When do you use your Electric Bike?

[tinynja98]

Hello,

I'm thinking about making my own electric bicycle, which would be able to go around 50+ kph. I have it almost all planned out, I want to make a homemade electric bike, not just buy a ready to install kit. Looking at the cost of such a project, its right around 1000+$...

I was wondering what you guys use your electric bikes for? Do you only go out with an electric bike to have fun or do you actually use it as a mean of transportation replacing, for example, a car? More specifically, it's all great when you're on the road with an electric bike, but what do you actually do with your electric bicycle once you arrive at your destination? Do you simply leave it there, attached to a pole, knowing that you could lose (get stolen) 1000$ of equipment in a single day? This got me questionning my decision of building an expensive electric bicycle.

EDIT: I think it should be taken in consideration that I will probably not be able to secure the electric components to the bicycle as good as a company would do it to prevent theft...

My idea was to build an electric bicycle instead of buying a car, because it would cost way too much for me, knowing that I don't actually NEED a car, since I'm currently using public transport (Bus, Subway) and it's going somewhat great. So, of course this would make a very fun toy to play with, but would you use it often as a mean of transportation?

For what it's worth, I live close to Montreal, if anyone has experience with biking in this city?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

 

[mrgold35]

I've had my Radrover ebike since Sept/2016. I have a 700X40c pedal bike (Transeo GT) I've had for almost 4 years. I'm at 5000-5400ft, +95 degree summer heat, a lot of inclines, and usually 10-15 mph winds with gust +25 mph in the springtime. It was getting too hard to enjoy exercising when it is faster to walk compared to riding in a +20 mph headwind and the hills were getting to me at 51 yrs old.

I enjoyed riding the Radrover so much, I started riding the 6.5 miles to work. My server room is next to my office on the 2nd floor and I park my ebike there to recharge the battery. The bike rack in front of the security guard station is exposed to the elements in the front of the building. I started out with fun and now use my ebike to replace my vehicle to commute to work. I don't like to ride if it is extremely windy, snowy, or raining. I would gas my car up every week when I drove to work. I now gas up about 1-2 times a month (mostly use car on weekends) and have over 2000 miles on the bike.

I couldn't go 100% ebike. It nice to have the option for using an ebike or driving depending on what I need to do that day.

 

[tinynja98]

I've had my Radrover ebike since Sept/2016. I have a 700X40c pedal bike (Transeo GT) I've had for almost 4 years. I'm at 5000-5400ft, +95 degree summer heat, a lot of inclines, and usually 10-15 mph winds with gust +25 mph in the springtime. It was getting too hard to enjoy exercising when it is faster to walk compared to riding in a +20 mph headwind and the hills were getting to me at 51 yrs old.

I enjoyed riding the Radrover so much, I started riding the 6.5 miles to work. My server room is next to my office on the 2nd floor and I park my ebike there to recharge the battery. The bike rack in front of the security guard station is exposed to the elements in the front of the building. I started out with fun and now use my ebike to replace my vehicle to commute to work. I don't like to ride if it is extremely windy, snowy, or raining. I would gas my car up every week when I drove to work. I now gas up about 1-2 times a month (mostly use car on weekends) and have over 2000 miles on the bike.

I couldn't go 100% ebike. It nice to have the option for using an ebike or driving depending on what I need to do that day.

So what I understand from your reply is that an e-bike is a very fun device to use, but you would only use it as a mean of transportation if you know you have a safe place inside to store it (and possibly charge it) at your destination. With this said, you would still count on a car in a few occasions. Does that sum it up?

 

[mrgold35]

So what I understand from your reply is that an e-bike is a very fun device to use, but you would only use it as a mean of transportation if you know you have a safe place inside to store it (and possibly charge it) at your destination. With this said, you would still count on a car in a few occasions. Does that sum it up?

Pretty much sums it up.

I still like to have a car for after-work errands once I get home, doctor's appt during the day, just feeling too tired to ride that day, or bad weather (extreme wind or rain/snow). I would still ride my bike to work if I couldn't store indoors because I can remove the battery to re-charge in my office (probably keep a water proof bike cover in my office to use when needed). I just moved my errands to the weekends mostly (or one day during the week) to combine my car trips to 1-2 outings. I think I would still ride my Radrover to/from work if my mileage was up to 15-20 miles one-way. E-biking +20 miles one-way would be harder because of the inclines and windy afternoons impacting my range sometimes. Ran out of juice once about a mile from home after taking a +20 mile single track trail ride detour near the Rio Grande River on a windy day. Didn't enjoy pedaling a +70lbs fat tire ebike with zero power in a +15 mph headwind.