If you can bike to work, youve probably already done it. That means you live reasonably close to work and your city does not have exceedingly cold or icy winters.
I would like to think an ebike has a purpose, but between the extreme cost (for what you actually get), there seems to be little point. A regular bike is perfectly acceptable for short commutes, ebike does what, reduces the effort and exercise?
For the money, a regular bike is a better value. For a little more, you could buy an entry level electric motorcycle which would enable a longer distance covered in less time.
Ebike sits in that weird between space between bike and electric motorcycle.
Note to self: ebike owners are demonstrating that they behave like pretentious twats that think that their .01% ridership stats is at all meaningful to justify buying themselves an expensive toy that creates unnecessary e-waste just because they’re too lazy to pedal up a hill. Also, public policy should change to accommodate a niche group that are very vocal and really believe that they deserve sainthood because they rode an electric thing that has pedals, but mostly just is used as full electric because they encounter a 2% grade for 100 feet on their journey.
As people point out there are a variety of reasons to use one. I have not yet but im getting older and I think eventually I will get one as I bike less far than I used to just because it takes me longer and I tire easier.
In those cases an while can make things so much easier that you decide not to use the car.
If you have a 5 km commute without hills, then I agree that an evoke doesn’t make any difference (excluding the cost!)
An electric motorcycle needs insurance (in Europe at least), yearly tax, it’s heavier and usually has no cargo space, can’t use bike lanes, heavy helmet is mandatory
Says the person who spent $6000 on a silly toy and probably posted pictures all over their socials in an effort to claim their award of “most self righteous waste of money”. Given such tendencies, I would imagine that you often gargle your own as you’re already down there partaking in the smell of your own flatulence. With the grover-esque nature of the average ebike rider’s legs, one might imagine that such contortions come rather easily.
I’ve tried it both ways. What I have noticed with the e-bike is I ride it 7 days a week, where it was more like half that with my old bike. Frankly, it is so much fun I am making excuses to get out there.
Some points based on my experience:
I used to avoid deep ravine trails due to the steep climbs involved. Now I seek them out.
I don’t mind travelling somewhat out of my way to reach said trails. It’s really no bother on an e-bike. Nothing is ever a slog anymore.
Heat waves and smog alerts don’t phase me anymore.
As for winter, you have more options. You can get fat tires that ride better through snow or mud, for example. Of course you can do so with a regular bike also, but it adds weight, so there’s a trade-off.
Travel times have lowered somewhat, but more importantly, they have become much more consistent. You don’t pay a time penalty for fighting head winds.
I don’t show up at work a sweaty mess.
If I want a stronger workout, I can choose where and when to do it, such as on a trail rather than busy city streets, and on the way home rather than work.
I tend to slow down more often, where before I was blowing through stop signs and what not.
If you have any muscle or joint issues, e-bikes are a godsend.
A minor point, but my e-bike has a usb for charging phones. (These things are amazingly stealth. I owned mine for like a year before realizing it was tucked under a rubberized cover below the front panel, and then I found it on my wife’s bike in a different spot.)
On the negative side:
My e-bike model at least is bulkier than a regular bike (I do have the fat tires for winter and all that), which can make it more challenging to lock it up at bike racks.
Brake pads don’t seem to last as long as they used to.
Yes, it costs more initially. But as the article points out, if this is an alternative to driving, you quickly make back the investment. A regular bike is obviously the cheapest option of all though.
A minor point, but my e-bike has a usb [port…] . I owned mine for like a year before realizing it was tucked under a rubberized cover below the front panel
You got my hopes up there, but no dice. So annoying to not have this, it’s basically a necessity if you want to use satnav for more than a couple of hours at a time. I considered hotwiring a USB port onto my battery, but thought better of it and bought a powerbank instead. More wires, more weight, more waste. Put USB ports on your batteries dammit.
Yeah I guess the big issue there is the voltage on the main battery is pretty high. Too high for USB. But it has to be brought down anyway for the electronics, so why not let people tap into it at that point? It’s petty not to offer the option.
