Help deciding when to switch to an ebike?

[Gionnirocket]

I was just thinking yesterday on a ride against the wind how the wind is a non factor for the most part on an ebike.

And the same goes for the heat and humidity of mid summer. You can ride 1 or 2 gears higher letting the motor take the extra load and the reward is a much more effective cooling breeze at a higher speed while still getting exercise.
I can't tell you how many people I pass who look just miserable in the mid summer... Red faced, dripping and struggling on every incline at a cadence of a drowning mouse and the speed of a gimp'd turtle

 

[E biker]

I can adjust the assist on mine ,I have it set at 1 it let's me get a good workout or 3 helps pedaling against the wind, so don't worry about the bicycle doing all the work, as some people think. I'm thinking about getting a good regular bike but I i can't lean into handle bars,do to my hands getting numb.

 

[spokewrench]

I got an e-bike at 73 because I remembered how easy it was to roll up 50 miles a day on a 3-speed in utility use 60 years ago. Now I found that there are few roads around here suitable for bicycling. There's more traffic and it's in a bigger hurry, which means I'll quickly have traffic waiting to pass me. My rides are short. I may ride 50 miles a week, not 50 miles a day.

Those miles take a lot more energy these days. My bike and I are heavier. The pavement here is so rough that I use brakes descending hills instead of picking up speed to help me up the next hill. Nasty headwinds are more common here than where I grew up. I don't use PAS, but I'm glad a half twist throttle is available.

Short rides at low speeds have made a difference for me. I was 75 when I had 12,000 pounds of pea gravel delivered to my driveway. Moving it by wheelbarrow would require 40 loads of 300 pounds. Each load required 300 pounds of shoveling, perhaps 100 pounds of handle-lifting as I pushed it across 100 feet of lawn with 200 pounds on the wheel, and 300 pounds of shoveling gravel into a void in an abandoned septic tank. Most laborers would want frequent rests. I kept going comfortably. I guess pedaling an e-bike at low speeds had conditioned me to keep muscle supplied with oxygen and sugar.

 

[RunForTheHills]

I was 75 when I had 12,000 pounds of pea gravel delivered to my driveway. Moving it by wheelbarrow would require 40 loads of 300 pounds. Each load required 300 pounds of shoveling, perhaps 100 pounds of handle-lifting as I pushed it across 100 feet of lawn with 200 pounds on the wheel, and 300 pounds of shoveling gravel into a void in an abandoned septic tank. Most laborers would want frequent rests. I kept going comfortably. I guess pedaling an e-bike at low speeds had conditioned me to keep muscle supplied with oxygen and sugar.

Damn, I want to be you at 75.

 

[mschwett]

I’m a 70-year-old road cyclist still riding a analog bike and trying to maintain or improve fitness. Typical rides are 40–60 miles with ~3,000 ft of climbing.

I’m intrigued by the latest generation of lightweight e-road bikes (TQ40 drives, smaller battery packs) but worry they might not push me as hard as a regular bike. At the same time, longer or harder rides are starting to leave me pretty wiped out for the rest of the day.

For those of you who were strong riders before switching:

When did you decide it was the right time to get an e-bike?
Did you wish you had done it earlier, or were you glad you waited?
Did switching make you ride longer, harder and make you fitter (or just gave the feeling that you were?)

those are nice rides. my experience is a little different in that i was always relatively fit/athletic but have a heart condition which strongly encourages me to limit activity. so i actually started with ebikes, then decided i didn't need them and went to an analog bike (s-works aethos) but eventually the cardiac issue re-asserted itself and so i had to cut way back and mostly switch to the e-bike. i've had a lot of experience modulating how much work i'm doing vs how much work the bike is doing, and i can say that it really is up to you with the type of bike you’re looking at.

i wish i had started riding an e-bike earlier, period, but i probably should not have switched to the kind of big efforts i was doing on the acoustic bike. i could pretty easily do 200w actual average rider power for 4-6 hours, which is a big ride for anyone. i did all the big climbs here, mt diablo, mt tam, hawk hill twice a week, etc. 500+ miles a month. i did those rides both before the acoustic bike and after, and i had gotten to a point where i used so little motor power on the creo that when i got the aethos it actually seemed EASIER most of the time, because it's a lighter, faster bike all around. ride with your bike‘s motor off whenever you can, and use it whenever it gets harder than you like. most keen cyclists will end up pushing themselves to use less rather than more motor.

