Your Own History of E-Bike

[Stefan Mikes]

Here's mine:

In recent years, I had two angioplasty surgeries that effectively eliminated me from any serious walking or cycling. (Actually, my leg artery was first blocked while I was cycling).

I was thinking of a simple electric scooter but after having ridden a rented one in Warsaw I found it impractical. (Yes, it is good if you are in another big city and rent it by minute but not as something you'd like to use everyday).

In 2019, I was watching the YouTube channel of the individual known as SzajBajk or Supreme Biker (his English handle had been Sick Biker until someone told him that sounded bad...). The Supreme Biker had several videos related to e-bikes. It made me very interested. My first thought was to convert my existing traditional bike. Luckily enough, one of very few Warsaw shops doing conversions gave me a long waiting time. Researching the Internet I found Czech brand of Lovelec offering "Quality E-Bikes At Reasonable Price". And I bought my first e-bike in August 2019.

Lovelec Diadem with 576 Wh battery and rear-hub motor.

I could not be more happy! Suddenly I could ride for 20, 30, 40, 50 and over 60 km daily! (Actually, I made my first metric centuries on the Lovelec). I could have stayed with this only e-bike until today if not some unpleasant incident. A friend of mine rode the Diadem and he played with the gear shifters, not completely aware what he was doing. He destroyed not only the derailleur but -- what was worse -- the derailleur hanger. As a custom part, it had to be ordered from the Czech Republic. As it was the first case ever someone damaged the Lovelec derailleur hanger, I had to wait for a month to get a replacement. The time was running.

Bored, I was watching YouTube more. I found the EBR channel in which @Court was demonstrating Turbo Vado 5.0. A 28 mph (45 km/h) e-bike? Was it available in Poland? Oh yes it was. A bargain. An improbable bargain. The LBS had cheated me a little by selling a 2017 New Old Stock Vado 5.0, the Euro S-Pedelec as a 2019 one. Yet it was a true bargain. The bike is almost the equivalent of Euro Vado 6.0 of today and it was sold at 70% of the 2020 Vado 6.0 price!

At that time, I became an EBR member to learn about the issues and solutions related to the older BLOKS display and got the wealth of information. I took active part in the Forums. Yes, I had to wait for 7 months until Specialized could upgrade the display (and half of components -- because it was mandatory for the EU S-Pedelec) to the new TCD-W. I ride e-bike of my dreams now.

My Vado 5.0 in February 2020, long before the major electronics upgrade.

In May 2020, the Specialized LBS took my Vado for the electronics upgrade, and it took them as many as two weeks. At the same time, my Diadem was also serviced, same two weeks...Two weeks of lost rides in May?! You might guess the rest of the story: I bought Giant Trance E+ 2 Pro to be able to ride off-road...

On my Trance, May 17th, 2020.

As I don't predict as many as three e-bikes would be out of operation at the same time, there is no incentive to buy the fourth one

That was my own History of E-Bike, and yours?

 

[TMH]

My wife and I were living in the Silicon Valley in 2010. Working in high tech in such an area kind of sucks you into the "latest and greatest new technology, gotta have it" mindset. E-bikes at that time were pretty young, and rather unknown in the U.S. I don't even recall the reason but I went to check out a very lightly used Pedego Comfort Cruiser, and it was the upgraded model with the brown 'leather' touchpoints and the light brown balloon tires. Took it for a test ride and was hooked. Had no form of cadence or torque pedal assist (twist throttle only), but I rode motorcycles so pedaling while having to twist the throttle was no issue to me.

My wife is a long term cancer survivor, and she has gone through many up and down periods for both her physical and emotional health. Although she had ridden a lot as a kid and as a younger adult, her bicycling days seemed to be over, or at least very minimalized. We had a small RV and for sanity we would head out of the Silicon Valley, over the hill on Highway 17, and 'camp' on the beach at a State Park just south of Santa Cruz. My wife finds the beach to be very cathartic for her recovery. It was just a little too far to walk to get groceries or to the local restaurants, and I thought that e-bikes might be a great tool.

