What do you guys think of this bike?

[Over50]

... So a dual-battery Bosch bike with an IGH would be awesome for taco runs...

Nice. I fully support transport to or transport of tacos as a splendid use for an e-bike. And just goes to show the lengths a man will go to for a good burrito or taco (count me in that camp).

 

[JoePah]

It is a bit of an oxymoron to have an electric touring bike... If you tour the last thing you want to worry about is battery charge.. Just pedal and take your time!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

It is a bit of an oxymoron to have an electric touring bike... If you tour the last thing you want to worry about is battery charge.. Just pedal and take your time!

Then again...

Most bikepacking trips are simple overnights with a round-trip distance of less than 40 miles (sometimes MUCH less), easily within range for many e-bikes on reasonable levels of pedal assist.

For a lot of popular places to bike tour you are in close range of outlets often enough to make the tour work. Most bike tourists average 40-50 miles per day, again easily within range for many e-bikes on lower levels of pedal assist.

Many Oregon State Parks have "hiker-biker" campsites. Many of those campsites are adding "hiker boxes" which are a lockable box with an outlet inside that you can use to charge electronics or e-bike batteries. Unfortunately, at this point I haven't found any reliable information on which state parks have these "hiker boxes". If enough of them have them you could easily complete the Oregon Coast Bike Route with an e-bike and sleep in a tent every night.

My own experience bike touring is that except for the hard core most bike tourists probably spend one out of every four or five nights in a hotel or hostel anyway. Depending on the tour and the weather that fraction can be much higher.

 

[JoePah]

Then again...

Most bikepacking trips are simple overnights with a round-trip distance of less than 40 miles (sometimes MUCH less), easily within range for many e-bikes on reasonable levels of pedal assist.

For a lot of popular places to bike tour you are in close range of outlets often enough to make the tour work. Most bike tourists average 40-50 miles per day, again easily within range for many e-bikes on lower levels of pedal assist.

Many Oregon State Parks have "hiker-biker" campsites. Many of those campsites are adding "hiker boxes" which are a lockable box with an outlet inside that you can use to charge electronics or e-bike batteries. Unfortunately, at this point I haven't found any reliable information on which state parks have these "hiker boxes". If enough of them have them you could easily complete the Oregon Coast Bike Route with an e-bike and sleep in a tent every night.

My own experience bike touring is that except for the hard core most bike tourists probably spend one out of every four or five nights in a hotel or hostel anyway. Depending on the tour and the weather that fraction can be much higher.

I agree with everything you wrote.. The problem is this $8000 eBike isn't necessary to accomplish any of those trips. A $1500 ebike from many sources would be more than adequate for light touring. And the reliability is just fine these days even on less expensive bikes.

This bike is intended for extended touring between power sources, which makes no sense.. Anyone who is going to tour extensively will ride themselves into shape.. !

 

[Alaskan]

I have been a pipe smoker most of my life. I quit this past year but that is not my point. In the pipe world, there are pipe smokers and pipe collectors. Some people are both. Probably the most common squabble on the pipe forums is between people who are one or the other.

One can smoke a $5 corn cob pipe and get a pretty decent smoke out of it. One can also smoke an artisan/hand made pipe, meticulously selected wood, organically shaped, with a thin, hand-cut stem and a glowing, scratch free finish, revealing wood with grain beautifully flowing with the shape of the pipe. A pipe like this costs hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

The corn cob guys are always trash talking the better heeled artisan pipe guys, regarding them as wasteful fools for spending so much on a quality hand made pipe when a simple corn cob will do. Frequently one can detect more than a little bit of envy in their disparaging remarks. It is almost a form of reverse snobbery.

Clearly there are those who fail to appreciate the value in a bike like this, or the added enjoyment owning one will give to other riders who have different values and/or different means. On can find curmudgeons everywhere.

 

[JoePah]

Form Follows Function..

Foolish purchases lead to disappointment.

 

[Alaskan]

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do...If you
deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk
you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

― John Ruskin

 

[Bruce Arnold]

There's a solar powered ebike tour from France to China this summer. SunTour 2018. Not the first ever, just the most recent.

I'm not saying I'd want this bike for the SunTour, and I'm not saying I wouldn't. I'm saying that anyone willing to take on a venture like that can ride whatever they think best without any quibbles from this boy.

"It doesn't fit the riding I do, which is...." is an interesting comment. "It's no good because I wouldn't use it for the riding I do" is as useless as ... well, I shouldn't use the hog-related countrified comparison common here in corn-and-pigs-land ... oh yeah, as useless as a bicycle for a fish.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

You could do this ride on a suitable dual-battery e-bike if you chose your starting location carefully. It looks like a lot of fun:

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Oh, when you guys talk about minimalism I think you need to check this guy out. If only because he uses the word 'larpourlartistic' in an actual sentence.