Originally Posted by
Phil_gretz
had my wife and me meeting up with four other riders, of whom two were acquaintances and two were strangers. One stranger, the wife, was riding some form of e-bike. Well, her battery was giving her problems, and she was forced to bail out on the ride early on. It seems that lugging a 55 lb bike up the hills with the rest of us "conventional" riders was too much. I don't blame her. Her husband had to peel off immediately to keep her company, and they missed the ride completely. Oh well.
It seems that this is the greatest drawback to the concept of an e-bike. Electrical component/battery/motor failure that leaves you astride a boat anchor. No thanks.
Just like the mini bike. When it ran out of gas or the engine failed nobody actually rode it even though it too came with pedals.
Originally Posted by
Joe Bikerider
It is my hope that the high cost and dependability problems will damp down the current ebike fad and they will just go away. Becoming another relic of cycling’s many fads from over the years. When Costco is selling ebikes in that featured area near the entrance, their days are numbered.
Unlikely. Unlike their now defunct predecessor the mini bike, the electric motor of the e-bike is a lot more reliable not to mention cleaner and more cost efficient.