Well I bought that fancy Pedego, brought it home and asked my wife if she would like a test ride. She knew nothing about e-bikes, and I had gone and bought it after work, so we hadn't even discussed it beforehand. Well she jumped on, took a spin around our neighborhood, came back with a big grin on her face and stated 'Mine'. O.K., looks like I just lost my first e-bike after only a single test ride!

Found a less fancy (less expensive) Comfort Cruiser on line, so I actually made my first mail order e-bike purchase also in 2010. Those 2 Pedegos gave us everything we wanted at that time: Easy transportation from our camp site to places, joy riding around the extensive biking lanes and trails around home, and that 'wind in your face' feeling of freedom we first get as a kid when we rode our bicycles.

Friends and family all tried them and liked them, and always wanted to ride them when they visited us. But then they started to get used less when we moved out of the Valley after my retirement. Finally it was at the point where they needed new batteries, and were still sitting in the shed much more than they were ever used. So in Feb of this year (10 years old) I sold them.

My intent was to get back into e-bikes and start riding again (even though we still hadn't gone into official COVID lockdown at that time). Not having ridden the Pedegos much for a while, I was NOT intending on getting a bunch of new e-bikes with specialized purposes, but instead just a couple of 'all purpose', reasonably priced bikes to get us riding again.

Well, that didn't work out very well with me. I became very excited at the capabilities which the current e-bikes have as compared to our 2010 Pedegos. My investment guy calls me an 'accumulator', and he is quite correct in that assessment. My wife and I ride every day, and we have pairs of different styles of bikes for how we want to ride that day (clipped in and fast for conditioning, fat tires for relaxed riding or on ungroomed trails, bikes for easier long rides or to the market, bank, hardware store, etc.). There may be a total of less than 5 days where we haven't ridden since February. Here is a part of the 'fleet' which is currently in the daily riding rotation:

The Turbo Vado is currently wearing platform instead of clipless pedals, as my brother and his daughter are coming by today for an e-bike ride and he is not clipless pedal experienced.

E-bikes have become a significant feature in our daily lives, especially during this period of COVID. They have provided excellent physical fitness benefits, and just as important, sanity to our lives during lockdown. My wife is still dealing with cancer, but she can still ride daily and the e-bike means that we can ride comfortably together. I take for granted that she is an experienced and excellent rider, and that riding acoustic bikes together is something that we did when we first met and were going out about 38 years ago. Sometimes it only dawns on me how good a rider she is (and how fortunate I am) when we ride with other ladies (friends, family), who are not as capable as she is.

I believe that our e-bike stable is now complete and in the last couple of months I have not been tempted to purchase any additional units (a strange feeling for me ). We actually have 'more than enough'.

Oh, except that the Juiced HyperScorpion which I had ordered for my wife early last February is due to be delivered today!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Great story. @TMH! Do I notice some Haibikes in the photo?

 

[FlatSix911]

My wife and I were living in the Silicon Valley in 2010. Working in high tech in such an area kind of sucks you into the "latest and greatest new technology, gotta have it" mindset. E-bikes at that time were pretty young, and rather unknown in the U.S. I don't even recall the reason but I went to check out a very lightly used Pedego Comfort Cruiser, and it was the upgraded model with the brown 'leather' touchpoints and the light brown balloon tires. Took it for a test ride and was hooked. Had no form of cadence or torque pedal assist (twist throttle only), but I rode motorcycles so pedaling while having to twist the throttle was no issue to me.

My wife is a long term cancer survivor, and she has gone through many up and down periods for both her physical and emotional health. Although she had ridden a lot as a kid and as a younger adult, her bicycling days seemed to be over, or at least very minimalized. We had a small RV and for sanity we would head out of the Silicon Valley, over the hill on Highway 17, and 'camp' on the beach at a State Park just south of Santa Cruz. My wife finds the beach to be very cathartic for her recovery. It was just a little too far to walk to get groceries or to the local restaurants, and I thought that e-bikes might be a great tool.

Well I bought that fancy Pedego, brought it home and asked my wife if she would like a test ride. She knew nothing about e-bikes, and I had gone and bought it after work, so we hadn't even discussed it beforehand. Well she jumped on, took a spin around our neighborhood, came back with a big grin on her face and stated 'Mine'. O.K., looks like I just lost my first e-bike after only a single test ride!

