Hello from Colorado

[Highway550]

I am new to the group, but I have been reading & learning for the information posted for the past 6 months as I was considering adding an electric assist bike to my stable of bicycles. I do mostly touring and about 10 years ago, switched from a Motobecane Grand Jubilee (1974 model) to a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Recently, I found myself often changing routes to avoid challenging hills, making more frequent stops and getting fewer miles per day. I started thinking about trying an electric assist option to smooth out the ride as I get older.

My Daughter's shop sells Felts and in reading reviews I decided that the Felt Sporte 95 S would be a good option.
I purchased the bike, and did some changes to the standard. Jones H-Bars, new stem, Brooks Saddle. I am going through the testing and trail period now as I prepare to see how the bicycle will do as a Touring Bike (about 400 miles so far in testing) ! I love the way the hills seem to be a little less steep and I seem to be a little less fatigued after rides. The bike with the rack seem to handle the touring load nicely.... But I have broken one spoke so far, so we will see if a better wheel build may be needed. The extra speed/power combined with load weight may be too much for the standard wheel build.

Interest to hear from others that maybe using Electric Assist Bicycles for Touring.

 

[john peck]

Touring is what I've been working toward when I bought a 1st run Juiced bikes CCS. Range is likely the main issue.
Gear is another.

Do you want to go 'bare bones', credit card tour, or go global with all your worldly possessions?
I'm an ex-pat native Coloradan, so safe to say topography is a definite consideration.
Just a preference, but I like a hub motor instead of a mid-drive, gives me the option of limpin' home if there's
a chain or pedal failure.
I've discovered that the optimum range advertised may be achieved if you are 5'1" & 84 pounds. This is not the
case for me. Obviously, it's not going a couple hundred miles without a charge, & charging consumes a fair amount
of time. Clearly, to tour, you need a bike that still pedals reasonably well without power. With the big battery pac,
my CCS is a pretty heavy bike, but sometimes inertia is a good thing. It really rolls well once ya get it moving.
Apart from personalizing, the only touring mod I've come up with is swapping out the 52T chainring for a 50/34T
compact. If I'm looking at a long climb or just want to save juice, I manually shift down to the 34T. The 32/11rear
9 spd. gives me plenty of range. I can dawdle at 12 mph under power or simply shut it off & pedal. Used judiciously,
I get 70mi. to a charge.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

John, that's a huge triangle frame bag. What do you use it for?

Also, you ain't kidding about how these bikes roll really well once they're moving. My wife's Pedego can't keep up when we are coasting down a hill, and even on the flats, I pedal maybe 4 times to her 10 so we can stay more or less even with each other.

 

[john peck]

That in-frame was originally a $6 Goodwill carry-on garment bag. After some snips & stitches, it is more utilitarian any on the
market.(5 compartments) Mostly, the zippers make it handy for mail. It mounts over both sides the top tube like a saddle.
I zip my heavier tools like a crescent, folding spade, & authentic Gurkha kukri,( wilderness multi-tool), into the lower pockets.
There's always a bunch of zip ties in it. Also, I keep a bike brush & a telescopic fishing pole in there. There's a first-aid kit as well.
The cool thing is that with the in-frame & panniers on, one can't tell it;s electric. Really goofs spandexters when this old man
zooms past 'em going uphill with what looks like a fully loaded tourer. Too much fun!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

E-bike touring is definitely a thing,

It definitely is more of a thing in North America or Europe where you can easily find an outlet. I'd heartily recommend having a spare battery or at least enough range to cover 75-100 miles on a full charge.

At least in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, state (provincial) and county parks usually have picnic shelters with outlets. Hiker-biker camps in Oregon State Parks often have "hiker boxes" which are a locker (bring a padlock) with an outlet inside that you can use to recharge batteries (and phones and tablets and bike lights &c). The challenge is that there is no source telling you which Oregon State Parks have those "hiker boxes".

Some private campgrounds have hiker-biker sites as well, and those are a good bet for getting access to an outlet for charging (or at least partially charging) your batteries.

The other reliable place to charge is coin-op laundries. You'll need to stop and do laundry anyway and that's a good time to charge. I've found that if I ride until about ten a.m. to a coin-op, I can do laundry, charge batteries, and eat lunch and be on the road by around noon with 80 percent charge. I think that strategy is key to getting in a very large day. However, in a lot of places there aren't that many coin-ops around and you'll have to be quite lucky to find one during the right point in your day to make it worthwhile.

On the M.V. Coho coming into Port Angeles:

 

[Gator]

Hello and Welcome

I whole-heartedly agree that the Ebike helps flatten out those hills. Glad to have you here.

 

[john peck]

E-bike touring is definitely a thing,

It definitely is more of a thing in North America or Europe where you can easily find an outlet. I'd heartily recommend having a spare battery or at least enough range to cover 75-100 miles on a full charge.

