First time I have taken my e bike out into the pentlands. A few observations which counter the fear stories we keep seeing even on here. Mine is a legal add on kit

I tried to get a roost going on a loose gravelly climb – couldn’t do it even on turbo nutter barstewrd setting. No increased erosion. so that myth is nonsense.

High speeds will scare folk / pee off walkers – nope – 15 mph it cuts out so on descents you go no faster indeed its actually slower on descents as all the extra weight makes for a worse handling bike

On climbs yes it can be faster – 5-6 mph on a steep climb ( dreghorn / red road) rather than 3 – 4 mph – however doing this eats your battery reserve so riding like a nutter can only be done for a few miles – hardly enough to scare folk and really are folk going to be scared of a bike at 7 mph? Gentler climbs can be done at 15 mph but that still eats battery life if you use it in that way and I was only 50 – 75 % faster on climbs anyway Ie a climb I could do on the e bike at 15 mph I would be doing at 10 mph without the ebike.

Range – very limited. My bike has a normal size battery but with the ride out to the pentlands as well I only had the range to do one big climb. I would normally do 2 or 3 climbs

So I really do not think that a legal bike could cause any issues and the range is so limited that the amount of e bikes is not going to be an issue. You couldn’t do Ben lomond on one for an example. A chipped / deresticted bike will have even less range than a legal one. I did derstrict mine once and used all its charge in 8 road miles! ( it was fun 8 miles tho)

Quite honestly for the sort of riding I do and e bike actually adds very little if anything – had to cut the ride short today due to using up all my battery on climbs

as a rider who owned, and rode ebikes properly offroad, I knew all this, and agree with you.

but folk on here, who have never ridden or owned a ebike like to have something to rant/hate/diss.

😀

I assume you’ve already seen this.

Helmets to be compulsory for all eBike use from April 2018.

Tsk Tsk CFH 🙂

Haha.

Correct, Eddie.

😀

had to cut the ride short today due to using up all my battery on climbs

But what about the tens of thousands you’ve cost the search and rescue helicopter in coming out to save you?

Oh, you didn’t? Guess that’s another ebike hater myth busted

Quite honestly for the sort of riding I do and e bike actually adds very little if anything

Have you ridden a decent eMTB though rather than a DIY conversion? Might address some of your concerns. Mine actually handles brilliantly downhill. Range is an issue though and although my powered rides are shorter than a “big” ride on a normal bike, they are quicker, result in less fatigue and to be frank, more fun. 🙂

Agree re. erosion, scaring walkers, etc – not a valid concern.

I have ridden a few e bikes – this conversion rides as well as a bosch motored bike. Not a cheapo rubbish kit. sunstar so3. The bike its on is a frankenbike and not great – but the extra weight can really be felt on descents.

My riding tends to either be flattish pootles – where on the ebike has no advantage or lots of big climbs – where the e bike runs out of battry.

There was a big thread on all this a couple of weeks back with strong views on both sides!

I thought I would be more qualified to chip in if I’d ridden one. So I took one out in the austrian alps a couple of weeks back. It made places that would otherwise be inaccessible, accessible. I did 1200m of climbing over 7 miles (out) and halved the battery. Realistically that was a fair bit of climbing over a short distance. But you are going to be limited on range.

But it got me with my bad knee and the stinking hangover I was sporting, to the summit. Likewise I saw an elated guy on the south downs the other day – so happy that his ebike was helping with his knee replacement.

Agreed with the points on heavy and not as good handling. But still fun. and becoming more like a normal bike in terms of look and feel than the early ones with the battery high up on the frame. The weight seems to be lower in the frame these days.

Interesting to see how they develop moving forward.

It made places that would otherwise be inaccessible, accessible.

This is what a lot of people don’t get. Because of the pros and cons, you end up doing different rides to if you were on a regular bike, so directly comparing them does miss the point somewhat.

Flattened the battery in 30 miles/3000 feet ish at the weekend which was a good but not massive ride. It’s a compromise & you adapt. Will end up getting another battery at some point when Bosch do a bigger one, so will have the option then of a figure-of-8 style loop & swapping over!

The weight seems to be lower in the frame these days.

I have a Cannondale which possibly has the lowest CoG for an eMTB & the handling is great! Weight not really an issue going down, feels very stable & speed & in the air.

tjagain – Member
I did derstrict mine once and used all its charge in 8 road miles! ( it was fun 8 miles tho)

POSTED 42 MINUTES AGO #

Have you forgotten the time on the cycle path from Canonmills?

1/4 of a mile!

