Once you go eBike, you never back (at least I won't ).

[Coolbob]

Aired up the tires on my 20-year-old mountain bike a couple of days ago to run an errand in town. I'm glad I did and I learned a few things from the ride.

1-The old bike is in really great shape, but the rider not so much. My knees really appreciate the assistance my eBike provides on hills and riding in the loose, deep gravel along the side of the two land highway I have to traverse to get to town.
2-My eBike's larger tires (27.5x2.35 vs 26x1.9) and longer wheelbase make for a smoother ride, though the Cannondale is much more agile. The eBike feels very stable running downhill at over 30 mph and around corners, the mountain bike is fine up to about 20, but doesn't inspire as much confidence going fast or cornering on pavement (to be fair, that's not what it was designed for). The cantilever brakes were state of the art in 1999, but the hydraulic disk brakes on the eBike are SO much better.
3-I was surprised at how similar my Apple Watch stats were between my last ride on each bike: average heart rate 135 vs 124 eBike and the calories per mile and per minute were also very similar. I attribute the similar exercise benefits to the 3-mph faster average pace of my eBike ride.

 

[Art Deco]

Aired up the tires on my 20-year-old mountain bike a couple of days ago to run an errand in town. I'm glad I did and I learned a few things from the ride.

1-The old bike is in really great shape, but the rider not so much. My knees really appreciate the assistance my eBike provides on hills and riding in the loose, deep gravel along the side of the two land highway I have to traverse to get to town.
2-My eBike's larger tires (27.5x2.35 vs 26x1.9) and longer wheelbase make for a smoother ride, though the Cannondale is much more agile. The eBike feels very stable running downhill at over 30 mph and around corners, the mountain bike is fine up to about 20, but doesn't inspire as much confidence going fast or cornering on pavement (to be fair, that's not what it was designed for). The cantilever brakes were state of the art in 1999, but the hydraulic disk brakes on the eBike are SO much better.
3-I was surprised at how similar my Apple Watch stats were between my last ride on each bike: average heart rate 135 vs 124 eBike and the calories per mile and per minute were also very similar.

Not only would I never go back to a manual ten speed, I wouldn't have even started biking again without electricity.

I don't do any kind of stats checking but folks who do agree with you about heart rate, calories, and such. Same effort but you go faster and further. Sounds right to me.

And today's bikes actually work without having to fix something on every d@#m trip.I am still amazed when I do my ABC ride check (air, brakes,chain) and everything is fine. Again.

 

[AHicks]

Yup, with our new place located smack dab in the middle of an area with lots of rolling hills, my biking career had come to an end pretty much. I ride because I enjoy riding, love the breeze in my face, but am now at the age where riding through hills like these is too much work. E-bikes were a game changer here. A very welcome game changer....

 

[phoenixtoohot]

My wife and I had a similar experience about 2 years ago, coming back from a fitness ride in Cortez, CO. Simultaneously we said "I hate hills". So we bought a couple of e-bikes, and the great thing for me is that at 76, I believe this will extend my biking for another 10 years, as my primary form of cardiovascular exercise But there is no way I would be riding the hills anymore on my conventional bikes. My sense is that my e-bike calorie burn is about half what it was (in hills) on my conventional bikes, but I now typically ride 20 miles vs 10 miles on each outing.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I don't do any kind of stats checking but folks who do agree with you about heart rate, calories, and such. Same effort but you go faster and further. Sounds right to me.

It started to be very clear to me since I could do the stats for my Vado using BLEvo app (it extracts and stores the rider's power data). My legs are very weak and can produce on average around 80 W of continuous power (far more in peaks). What happens with the power OFF? Same leg power but I crawl at 12-17 km/h (depending if upwind or downwind) if unpowered. Typical Eco level gets me to 24-25 km/h cruising speed, standard Sport means 30-32 km/h, and Turbo makes me ride about 37-39 km/h. Same input of mine, unpowered or assisted.

The only difference is riding faster over the same distance using assistance, meaning shorter workout. So I'm riding for the same amount of time and it just gets me farther with assistance.

P.S. As much as I respect people buying low power, super-lightweight SL e-bikes, as much I cannot agree with what they say "SL bike gives me more workout". No, they only don't need much assistance to ride faster than I do.

 

[jangles]

Okay what is an SL e-bike ?

 

[indianajo]

I store the battery indoors under a heat pad every winter. So I go back to pedal pusher for 10 weeks a year. Still no car. I do leave off the 27 mile rides to the summer camp, and limit my rides to 8 miles or less. No heat out at the summer camp; trailer is too drafty to afford heat on my income. That much heat would be bad for climate, too.
Going out to shop today, 8 miles if one stop and 10 miles if two. 32 degree F high today.
Losing heart/lung capacity is not part of my plan. My friend that swims laps at the Y every other day was age 97, last I heard. And having excess heart/lung capacity sure didn't hurt when I had the flu for 137 days this summer. Very new, especially annoying kind of flu. Kept riding right through it, as I continued to run when I had pneumonia during my Army training days. Had pneumonia the day of my pre-induction physical. 1A.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Ebikes are just plain FUN! At my age and with our hills, acoustic bikes are just plain WORK.

 

[Art Deco]

Okay what is an SL e-bike ?

Specialized calls their lightweight ebikes SL for super light.