Found a less fancy (less expensive) Comfort Cruiser on line, so I actually made my first mail order e-bike purchase also in 2010. Those 2 Pedegos gave us everything we wanted at that time: Easy transportation from our camp site to places, joy riding around the extensive biking lanes and trails around home, and that 'wind in your face' feeling of freedom we first get as a kid when we rode our bicycles.

Friends and family all tried them and liked them, and always wanted to ride them when they visited us. But then they started to get used less when we moved out of the Valley after my retirement. Finally it was at the point where they needed new batteries, and were still sitting in the shed much more than they were ever used. So in Feb of this year (10 years old) I sold them.View attachment 60885View attachment 60886

My intent was to get back into e-bikes and start riding again (even though we still hadn't gone into official COVID lockdown at that time). Not having ridden the Pedegos much for a while, I was NOT intending on getting a bunch of new e-bikes with specialized purposes, but instead just a couple of 'all purpose', reasonably priced bikes to get us riding again.

Well, that didn't work out very well with me. I became very excited at the capabilities which the current e-bikes have as compared to our 2010 Pedegos. My investment guy calls me an 'accumulator', and he is quite correct in that assessment. My wife and I ride every day, and we have pairs of different styles of bikes for how we want to ride that day (clipped in and fast for conditioning, fat tires for relaxed riding or on ungroomed trails, bikes for easier long rides or to the market, bank, hardware store, etc.). There may be a total of less than 5 days where we haven't ridden since February. Here is a part of the 'fleet' which is currently in the daily riding rotation:
View attachment 60888

The Turbo Vado is currently wearing platform instead of clipless pedals, as my brother and his daughter are coming by today for an e-bike ride and he is not clipless pedal experienced.

E-bikes have become a significant feature in our daily lives, especially during this period of COVID. They have provided excellent physical fitness benefits, and just as important, sanity to our lives during lockdown. My wife is still dealing with cancer, but she can still ride daily and the e-bike means that we can ride comfortably together. I take for granted that she is an experienced and excellent rider, and that riding acoustic bikes together is something that we did when we first met and were going out about 38 years ago. Sometimes it only dawns on me how good a rider she is (and how fortunate I am) when we ride with other ladies (friends, family), who are not as capable as she is.

I believe that our e-bike stable is now complete and in the last couple of months I have not been tempted to purchase any additional units (a strange feeling for me ). We actually have 'more than enough'.

Oh, except that the Juiced HyperScorpion which I had ordered for my wife early last February is due to be delivered today!

Great story and very typical of the Silicon Valley mindset of the latest and greatest.

I am a recovering accumulator and recently paired down my stable of regular bikes to add more EBikes!

 

[FlatSix911]

Here's mine:

In recent years, I had two angioplasty surgeries that effectively eliminated me from any serious walking or cycling. (Actually, my leg artery was first blocked while I was cycling).

View attachment 60867
I was thinking of a simple electric scooter but after having ridden a rented one in Warsaw I found it impractical. (Yes, it is good if you are in another big city and rent it by minute but not as something you'd like to use everyday).

In 2019, I was watching the YouTube channel of the individual known as SzajBajk or Supreme Biker (his English handle had been Sick Biker until someone told him that sounded bad...). The Supreme Biker had several videos related to e-bikes. It made me very interested. My first thought was to convert my existing traditional bike. Luckily enough, one of very few Warsaw shops doing conversions gave me a long waiting time. Researching the Internet I found Czech brand of Lovelec offering "Quality E-Bikes At Reasonable Price". And I bought my first e-bike in August 2019.

View attachment 60868
Lovelec Diadem with 576 Wh battery and rear-hub motor.

I could not be more happy! Suddenly I could ride for 20, 30, 40, 50 and over 60 km daily! (Actually, I made my first metric centuries on the Lovelec). I could have stayed with this only e-bike until today if not some unpleasant incident. A friend of mine rode the Diadem and he played with the gear shifters, not completely aware what he was doing. He destroyed not only the derailleur but -- what was worse -- the derailleur hanger. As a custom part, it had to be ordered from the Czech Republic. As it was the first case ever someone damaged the Lovelec derailleur hanger, I had to wait for a month to get a replacement. The time was running.

