Please tell me about electric bikes (battery-assisted push bikes)

So, I live at location A, 14.5 miles from work. I ride there and back, for the four days a week that I work, on a conventional pedal cycle. I could do a few more miles, but not many as I like to walk my dogs before work and after work and generally still have a bit of energy left over. Plus I like to ride off-road at the weekend so I don’t want to

I would prefer to live at location B. This is 24 miles from work and includes some hills. Now, don’t curl your lips up and sneer, I know 24 miles isn’t much but, as I say, I have the dogs to walk and I don’t want to be exhausted all the time. I do ride it sometimes on my Spesh in summer when the weather is nice, but it’s a grim old slog on a dark, wet, winter’s evening.

The other day I had a Eureka Moment. Why not buy an electrically-assisted bike? Surely it would increase my range?

Here are my questions:

1. Would it go to work and back on one charge? (I can’t imagine my work place allowing me to charge it there, they would trump up all sorts of Health & Safety BS reasons not to).

2. I will still get a workout, won’t I? I don’t want to miss out on my daily exercise, I love it for all sorts of reasons.

3. I think they must be heavier, so is the extra oomph you get outweighed by the extra heaviness?

Thanks.

1. Depends on the bike, you want something with at least a 10Ah battery at 36V – assuming no gigantic hills 😉

2. Yes. You still pedal, it just stops you getting puffed out and sweaty before work.

3. It varies – a good system like BionX will add about 6-8kg – that’s nothing compared to the weight of the bike and rider, and the extra oomph makes up for it many times over.

This seems to explain quite a lot

Doesn’t the electric assist cut out at 15mph? So you’d be forced to ride fairly slowly to get any help from it anyway, if that’s the case.

If I were you I’d get a road bike, some clip on tri bars, and do some training. If you work your way into it and train up you won’t be exhausted all the time.

Doesn’t the electric assist cut out at 15mph? So you’d be forced to ride fairly slowly to get any help from it anyway, if that’s the case.

Yes, that’s the legal limit. The point isn’t really to put your top speed up, it’s to put your average speed up – when you get to a hill or strong headwind, instead of struggling on at 8mph, it lets you pedal easily at 15mph.

So if you have a flat commute with no headwinds, it’s not much use to you – but if you have hills it can make a big difference even if you can happily pedal faster on the flat.

1. Would it go to work and back on one charge?…
2. I will still get a workout, won’t I?…
3. I think they must be heavier, so is the extra oomph you get outweighed by the extra heaviness?

1. Yes
2. You still have to pedal if you are using assistive technology, it’s just easier. So easy that’ll you’ll be grinning like a loon on hills. 🙂
3. You don’t notice the weight unless you have to lift them.

A good quality electric bike is massive fun, the cheapo ones are best left to serve their original purpose as boat anchors.

My experience is with Giant and Cube, both good quality and ride well.

Remember how you felt on a bike at 18? It’s like that only better. 🙂

If I had a long commute, I’d go electric. You can arrive at work not ponging, and leave not dreading the ride home.

What about having a motor fitted to a road bike? Are you allowed to do that?

when we ran a cyclescheme at my work, 3 of the guys went electric, and i didnt. i was sceptical about the range, reliability and usefullness of the system and i honestly believed a decent road bike would be more useful.
that was last year, ive only seen one of those bikes, it came to work twice.
a couple of weeks ago i had a brief try out on an electric bike (shop demonstrator) and frankly i was amazed at how well they work.
i am a complete convert, as soon as i can buy a kit for my P7 that will give me a 90 mile range for less than a grand my car will be gone.
to put it bluntly, they are flippin brilliant!

What about having a motor fitted to a road bike? Are you allowed to do that?

Yes, there are various kits to do that – the ones I use most often are BionX and Heinzmann.

@molgrips i think thats the way forward.

Thanks all.

Agree, it’s not to put my top speed up, simply to maintain a good speed on the (smallish) hills and if there’s a headwind or if I don’t feel well/am tired.

Molgrips, I can and do ride it sometimes but I want to keep my riding fun and something I always look forward to. If I HAD to ride all the way home in the winter after work it would become a chore and I never want my riding to become that.

As it is it takes about 1hr 20 mins to do the 14.5 – not because I’m particularly slow, but because of the traffic.

