Post-pedelec bike?

[timidtom]

I'm toying with the idea of going back to that dinosaur of transport, the self-powered bike ... sorry. The Pedelec is great fun but I feel that with restored confidence I could again master an engineless bike for short trips to the shops (2 or 3 miles). I could perhaps, take the pedelec and leave the battery at home but it's a fair old weight so I'm thinking of something lighter. It needs to be a step-thru, have a wicker basket (essential), several gears - the way home is slightly up hill. I have a Brompton but I find myself wobbling about when I ride it (I wobble about when I'm not riding it too!) Bike needs to be fairly light as sometimes it has to be carried up a flight of stairs.
I'm 5'8", 12 stone, 78 years, mild asthma and angina and fairly bloody-minded. Help?
Happy ebiking
,
Tom

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Don't do it. You'll kill yourself.

Even one of these will do the job. I've got one you can have for £300 if you want it - only 13kg,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Longwise-Q7-Folding-Electric-Assist-Bicycle-GREEN-OR-WHITE-/281297315177?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item417ea06569

 

[neptune]

I reckon there is no reason why you cannot do short journeys by pedal cycle. I would suggest that you start with a short journey of half a mile. The trick is to not overdo it. If possible, start your journey uphill, so you can coast back home. Arrange to have someone you can call to collect you and the bike if you feel unwell.Almost all of us are capable of more than we think we are. Go for it.

 

[Alan Quay]

I was just talking about 'going back' with my brother.

I was mending a bike the other day for a mate. I took it round the block a few times while testing. It was a very nice bike, and I rode about 3 miles on all told.

The thing that struck me was how boringly slow the uphill bits are. Even shallow slopes had me down to 6-7 mph.

3 miles took me around 15 minutes I suppose (I wasn't timing, might have been 20), so 9-12 mph average.

 

[RobF]

I'm toying with the idea of going back to that dinosaur of transport, the self-powered bike ... sorry. The Pedelec is great fun but I feel that with restored confidence I could again master an engineless bike for short trips to the shops (2 or 3 miles). I could perhaps, take the pedelec and leave the battery at home but it's a fair old weight so I'm thinking of something lighter. It needs to be a step-thru, have a wicker basket (essential), several gears - the way home is slightly up hill. I have a Brompton but I find myself wobbling about when I ride it (I wobble about when I'm not riding it too!) Bike needs to be fairly light as sometimes it has to be carried up a flight of stairs.
I'm 5'8", 12 stone, 78 years, mild asthma and angina and fairly bloody-minded. Help?
Happy ebiking
,
Tom

Light weight and step through don't really go together - the frame is heavier gauge to make up for the absence of a cross bar.

Brommies can wobble a bit - have you tried a front-mounted bag?

The weight over the front wheel stabilises the steering quite a lot.

 

[Artstu]

Brian is 77

 

[Geebee]

Why not at least initially increase you input on the electric bike, use the electric to remove the excess weight, at least that way if you start having a health issue you can let the bike do more.
If all goes well for a while go non powered, there is something nice abut a light agile non powered bike, but that does not describe a step though

I have been known to take an ebike out and come back totally soaked in sweat, to the point of dripping, by just hammering as if it was unpowered it can make for some very high average speeds especially when hilly.

 

[johnc461165]

Your choice your life your thoughts, if you want to go that way then why not.. I have been thinking the same as you, but I am thinking about mixing the use of my powered and unpowered bikes. Hey life is short just do it your way.

 

[timidtom]

I'm toying with the idea of going back to that dinosaur of transport, the self-powered bike ... sorry. The Pedelec is great fun but I feel that with restored confidence I could again master an engineless bike for short trips to the shops (2 or 3 miles). I could perhaps, take the pedelec and leave the battery at home but it's a fair old weight so I'm thinking of something lighter. It needs to be a step-thru, have a wicker basket (essential), several gears - the way home is slightly up hill. I have a Brompton but I find myself wobbling about when I ride it (I wobble about when I'm not riding it too!) Bike needs to be fairly light as sometimes it has to be carried up a flight of stairs.
I'm 5'8", 12 stone, 78 years, mild asthma and angina and fairly bloody-minded. Help?
Happy ebiking
,
Tom

Thank you all for the informative and helpful replies - several suggestions have made me think! I have a front bag for the Brompton and I'll try it with a heavier load than the usual newspaper and bottle of dry white. I also tried the eBike, unpowered, round the close yesterday, in the short gap between showers of rain, and survived. Softly, softly; that's the way to do it! I may yet see ten and a half stones and eighty years!
Happy ebiking/biking!
Tom

 

[eHomer]

I'm definitely in favour of the mix and match as well.

Bikes (even pedelecs) have no "standing" costs, unlike mopeds and scooters, and take up very little space.

I readily confess I'm a hopeless anorak for bikes, owning several, including a recumbent trike, a road bike, two suspension bikes, two folders, and even an amphibious one. Four are now converted to electric.

I do use all of them though, from the fast but energetic drop handlebar road bike, through to the electric Hase recumbent "sunlounger" trike.

My doctor described me as "borderline obese", so I'm quite a fat bloke at around just under 100kg. Nevertheless, my almost daily run is around ten miles on the non-powered bikes, at about 10mph, or around 25 miles on the pedelecs, at about 16mph. I believe I get the same amount of exercise in both cases, but the longer run is more interesting and enjoyable.

If I had to go down to just one bike though, it would definitely be one of the pedelecs.

Freewheeling motors like the Q100 have no drag when pedalling, and weigh so little that if you leave the battery at home they're very nearly as easy to pedal as a non-powered bike.

 

[MikeyBikey]

Would a steering damper help the Brompton wobble without (much) extra weight to carry up that flight of stairs you mentioned.
A stair-climber idea used in Netherlands is a channel at the side for the wheels to roll up. Can walking speed mode get a bike up stairs?

 

[timidtom]

Would a steering damper help the Brompton wobble without (much) extra weight to carry up that flight of stairs you mentioned.
A stair-climber idea used in Netherlands is a channel at the side for the wheels to roll up. Can walking speed mode get a bike up stairs?

Hi. I think the idea of a channel at the side of the stairs is brilliant! Not so sure of the practicality of a steering damper ...
Tom

 

[axolotl]

I've been having the same thoughts. Tomorrow I'll have had my ebike four months and I'm a helluva lot fitter than I was back at the beginning of the summer. A non-powered bike will never replace my ebike for commuting - I'd have to be competition-fit for that - but like the OP said, for a jaunt down to the shops and the like I could definitely manage a standard bike.

Perhaps time to fix up my old Trek hybrid...?