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Ebikes aren’t legal for 10yr olds. The law says 14 and over in the UK I’m afraid.
As an academic exercise, wouldn’t this only apply for on-road use and not off-road?
At 14 you can ride an ebike as and where you would a normal bicycle. I'd bet this would be the case in all public places. Under 14s private land only.
Rapturous applause for the Big Hitting on this thread.
Just my personal experience, & I really don’t care what anyone rides, or can ride on their bike whatever it is, but I bought an ebike to get out more again, I love being on a bike but I have never enjoyed climbing shallow long inclines no matter what they are, short sharp technical climbs I can just about do, but a mile on a 1% incline would bore me to death & as I’m now in my late 40’s & pretty unfit I would be puffing harder than I would on the last cigarette in the world.
As I said I bought an ebike to get me out again & with some friends who ride in a group that enjoys riding miles on roads & bridleways, not my bag but I enjoy the company & getting out & the ebike allows me to just pootle along with them without breaking a sweat. I always ride to the slowest riders pace, just like I did 30 years ago when I was fit & a fairly good rider, I have never had a competitive nature in this respect.
Anyway I bought what I thought was a decent hardtail for the money, I thought it would keep me honest as it wasn’t a skills compensater for the technical bits, but I love the fact it lets me go fast everywhere & do trails further from home that I thought I would never bother with again, so I have bought a short travel FS to let me go even faster inthe tecnical stuff, you just can’t beat fast & I don’t care if it upsets a few people.
Cheers.
re: retail. I've asked the question in two branches of a local bike store. both indepedently of each other said that 50 perecent, yes FIFTY of their new bike sales are e-bikes.
Beoing fron a small town, I've also been into a few city based stores andin the more high-end ones e-bikes are taking over floor space too.
thw two middla-aged men I know with e-bikes. 1) the first had cancer and uses it for recovery and to keep in the loop with his social riding group. 2) the other had a serious smash on his crotch rocket and his hips/knees got crushed and having regular ops.
Looking at either you wouldn't know they weren'y "lazy fast arses".
there are a group of non-impaired e-bikers locally too.
i've been on the fence about this and still waver but facts are this.
1) they dont make riding up hills easy unless the assist is turned way up. (and that means range is lowered)
2) they do keep you fit, just not in the same way as above threshold efforts do.
3) they lead to a different interpretation of the landscape. i see on strava people choosing different rouses because of climbs that are regularly avoided. (horizaontl combe (valley) hopping rather than riding up and out) if i were exploring an area i'd enjoy one for that aspect.
personally i want to stay legit. unless the status quo changes i won't get one.
1) they dont make riding up hills easy unless the assist is turned way up.
Where on earth do you get this idea from? Even in eco mine makes every climb a hell of a lot less effort than a regular bike.
unless the status quo changes i won’t get one
Wassat mean??
“1) they dont make riding up hills easy unless the assist is turned way up. (and that means range is lowered)
2) they do keep you fit, just not in the same way as above threshold efforts do.”
Maybe it’s just me but a lot of the time when I’m on my own having the assistance means I put far MORE effort into the climbs but they take much less time. So it turns my more steady state endurance exercise into high intensity interval training.
“3) they lead to a different interpretation of the landscape. i see on strava people choosing different rouses because of climbs that are regularly avoided. (horizaontl combe (valley) hopping rather than riding up and out) if i were exploring an area i’d enjoy one for that aspect.”
This is true. The assistance shortens the climbs and makes steeper stuff possible (which would otherwise be a push up), so you can ride very up-down-up-down routes.
I went out on mine when ill last week. It was horrible. Yes, the motor dragged me up the hills but it was so much harder to ride the singletrack descents because it’s a bigger heavier bike - if you don’t ride strong you just end up a passenger. I bailed and went home.
love that the point i made about climbs got two opposiing answered already 😀
"Wassat mean??"
if they bcome the normal, rather than the exception to the rule.
i dont think they're the devil, but also dont think they're the end all. more like an n+1 for a different type of ride.
love that the point i made about climbs got two opposiing answered already 😀
it didn't.
Chief's reply is obtuse as usual. He's saying he can climb faster for the same effort. (Same thing as making the climbs easier, worded differently)
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I went out on mine when ill last week. It was horrible. Yes, the motor dragged me up the hills but it was so much harder to ride the singletrack descents because it’s a bigger heavier bike – if you don’t ride strong you just end up a passenger. I bailed and went home.
WTF? To mummy I assume?
For all that weight training you keep going on about sounds like you're a complete sap on a bike.
if they bcome the normal, rather than the exception to the rule.
I thought you either meant that, or if something happened to your physical well-being.
What does it matter if they're the normal? Just do what you wanna do.
[i]For all that weight training you keep going on about sounds like you’re a complete sap on a bike.[/i]
Love it. Different opinion to geex, you're a weak limbed, useless rider, mummy's boy.
(or he's just soooo hilarious)
The shop I ride for is doing more & more of them, not to the detriment of other bikes though, they tend to be people adding to what they already have.
