Getting to know the ebiking demographic
- Thread starter Roamers
- Start date
chunk
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
No health issues for me, but I'm interested in e vehicles and thought this was a cost effective way to see what they'er all about. I was looking for a real moped on and off for years, with pedals, so as to bypass DMV registration and insurance requirements here in California. Very hard to find anymore and when you see them, they are in sad shape or expensive. I bought this e bike just for quick errands when I didn't want to start the truck or a motorcycle to run the 2 miles down to the quickie market, hence the moped search. Then it occurred to me to look into e bikes. So far my Amazon special is a great performer, and other than a couple of flat tires, it has been a reliable ride for almost a year now, and find I ride it more for fun than for errands. I was in the hills the other day exploring new roads. I truck it to the beach too, and bum around there on the bike paths. That's a great way to spend the day too.
AHicks
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Snow Bird - Summer S.E. Michigan, Winter Gulf Coast North Central Fl.
72, 6'2"/315. Luckily, still in good health. No disabilities. Been 300lbs for the last 30 years at least. Blood work has always come back within the normal ranges, so no real need/purpose for my riding. Lifetime of riding motorcycles from 125 dirt bikes to Goldwings. Snowmobiled hundreds of thousands of miles over 40 years, same story with ATV's.
Don't ride motorcycles (or any other high powered toys) any more. Gave them up when I became concerned about my reflexes and how long it would take me to react if (when!) some sh#thead turned left in front of me. E-bikes really took up a lot of slack in my life due to the motorcycles not being there any more.
Bottom line, I'm old, fat, and I ride every day because I like/want to.... -Al
Don't ride motorcycles (or any other high powered toys) any more. Gave them up when I became concerned about my reflexes and how long it would take me to react if (when!) some sh#thead turned left in front of me. E-bikes really took up a lot of slack in my life due to the motorcycles not being there any more.
Bottom line, I'm old, fat, and I ride every day because I like/want to.... -Al
Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
Hmmm. Guess you could say I got into ebikes because of my horses. Endurance sport - 50 to 100 miles in one day competition on one horse. Hard on the body if not in shape because the terrain was often in mountains and unforgiving, and the human is more difficult getting fit (due to different muscles used in riding) than a horse would be. Needed a way to exercise and retain fitness in my riding muscles without wearing out the horse. A bike was the perfect solution, but not if one had to ride anywhere with hills. Too much chance of damaging the body rather than getting it fit.
Enter the ebike. The perfect solution. Exercise for endurance riding muscles achieved without worry of over exerting body or joints on difficult terrain. Rode that same horse to a national Decade Team Award (10 years endurance on same horse) and over 2,000 competition miles. 3x that many miles ridden just training. Foxhunted in the off season as a staff member. Always rough, difficult terrain.
1st e-bike was a conversation- 20 year old steel hybrid that was outfitted with a Class 2 front hub drive with a throttle only. No pedal assist. 2nd e-bike was a Class 1 Giant LaFree pedal assist, carbon belt drive. 3rd e-bikes was a Class 3 28mph assist pedal assist.
Endurance horse is now over the Rainbow bridge, as are all the others except one who is retired and a pet. And I now ride the ebikes just for enjoyment because they have replicated beautifully the freedom I always enjoyed while riding my horses. Also the bikes helped heal a knee injury from an entire winter riding a Huffy beach bike around Key West. All that "stop and go" using my dominant right knee to start and stop that heavy cruiser simply trashed it.
Enter the ebike. The perfect solution. Exercise for endurance riding muscles achieved without worry of over exerting body or joints on difficult terrain. Rode that same horse to a national Decade Team Award (10 years endurance on same horse) and over 2,000 competition miles. 3x that many miles ridden just training. Foxhunted in the off season as a staff member. Always rough, difficult terrain.
1st e-bike was a conversation- 20 year old steel hybrid that was outfitted with a Class 2 front hub drive with a throttle only. No pedal assist. 2nd e-bike was a Class 1 Giant LaFree pedal assist, carbon belt drive. 3rd e-bikes was a Class 3 28mph assist pedal assist.
Endurance horse is now over the Rainbow bridge, as are all the others except one who is retired and a pet. And I now ride the ebikes just for enjoyment because they have replicated beautifully the freedom I always enjoyed while riding my horses. Also the bikes helped heal a knee injury from an entire winter riding a Huffy beach bike around Key West. All that "stop and go" using my dominant right knee to start and stop that heavy cruiser simply trashed it.
Long-time motorcyclist, off and on-road. Still have motorcycles, but a career in tech added some weight and I got into pretty mediocre shape.
My wife's pretty fit but neither of us rode bicycles until I convinced her to do an 'ebike tour' overseas where we had a blast, so came back and found some used ebikes for both of us, and now we ride at least weekly and working on increasing it. Might consider moving to an analog at some point, but we'll see how it goes.
My wife's pretty fit but neither of us rode bicycles until I convinced her to do an 'ebike tour' overseas where we had a blast, so came back and found some used ebikes for both of us, and now we ride at least weekly and working on increasing it. Might consider moving to an analog at some point, but we'll see how it goes.
In addition to recreational riding, that was one of the "conditions" to my wife for getting the ebikes. She was going to jump in the car for a missing ingredient for dinner tonight. I said Ebike, but it's raining so meal plan changed. We don't intentionally ride in the rain.
I'm a smidge younger but similar proportions. On a weight loss journey; have lost 35 lbs, but plateaued. Hopefully getting out and riding a bit more will get me back on loss schedule. Adding it to rower, treadmill, elyptical mix.
Hope it helps you improve your health!
Never would have guessed horse riding to be strenuous! Did beating your ass on a horse saddle prep you adequately for the bike saddle?
My brother in law learned after college.
AHicks
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Snow Bird - Summer S.E. Michigan, Winter Gulf Coast North Central Fl.
I can't remember NOT having a bike!
Yep, rode all over growing up, then motorcycles.
Funny story - when I told my wife I’d booked us an ebike tour she kind of freaked, ‘not having ridden since being a kid,’ but the old phrase is true enough, you don’t really forget….although she’s still not so great on shifting/right gear for the terrain..
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