Originally Posted by Happy Feet

I agree. I just did a little googling to see the effect of a point I made.

One of my bucket list type goals is to ride across Canada. As it is, I have chosen to break that goal in half this year and ride western Canada now and hopefully eastern Canada in the next year or two. I did this because I just can't afford currently to take that long a leave of absence from work plus expenses (for the whole thing) but can do it piecemeal using holidays. Here's a screen shot of that below.

But, if I wanted to use an e bike that could effectively double my range (just guessing on that for sake of discussion), the numbers change dramatically. 348 hours (according to google) is 44 days at 8hr's per day (already over my time limit with no wiggle room) but then becomes 174hr's. 174 hours divided by 8hr's/day riding becomes 22 days. This allows 8-9 rest days (for my month off) and may be doable in my current time frame. Of course those are just rough planning numbers but they illustrate the point.

The bike cost would be more, but no more than some might spend on a custom conventional bike for such a trip. The travel costs would be reduced by half, which might be substantial enough to pay for the e conversion depending on the mode of eating/sleeping.

That's the sort of thinking that will probably become more prevalent as battery/charge/range issues get solved. Is it for me, at this moment? Not really. But I am still fit and able to tour the way I have been up until this point. If my situation changed would I consider other options over dumping my goals in the trash can, or cling to the no longer viable ideal of bicycle travel as it was for me in the past? Probably. Just as I would dump my current bicycle on craigslist if a better, more suitable one came along and I could afford it.

My next bucket list trip (or is it next next) doesn't even involve a bike perse (other than using the wheels from one for a cart) but rather walking 600+km to retrace the journey made by Judge Begbie from Fort Langley to Barkerville during the Gold Rush. Different modes for different people and different goals. None are right or wrong.