Many (?most) riders here don't anywhere near double their average speed when they go electric. My average speed on an ebike till last week was below what it was on a regular bike 10 years ago. My highest speed (downhill unassisted) is also a little lower because I'm more careful than I was.
(My average speed right now is well under 1mph, not on a bike as I've irritatingly and painfully ruptured my knee tendon, so no bike for several months.)
Sorry to hear about the knee Hope you have a speedy and full recovery..
Im just grateful my first few journeys were on quiet empty streets and tracks and not busy traffic filled roads.
My future e-biking will lets just say different from my initial expectations and probably like yourself on average a lil slower.
@guerney .. thats a push bike your ridding? looks more like the sight seen thru a visor of a full faced helmet on a motorbike. My bike is not in the same class as yours.. nor would i want it to be, not without full clobber, road rash or chin bump at those speeds OUCH!!
RIM WEAR???? WTF? so why no steel rims or 1mm thick 316 plates epoxied onto the soft ally??
RIM WEAR?? REALLY!! If i manage to hold onto a bike for more than a a couple of years then perhaps i will look at changing brake blocks and my hand lives on the front brake at tension if even slightly down hill, currently the 3yr old bikes blocks look ok about 1/3 -1/2worn as of fitting the hub motor?? didnt even bother looking at the back blocks..
OK IM CONVINCED!! ebike #2 disk brake on the front. AND Full Faced lid n leathers if approaching the speeds
@guerney coasts at.
All my local cycling to date is in town, round the ring rd cycle tracks, and riverside bridle paths. with few opportunities to go full pelt. The top gear of my bike as was (since added a smaller top gear 11t) a 36:14 ratio.
The few steep hills around require partial brake descent at all times no freewheeling unless you want problems.. and i never was nor never will be sporty sporty, I did like my club paragliding and caving, but im not a racer or slim. when going into the city i take a route of wooded footpaths shared with pedestrians and dog walkers so not a fast route.
All of which my style of cylce is ideal for.
What my cycle is not good for is racing faster.. doh!
what the ebike hub motor is great for is pushing me up the hill home after going out on the bike.. what its not good for is speeding beyond the bikes and or my capacity to handle on dodgy roads. Mia Culpa
@Az I both hear and agree with you. and any plans to carry more than what i have been carrying 'happily' with leg power does involve pannier type capacity. but the nice big sturdy panniers cost more than the £200 ebay special bikes you mention. or close to it new.. Im not saying they are not worth it ...
But i have left over fibreglass and resin cortex sheet a fair few meters of strong elastic cord and paracord and ideas (untested as yet).. but are along the lines of a hook on/clip on curved 3d sheet of material laced with an elastic knotted net with hooks to the rear, Unhook net, place bag/box within the curve and stretch n hook the net tight n go..
I will probably exhaust my supplies in design and testing and end up spending 8x if pursued beyond what i have in stock, but thats the way midnight ideas and fun projects go at times..
and for current use demands, shopping wise one heavy bag for the back and one lighter delicate bag for the front and im set, as long as i keep to REASONABLE SPEEDS and keep my inner boy racer at bay..
The street i lost my luggage in is at the top of a hill thats a length of cycle path that runs alongside the slip road that joins the ring rd from an under bridge roundabout. circa 500m uphill , ist time i cruised up @15mhp via e power i turned into the rough bumpy street @ full speed and lost it.. Mia culpa - all on me.. I was lucky.. I lost the pop out of the back box and the loo roll from the front which bounced of a parked car, i slammed on the brakes and picked up everything.
At no time in the past decade+ have i ridden up that incline at full pelt, i can manage it in top gear with no extra mass, but its at a very slow cadence and im puffed at the top and slow, when the boxes are full in in 2nd or 3rd gear, sometimes 4th.. i do like to push myself a lil on occasion.. but always puffed at the top. and by the time im rolling round the corner into the street in question im only starting to think about gaining speed and i usually dont get up past what was 5th gear of a 6speed by the time im turning off that circa 1 mile rd its nominally uphill only noticeable if pedaling puffed tho
Lots of folk with bikes walk up that slip rd incline pushing, I have too on occasion, but its designed in short ramps and gentler inclines in-between so suits an unfit bod like me who can push themselves for a short period but cant keep it up
its one hill i may return to pedaling up to once the novelty of the e-bike has passed as its the last real hill on my way home from the supermarket and has been my token gesture to exercise for the last few years.. then again its SOOOOO very nice to get home NOT PUFFED..