I'm still resisting the urge to buy one, currently trying to blag instead, but I think whatever happens it absolutely will end up being the next bike I own.
I'm not unfit at all, but my riding is focussed on the fun bits, which generally is a gravity bias. on an ebike, I get more for my money, which means more fun. Doesn't mean I won't ride my other bikes less, or stop racing on them. it just means I will get the chance to ride more 🙂
Sounds like a win to me.
“1) they dont make riding up hills easy unless the assist is turned way up. (and that means range is lowered)
2) they do keep you fit, just not in the same way as above threshold efforts do.”
Maybe it’s just me but a lot of the time when I’m on my own having the assistance means I put far MORE effort into the climbs but they take much less time. So it turns my more steady state endurance exercise into high intensity interval training.
The Chief raising the bar here. That one is hard to top I must say - ebikes as hitherto unappreciated tools for HIIT. Getting your money's worth there and no mistake.
basic physics Dez
Chief's Ebike is no more than 17lb heavier than a similarly spec'd regular spesh Enduro. all that extra weight is concentrated around the BB/Downtube area so turning the bike is not all that much more effort at all and hopping/lifting it simply takes a little more pre-load and slightly different timing/weight shift.
You don't even need to be all that strong. Just a half decent rider.
[EDITY]the HIIT nonsense is just noob e-excitement. it'll wear off
“Chief’s reply is obtuse as usual. He’s saying he can climb faster for the same effort. (Same thing as making the climbs easier, worded differently)”
No, I’m saying I put MORE effort in because I know the climb will take so little time. Partly because I’m better in short bursts, partly because I’m finding it rewarding to go uphill that fast.
And regarding riding it when ill, the trails I was on are tight and wiggly, the sort of trails that suit smaller, lighter, shorter travel bikes. Everyone knows there comes a point when a trail bike or even XC bike is quicker downhill than a DH bike, when a trail is twistier, narrower, smoother and flatter. These are those sort of trails.
you're not putting more effort in though. you're putting DIFFERENT effort in.
doing climb at a lower HR means you're basically sticking to a more consistent HR (e.g. threshold) rather than pushing up towards MAX HR.
its not correct to say you're working harder because you're not. you're doing a different thing.
You can put in whatever effort you want. same as anyone with the power of free will can on any bike.
bottom line is the motor when assisting adds to the effort you do choose to put in.
You're talking complete bollocks about the bike struggling on flat tight twisty trails Chief. That's the rider. Not the bike. You're just not used to it yet. Other than no sat down position being available the main reason a DH bike (assuming a decent rider) is slower on those sort of trails is rolling resistance and slower acceleration. Neither really factor into riding a 2019 levo while assisted.
I have a local 2 mile loop of flat tight twisty rooty woodland singletrack with slight undulation. I've held the Kom for it for years (at just under 10min) done using a short lightweight hardtail. I can beat that time on my Emtb by almost 2 minutes puting in a similar effort.
You'll probably get the hang of it eventually.
I'm not sure about this weight issue. Damn sure my old Cannondale something weighed more than my ebike does and i did alright on that. It's not as fast downhill as the Remedy i have but if you are fortunate like me to be N+1 then it's another option. Not getting rid of either but haven't told the wife yet.
"you’re not putting more effort in though. you’re putting DIFFERENT effort in."
It's quite simple. I'm putting out more power for less time. And because the bike is putting out power too, the climb time is even shorter than if I just sprinted without assistance.
"You’re talking complete bollocks about the bike struggling on flat tight twisty trails Chief. That’s the rider. Not the bike. You’re just not used to it yet."
The rider was ill. Unwell. Sick. Comprendez?
I found that the added weight actually makes e-bikes much more planted on anything pointing downhill consequently I was quicker both up and down . Not sure about the twisty bits , I'm not sure I noticed much difference . Totally unscientific test not timed or using HRM so ignore it if you like .
"It’s quite simple. I’m putting out more power for less time. And because the bike is putting out power too, the climb time is even shorter than if I just sprinted without assistance."
OK i see what you mean. it can be misread easily.
yup you gun it because you can (I would on a climb that I hated before too), but that doesnt mean you put out effort equal to riding it on a normal bike. (nobody said that) i just said its different. Its a different type of power work and you're very likely not going above tempo or threshold HR zones where most people die on climbs. (and why ebikes are good for people who aren't allowed to exceed certain HR)
it just means that the benefits are different (not better, or worse, just different) than on an analog bike where the rider would experience higher HR zones.
so as the other posted said about HIIT.. no actually. its less HIIT like than an analog rider would be. because you're not going and down the HR zones and as you say, your HR would be up high for less time too.
