Do you still ride your analog bicycle?

[Bikeknit]

I've only got 150 miles on my ebike but so far I haven't been tempted to ride my old non-ebike. But I still think there might be times I'd like to ride it. Maybe take it on a road trip to somewhere flat. Easier to transport, less tempting to a thief, etc.

My question is, "Did you keep your analog bike and If so do you still ride it?"

 

[fooferdoggie]

dont have one anymore. thought of buying one as a backup bike but few were available in the last couple of years.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not anymore. I gave my hybrid bike to a friend as a gift. My ailment is of the kind I can hardly walk. Yes I can pedal but only assisted (unassisted ride makes me travel at 12-14 km/h or less than 10 mph, and I'm getting tired soon. On the other hand, I could make an Imperial Century on e-bike).

I do not ride as much as fooferdoggie but I rode for 10,100 km (6277 mi) on my e-bikes in 2021 alone.

 

[rajron]

Yes; I still ride my analog bike, it’s a hybrid (old mountain bike with smoother and narrower tiers.)
I use it to ride with my wife mainly on the many multiuse trails we have in the area.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I use it to ride with my wife mainly on the many multiuse trails we have in the area.

Hey, @rajron! Isn't it wives ask for an e-bike first?!
(A jest!)

 

[mschwett]

i went the other direction. started with a city/commuter eBike (front hub, 42lb, upright position, frame-mounted toddler seat ) and loved riding so much that i got a much lighter electric road bike (mid-drive, carbon, drop bars, 28lb)... and loved riding that so much that i got an analog road bike. 14lb, no motor.

they're all fantastic bikes. as do many here i have health limitations that prevent me from riding a certain way - i keep my heart rate below 130 and average 100-110 for a ride - but have found that cycling is a unique form of exercise that allows you to tailor your heart/leg exertion by speed, gearing, and course selection, all the while traveling to great places and seeing great sights. for commuting and errands, i ride the eBikes 99% of the time, an even mix of the two. for pleasure, i ride the analog bike 95% of the time, but absolutely still love me electric road bike for very long or otherwise super challenging pleasure rides.

as a primarily urban rider, in a dense, hilly, pedestrian-friendly city, i differ in opinion from many here in that i don't believe a 70lb, 750+ watt two wheeled vehicle with a throttle is a "bicycle," but there is an amazing range of bikes of varying sizes, weights, powers, configurations, and features to serve so many transit needs that currently are filled by automobiles. two wheels good, four wheels bad!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

i got an analog road bike. 14lb, no motor.

Yes, we know. 'Just a bike'

 

[Bikeknit]

Thanks for the varying perspectives. I was never strong on the hills and also live in a hilly city @mschwett . Not so pedestrian friendly though. When I went from living at the bottom of a hill (all rides end downhill) to near the top of a hill (all rides end uphill) I began to think about a little help. My husband is already eyeing the space that my 2 bikes take in the garage and asking if I need both. I think so but only time will tell.

 

[rajron]

Hey, @rajron! Isn't it wives ask for an e-bike first?!
(A jest!)

Hi Stefan; Kathleen is not that interested in an electric bike, when we ride the multiuse trails, we keep our speeds relatively low, always slowing down for pedestrians and other slower bikers. If she felt more comfortable riding on the roads for sure she would want an electric bike. Maybe because we now live in the flats that I would even say, I miss the hills, most of my old riding was in hills of Southern Santa Clara Valley CA.

 

[Catalyzt]

I keep my old 1970s 23-pound Raleigh Competition at my buddy's place in NYC, and I ride it when I visit. I'm 64, and it's getting to be a challenge, but I'll probably keep using it a few more years, I hope!

I do have two eBikes, and one of them is a 40 pound front-hub conversion kit, and increasingly, I find that I ride unassisted for more and more of my rides in one specific situation: If I'm pressed for time and I need a serious workout in 20 minutes or so. It's throttle only, so conceptually it's different-- I start up a hill unassisted, gear down, and when I start to bonk, nudge the throttle a bit... the only place I use full throttle is at the top of the steepest hills. Without the motor, I was never able to climb many of these hills on an acoustic bike, even in 1997!

I say keep both bikes, and with lucky, your better half will forget about the extra space!

 

[Bikeknit]

Thanks for the garage space support @Catalyzt My ebike is very rideable without assist as well. It's about 42 lbs. and geared for hills. When I ride with my husband, who doesn't have an ebike, I mostly keep it on off with the exceptions of uphill starts, long hills, and that last hill home - maybe 5 to 10 percent of the ride. But my old Surley is easier to transport and fun to ride. I'll clean some other stuff out of the garage and hope that helps for now.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I cannot understand e-bikers who boast with riding their e-bikes unassisted. What was the point of buying an e-bike in the first place, eh?

 

[Bikeknit]

I cannot understand e-bikers who boast with riding their e-bikes unassisted. What was the point of buying an e-bike in the first place, eh?