Bored, I was watching YouTube more. I found the EBR channel in which @Court was demonstrating Turbo Vado 5.0. A 28 mph (45 km/h) e-bike? Was it available in Poland? Oh yes it was. A bargain. An improbable bargain. The LBS had cheated me a little by selling a 2017 New Old Stock Vado 5.0, the Euro S-Pedelec as a 2019 one. Yet it was a true bargain. The bike is almost the equivalent of Euro Vado 6.0 of today and it was sold at 70% of the 2020 Vado 6.0 price!

At that time, I became an EBR member to learn about the issues and solutions related to the older BLOKS display and got the wealth of information. I took active part in the Forums. Yes, I had to wait for 7 months until Specialized could upgrade the display (and half of components -- because it was mandatory for the EU S-Pedelec) to the new TCD-W. I ride e-bike of my dreams now.

View attachment 60869
My Vado 5.0 in February 2020, long before the major electronics upgrade.

In May 2020, the Specialized LBS took my Vado for the electronics upgrade, and it took them as many as two weeks. At the same time, my Diadem was also serviced, same two weeks...Two weeks of lost rides in May?! You might guess the rest of the story: I bought Giant Trance E+ 2 Pro to be able to ride off-road...

View attachment 60870
On my Trance, May 17th, 2020.

As I don't predict as many as three e-bikes would be out of operation at the same time, there is no incentive to buy the fourth one

That was my own History of E-Bike, and yours?

Stefan, I enjoyed reading your story starting out with an EScooter, and moving to Ebikes.

Do you follow Electrek? ... a good site for EV's and Alternative Transportation news.

Electrek

News, reviews, and analysis of the electric vehicle market. We provide coverage of the entire sustainable ecosystems and related products.

electrek.co

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, I enjoyed reading your story starting out with an EScooter, and moving to Ebikes.

Do you follow Electrek? ... a good site for EV's and Alternative Transportation news.

Electrek

News, reviews, and analysis of the electric vehicle market. We provide coverage of the entire sustainable ecosystems and related products.

electrek.co

I didn't even buy any e-scooter, luckily Though I happen to rent them, so far in Warsaw, Cracow and Berlin. Nice option for someone who can hardly walk...
No, I was not aware of Electrek, thank you!

 

[TMH]

Great story. @TMH! Do I notice some Haibikes in the photo?

Yup, a couple of Haibike Trekking 7.0's in the normal weekly bike rotation. If for space, cost or other reasons I could only have one bike, it would likely be the Haibike Trekking. Even over the Turbo Vado 4.0 as an all-purpose tool.

(Not shown since it is out in the shed and not in the weekly rotation - Haibike XDURO AllMtn 2.0 - my only Yamaha powered ebike (to date)).

We didn't start out with a stand-up e-scooter, but it seemed like they could be fun. Wound up with an E-move Cruiser. Pretty incredible speed and range with this unit, but since we don't live in or near a large city, it gets very little use as compared to the e-bikes.

 

[FlatSix911]

Yup, a couple of Haibike Trekking 7.0's in the normal weekly bike rotation. If for space, cost or other reasons I could only have one bike, it would likely be the Haibike Trekking. Even over the Turbo Vado 4.0 as an all-purpose tool.

(Not shown since it is out in the shed and not in the weekly rotation - Haibike XDURO AllMtn 2.0 - my only Yamaha powered ebike (to date)).

We didn't start out with a stand-up e-scooter, but it seemed like they could be fun. Wound up with an E-move Cruiser. Pretty incredible speed and range with this unit, but since we don't live in or near a large city, it gets very little use as compared to the e-bikes.
View attachment 60917

What scooter... all I can see is the Ducati Scrambler.

BTW, you might be interested in the new Scrambler EBike.

eScrambler Ducati

A Trekking bike with high-end components inspired by the Ducati Scrambler world. It will allow you to ride freely in style.

scramblerducati.com

 

[TMH]

That little Desert Sled is pretty much all I can handle dual-sporting off road any more. I'm way out of practice!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

(Get two Americans on an electric bike forum and you can be sure they would discuss ICE vehicles)

 

[FlatSix911]

(Get two Americans on an electric bike forum and you can be sure they would discuss ICE vehicles)

The truth!