I don’t get the ‘It made places that would otherwise be inaccessible, accessible’ bit.

most places you would want to go on a mtb, are accessible by riding to them.
places that you would want to take a mtb that are inaccessible, i.e like say a Lakeland summit or a Scottish munro, require a heck of a lot of hikeabike.
dragging a 40+lbs bike up to a summit is not my idea of fun.

I don’t get the ‘It made places that would otherwise be inaccessible, accessible’ bit.

depends on fitness doesn’t it? Even if somewhere is technically ridable, if it’s very long/steep I might not find it that enjoyable so might not bother! There are some great vids on the Bosch website of what they call “uphill flow”. It’s a good name for the concept. Basically think how much fun a lovely flowing downhill is. Now you can do that going up too, rather than purely focus on the fitness/tech/challenge aspect.

Quite honestly for the sort of riding I do and e bike actually adds very little if anything

No I haven’t ridden one but I have seen others riding them. From what I have seen other ebikes have better range and handling than you are describing and I’d put money on them improving further with every generation. Think yours may be a bit of a duff 🙁

My range may be a little less but eating the battery is a result of the way I ride – ie I put in full power (you know red in the face sweating and panting on climbs) and thus the e bike is at full power on the climbs = eats battery. If I rode it at the same pace on climbs I would without the motor I would get much more milage. I rode a decent quality giant one and it did the same – power up climbs in turbo mode = battery gone very quickly. I am on commuter gearing so bottom gear is about 7 mph at a decent cadence.

Battery is 325 w / hr, At full power ( although its legal 250 w nominal) it actually uses about 350 watts – ie under an hour of full power. 40 mins riding out to the hills = 1/4 battery gone. ( couple of biggish climbs) 15 min climb – another 1/4. some are up to 450 w/hr batteries but I don’t think any are more than that.

Spesh levo is 504 w/hr

I tried to get a roost going on a loose gravelly climb – couldn’t do it even on turbo nutter barstewrd setting. No increased erosion. so that myth is nonsense.

Anecdotal evidence for the win…. 😉

Worth 5mins of an e-bikers time: IMBA EBIKE STUDY

I think the final report is still out, though I suspect that the final conclusion will not be dissimilar to early impressions:

“Initial observations suggest good support for the field study hypotheses. We saw some differences between the impacts of eMTBs and mountain bikes, particularly at turns and grade changes. However, for the most part, the soil impacts observed in this study were not greatly different from those of mountain bikes, and were much less than those associated with motorcycle use.”

Bottom line likely to be “some increased erosion in some circumstances”….ergo not a lot to be seen as it were.

Food for thought, BTW what happened to BPW’s fee’s on e-bikes?

some are up to 450 w/hr batteries but I don’t think any are more than that.

yeah, as mentioned above, any decent eMTB is going to be at least 500 w/hr and that will only increase obviously

maybe the thread title should have been “My own particular eMTB and the way I choose to ride it – a few thoughts” 🙂

Food for thought, BTW what happened to BPW’s fee’s on e-bikes?

I see they’ve just reduced it to £12 after increasing it to £15. Fair enough, they can can charge what they like. £12 is reasonable IMO. Not been yet on the e-bike so no idea of how many runs I’d be able to get in. Can’t see it being more than a (fit) person riding up without a charge or battery swap at some point though!

I’d still kill a 500w/hr battery in a short time – just not as short! I hadn’t realised tho that some had batteries that big now.

I was the same on motorbikes – I got worse MPG and wore tyres quicker than my pal with despite his bike being 75 kilo heavier, 50 bhp more powerful and him being a quicker rider!

the point merely was that if you use the motor to the full it doesn’t last long. Even a 500 w / hr battery will only do 1.5 hrs ish at full power . I could have done a second 1000ft climb with a bigger battery – but thats even more weight.

the point merely was that if you use the motor to the full it doesn’t last long.

There’s no disputing that, but it’s somewhat irrelevant as most eMTBers will obviously not be using the motor on full power for that very reason. As I said, riding them is different from riding a normal bike, it’s about compromises in order to get the most out of it.

Just to point out – I didn’t kill the battery completely and the ride was 25 miles with 2500 ft of climb

Zilog – which then goes to the point that an e mtb rider will not be hooning about the place fast enough to scare the horses!

all I was doing was trying to show the anti e mtb diatribes were myths

Zilog – which then goes to the point that an e mtb rider will not be hooning about the place fast enough to scare the horses!

Yes! (I did agree with this point on my first post 🙂 )

all I was doing was trying to show the anti e mtb diatribes were myths

I would agree with this also! I was dead against them until I tried one. Then I bought one 😆