Thoughts Of An Experienced E-Biker

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Ebike mania is beginning to come to the attention of my friends. Part 1… One last week sent me a link to a Chris Hayes (TV commentator) podcast with Rad Bike President. Much was about future infrastructure and the Rad guys intro to ebikes. So my friend asks what about Rad as a bike? I wrinkled my nose and he, knowing about my Trek high end, wondered if I was being elitist. I guess I was to some extent but later sent him a few pages of a thread about Rad design, or lack thereof.
Part 2…I keep a lower level Trek, Allant 7s for visitors. One friend rides it regularly here in the country. He’s done maybe 400 miles on it and loves it. Recently he and his wife visited SF and while there they rented ebikes. He told me his wife loved the it…his own experience was more muted, he felt like he was on a heavy bike being pushed…but being a bright husband he kept his opinion to himself...which I decidedly haven‘t…the moral I guess is like what you get...products and circumstances change
 
ChezCheese:) said:
On what do you base this declaration that most ebikes are bought by men? It may be true, but do you have any actual proof/data? And how is it relevant, the gender of the rider/purchaser, to this discussion?
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Simple. Google the adverage age of ebike owners. It's 40-70 with men in majority. The human body breaks down with age. Riding is much easier as a younger man or woman. More comfortable ride becomes more attractive as we age.
 
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ChezCheese:) said:
On what do you base this declaration that most ebikes are bought by men? It may be true, but do you have any actual proof/data? And how is it relevant, the gender of the rider/purchaser, to this discussion?
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I've been following this thread for two or three days. Like how everyone slows down and crane their necks to see the accident on the other side of the highway. I wasn't going to post, but it just struck me as funny that anyone would question how anything is relevant to this thread. Basically, nothing worth anything seems to be relevant here.

On the new topic, just by my casual, non-scientific observation, I'd say it probably is mostly men over 40 who buy ebikes. Mostly. I don't have any idea what the percentages are, and I'm not sure why it matters. Now that what used to be called "girls' bikes" are called "step-thrus" bikes are pretty much gender neutral.

TT
 
Tars Tarkas said:
I've been following this thread for two or three days. Like how everyone slows down and crane their necks to see the accident on the other side of the highway. I wasn't going to post, but it just struck me as funny that anyone would question how anything is relevant to this thread. Basically, nothing worth anything seems to be relevant here.

On the new topic, just by my casual, non-scientific observation, I'd say it probably is mostly men over 40 who buy ebikes. Mostly. I don't have any idea what the percentages are, and I'm not sure why it matters. Now that what used to be called "girls' bikes" are called "step-thrus" bikes are pretty much gender neutral.

TT
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It is mostly 40+ buying these but it's changing with more families buying them. Now it's time to make bike lanes mandatory in every city in America. No reason we should be forced to share a car lane and turn a simple bike ride into a death defying experience.
 
@DaveMatthews & @Saratoga Dave: you talked about guitar forums. At least the talk is about premium guitars there. I was active on the TalkBass forum for some time in 2008-2009. There, it was not the competition between the premium electric bass models but...

'My Essex SX bass is far better than the Fender Precision Bass!' (The Essex SX bass was a Chinese made bass guitar available for $350 at that time)
'See my ten Essex SX basses on my couch!' (the cost of 10 Chinese basses was the same as for a single premium instrument. What would the owner do with his 10 cheap basses?)
'Players of an Alembic are elitists! Rich guys who play in churches on Sunday!' (Alembic was a high-end electric bass at that time).

Isn't it similar to EBR Forums? :)

@ChezCheese:): My observation from my part of Europe is it is the husband buying an e-bike for wife so she can catch up with him on their rides. It must be similar for North America; however the American style is buying two e-bikes (each for the man and woman). If that's a man buying an e-bike for a woman then of course "most of e-bikes are bought by men" :) "40+"? Younger people are proud of riding traditional bikes! Let them ride them as long as they can! (At the same time young people think it is rad to ride an upright electric scooter where they put no effort at all).
 
Stefan Mikes said:
@DaveMatthews & @Saratoga Dave: you talked about guitar forums. At least the talk is about premium guitars there. I was active on the TalkBass forum for some time in 2008-2009. There, it was not the competition between the premium electric bass models but...

'My Essex SX bass is far better than the Fender Precision Bass!' (The Essex SX bass was a Chinese made bass guitar available for $350 at that time)
'See my ten Essex SX basses on my couch!' (the cost of 10 Chinese basses was the same as for a single premium instrument. What would the owner do with his 10 cheap basses?)
'Players of an Alembic are elitists! Rich guys who play in churches on Sunday!' (Alembic was a high-end electric bass at that time).

