Reflector Guy

I'll mention that to my brother.... He bought a Wrangler with every option the Toledo factory could hang on it. I think it cost more than my house! Your post might finally give him a reason to use the winch.

Kabuki12

My wife rides an electric assist bike and she loves it. It is a mid drive system by Bosch so you have to pedal to make it go. The last one I bought her was a hub drive and it had a throttle like a motor bike but she only used the throttle while she was pedaling as an assist. She prefers the new one because it climbs better and is easier to control. I don’t mind being passed by ebike on the road in bike lanes but I don’t like those bicycles with gas motors blasting by at thirty miles an hour on the bike lanes. The people who build those put the motor kits on old beach cruiser type frames with big ape hanger handlebars , frankly they ain’t bicycles and have no business in the bike lanes. They are obnoxious!

rsbob 

My wife has RA and was knocked out of cycling for 18 years. We used to ride our tandem and singles almost every weekend together. She did several rides in the century category but RA ended that. Now she has an Specialized Como e-bike and has gotten her back into short rides again and she loves it. She still has pain but the freedom she has found has transformed her spirit.

We know another couple and the wife also has RA and has purchased one. They too were avid cyclists but her pain was too great, and now she is back at it and loving it. See, you never know the real reason for such a purchase, and how life changing it can be.

Elvo

Yup you can get a ramp for your hitch rack or use a wheel chair lift

Troul 

whats the max lbs cap of that carrier?

Doc_Wui

My story goes that I originally got my wife an ebike in 2015 to get her back into riding. I had just purchased a GT Transeo at Performance Bike and we saw the $2500 ebikes on display, Her bike was half that price and within a month I converted an old Trek 800 to electric, so I could keep up.

It's 2021 now, and we've ridden over 10000 miles since 2016, with 2400 miles together last year (counts for almost half of that 10K). Couldn't have done it without Mssrs, Volatire, Ampere, Coulomb, Edison, etc. I did do 121 miles on the GT Transeo, a day's ride for some of you, a week for me.

burritos

Ebikes and non ebike KOM are all on the same group right?

Troul 

no. try harder.

Retro Grouch 

That's what I think too.

cjenrick

worst thing is, if i am having a really good day on the trail, people think i must be riding an e bike.

Outrider1

Just reread this thread and I'm motivated! Today I'm going to ride my Goldwing on the local MUP and drop the ebike riders!

Germany_chris

I'll own a VanMoof by summer, I like ebikes.

dabac

I really don’t care much about what creates the motive power.
Operator judgement, skill and speed advantage are far more important for overall safety IMO.
Can’t understand those who oppose ebikes mixing with other cyclists only based on the existence of a motor.
It Is Not A Race.
If it moves at the speed of a bicycle, handles like a bicycle and has a rider+operator weight comparable to a bicycle, well, let’s treat it as a bicycle.
Where’s the harm?

BlindGuyRides

Ok now that is full stop. Awesome.

I both want an e-bike, and at the same time the whole point of me cycling is to work on cardio and and a motor to 'help' seems like that defeats the point.


Edit: to be clear I am not opposed to e-bike, far from it. I just realize they probably would run counter to 'me getting in somewhat better shape.'

rydabent

Is that a bad thing. At least people are out on their bikes.

KPREN

Denying yourself something in order to force yourself to do something is playing victim to yourself. A bit like shooting one's self in the foot. There is no guarantee that denying yourself an e bike will make you fit. Control is 100% about making choices. Better to make the choice to enjoy an e bike and gain fitness. You can have both, its a matter of choice.

fooferdoggie 

you can get as much cardio as you want. but you can do it and go faster and climb hills faster or go farther. though with my bike the more out I want the less fast I can go or I need to go really fast like at 25mph. this was on a really good day for me on a 9.5 mile commute. I wish y body worked right and I could do this all the time. but I always get some workout usually its from 130 to 150 watts.

caloso

My MIL used to live in Irvine so I used to ride around there a bit when we were visiting. I would take Jamboree out to the water rather than the Back Bay trail since even then it was full of squirrelly riders. Must be an absolute zoo now.

Leinster

I used to live in Costa Mesa and when I'd bike around town people would look at me like I was on a flying saucer.

More people riding bikes in OC is definitely a good thing for people who ride bikes.

Gresp15C

Oddly enough I'm a liberal, and I don't understand.

rsbob 

This happened to me on a climb on my chunky carbon frame. Passed two older guys struggling up a long climb and was feeling good that day. One guy called out, I wish I had a e-bike too, to which I replied; Me too! I wanted to say, then I could pass you at twice the speed, but try not to be rude to people giving there all.

Kabuki12

Exactly! My wife and I have always ridden together...until she got RA and fibromyalgia. That ended her riding until we discovered ebikes. As I said in my previous post, she can now ride with me occasionally and is loving the ability to ride. Her limit is about fifteen miles , but that is fifteen miles further than before. The first time she tried one she had tears in her eyes. She had missed riding so much and she would watch me pedal away on my rides. I had no idea how much she was grieving

CAT7RDR

E-bikes. Last one I encountered was going up an 8% grade at about 25 mph while I guess he was soft pedaling at about 40 rpm. Yeah, what a great workout he must have had. To me more power to you if you need one for whatever reason. For me, if I wanted a motorcycle, I would buy one that I could put my sweety on comfortably for day tours.

Flip Flop Rider

I don't know they seem like motorcycles to me but admittedly don't know a lot about them

veganbikes

So let's take them same person and put them on a bike they aren't going to ride and where is the workout at all. If someone is out riding and has found something that will actually get them exercising then that is a good thing. If they aren't going to ride at all on a regular bike all that exercise is out the f'ing door. I would rather have them riding up that hill soft pedaling and enjoying themselves on a bicycle then not riding at all or worse driving a car.

Yeah Motorcycles can be cool but that is not the subject here. Bicycles that require pedaling and motorcycles that require throttling are two very different things and trying to conflate the two because some bicycles have motors but still require you to pedal to active them is just wrong. They may not be for you, e-bikes aren't for everyone but I can guarantee you if you actually rode one of quality that fit you decently, you would probably have a good time. I hated e-bikes for a while as well and then I rode one and figured out what they are all about and had a fun time. Yes a bike that has pedals but also has a throttle is not actually a proper bike but a motorcycle a really crappy motorcycle or I guess a Moped.

I get it though pedaling backwards is a tough thing to do and if you can do it you want to show it off. I personally am just fine pedaling forward and enjoying life. I have put people on pretty mediocre e-bikes who have held positions similar to my old position and your current position and they loved it. It is not hard. Call it whatever dumb name you want but it is the future and it is getting more people back on bikes and riding again and if that isn't a good thing then I am unsure what you would define as such.