the new TQ HPR40 road bikes look absolutely amazing, i would 100% get one if i was you, and i would keep pretty careful track of your heart rate, your own power, and the motor power. use the motor sparingly up hills, into headwinds, or if you bonk. you can turn those 60 mile 3,000' rides into 70 mile 4,000' rides in the same amount of time. see some new places, do big rides when you're not feeling quite as strong, and keep your own effort at the highest level you can without being miserable about it. you'll enjoy the rides more and be able to ride longer.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

This GCN video goes straight to the heart of the OP's question. Don't be put off by the click-bait title.

 

[RunForTheHills]

This GCN video goes straight to the heart of the OP's question. Don't be put off by the click-bait title.

The comments on that video are interesting. There are still many people saying they wouldn't allow an ebike on a group ride because it would be "unfair". Unfair to whom?

 

[6zfshdb]

Unfair to whom?

I actually asked this question in response to a conventional bike rider at the top of a long hill, who said my e-bike was unfair. His reply actually made some sense. He said "It's unfair to me because it diminishes my perception of my own abilities when I see someone older or less fit achieve what I can."

I tried to explain that an e-bike can't be compared to a conventional bike that way, but he wasn't interested in a debate and just rode on.

 

[Bicyclista]

I actually asked this question in response to a conventional bike rider at the top of a long hill, who said my e-bike was unfair. His reply actually made some sense. He said "It's unfair to me because it diminishes my perception of my own abilities when I see someone older or less fit achieve what I can."

I tried to explain that an e-bike can't be compared to a conventional bike that way, but he wasn't interested in a debate and just rode on.

That fellow's problem is comparing himself to others. There is no need to do that.

Back to the OP's question, I bought my first e-bike in 2015 when I was 70, and have not looked back. I now have three ebikes, one mountain, one cargo, one city. Ebikes have allowed me to climb long, steep hills (that I was able to when I was young), go farther, and ride more frequently. I ride four times a week, 20 to 40 miles round trip. I did less than half of that, in distance and frequency, in pre-ebike days.

Go for it!

 

[Chazmo]

I came at it a different way than most, I guess. I rode a lot of mountain bike back in the early 1990s and loved it. Never competitive though. I tried fat bikes back when they were new (early 2000s) and loved the concept but found it impossible to actually ride one. I mean, I wasn’t in terrible shape in my 40s, but riding a fatty was just too much for me.

Fast forward 20+ years and lots of (fairly) inexpensive fat bikes for sale with relaxed geometry… Mountain biking was right out as I could NOT get comfortable any more on my bike. Caused long lapses in my riding. In my 60s now, I fell in love with my fat bike that I bought in 2024. My diabetes, weight, BP have all improved as I (re)joined the biking world.

 

[indianajo]

I'm age 75. I ride a geared hub motor on the front. No drag if I pedal unpowered. 14 extra pounds, less than the toolbox, water, spares & rain gear I carry. I'm feeling frisky, I ride my 30 mile route unpowered. Wind 25 mph in my face, 96 deg F, I turn on the motor. I don't get to choose when I ride. I run out of food at the summer place or need to come to town for an appointment, time to ride. The motor allows me to eliminate 6.5 hour rides at 4 mph as I had in 2018 before motor. 3.7 hours is about right, enough aerobic exercise.
Proof is, I developed an irregular heartbeat when sleeping last spring. Not irregular while exercising. Cardiologist said biggest cause of irregular heartbeat is blocked heart arteries. On the operating table the day after the recording, barium in heart, zero blocked arteries. 70 miles per week was enough exercise. Aerobic exercise does not prevent electrical malfunctions. Magnesium & Potassium levels were fine. Ablation surgery burnt out the misfiring tissue, but subsequent AV block kept me from riding all last summer. Max pulse 60 with respiration 90. My vision would white out like that. Vari-speed pacemaker (Boston Scientific) installed Nov 2025, am climbing the hill back to cardio health.

 

[Cycologist]

For me I got an e-bike when they finally started making light, low powered gravel e-bikes a few years ago.
I still wanted to get a good workout in, but I wanted to ride further, faster and more often, while also maintaining the handling of a lighter bike.