For the ride to Location B – the last 8 or so miles are on country roads – badly surfaced, no pavements, car drivers going very fast, blinded by undipped headlights, not salted or gritted in winter, floods in the rain etc. It’s a absolutely delightful ride in the summer, nightmarish in the winter.

Apart from the chap who passed me while I was doing over 20mph into a headwind and then effortlessly pulled away from me when I accelerated and caught up with him.

The *only* possible explanation for someone being faster than me is that they were electrically assisted. Nobody can argue about this being the only explanation.

Yes, there are various kits to do that

Are they similarly limited if you DIY?

If I HAD to ride all the way home in the winter after work it would become a chore and I never want my riding to become that

I’ve found that it simply becomes transport, I just do it without thinking. I quite like that cycling becomes that much a part of my life. It doesn’t take the fun out of cycling any more than the M25 takes the fun out of quiet mountain roads in Wales.

I would strongly recommend a converted road bike or hybrid though – the electric bikes I’ve seen are sit up and beg jobs, and I’d hazard a guess you’d lose a fair bit of battery power simply overcoming the extra wind resistance.

Are they similarly limited if you DIY?

I have built Heinzmann systems which can do 35mph 😉

There really are two restrictions – some systems have speed sensors and electronics to do it, with others it’s simply the top speed of the motor.

bencooper, do you have a website?

My wife has one for almost the same reasons as you karinofnine. Hers is the Giant Escape 2. I think it’s got 3 power modes which determine how much effort you have to put in, which also affects the battery range. She uses about 4 days a week so about 50 miles and obviously gets more of a work out than driving, plus saves some diesel. The bikes also got built in lights so no need to mess around putting them on charge either. She could use a normal bike but with early starts and a tiring job, would probably end up not riding at all.

bencooper, do you have a website?

Sure do – http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk

Though that’s the old website – I’m just about to press the button on a brand new one. Same address, though.

I have built Heinzmann systems which can do 35mph

I mean is it legal?

Not even remotely 😉

met a guy with one of these, he loved it.

http://www.vivax-assist.com/en/produkte/vivax-assist.html

has anyone ever ran one singlespeed?
im thinking about all up weight here, the main reason given for my colleagues lack of use is that they live in a flat.
i suppose i would need to gear it so i could pedal it to 15mph comfortably.

How about something like the Birdy Hybrid? 19kg all up, it’s a folding bike so perfect for a flat, and it’s a full-sus alloy frame as well.

Ben, just looked at your shop – looks amazing, a proper bike shop!

As above niced website ben,

as for elecy bikes, rode 2 different models one by raleigh and another someother make,and really weird the push they give you is great against the wind, i so want one.

They make you feel you have the energy if not the body of a teenager again.

You’re making me wary about changing the website now 😉

The new one is here: http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/test/

Old one is a PITA to keep up to date, new one is built on WordPress so should be a lot easier.

im in, i will get one to replace my car at some point, but range needs to go up and price needs to come down before i can do that.

@ben, website bookmarked.

i know of one guy here in Munich that ditched his car in favour of an e-bike. he has a ~40km one-way ride to work. his bike has some super-duper motor that lets him hit 45kph (!). officially it is in the same league as a pedal’n’pop moped thingy which means that you are only allowed on some bike paths and it should be registered and disply a plate. as it is he has simply removed the plate and takes it easy in town.

brilliant idea. one-less-car and all that and he gets to work in just over an hour…. about the same time it would in a car.

i don’t know what brand/motor, so prob not much help….

Germany has a more relaxed licensing situation than us – there are things that are legal there that aren’t here, annoyingly.

Alpin there’s a place in Erding that does electric conversions, including on low rider fully faired 2 wheel recumbents….!

At your age, how about a mobility scooter?

😉

Howz things?

I seem to have gained the legs n lungs of Mullet, must ride more.

We tried them at the NEC show. Well worth considering. They actually ride really well.

@qwerty lol at mobility scooter – sometimes I think that would be a good idea 🙂
I’m ok, but the disease in my back has progressed and the bottom disc has collapsed completely. I have lots of pain and live on painkillers. Stretching helps and cycling does too, as long as I don’t get too cold or tired. Oddly I feel very happy.
Can’t believe you’re as unfit as Mullet!

K

Glad your happy.

Pop in next time your passing through the Shires.

M

@ molgrips… that’s where he rides to! from Sendling. small world.