starkmojo

I live 19 miles from my office, have land and kids to take care of as well. When I commute by bike work+commute equals my whole day. I am looking at electric bikes so I can bike, work, bike, mow the lawn, play with the kids, etc. Right now I am pushing 5K lbs of steel 38 miles a day, which do you think will be better for the planet, me charging my bike against hydropower produced (well mostly here in Oregon) electricity vs a gallon of gasoline.

Yeah yeah I know I should move closer to work. Except my work can transfer me to any office within 45 miles of my duty station. So lets say I sell my house, buy another house and spend twenty grand and change to real estate fees (conservatively) uproot my kids from their school and then get stationed by my old house?

Also houses with 5 bedrooms are pretty pricey near the urban core. Houses with five bedrooms and a yard more so. I get 15 acres and 5 bedrooms for what I would pay for 3 bedrooms and a postage stamp in town.

starkmojo

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I have to agree: buying an ebike does not mean I want to quit regular biking. I want a ebike so I can get some pedaling in during he week.

MikeyMK

Try living in my town - ten years the average wage for a 2-bed flat, and you'll pay four times that in London. Britain is wrecked.

starkmojo

Hey I made the decision to have 5 kids. No one to blame but myself... well my wife helped a bit

But yeah I get your point: I lived in Portland Oregon (USA) for 17 years. my old house that I sold for 150K is is now worth $400K. It is a two bedroom. I cannot afford to live there with kids. Relocated to Eugene (a city of 120K twenty miles south) and could;t afford a four bedroom there either. Well I could but just barely and only a one needing a lot of work. So I bought out of town and fell into this place. Oregon is a desirable place to live and lots of people keep moving here. I could live in town and have one kid, but that ship has sailed the hospital won't take them back, so here we are. I would love to live closer to work but I try and just do the best I can with what I have you know? While I was not an ebike fan when I lived in a big city now I think they could play a major role in changing transportation. If I could get rid of one car (kind of a stretch) it would save me like ten grand a year. I am shooting for 100 commutes a year by bike which would save me $1850/year in gas and wear and tear on the car. Plus I could keep the car for an extra 5 years meaning I could buy my next car just before I retire. That would be a huge savings too.

john m flores 

I ride bicycles and motorcycles and believe that we all benefit from more two-wheeled vehicles on the road because drivers are more aware of us and governments feel more compelled to provide for our safety. More ebikes just helps our case.

BikeTall

I would love to try an ebike for touring. But i do a lot of international touring, and from what i understand, none of the airlines let you bring an ebike on a plane. So thats a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise, i am all for new tech.

2old

You can build a DIY bike and use the batteries from ebikesca, which are modular with each "cell unit" of 98 watt hours being airline-legal AFAIK.