Ride further: The area I live in has hundreds of miles of very well-maintained dirt and limestone trails that twist and turn deep through the woods. If you've ridden both pavement and dirt, you know that dirt requires more effort and concentration to ride on. With my old non-powered bike, I could do around 30 miles before getting tired. With my light gravel e-bike, I can do double that, reaching trails that I was never able to before.

Ride faster: With my old non-powered bike, my average speed on dirt was about 14.5 mph. With the e-bike, it's 15.5 to 16 on the lowest power setting, with some rides hitting 17 on the medium power setting. Doesn't sound like a huge difference, but it is. I can traverse a much longer distance in less time, which means I can go for a ride in the early morning and be home in time for lunch, and also have time (and energy) to cut the lawn for an hour.

Ride more often: I retired recently and now have more time to ride. Sometimes I'll go for a ride 4 to 5 times per week since I can just bump up the assist if I feel my legs getting fatigued from my other previous rides. Also, I don't care so much about the wind direction. With my old non-powered bike, I would always check the wind direction and speed, which would then determine what trails I would ride on. We get a lot of high winds around here, that can be 20 to 25 mph, with gusts into the 30's, especially in spring. With a non-powered bike, that's fun in one direction, but an absolute nightmare coming back. To make matters worse, the stretch of trail leading back to my house runs east-west and is uphill for 8 miles. The wind around here blows east 90% of the time and my ride home is west. So, if it's windy, I'm not only fighting the wind, but also riding uphill. With my e-bike, I don't need to worry about that so much and can go wherever I want, not caring too much about wind direction or speed.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

For me I got an e-bike when they finally started making light, low powered gravel e-bikes a few years ago.
I still wanted to get a good workout in, but I wanted to ride further, faster and more often, while also maintaining the handling of a lighter bike.

Ride further: The area I live in has hundreds of miles of very well-maintained dirt and limestone trails that twist and turn deep through the woods. If you've ridden both pavement and dirt, you know that dirt requires more effort and concentration to ride on. With my old non-powered bike, I could do around 30 miles before getting tired. With my light gravel e-bike, I can do double that, reaching trails that I was never able to before.

Ride faster: With my old non-powered bike, my average speed on dirt was about 14.5 mph. With the e-bike, it's 15.5 to 16 on the lowest power setting, with some rides hitting 17 on the medium power setting. Doesn't sound like a huge difference, but it is. I can traverse a much longer distance in less time, which means I can go for a ride in the early morning and be home in time for lunch, and also have time (and energy) to cut the lawn for an hour.

Ride more often: I retired recently and now have more time to ride. Sometimes I'll go for a ride 4 to 5 times per week since I can just bump up the assist if I feel my legs getting fatigued from my other previous rides. Also, I don't care so much about the wind direction. With my old non-powered bike, I would always check the wind direction and speed, which would then determine what trails I would ride on. We get a lot of high winds around here, that can be 20 to 25 mph, with gusts into the 30's, especially in spring. With a non-powered bike, that's fun in one direction, but an absolute nightmare coming back. To make matters worse, the stretch of trail leading back to my house runs east-west and is uphill for 8 miles. The wind around here blows east 90% of the time and my ride home is west. So, if it's windy, I'm not only fighting the wind, but also riding uphill. With my e-bike, I don't need to worry about that so much and can go wherever I want, not caring too much about wind direction or speed.

Absolutely! First and foremost in my mind, a well-designed torque- or power-sensing ebike is an option-maker. And it does that largely by removing barriers and giving the rider lots of control.

This is true even on my low-power, low-torque Vado SL 1. Motor on or off? My call. I always pedal with some effort, but I have plenty of control over how much assist to add and when.

Need to get somewhere fast or just feel a need for speed? Up motor and rider power at the same time. Want to slow down and smell the roses? No problem.

Away from the ocean, the topography here is choppy and often steep. But the climbs no longer dictate my inland routes. Pretty much go where I please and come home with the desired workout. Ditto for the wind.

Don't see a lot of roadies on my inland hill rides, and this place is otherwise crawling with them. The 80 ft/mi of climbing between home and my favorite coffee stop 5 mi away is no longer a barrier to more caffeine. And at 77, I'm hardly a strong a rider.