This thread wasn't meant to start a war! /whatisitgoodfor
My point was really that as eBikes are still pretty expensive, although falling in cost all the time, buying one is most likely to be seen as an alternative to buying an expensive pedal powered bike. ie, if you're not rich enough to buy a £3k bike (or more) then currently you can't afford an (new)eBike, no matter how much you want one! Hence my suspicion that eBikes were probably displacing sales of high end conventional bikes. The alternative theory is that there are enough people completely new to the sport, who are rich enough to splash >£3k on their first bike and just buy and ebike. IME that doesn't fit with the general picture of MTB where most people on a nice bike will have started with something a lot cheaper, and only justified the (significant) extra cost once they 'got into it' so to speak?
Hence my suspicion that eBikes were probably displacing sales of high end conventional bikes.
The never-ending goal of the bicycle retail business is to sell you a bike that you weren't otherwise going to buy. If this means a disc-brake road bike to replace a servicable rim-brake model, a gravel bike to fill a niche that you perceive exists between your road and MTBs, a "modern geometry" MTB because your existing bike in the garage is now so out of date that you'd be laughed at were you to turn up at the trail head with it, or an expensive eBike because you can do loads of cool things on it that you can't do on your existing bike.
That's not to say that the above innovations are purely marketing exercises to part you with your money, but it's worth starting from this point of extreme cynicism and to assume that you may be being sold something that you do not need. Then you can make your own decisions as to what you *actually* need and what will make your own journey in cycling more enjoyable for you. It may well be an eBike (or any one of a number of alternatives), but I suspect that the retailers are loving the current burgeoning eBike market, much as ski shops did when carvers were first introduced and everyone, almost overnight, replaced their skis with new ones.
My guess is that at the moment, a certain part of the market are buying expensive eBikes to grow their bike collection, rather than replace / upgrade their existing traditional MTBs, but that these sales aren't necessarily completely cannibalising high-end sales, because of this need to augment rather than replace traditional bikes with eBikes. No evidence, though - just a hunch.
I fell off my Ebike a couple of times after 16 pints and 6 or 7 Joints.
Must be because the bike is heavier.
Comprendez?
nah no really mate.. .you'll have to speak louder I don't understand much Spanish
I don't want an ebike to replace my rigid Cannondale, Ridgeway rocket but I wouldn't mind one for commuting and shopping with a trailer.
However I would bloody love that Norco on the front page. E-fatbikes have to be brilliant!
And there’s always the XC Euros who will keep pedalling uphill alive for us.
I'm not so sure, about a decade ago in the alps I remember most of the locals bikes were pretty XC, us holidaymakers were getting uplifts or at least partial uplifts so were riding much burlier stuff.
I can see the logic if you're local, you want to be able to just go out for a ride without messing about. But I can also see that you might get a fair bit out of an ebike somewhere like that.
Remind me. Someone told me alps now overrun eigh Ebikes.
Where there’s money and limited leisure time they must seem attractive
Where there’s money and limited leisure time they must seem attractive
Or, where there's big climbs and you want to get away from chairlifts to ride a >150mm bike, get more runs in, etc. Applies to areas of the UK also.
But I can also see that you might get a fair bit out of an ebike somewhere like that.
Exactly. My comment about XC Euros wasn't that serious : ) I think I've seen greater % of keen XC whippets in Europe than the UK when away from the chairlift spots but that's only anecdotal observation from a few trips and terrain/location biased, not sure how the overall balance is in various countries.
Back to OP. Looking at sales numbers and hearing from a brand about how sales on non-E model fell alongside the E-bike equivalent I'd say the answer to the OP is yes, but the volume's dropping and E-bike sales are growing in their place - fast. That won't be represented by what we see on the trails yet but in terms of new bike sales I'd be biasing stock towards E-bikes if that were my job (as most retailers are).
Morning all, if I’m honest I don’t want to derail this thread in any way, but I think I need a very simplistic response to what might be an even more simple question and I think there are enough folk here that can do so to help!
I have a significant and sizeable tumour in my upper left thigh that has made walking and general transit very complex. I have no flexibility or power - my leg is redundant as a tool for pushing down or up. My mental health is on the floor as a result, and we are currently here at Centerparcs teaching our 4 and 7 year old girls how to ride, which is both amazing and terribley sad too.
If I was to buy a S/H Haibike or other ebike @ £1500 - £2K in the near future, would it enable me to ride with my girls at Bedgebury, say, just by the battery propulsion itself, and not my legs? I’m hugely embarrassed about having to ask this question, but want time with my girls doing something we all love, and knowing that selling my beloved Travers to afford what I think equates to ‘twist and go’ being a possible solution in the short term. Treat me gently folks!
Yes, you can pretty much just spin very lightly with the bike on max assist and the motor will do the vast majority of the work. Good luck, keep fighting!
I believe Somafunk has one that can be throttle operated (a converted regular bike) so you don’t have to use legs at all, but it’s a legal no no. You could clip in with your other foot on a legal ebike though. There’d be enough assistance to cope with that.
Bullheart - good luck. My few goes on a e-bike have matched what people above have said, you literally just have to rotate the cranks (with hardly any force) and full assistance will give you a 250w boost. Perhaps have a go in a shop - they all work the same way.