Longest Distance You Had to Walk Your Ebike to Civilization?

[TOOSLOW]

Well that was about as much fun as going to the dentist! Had to push my ebike back roughly 8 miles after I blew up the XT derailleur. Like pushing a brick without the power, and here I thought peddling back without juice was tough.
What's the longest you been stranded and had to push your steed back?

 

[harryS]

Four miles, but after two miles of walking, I jumped on and rode it home with the rear tire flat. It was pretty bumpy.

 

[fooferdoggie]

1.5 miles as silly me had a pump that could not handle shredder valves. we have roadside service if we get desperate.

 

[indianajo]

Seven miles after a tire blew out the sidewall. Had 50 lb groceries loaded on the flat end. Was July. Was out beyond tracphone cell phone coverage. I pay Verizon's price now; nothing else works out there.
Just destroyed my SRAM derailleur Wednesday by running into a half inch branch. Fortunately was only 2 miles out. **** those things are fragile. Broke the hanger casting & bent both side rails.

 

[john peck]

How many miles? On one occasion or cumulative?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Fortunately, I have never needed to push any of my e-bikes. The closest to a "walk of shame" was a tyre puncture in a wild forest, some 8 km/5 mi from the civilization. Luckily, I rode tubeless on that e-bike and the puncture sealed itself...

 

[Haystacks]

Well that was about as much fun as going to the dentist! Had to push my ebike back roughly 8 miles after I blew up the XT derailleur. Like pushing a brick without the power, and here I thought peddling back without juice was tough.
What's the longest you been stranded and had to push your steed back?

This is a bit late but it might save someone a long walk in the future. If you bust your derailleur, break the chain, remove it from around the derailleur, feed it over a middle cog, remove excess chain, reconnect and ride it like a fixie. You only have that single gear but it would at least allow you to ride home. You live and learn, i suppose.

Walk of shame? 3 miles, after going on an unintended ride without any equipment, i got a flat, stuffed the rim with grass and plodded back.

 

[Dallant]

So far only a few hundred feet as I called the wife to come pick me up!
Now I have my tire repair kit that I have used a few times…and Tannus Armor!

 

[Gionnirocket]

Four miles, but after two miles of walking, I jumped on and rode it home with the rear tire flat. It was pretty bumpy.

I did about 12 on a flat.. Amazingly no rim or tire damage... but that was pre_ebike.

 

[antboy]

This is a bit late but it might save someone a long walk in the future. If you bust your derailleur, break the chain, remove it from around the derailleur, feed it over a middle cog, remove excess chain, reconnect and ride it like a fixie. You only have that single gear but it would at least allow you to ride home. You live and learn, i suppose.

I did that once back in the early 1990s, in my MTB days.

We were out in the boonies, about 15km from the nearest town, and I clipped a fallen log, snapping the derailleur.

No long walks in the e-bike era, luckily. The furthest was when my SO ran out of battery after a 63km ride, about a block away from home.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

A guy whose handle is Haystacks thinks to stuff the wheel with grass to get back… I love that, never would have thought of it.

Mine was about a mile maybe, after a mechanic reinstalled the pedals on the wrong side during a maintenance check. One side pedal stripped out and fell off and the other one started wobbling. I tried to shove a piece of tree limb in the crank arm as a pedal and that didn’t do a hell of a lot of good, so it was a nice walk through the woods for a bit. The mechanic was sick at the time and not on his game, and I think I felt as bad for him as he did for the mistake.

 

[christob]

I live and bike in a densely populated area (Northern Virginia). So I'm never out of civilization on my rides. (I have yet to haul the bike anywhere distant, to start an "isolated" ride...) That said, in the very first week of ebiking 3 years ago, when I was woefully out of shape, quite overweight, and still nearly fully dependent on the motor just to get through a ride -- I ran the battery dead about 3/4 mile from home. Two mild hills were beyond my pedaling strength at that time, so I had to walk them. The rest was largely flats, and was ok to pedal unassisted (in the granny gear!) So I reckon that counts as my longest "stranded-walk-home"; if I ever do get out in the boondocks somewhere to ride, I sure hope to never encounter the several-miles scenarios shared here!

 

[RabH]

Touch wood it has only happened once with my e bike, around 2 miles from home! I hit a big metal staple at the side of the road avoiding a truck that was taking up the whole road! Then I managed to break both of my tyre levers, since replaced them with Schwalbe Marathon capable levers! Many years ago I took my road bike in the car to ride over a Scottish mountain called Ben Lawers, I got to the top of the climb and there were workers repairing the road and their machine was totally blocking the road! I got off the bike and pushed it round the machine which meant going off road on a very rough part!

I got back on the road looking forward to the big descent only to discover my rear tyre was totally flat! I thought no problem I will just stick one of my spare tubes in and be on my way, the only problem was I had left them at home!!! Ok at least I have my puncture repair outfit so all will be good, for the first time ever I could not get the patches to seal no matter how I tried....frustrated and downhearted I started the walk of shame but I was 30 miles away from my car! Now I'm hoping another cyclist might appear or even a car that might be able to help! I couldn't get a mobile signal either so I was really in trouble!

All of a sudden I came across a telephone engineer who was repairing a line at the side of the road, I asked him if he knew where the closest cycle shop was and he said it was 30 miles away!!! I told him where my car was parked and he said it was my lucky day as he would be passing it on his way back, but he had another hour or so of work to do! The next problem was his van was tiny and was stuffed with all sorts of things, he said it might be a struggle to fit the bike in! Within a minute I removed my 2 wheels and he said "thats more like it, it will fit no problem"

What a relief that was phew, the next scary part was his driving though! He was flying round blind corners without a care in the world, I have never been so glad to see my car in my life! Big lesson learned that day, never to be repeated!

 

[6zfshdb]

It's interesting to note that a few of these incidents wouldn't have happened if it had been a rear hub drive bike.

 

[indianajo]

I had a flat then the spare tube blew as soon as I inflated it out a mile from my summer camp. I left the bike out there in the shed and walked 15 miles without it to the bus stop at Amazon in the industrial park. It only runs at 7 AM & 3 PM, so I started at 3 AM since I'm not capable of 6 mph anymore. I had the wife haul me back out the next weekend.

 

[Haystacks]

It's interesting to note that a few of these incidents wouldn't have happened if it had been a rear hub drive bike.

No, it would've been dumped in a ditch and retrieved later.

What it is testament to is 'expect the unexpected' and preparedness.

 

[AHicks]

I blew out a rear tire somehow. Still a mystery how that happened. Unridable without cutting the tire off. I had to walk it about a mile. The walk of shame....

 

[Taylor57]

Just re-slimed my tires yesterday and the answer is zero feet, but I have probably ridden only a total of 1500 miles in a year of ownership. If I have to push on my upcoming vacation I am going to hunt you down and smash a water baloon on your head TOOSLOW

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You may ride out as much prepared as you like and still there is a chance for the walk of shame...

I was lucky as the Vado rear wheel held till the end of the ride. It is at LBS now awaiting spoke replacement and truing.

 

[RickyBikes]

Well that was about as much fun as going to the dentist! Had to push my ebike back roughly 8 miles after I blew up the XT derailleur. Like pushing a brick without the power, and here I thought peddling back without juice was tough.
What's the longest you been stranded and had to push your steed back?

What kind of eBike did you blow up the XT derailleur on and how did you do it??