It made me think ........

[Peter Thornton]

I've spent the last three days at an exhibition in Birmingham. Now Birmingham has a rather innovative cycle scheme for its residents, the details aren'r relevant here but I had the opportunity to go for an early morning ride on one of the bikes. Simple Hybrid bikes with 15 gears, the sort you'd buy for £300 or so.

It was the most incredible fun. No motor to think about and probably less than half the weight of my own bike. Harder work on the hills, but not all that hard. Certainly nothing like trying to paddle my electric bike with the motor turned off.

Maybe one day, when I'm fitter (!) I'll revert to a non powered bike? Has anyone done this?

 

[Gubbins]

I had two for a while.. electric and normal, riding the lightweight bike was enjoyable, but, i am surrounded by hills! Big hills!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Yup. I use a road bike for exercise and pleasure riding now. My electric bike has been demoted to shopping and things like that. It's been very useful during the 6 weeks i couldn't pedal my road bike while i had sudden onset broken foot syndrome in each foot, one after the other.

At first, I found the steep hills a bit of a struggle on the road bike, so I lowered the gearing from 24T to 30T bottom gear, which made it a lot better. It didn't take long for my legs to strengthen, so now i can do many of the hills in 2nd gear. I can now average a higher speed on my road bike than my electric one.

 

[LeighPing]

Maybe one day, when I'm fitter (!) I'll revert to a non powered bike? Has anyone done this?

I used my ebikes to get fitter, get me out there into the fresh air and see the world at a faster pace than walking. I've not yet felt the urge to go beyond that.

 

[D C]

I have a late 90's Schwinn Rocket 88 which I've had from new. It's light, responsive and a delight to ride. I use it occasionally for rides up to about 10 miles or so and fit spikes for winter when it's a bit cold for electrics.
At my age I won't be getting fitter than I am now, I'm just hanging on to what I've got.
Dave.

 

[fatwomble]

I have a shed load of normal bikes, I only ride one of the regularly and that's my full suspension mountain bike.

 

[Hillhelp]

Today I went for a short ride with my son on my old hybrid pushbike. It’s the first time I’d ridden it since I bought my ebike. I remember when I was looking around for an ebike I tried a Pro Rider eVoyager a friend was selling. It was OK but when I went back on my hybrid, the hybrid just felt so much more nimble. Today, after riding the Raleigh Captus I eventually bought for 6 weeks, my hybrid felt clunky and fragile. The Captus feels just as manoeuvrable and far more solid and smooth to ride.

I was in two minds as to whether to buy a lightweight carbon road bike or an ebike for my new 6 mile each way commute. I think I made the right choice. I would probably get to work a few minutes quicker on a lightweight road bike, but I can work just as hard on the ebike if I want to. I’m not sure that the road bike (or my joints) would have endured the far from perfect road surfaces I encounter, and I’m certain I wouldn’t have ridden a road bike to work as often. A bad cold, playing sport in the evening, gusty winds, a heavy night the night before, none have put me off riding my ebike to work.

I’ll still keep hold of my hybrid, but I’ll probably only use it for ride outs with my son or friends, or a few off road trails where I don’t want to risk the ebike (due to its value, not its fragility).

For everyday riding, I don’t think I’ll be reverting to a pushbike no matter how fit I might get. I’ll just spend more time riding above the cut off point on my ebike. Although it’s slightly harder to hold that speed than on the hybrid, it’s obviously easier getting most of the way to that speed so it evens itself out.

 

[asc99c]

It's my desire to at some point switch my commute over to a road bike. There is still quite a big weight difference from electric bikes to a decent modern road bike but the main thing being the improved aero.

I've done 800 miles of e-bike commuting now, and sill regularly trimming time off the journey. Long way to go before I'd be considered fast though.

Today I was riding my old unpowered MTB along with a trailer for my toddler. We didn't get up to any speed as I was riding alongside my 6 year old, but I was struck by how easy it felt to pedal compared with last time I tried it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

 

[anotherkiwi]

Maybe one day, when I'm fitter (!) I'll revert to a non powered bike? Has anyone done this?

Ever been to the Pyrenees? My GF is a long time around town and beyond cyclist and just yesterday she said she had seen a retired couple with a trailer full of camping gear behind his bike, hers with panniers and was envious but didn't feel capable of any long range touring without a motor. Especially here.

This year I haven't done as much distance as last year - about 1750 km compared to 3600 km because of "various issues". That is still over 5000 km or 2500 km a year "leisure" or days off work riding which I wouldn't have done on a push bike. I had a couple of months where I couldn't keep the bike downstairs so I didn't use it as often as I wished and put on about 2 kg

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's my desire to at some point switch my commute over to a road bike. There is still quite a big weight difference from electric bikes to a decent modern road bike but the main thing being the improved aero.

You can have your cake and eat it: 9kg road bike + 3kg conversion kit = 12kg electric bike with the same aero properties as a road bike.