rowing machines.

I'd have to admit that i'm occasionally guilty of joining a forum selfishly for some short term advice. Returning to a forum to blab about the subject afterwards depends on the item in question, as well as whether I still own it or not.

I'm a member of a few car manufacturer specific forums and get Happy Birthday messages from them occasionally. I still think i'm a member of an MG/Rover forum actually..

That may explain away some of the absentees.

 

[flecc]

My friend bought a bike to go cycling with me (a 100% human powered version). We rode to Bath and back from Bristol. He hasn't ridden it since and that's over a year now.

Indeed, this early abandonment is even more true for unpowered bikes. Every year now some 3 million bikes are bought in the UK, so on the basis that they last for years and are not renewed every year, our roads should be clogged with 10 to 15 million bikes.

Yet surveys reveal well under 2 million ride regularly.

I guess the rest are dumped at the back of garages after an initial ride or two, gradually decaying until ending up at council tips. Then their scrap is sent to China to become a new batch of bikes for us to buy and not ride!
.

 

[LeighPing]

I still think i'm a member of an MG/Rover forum actually..

Which one?

15.5

 

[derf]

Quite a few posters who ask for advice about a bike are never seen again after buying one.

Hopefully, they are happy with their purchase, but I suspect many ebikes - like ordinary bikes - are bought with the best intentions, but then used only a handful of times.

An example appears to be a lass called Kelly Bear on here, who bought a Pedego for a commute.

More than two years later, it's on ebay having done only 40 miles.

Any other stories/reflections about unused ebikes?

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/received-my-new-bike-today.17411/

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pedego-Comfort-Orange-Cruiser-Electric-Bike-ebike-Bicycle-UPGRADED-48v-battery-/162188008957?hash=item25c3289dfd:g:30oAAOSw0UdXugse

this may just be me, but reliability/longevity comes into it. I've had three ebikes over the past fifteen years or so - all fairly cheap (£1000 or less), but all also decidedly knackered after a few thousand miles. I thought about it Friday while cycling twelve or so miles form work on the normal bike I use now. I use a normal bike for health/weight loss reasons, but it's impossible not to notice that it takes the four to six hundred miles a month completely in its stride, nothing breaks. I cant quite fathom why, it uses similar components to those on the ebikes, now that I'm fitter I often average very similar speeds. Beats me why the ebikes needed works more weekends than not, but i'm quite happy that's behind me and enjoy the simplicity of ordinary cycling for now.

 

[mike killay]

My local council tip is full of interesting bikes, but they wont let me touch them!

 

[soundwave]

 

[trex]

. I cant quite fathom why, it uses similar components to those on the ebikes, now that I'm fitter I often average very similar speeds..

:
the speed may be similar, the acceleration and braking are not. Result: rims, spokes, brake pads, tyres and cables flex and wear out a lot faster on e-bikes.

 

[SteveRuss]

Which one?

15.5

Just had a look in my bookmarks and I think I deleted it. I think it was MG/Rover.org or something like that. Back in the day when I had a lovely 620ti. Super fast for 1996 and even by todays standards actually. Is that your car?

 

[anotherkiwi]

I'm still here!

<muttering in background> When will he go away... </muttering>

I tried the rowing machine but didn't have enough cash to buy a decent one so I just built a boat and rowed that instead. I would still have it if someone hadn't taken to it with a machette and tried to sink it (some people have problems understanding insubmersible, big word I suppose).

I have 600 km on the GSM now since June and a hub motor with 3200 odd km looking for another home.

 

[LeighPing]

Back in the day when I had a lovely 620ti. Super fast for 1996 and even by todays standards actually. Is that your car?

Yes it would have been that site. Great cars, back in the day. Yes, it's my car. One of them anyhow.

 

[Kudoscycles]

I think e-bikes tend to be used more than non assisted bikes. The non assist bought on a whim with the intention of riding to work,get fit,out in the open air syndrome gets stuffed after the first wet cold hard ride up the steep hill after an awful day at work.....the bike gets dumped in the shed to become rust.
In contrast there is always that nice feeling of hitting the power button on an e-bike and going quicker through the nasty bits.
But too many people buy the cheapest e-bike or the one which is easiest available,only to find it doesn't do what they hoped....I had a lady who came to me after a major illness,she proposed to ride to work 5 miles along one of the most dangerous roads in our area (very fast,very narrow,lots of blind bends)...she was angry with me for trying to talk her out of her intentions,I persuaded her to try a loan bike for a week,she only did it one day and realised it was just impossible.
The e-bike would have ended up in the shed.
But salesman not lost,she and her husband have recently bought a motorhome and bought 2 K16 bikes,she only rides a couple of miles along the seafront but loves it,no pressure and can ride when she feels like it.
I think sometimes customers buy with their heart and not their head.
KudosDave.

 

[derf]

I think e-bikes tend to be used more than non assisted bikes. The non assist bought on a whim with the intention of riding to work,get fit,out in the open air syndrome gets stuffed after the first wet cold hard ride up the steep hill after an awful day at work.....the bike gets dumped in the shed to become rust.
In contrast there is always that nice feeling of hitting the power button on an e-bike and going quicker through the nasty bits.
But too many people buy the cheapest e-bike or the one which is easiest available,only to find it doesn't do what they hoped....I had a lady who came to me after a major illness,she proposed to ride to work 5 miles along one of the most dangerous roads in our area (very fast,very narrow,lots of blind bends)...she was angry with me for trying to talk her out of her intentions,I persuaded her to try a loan bike for a week,she only did it one day and realised it was just impossible.
The e-bike would have ended up in the shed.
But salesman not lost,she and her husband have recently bought a motorhome and bought 2 K16 bikes,she only rides a couple of miles along the seafront but loves it,no pressure and can ride when she feels like it.
I think sometimes customers buy with their heart and not their head.
KudosDave.

i half agree - when I started cycling again some years ago, back in the uk, ordinary cycling would have been too large an initial step, too difficult. it seems very strange now, but back then the rain and dark felt that it made ordinary cycling practically unbearable half the year. Ebikes are very helpful for getting one back into cycling, tiding one over that initial unfit, difficult period. Which for me lasted more than a year on several occasions I think. But, once one is fit, ordinary cycling offers a kind of zen, repetitive, rhythmic form of exercise/zoning out/meditation that can be very peaceful (if not the only peace on offer in an average day if hypothetically one has a demanding family at home and a not much less demanding situation at work)

 

[anotherkiwi]

Weather permitting (breaking waves and strong winds, no thank you, been there...) for exercise I would take rowing over cycling any day of the week. Then again here, when the weather is like that, it isn't practical to ride a +25 kg e-bike either, the gusts are dangerously strong.