Ebike Sightings | What are you seeing?

[Taylor57]

Todays ride about 20 bikes-1 ebike. Looked to be Rad Rover

 

[Camac]

About 4 years ago I was leading a group of walkers when I heard of a cycling leadership course being offered. I signed up having not ridden a cycle in 6o years. After the course the sporting organisation nominated a time and place for a group to meet and ride. Three leaders and 8 people turned up. on the first day. No ebikes. Now every Wednesday about 70 to 80 people turn up and ride for an hour, hour-n-a-half. (coffee similar time) About 80 to 90% are on ebikes. Total population of this city is about 135K. This is recreational cycling and most are around retirement age.

 

[elliot friedman]

Limitless number of Arrow ebikes used as delivery vehicles around the five boroughs. RADs probably come in second but I usually see 2 or 3 of various manufacturers on my daily "bike path" ride.

 

[kmccune]

EBikes period are rare in this part of Appalachia( try to sell one) one problem is disposable income. the other part is infrastructure, trails and path are rare, no bike lanes and people either do not bike or just use a standard MTB( cruisers are rare) Gravel bikes would be a good fit, ( bet you 90% of the good People hereabouts have never heard of a gravel bike.
The resort in this little community stopped sponsoring the the "Tour Dupont", because of the cost they claim, there is just not much interest in biking period( granted its a struggle- the benefits are worth it) Li-ion got me back into biking and the new battery format is going to make building high endurance battery packs easier. The abandoned railroad right of ways make excellent bike trails and if the "E-bikers" are game players they are welcome, nobody wants their Kids or dogs run over by an ebike basting through at 30 mph( see youtube)
Ebikes are now getting people back into nature again and its amazing the things you notice.

 

[john peck]

Early in 2014 I started looking into ebikes. At that point in time I'd never seen an ebike in the wild. Or if I did, I didn't know it. I was commuting by bike and the hills were getting steeper, the winds were getting stronger and I wanted help. Later in 2014 I purchased my first ebike.

I live in rural Pennsylvania and at that time it was months before I saw another ebike. In the first year I could've counted ebike sightings on one hand. Every year I saw more and more, but the numbers were never great. Last year at this time I really had the feeling 2019 was going to be the year ebikes would hit the big time. They sort of did, but again the numbers weren't what one would call big.

Christmas day 2019. In my travels that day I saw three brand new ebikes, ridden by people that didn't look like the typical cold weather cyclists. Long parkas and knit mittens with wool hats. These ebikes were obviously Christmas presents. I took that as a healthy sign that ebikes were popular enough to be given as gifts. Is that the big time? Maybe!

Monday of this week, February 3, we had an unusually warm day. Temperature was 60°F and sunny. I got together with another ebiker and we decided to ride the Susquehanna River Trail. On a typical weekday in winter you'd be lucky to see a handful of cyclists. I guess there must've been a rash of Monday after the Super Bowl flu cases, because the trail had summertime levels of cyclists in the afternoon. It didn't take long before we had our first ebike sighting. Then another, and another. We stopped counting at around 15! I've never seen 15 ebikes in one day on a rural trail in Pennsylvania.

I'm sure these numbers are nothing to many of you. On a good summer day I might see three to five ebikes. Will 2020 be the year ebikes hit the big time? The roaring 20's?

Same story here initially, but now I can say with confidence there are at least 20 within a ten mile radius.

 

[6zfshdb]

Prior to this season, I hadn't seen many ebikes at all. On the trails I've ridden this year however, I'm seeing quite a few. Most are Rad fat tire bikes.

 

[john peck]

Prior to this season, I hadn't seen many ebikes at all. On the trails I've ridden this year however, I'm seeing quite a few. Most are Rad fat tire bikes.

A fair number of Rad fats & wagons here, also a surprising number of DIYs here. One recumbent has no battery, just an army surplus pedal
generated jury rig.. Thereś also a really scary looking Luna cycle full suspension. I see one old gal all the time on a converted Schwinn
meridian trike, gotta be pushin´ 90. (not mph)

 

[kmccune]

Rare as "Hen's teeth" around here, this area is not bicycle friendly, more Bicycles over "Shenandoah Valley", I know of one other Ebike owner in this area( make that two) have to admit thats not a lot in 545 sq miles.

 

[Readytoride]

Surprisingly, most unexpected sightings are of the entry level Treks with the bulky mid-frame detachable battery. Not very suble. Those batteries stick up like a sore thumb and kinda scream "Look! I'm an ebike!" But it does make you notice. Subtle bikes with inline batteries are only recognizable if you look twice, hard, after first noticing the cyclist isn't killing themselves riding up a hill, or spinning the pedals.

Overall, the increase in ebikes in my neck of the woods is very apparent, especially as you see more couples riding together with the wife happily on the ebike (and usually in front!).

 

[antboy]

One thing that's taken off here in Toronto since the early fall is the number of food delivery people using Zygg bikes, an e-bike subscription service here, using the two General Motors e-bikes (and one Gazelle bike). In particular, the Model V.

I saw 3 different delivery guys using the Model V in one evening.

Model V Subscription | Ride Zygg

I think GM might have been premature in leaving the e-bike market...

 

[Taylor57]

One thing that's taken off here in Toronto since the early fall is the number of food delivery people using Zygg bikes, an e-bike subscription service here, using the two General Motors e-bikes (and one Gazelle bike). In particular, the Model V.

I saw 3 different delivery guys using the Model V in one evening.

Model V Subscription | Ride Zygg

I think GM might have been premature in leaving the e-bike market...

Looks like a hot in demand item. Sold out. They dont look so bad either...

 

[kmccune]

Even though I do not know firsthand,I would say UVA would be polluted with EBikes even though the Hills are generally not so steep there( they are environmentally conscious, with a preponderance of EVs and Hybrid vehicles in that area. Seriously on this side of the Valley, there are hardly any EBikes seen or even in the Shops( reality has dashed my Dream of opening up an EBike shop in my area) If I manage to sell a Bike it is to someone a Hundred miles away.

 

[BEC111]

A year ago I almost never saw one. A year ago, I didn’t have one.
Then this spring I bought my Vado SL t(e first week it was available. A week later the LBS and the others around had virtually no bikes of any type. since the end of September the shops started having inventory and now I see ebikes quit often.

Most obvious are the fat tire Rads and their cousins. There are others, but the subtle ones like my SL are hard to recognize when passing at speed.

It appears that about 10% of the bikes I see on the local MUP are e. It will be interesting to see what’s happening next spring and summer.

 

[antboy]

Looks like a hot in demand item. Sold out. They dont look so bad either...

The Model V was pretty fun to ride, and although I don't know the actual weight, it was lighter than its "chonky" look, and had plenty of torque (IIRC 75nm?).

It's a shame GM left the e-bike game before getting another generation of motor made, as they had something interesting, and different.