momsonherbike

**Originally Posted by 350htrr But then I thought about what questions would be asked by E-Bike touring people? Well now, I suspect it would go something like this... How far can my battery take me? How much assistance is too much? How do I charge My battery? So, I decided that most of those questions could be better answered in the E-Bike community... Thus a Touring E-Bike section would work better there, seeing as the E-Bike are just starting to get popular, here in N America, and also the slippery slope... It does present a problem for the touring community in general. Even for me, and I am 100% behind E-Touring.**

I'm pretty sure all of us that ride a bicycle that has an electric assist option (PLEASE NOTE that I refer to it as an option since it is 100% up to the rider to determine if that electric assist is used or not - otherwise we're all out there in the same boat, peddling away) already know how far we can go with the current battery (or batteries) we have available. What level of assist we need is entirely up to us based on the terrain. Just like deciding to walk up a hill, or slug it out using the granny gear.

What we do want to know/share is - getting beyond our familiar mileage range - what are the options open to re-power batteries (if needed) while out on the road? Hmmm. Come to think of it, that is the same concern of anyone touring - how or where do I go to power up my cell/tablet/GPS/computer that I use for touring. I guess that means that I have already found - as they have - that stopping at any food related business to enjoy their services and products might include asking about powering up a battery or phone or tablet. All the times I've done this in my distance travels has always met with a smile and helping me locate a handy outlet while I enjoy my purchased lunch/dinner/snack. I'm more than happy to support a business buying their products, and they are more than happy to have me there buying their stuff. So a simply plug in for an hour is a non-issue. That always means having a dessert is a forgone conclusion! Campgrounds usually come with some electrical outlets somewhere. All B&B's and hotels offer electric. So it's not a huge deal to re-charge a used battery - for anything you are carrying while touring, unless you get into the really remote regions that just don't offer any services at all. I suppose if you want to do nothing but wild camp in Nowheresville, and pack a week's worth of food because you'll be hundreds of miles from civilization, well ....then have a blast. But leave your cell phone, your GPS, your tablet, your computer, and your e-bike with the power off. Enough said.

Otherwise, all other concerns remain exactly identical to any other touring cyclist. Eating, sleeping, best routes, worst routes, places not to be missed, public roads vs municipal pathways. We're all on a bike. Period. An electrically assisted bike might get you wherever you want to go a bit faster, and with shared effort, but in the whole scheme of things, it's still a bike. And you have to pedal it.

About this so called "slippery slope"? Really?? <major eyeroll> Give me a break. There is no such animal. Electric bikes have been around since Viscount Bury and G.Lacy Hiller wrote a whole freak'n chapter on this bike technology in 1887 (The Badminton Library - published in 1887), and even they said that cycling had only really begun 10 years prior (in Great Britain) and electrical assist bikes were already on the ground. <NOTE: I happen to be researching material at a highly regarded sporting library on a different subject matter (a certain woman British sporting artist active from 1910-1938), and happened to notice this 1887 tome entitled "Cycling" so had to have a look inside and ...lo and behold...there was the electric bicycle, among other interesting cycling apparatus. Some of those bikes (especially the three wheelers with the passenger seat up front) were really ingenious.> Sorry, I digress. Back to the subject at hand....

Long and short, the ONE and only problem they encountered with battery assisted bikes - ie: how and where to charge the battery when far from home - were what held this particular bike technology back - or rather kept it as a local usage and less apt for touring - for the last 130 years. They did not say it was impossible. Just cumbersome because back then a dynamo was needed, or a steam engine to produce the electricity. Surprise surprise, they already had a 20 mile battery - it's just that the thing weighed 70 lbs. And bikes back then weighed 50 lbs. That's a lot of weight to pedal along when your assistant isn't contributing. Carrying your own dynamo, or steam engine, for a tour was just not feasible (the authors concluded). Thus, begging the use of one or the other from a local farmer, or tradesmen, was the name of the game (they advised).

So lack of a charging station from 1887 upwards to 1940 (and super heavy batteries up until present day) kept the playing field open to only the gas or people powered cycles. History already tells us what branch the gas powered cycles took, and what branch the human powered machines took - but both took all the flak of the newly formed cycle hating public of the 1880's to 1930 to pass draconian laws against cycles because of the danger they posed to the predominate mode of transportation - horses. So for 120 years the electrically assisted bike just languished in the shadows, but....it didn't go away. It was just waiting for technology to catch up - which started to happen in the last decade.

It was a fascinating chapter, and I took snapshots of the pages so I could read it again at leisure when I'm not pressed for time to research something else higher on the priority list. I also have to look up the E.P.S. (Electric Power and Storage Company) as they were mentioned as the "best known and trusted form of [battery] storage".

Anyway, back to the OP's original intent for this thread: what options does an e-bike bring to touring. Hmmm. Well, I hazzard a guess that what the ever evolving electrically assisted option on a bicycle will do is possibly bring more women into riding longer distances, and thus into touring - something that 130 years of a simple bike machine has failed to do. Lately I've found a number of blogs by women who are enjoying touring on an ebike, and as word spreads I think there will be more husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, SOs, etc, that will find a wealth of fun in touring together on bikes when the bikes become more "user friendly" (to borrow a well worn out phrase). There is a very small number of cyclists (99% guys I'm guessing) that are willing to beat the crap out of themselves for whatever personal reason (I'm not judging) on the simple bicycle machine riding endless hard, mean, soul searching, hours of angst and pain, miles. Very very few women are willing to go that route. Maybe 1%? Personally speaking, we're just not into that sort of thing. We have other things we'd rather do.

But ...make the bike more of a partner and less of a brain-dead machine, and you'll find that the number of people who will join the cycling community will begin (slowly but surely) to increase. Will it be a boon for the itty bitty tiny microscopic segment of biking know as "touring"? I think so. Anywhere that you can plug your cell phone in to charge, you can plug your battery, and unlike 1887, where you had to find a dynamo or a steam engine, electricity is just about everywhere at the ready. And as technology for phones, electric cars, tablets, etc races forward in the power storage industry, the electrically assisted options for bicycles will, by default, benefit greatly.

The door is wide open to all of us now. Young, old, dedicated, or casual tourist. The bike has entered a new phase, no longer just being a lightweight machine component in a dominance contest. It now becomes a more universal tool to enjoy the great (and not so great sometimes) outdoors. As a commuting option it can't be beat...as long as the road infrastructure is there to support it. And maybe, just maybe, it will add growth and strength to the numbers of cycling advocates out there battling for better road safety, more MUP, more comprehensive cycling legislation, and most importantly garner the attention of various transportation authorities for increased consideration of this alternate transportation in the scheme of future planning.

In closing I don't even see a need for a subset of this forum just for those wishing to tour on a bike with an electrical assist option. The concerns, needs, advice, and outlook in regards to the main objectives of touring remain the same, no matter what type of bicycle you ride.