Isn't it similar to EBR Forums? :)

@ChezCheese:): My observation from my part of Europe is it is the husband buying an e-bike for wife so she can catch up with him on their rides. It must be similar for North America; however the American style is buying two e-bikes (each for the man and woman). If that's a man buying an e-bike for a woman then of course "most of e-bikes are bought by men" :) "40+"? Younger people are proud of riding traditional bikes! Let them ride them as long as they can! (At the same time young people think it is rad to ride an upright electric scooter where they put no effort at all).
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Lots of talk about entry level guitars as well. At the PRS forum, all are welcome.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
@DaveMatthews & @Saratoga Dave: you talked about guitar forums. At least the talk is about premium guitars there. I was active on the TalkBass forum for some time in 2008-2009. There, it was not the competition between the premium electric bass models but...

'My Essex SX bass is far better than the Fender Precision Bass!' (The Essex SX bass was a Chinese made bass guitar available for $350 at that time)
'See my ten Essex SX basses on my couch!' (the cost of 10 Chinese basses was the same as for a single premium instrument. What would the owner do with his 10 cheap basses?)
'Players of an Alembic are elitists! Rich guys who play in churches on Sunday!' (Alembic was a high-end electric bass at that time).

Isn't it similar to EBR Forums? :)

@ChezCheese:): My observation from my part of Europe is it is the husband buying an e-bike for wife so she can catch up with him on their rides. It must be similar for North America; however the American style is buying two e-bikes (each for the man and woman). If that's a man buying an e-bike for a woman then of course "most of e-bikes are bought by men" :) "40+"? Younger people are proud of riding traditional bikes! Let them ride them as long as they can! (At the same time young people think it is rad to ride an upright electric scooter where they put no effort at all).
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Europe has always been real big on bike riding. I loved the free bikes program in Amsterdam. We need that in every city in America. No reason to be in a car burning fuel in a city when a bike or ebike can get you there just as fast if not faster, weather permitting.
 
DaveMatthews said:
At the PRS forum, all are welcome.
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When they say your PRS is a rubbish compared to his entry level guitar? :) Or call you an elitist?
If that were the EBR Forum, a thread like "Is smoking prses addictive?" would appear sooner or later!

Oh, good old days of 1965 when one Bob Dylan appeared with a Telecaster and was called "a cheater" by the acoustic crowd! :D

Or, take a guy who collects cheap acoustic guitars, fits the pickups and pots on them and calls his contraptions "electric guitars"! :D

1677038873727.png

Me teaching my brother play an "electric guitar", an e-bike conversion in modern terms :D 1980.
 
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Perhaps it is all eye of the beholder, because I'm a woman and I see lots of women riding ebikes. Perhaps it is in the nature of males to be hyper aware of other males out there, because they are competitors/threats, whereas women are aware of women out there as sisters in endeavoring to do anything in the world, which men feel is "theirs", presumably because they pee standing up and therefore the universe is their territory. 🐕🐾😄

Ebikes do indeed "level the road" between the genders. I couldn't keep up with my husband on acoustics, and he couldn't keep up with me when I was on my ebike and he was riding acoustic. When we are both on electric, we keep up with each other, and going on a bike ride becomes something we actually do together.

I still don't see any actual data to back up the claim that more men buy ebikes. I'm not saying it may not be true, just nobody is showing any statistics to support this claim. And, frankly, anyone who is married and does not think of themselves as being a single economic unit with their spouse is deluded or doomed to divorce eventually.

Moreover, for decades it was assumed that it was the husband who bought the car, therefore it was the man who made the buying decision, but studies found that in fact, it was the woman in the households who made the decisions on which car to buy. Therefore, carmakers realized they needed to aim their manufacturing and marketing decisions with women in mind.
 
ChezCheese:) said:
I still don't see any actual data to back up the claim that more men buy ebikes.
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In 7 years of daily phone calls and scores of daily emails, I can only remember a handful of women calling for information.

And the bigger question is, why does it matter?
 
ChezCheese:) said:
Oh -- and since there are more women in the world, and they live longer, and the ebike market skews older, it would seem to me that neglecting to market to the more numerous and longer lived consumer is foolish business policy.
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So true. My older sister (far left) purchased a Liv Rove on her own then rode it on the RVR Naramata trail with a group of her own sisters. I admire her fierce independence and ability to make her own decisions. She also recently took up playing the cello and is a phenom at pickle ball.

20221002_122440.jpg
 
tomjasz said:
In 7 years of daily phone calls and scores of daily emails, I can only remember a handful of women calling for information.
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Women buy manufactured e-bikes, that is, ones that work and do not require placing phone calls to a DIYer :D Actually proving how smart and practical women are!
1677092157846.png

4 e-bikes, two females and three males. The girl rode an acoustic bike and hit the wall, making a lot of trouble to the group (eventually, she rode an e-bike while one of the men rode her traditional bike).
 
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at least thats normal. I was crossing a bridge in the middle of the week and what I thought was a guy with a military haircut and no shirt till I looked down and saw no pants and no twig and berries so flat chested she looked like a guy. way to many naked homeless people. three or more movie shoots. we get a lot of fashion clothing shooting around here so thats always a bit weird. but agaisnty my shop a woman was squatting down legs spread wide with a dress on and a guy down on his knees taping pics of her crotch. several others standing around watching. its to bad I was turning when I saw it or I could have rode by and seen what was so interesting :D
 
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