At least in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, state (provincial) and county parks usually have picnic shelters with outlets. Hiker-biker camps in Oregon State Parks often have "hiker boxes"

Some private campgrounds have hiker-biker sites as well, and those are a good bet for getting access to an outlet for charging (or at least partially charging) your batteries.

The other reliable place to charge is coin-op laundries.

On the M.V. Coho coming into Port Angeles:
View attachment 23131

Saw your ride pics on the other thread. I wouldn't be surprised if we passed each other on the Larry Scott or the Olympic Discovery trails.
Didn't know about the 'hiker boxes'. In the past when on tour, I've often looked to the kindness of charitable women.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Saw your ride pics on the other thread. I wouldn't be surprised if we passed each other on the Larry Scott or the Olympic Discovery trails.
Didn't know about the 'hiker boxes'. In the past when on tour, I've often looked to the kindness of charitable women.

I was riding the day that it was "raining". It was a long dispiriting climb up the 104 in the drizzle to the turnoff onto Center Road.

Charitable women are always a good thing to know of.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

That in-frame was originally a $6 Goodwill carry-on garment bag. After some snips & stitches, it is more utilitarian any on the
market.(5 compartments) Mostly, the zippers make it handy for mail. It mounts over both sides the top tube like a saddle.
I zip my heavier tools like a crescent, folding spade, & authentic Gurkha kukri,( wilderness multi-tool), into the lower pockets.
There's always a bunch of zip ties in it. Also, I keep a bike brush & a telescopic fishing pole in there. There's a first-aid kit as well.
The cool thing is that with the in-frame & panniers on, one can't tell it;s electric. Really goofs spandexters when this old man
zooms past 'em going uphill with what looks like a fully loaded tourer. Too much fun!

That's way cool, John. I've got an old garment bag a lot like yours that I haven't used in years. I might have to think about something similar.

 

[john peck]

Touring is what I've been working toward when I bought a 1st run Juiced bikes CCS. Range is likely the main issue.
Gear is another. View attachment 23084 Do you want to go 'bare bones', credit card tour, or go global with all your worldly possessions? J

This is my alternate tour ride. Range is not an issue With the spare 3 liter jerry can. Heresy? I'm into all 3 genre of cycling.

 

[john peck]

I was riding the day that it was "raining". It was a long dispiriting climb up the 104 in the drizzle to the turnoff onto Center Road.

Charitable women are always a good thing to know of.

That climb over Mt. Walker's all kinds of fun, huh. If your put your battery in a pannier & bike on the rack, you can go almost anywhere
in western Washington by bus very cheaply. From Port Townsend, with a few transfers, to Westport. apprx. 170 mi, cost me $6.50
with my senior bus pass. More like $35 to drive my old van. Oregon has a 7 day coastal bus pass that covers the whole coast for
$30. It's great if you want to dodge those narrow windy sections of 101 at peak tourist season, & choose where you want to ride.

Correction: I was thinking where 101 meets Center rd., that hump between Brinnon & Quilcene. It's worse

 

[Mr. Coffee]

That climb over Mt. Walker's all kinds of fun, huh. If your put your battery in a pannier & bike on the rack, you can go almost anywhere
in western Washington by bus very cheaply. From Port Townsend, with a few transfers, to Westport. apprx. 170 mi, cost me $6.50
with my senior bus pass. More like $35 to drive my old van. Oregon has a 7 day coastal bus pass that covers the whole coast for
$30. It's great if you want to dodge those narrow windy sections of 101 at peak tourist season, & choose where you want to ride.

Correction: I was thinking where 101 meets Center rd., that hump between Brinnon & Quilcene. It's worse

Yep, I'm painfully familiar with that hill. Back in the day there was a restaurant in Quilcene that would give you a free meal if you ate a raw oyster. Not one of those little oysters served in a shot glass but one of those monster Hood Canal oysters...

One of the things I'd mention is that the San Juans and Gulf Islands are really, really nicely set up for e-bike touring. You can quite literally leave your car in long-term parking in Anacortes and hop the ferry and you are on your way. The larger islands (Orcas, San Juan, and Salt Spring) all have quite a few reasonable places to stay and good camping options as well (I'll make a shout out to both Golden Tree Hostel on Orcas Island and Lakedale Resort on San Juan Island as great places to stay when visiting and/or exploring Orcas and San Juan Islands -- at both places you can either camp or get a room or rent a tent on-site. You could easily kill three or four days on each of those islands exploring them and riding. While the roads are often shoulderless and sometimes quite steep, there isn't very much traffic and what traffic there is is rarely going very fast.

 

[john peck]

Yep, I'm painfully familiar with that hill. Back in the day there was a restaurant in Quilcene that would give you a free meal if you ate a raw oyster.