Mine was a USB-A connector hidden under the display. Once I realized where it was, it was easy enough to get to. On my wife’s bike, it was trickier to find/use. I had to crane my neck and look carefully under where the finger controls were and there was a tiny panel with a USB-C connector behind it.
This all reminds a bit of what happened when we got a hybrid car and my coworker needed a boost. I had jumper cables on me but it was a real head-scratcher to figure out where to attach them on a hybrid? Like in the bike case, the battery is plenty powerful but the voltage is way too high. Eventually, I found a positive 12V terminal hidden in the fuse box! You remove the cover and there’s this U-shaped piece of metal sticking out you can attach the positive clip to.
So I’m now gonna go hunting again! But alas it’s not on the specs sheet and this is very much a budget bike straight out of China. No regrets about that, the quality’s otherwise fine and it was a great deal.
The crux of the electric motorcycle is they no longer are a bicycle so you need it to be able to go to the full speed of the road which for a lot of place is 45 mph that means the bike can’t just have a top speed of 45 mph because at lower battery that top speed will drop and if there is a hill you are going to lose even more speed. Now try to find an e motorcycle that has a top speed closer to 55mph not from a sketchy company and it’s much more expensive.
As others have said bicycles work great on flat terrain but my commute has 450ft of uphill and while that’s not a problem for a fun bike ride it does mean arriving to work sweaty that for a professional job is considered unacceptable so when you add in needing to change at work and the slower speed that can be easily 30 minutes a day which even at minimum wage is over $900 a year that easily covers the cost of the bike
I have studded fat tires for winter. Ice is actually better than snow for my bike. I’ve done 1.5 winter commutes, as in 1.5 winters, but the most recent one I just didn’t work as much because it was cold and I wanted to stay in bed.
As far as ebikes in general go, it makes it more accessible. I wasn’t anywhere near the fitness level needed to do my work commute on manual bike three years ago but I was able to do it on ebike including the steep hill I could barely walk up because of my fucked up knees. I can and will happily do long haul rides on the ebike. I can do the ride on manual bike now but I need 3x the water and workout suppliments to be able to do it again the next day.
If you can use an ebike, you can use a bike.
If you can bike to work, youve probably already done it. That means you live reasonably close to work and your city does not have exceedingly cold or icy winters.
I would like to think an ebike has a purpose, but between the extreme cost (for what you actually get), there seems to be little point. A regular bike is perfectly acceptable for short commutes, ebike does what, reduces the effort and exercise?
For the money, a regular bike is a better value. For a little more, you could buy an entry level electric motorcycle which would enable a longer distance covered in less time.
Ebike sits in that weird between space between bike and electric motorcycle.
Note to self: ebike owners are demonstrating that they behave like pretentious twats that think that their .01% ridership stats is at all meaningful to justify buying themselves an expensive toy that creates unnecessary e-waste just because they’re too lazy to pedal up a hill. Also, public policy should change to accommodate a niche group that are very vocal and really believe that they deserve sainthood because they rode an electric thing that has pedals, but mostly just is used as full electric because they encounter a 2% grade for 100 feet on their journey.
Get a real bike you lazy bums.
As people point out there are a variety of reasons to use one. I have not yet but im getting older and I think eventually I will get one as I bike less far than I used to just because it takes me longer and I tire easier.
Ebikes mean you don’t show up sweaty or tired, and they make longer distances more viable.
No, I dont think so. Examples:
In those cases an while can make things so much easier that you decide not to use the car.
If you have a 5 km commute without hills, then I agree that an evoke doesn’t make any difference (excluding the cost!)
An electric motorcycle needs insurance (in Europe at least), yearly tax, it’s heavier and usually has no cargo space, can’t use bike lanes, heavy helmet is mandatory
Yup. Showing up sweaty on an 85 degree humid morning is not an option.
