Thread: Electric Bikes
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Old June 1st 21, 12:10 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Tom Kunich[_4_]
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Default Electric Bikes

On Monday, May 31, 2021 at 4:04:44 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, May 31, 2021 at 3:42:28 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Monday, May 31, 2021 at 1:19:38 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/31/2021 12:20 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On my 35 mile ride that was mostly through the Livermore Valley, I saw two electric bikes. I'm not exactly sure why someone would buy an electric bike for exercise unless they were attempting to keep up with a group and they were beginners but there you are,

I easily rode past them because both obviously had their power limiters as sold. It isn't as if I was trying to pass them because in both cases I eased up and intended to pass them at a red light so that it didn't look like I was trying to make them feel bad, but in one case he turned off as I was fairly close and the other case I was nearly coasting down a hill and those bikes are limited more or less to 15 mph as far as I can tell. Into a fairly strong headwind I was still doing 19 mph and simply wasn't going to slow down that much.

I can see reasons for an electric bike if you are commuting on them or, in the special case of a beginner trying to keep up with a slow group. But unless the power limiter is taken off they really are pretty slow and if you do take them off the battery has a pretty limited range.

One of them was supposed to look like a racing bike with an invisible battery but you can tell because of the size of the downtube. The other made no pretenses and was a rather clunky flat bar bike that the rider may have been using for transportation and had gone over the hill via Dublin Grade and was returning the same way. He also was not dressed in cycling clothing so that could not have extended his range.

I wonder how long these things will last on the market since a touring bike is probably every bit the commuter as they are.

One might just shoot them before they shoot you:

https://nypost.com/2021/05/30/man-ki...n-nyc-sources/

Or not. Your choice.

It is my opinion that e-bikes are going to be a short lived fad. Not because you might be able to make a practical e-bike but because they add NOTHNG to your riding pleasure and I am riding 25 mile weekly rides with an 88 year old. And another 88 year old that used to ride with us became useless when he quit riding to please the fears of his wife. Now he can hardly remember his name. Older people simply don't have the heart strength to climb much but then again a 68 year old group member, just did a ride from Castrol Valley to Yosemite via Sacramento (way out of the way) and took the train back. And he has a pacemaker on and has to take blood thinners.

Hmmm. Ebikes generate the vast majority of Specialized's revenue. The industry does not see them as a passing fad.

-- Jay Beattie.

Remember that everything looks good until the batteries have to be replaced..
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