What a Difference Four Years Make

[McApple]

A small town nearby hosts a bicycle-tour-day every summer; the tours range from a 100k Mountain Madness, to a 20k easy-rider. The event attracts 150+ participants and all proceeds from entrance fees goes to the local mental health clinic and food bank. I usually alternate between the 65k road tour and the 50k gravel ride.

I did my first ride four years ago, and won a prize for being the oldest participant @ 72. That year, 2021, I was also the only ebike rider. Fast forward to this year's tour, which was held yesterday, August 24: the oldest participant was over 80, and the number of ebikes, while in the minority, was probably close to 25% of the field. How times change.

 

[DDBB]

It's great seeing a wider acceptance of ebikes anywhere.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been ebiking for 8 years now and tend to ride the same trails multiple times each season. During year one, it was rare to see another e-bike. Today, on these same trails, every other bike I pass is an e-bike. Most are seniors like myself, with some teenagers in the mix tearing up the trails. For the most part, the 20 to 50 year-olds still ride conventional bikes and many don't seem to care for the e-bike explosion.

I ride mostly in the northeastern united states though, and these observations will likely vary in other parts of the world.

 

[JimFMB]

I’m also on year eight of riding an e-bike. During my first year I would get many questions from cyclists and walkers about the bike. Times have really changed. The most frequent comment I get now is “nice bike”
Where I’m located in Florida it’s seems that the e-bikes outnumber the traditional bikes.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Chiming in on my 7th year on an ebike. Like others I seemed alone here in my area. Now ebikes are ubiquitous.
Massive acceptance.

 

[McApple]

I bought my first ebike in 2016, we had purchased a cheap ebike for my DW earlier in the year, it was a cadence sensor, and pretty much took off to 20kph with the first crank. I could barely keep up on the flats, and she would lose me in the hills, and we have a lot of hills in our area.

I purchased a 2015 Haibike X-Duro, and had to drive down to New Hampshire to pick it up; quality ebike just weren't readily available in Canada back then. I had to part with my Haibike when getting my leg over the crossbar became too much of a chore; that was a year ago, I still miss it.

 

[DDBB]

My 1st ebike was a Haibike trekking 6.0 I believe. It's a very high quality bike but suffers from the meager 250 watt Yamaha motor. I then bought a Rize bikes RX with the bafang ultra motor and finally I have the power needed to effortlessly tackle hills. That said, the quality doesn't match the Haibke. If I could morph the ultra motor onto the Haibke frame, I would

 

[McApple]

My X-Duro Trekking had a Bosch mid-drive; I think it was their Gen-1 model.

 

[DDBB]

I'll just keep the Haibike. I don't think I could sell it for much and if the Rize is broken for whatever reason, I still have a bike to ride