Then again, my battery crapped out halfway up a hill on my way in a month ago. A 60 lb emtb is much much sweatier to pedal.
deleted by creator
Don’t be a dick or you will be banned permanently. You can disagree without insulting each other.
deleted by creator
Says the person who spent $6000 on a silly toy and probably posted pictures all over their socials in an effort to claim their award of “most self righteous waste of money”. Given such tendencies, I would imagine that you often gargle your own as you’re already down there partaking in the smell of your own flatulence. With the grover-esque nature of the average ebike rider’s legs, one might imagine that such contortions come rather easily.
Good day.
deleted by creator
Don’t be a dick or you will be banned permanently. You can disagree without insulting each other.
I’ve been thrown out of nicer places than this!
Also: “Don’t insult people you dick!”
Brilliant.
My ebike replaces car trips, not bike trips.
Man has never heard of a hill. If I tried to commute on a bike in my city I would fucking die.
I’ve tried it both ways. What I have noticed with the e-bike is I ride it 7 days a week, where it was more like half that with my old bike. Frankly, it is so much fun I am making excuses to get out there.
Some points based on my experience:
On the negative side:
You got my hopes up there, but no dice. So annoying to not have this, it’s basically a necessity if you want to use satnav for more than a couple of hours at a time. I considered hotwiring a USB port onto my battery, but thought better of it and bought a powerbank instead. More wires, more weight, more waste. Put USB ports on your batteries dammit.
Yeah I guess the big issue there is the voltage on the main battery is pretty high. Too high for USB. But it has to be brought down anyway for the electronics, so why not let people tap into it at that point? It’s petty not to offer the option.
Mine was a USB-A connector hidden under the display. Once I realized where it was, it was easy enough to get to. On my wife’s bike, it was trickier to find/use. I had to crane my neck and look carefully under where the finger controls were and there was a tiny panel with a USB-C connector behind it.
This all reminds a bit of what happened when we got a hybrid car and my coworker needed a boost. I had jumper cables on me but it was a real head-scratcher to figure out where to attach them on a hybrid? Like in the bike case, the battery is plenty powerful but the voltage is way too high. Eventually, I found a positive 12V terminal hidden in the fuse box! You remove the cover and there’s this U-shaped piece of metal sticking out you can attach the positive clip to.
So I’m now gonna go hunting again! But alas it’s not on the specs sheet and this is very much a budget bike straight out of China. No regrets about that, the quality’s otherwise fine and it was a great deal.
Yeah, I do 20km (one way) daily commutes, often with heavy rain and wind.
Doing that with a normal bike would be hell. Now it’s a comfortable ride.
The main difference is an ebike can do 28mph (class 3), so might make a longer commute possible that wouldn’t be easy to do on a non-ebike.
It’s about providing accessible micro mobility to people who otherwise might not consider it. It’s like being able to ride a moped to work
The crux of the electric motorcycle is they no longer are a bicycle so you need it to be able to go to the full speed of the road which for a lot of place is 45 mph that means the bike can’t just have a top speed of 45 mph because at lower battery that top speed will drop and if there is a hill you are going to lose even more speed. Now try to find an e motorcycle that has a top speed closer to 55mph not from a sketchy company and it’s much more expensive.
As others have said bicycles work great on flat terrain but my commute has 450ft of uphill and while that’s not a problem for a fun bike ride it does mean arriving to work sweaty that for a professional job is considered unacceptable so when you add in needing to change at work and the slower speed that can be easily 30 minutes a day which even at minimum wage is over $900 a year that easily covers the cost of the bike
I have studded fat tires for winter. Ice is actually better than snow for my bike. I’ve done 1.5 winter commutes, as in 1.5 winters, but the most recent one I just didn’t work as much because it was cold and I wanted to stay in bed.
As far as ebikes in general go, it makes it more accessible. I wasn’t anywhere near the fitness level needed to do my work commute on manual bike three years ago but I was able to do it on ebike including the steep hill I could barely walk up because of my fucked up knees. I can and will happily do long haul rides on the ebike. I can do the ride on manual bike now but I need 3x the water and workout suppliments to be able to do it again the next day.