Not boasting so much as noting that I ride it differently with different people and in different situations. My husband is the slowest rider I know and I like to chat with him while riding. If I turn my bike on, he'll just see my back! (Not bragging, we are really slow riders) People buy ebikes for different reasons. I loved riding regular bikes, just need a little help these days. I could comfortably peddle a non-ebike most the day on a flat non-windy ride (though my butt would hurt) but of course I want to ride places that aren't flat and on days when the wind is blowing! Hubby'll convert to an ebike eventually and then things will change!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not boasting so much as noting that I ride it differently with different people and in differddnt situations. My husband is the slowest rider I know and I like to chat with him while riding. If I turn my bike on, he'll just see my back! (Not bragging, we are really slow riders) People buy ebikes for different reasons. I loved riding regular bikes, just need a little help these days. I could comfortably peddle a non-ebike most the day on a flat non-windy ride (though my butt would hurt) but of course I want to ride places that aren't flat and on days when the wind is blowing! Hubby'll convert to an ebike eventually and then things will change!

If I could ride an analog bike, I would have bought the most expensive version of the Specialized Diverge and were not being present in these Fora
However, it is the e-bikes that allowed me to cycle!

 

[Bikeknit]

However, it is the e-bikes that allowed me to cycle!

Hurray for ebikes that keep us all rolling and exploring!

 

[PedalUma]

I purchased an analog bike one month ago. It is very rare in North America. And in perfect new condition. These are not imported to the States. I have been riding it around a few times because it is so elegant and just plain fun to ride. But today I started modifying it. I put on a longer stem so it needed longer housings, so I also changed their color. I put on a nicer brake lever for the front. It is a coaster brake in the rear. And I am about to install the motor. The Brooks saddle and grips and better handlebar arrive on Tuesday. It will not look electric. It will still have its lightweight and classic character but amplified. A few years ago I converted another one of these. I love that one so much that I had to buy this one when I found it. The frame is handmade is Europe.

 

[Bluto]

I still ride both. The Yamaha CrossConnect is a commuter bike and the Fisher Tassajara is a hard tail mountain bike, so basically they complement each other. The Tass has been around a while and needs new gear levers. The Deore set is not available currently so I’ll be subbing a cheaper set sourced on Amazon.

Edit: I also ride the CrossConnect with no power frequently to work my legs a bit more. It only weighs 50 lbs with the battery. It’s great to have power on hills and when bucking the wind though.

 

[m@Robertson]

I tried going back. Had a lifetime of analog cycling under my belt. Ebikes gave cycling back to me (heart issues) but under the right circumstances I still can ride analog. I was staying for 10 days in downtown Spokane attending a car show/club event, and rather than sleeping in and losing all my daily ride benefits, I took my recently revived 2004 Stumpjumper with me to cycle early every morning along the spectacular Centennial Trail.

It was the first time I had gone back to analog in the couple of years since I had gone to the dark side ... and the last. I ride pedelec style, almost always pedaling for exercise (although I have use for a throttle as one more arrow in the quiver).

For me, the key to understanding an ebike as a strenuous exercise machine was to leave cycling knowledge - and prejudices - behind. Treat the ebike as an entirely new system I don't know how to use. A bicycle-shaped object that is not a bicycle and should not be treated as one if I expect to use it properly. So I started over. The technique for getting the most out of an ebike is so different from a bicycle, I found I had adapted to the more modern device and - once I was forced back into the old way of doing things... hated it.

Electric assistance is an evolutionary change that will eventually leave the analog bicycle in a small niche held onto by a very few diehards. Think thats a strong statement? Look up what a 'fixie' is if you don't know already. Now bear witness to the fact that the derailleur was literally considered a cheat, banned from sport and riders who used them were regarded as cheaters. Sound familiar? That was about 100 years ago.

"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailleur? We are getting soft. Come on, fellows. Let's say that the test was a fine demonstration--for our grandparents! As for me, give me a fixed gear!" - Henri Desgrange after a derailleur equipped bike rider beat a rider using a fixed gear

Who is Henri Desgrange you ask? Click the link above. He was the 'father of the Tour De France'. That event took 34 years (1937) to allow the use of derailleurs, which hit the market roughly 115 years ago.

So... will it take 34 years for electric assist to become the norm? Will it take 115 years for people to forget analog bicycles were once considered to be desirable over them? We're less than a decade into this sea change but I'm pretty sure history is going to rhyme on this.

 

[PedalUma]

Susan B. Anthony said, “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
Electric bikes do the same, for all, now. You suddenly do not need all of that overhead to be liberated.

 

[harryS]

All but one of my ebikes were originally regular bikes, so riding them with power off is possible. When I first started ebiking, with my converted Trek 800, I'd ride out 5 miles w/o power and then turn it on, That was so long ago,

Yes, I do have a GT Transeo hybrid, a very nice bike, that I never chose to convert. to electric. I rode it 20 times last summer, basically a short ride in the early morning, twice a week.