One of the things I'd mention is that the San Juans and Gulf Islands are really, really nicely set up for e-bike touring.

That sounds like a great idea. I haven't been in the San Juans in 25 years. Do people actually cook oysters?
I can use the Keystone ferry & the bus to get to Anacortes. If the weather ever gets above 60 here, I'll put on a speedo & get a tan.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

That sounds like a great idea. I haven't been in the San Juans in 25 years. Do people actually cook oysters?
I can use the Keystone ferry & the bus to get to Anacortes. If the weather ever gets above 60 here, I'll put on a speedo & get a tan.

Probably the big challenge you'd have with taking the bus is making the ferry schedules and bus schedules sync up reasonably. You could camp at Bowman Bay Campground just north of Deception Pass (part of Deception Pass State Park) and ride the easy ten miles on Fidalgo Island to the ferry terminal in the morning.

Lopez and Pender Islands also look like good choices for e-bike touring. Shaw Island has very limited facilities and I'm not sure you'd find a decent place to charge your bike there.

To get to the Canadian Gulf Islands you need to take the ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, BC. Then it is a very easy four miles, nearly all the way on bike paths, to the big BC Ferry Terminal at Schwartz Bay which will get you to the Gulf Islands. One catch is there is exactly one Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney each day (which also stops at Friday Harbor, and if you are doing a multi-day island tour catching the Sidney Ferry from Friday Harbor is a good bet).

When you get on Salt Spring Island from Schwartz Bay at Fulford Harbor, there is a small but well-stocked store. That's a good place to load up on grub if you are heading to Ruckle Provincial Park (highly recommended). In general I like to take a small amount of "emergency" food (usually some Clif Bars and an instant dinner) but prefer to stock up for dinner and breakfast at a store close to where I'll be staying.

And yes, my family cooked oysters for years before any of us figured out you could eat them raw.

 

[john peck]

Probably the big challenge you'd have with taking the bus is making the ferry schedules and bus schedules sync up reasonably. You could camp at Bowman Bay Campground just north of Deception Pass (part of Deception Pass State Park) and ride the easy ten miles on Fidalgo Island to the ferry terminal in the morning.

Lopez and Pender Islands also look like good choices for e-bike touring. Shaw Island has very limited facilities and I'm not sure you'd find a decent place to charge your bike there.

To get to the Canadian Gulf Islands you need to take the ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, BC. Then it is a very easy four miles, nearly all the way on bike paths, to the big BC Ferry Terminal at Schwartz Bay which will get you to the Gulf Islands. One catch is there is exactly one Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney each day (which also stops at Friday Harbor, and if you are doing a multi-day island tour catching the Sidney Ferry from Friday Harbor is a good bet).

When you get on Salt Spring Island from Schwartz Bay at Fulford Harbor, there is a small but well-stocked store. That's a good place to load up on grub if you are heading to Ruckle Provincial Park (highly recommended). In general I like to take a small amount of "emergency" food (usually some Clif Bars and an instant dinner) but prefer to stock up for dinner and breakfast at a store close to where I'll be staying.

And yes, my family cooked oysters for years before any of us figured out you could eat them raw.

I've camped both sides of Deception Pass; I'll pass. I mean they're nice campgrounds & all that, but I just don't want to deal with it.
I'll find a culvert 'n' hope it don't rain. Might go bare bones & just take my bivvy*. Much simpler: I've got all kinds of nice gear, but
it's just a hassle makin' 'n' breakin' camp. I almost never have fire unless I've killed sumpin' needs cookin'....which is seldom.

 

[john peck]

This is alternate #2: The bus bike: '83 race-bilt 'Vega mixte, Tange pro tubes, frameset wt. 3.5 pds. Bin modified from 27" to
700/38 light tour bike. The aluminum top tube has been added to facilitate the in-frame, but also lends strength to the
slightly flexible frame. When loaded on a bus, the inframe remains while the bivvy & bar bag clip together for carry on.
The bivvy is U.S. marine along with a 6 x 8 poly-tarp & a fleece-lined inner bag. 21spd., 32/12, 42/34/24.
By ferry & bus it costs $4.60 to go from Port Townsend to Anacortes,(or the Swinomish Casino) This allows me to bypass
miles of heavily traveled road with narrow shoulders & the seasonal chaos at the Deception Pass bridge.. Departs at a civilized
11am, arrives 2:40 pm. Having napped & enjoyed the scenery, I arrive well rested to play a few hours poker , and, if I don't hookup,
I can make my bed in soft sand on the beach behind the casino. I think I'll skip the San Juans & either explore the back roads of
the Swinomish Rez to La Conner,or maybe visit flat 'Little Holland' north of Hwy 20 again. Should make for a fun 3 to 5 day tour.