 

[TMH]

(Get two Americans on an electric bike forum and you can be sure they would discuss ICE vehicles)

Americans or not, 'toys' come in many flavors!

And he or she who dies with the most toys wins!

And we could go further off the beaten path and drift further from this original thread topic. Now that I'm currently not engaging in new e-bike 'retail therapy' during COVID induced restricted movement outside the home, we could talk about my newest toys. Backyard friendly (very quiet) air guns. I've currently got a 10 and 25 yard range set up in my back yard... and since the best guns are made in Germany, England and Sweden, they are still available (unlike many Chinese manufactured goods). My current favorite is:

I'm just starting out and not very good, but it is pretty darned easy to cover 5 shots @ 25 yds with a U.S. dime:

But I don't want to go off topic and talk about it...

 

[Sierratim]

Americans or not, 'toys' come in many flavors!

And he or she who dies with the most toys wins!

And we could go further off the beaten path and drift further from this original thread topic. Now that I'm currently not engaging in new e-bike 'retail therapy' during COVID induced restricted movement outside the home, we could talk about my newest toys. Backyard friendly (very quiet) air guns. I've currently got a 10 and 25 yard range set up in my back yard... and since the best guns are made in Germany, England and Sweden, they are still available (unlike many Chinese manufactured goods). My current favorite is:

View attachment 60964
I'm just starting out and not very good, but it is pretty darned easy to cover 5 shots @ 25 yds with a U.S. dime:



But I don't want to go off topic and talk about it...

Very nice. I recently got my Crossman 101 pump air rifle rebuilt. Used it for years when I was very young. Still a lot of fun. I was amazed at the selection of new air rifles, like yours. Very impressive.

Sorry, back to our regualrly scheduled programming...

 

[Sierratim]

We got into ebikes when my knee surgeon recommended it to stabilize my damaged knee with more cycling. Cycling had been helping for some years, but I wasn't able to do our local hills any longer. Doing a DIY ebike conversion fixed that and got my mileage back up. When it finally came time for knee replacement surgery I was able to work through the recovery period quickly with spinning after 2 weeks and cycling starting at 4 weeks. Now 3 years later our new ebikes have opened even more riding opportunities. We still ride mech bikes, but the ebikes are our future as we move through our 70's.

Ride On!

 

[Anna]

My wife and I were living in the Silicon Valley in 2010. Working in high tech in such an area kind of sucks you into the "latest and greatest new technology, gotta have it" mindset. E-bikes at that time were pretty young, and rather unknown in the U.S. I don't even recall the reason but I went to check out a very lightly used Pedego Comfort Cruiser, and it was the upgraded model with the brown 'leather' touchpoints and the light brown balloon tires. Took it for a test ride and was hooked. Had no form of cadence or torque pedal assist (twist throttle only), but I rode motorcycles so pedaling while having to twist the throttle was no issue to me.

My wife is a long term cancer survivor, and she has gone through many up and down periods for both her physical and emotional health. Although she had ridden a lot as a kid and as a younger adult, her bicycling days seemed to be over, or at least very minimalized. We had a small RV and for sanity we would head out of the Silicon Valley, over the hill on Highway 17, and 'camp' on the beach at a State Park just south of Santa Cruz. My wife finds the beach to be very cathartic for her recovery. It was just a little too far to walk to get groceries or to the local restaurants, and I thought that e-bikes might be a great tool.

Well I bought that fancy Pedego, brought it home and asked my wife if she would like a test ride. She knew nothing about e-bikes, and I had gone and bought it after work, so we hadn't even discussed it beforehand. Well she jumped on, took a spin around our neighborhood, came back with a big grin on her face and stated 'Mine'. O.K., looks like I just lost my first e-bike after only a single test ride!

Found a less fancy (less expensive) Comfort Cruiser on line, so I actually made my first mail order e-bike purchase also in 2010. Those 2 Pedegos gave us everything we wanted at that time: Easy transportation from our camp site to places, joy riding around the extensive biking lanes and trails around home, and that 'wind in your face' feeling of freedom we first get as a kid when we rode our bicycles.

Friends and family all tried them and liked them, and always wanted to ride them when they visited us. But then they started to get used less when we moved out of the Valley after my retirement. Finally it was at the point where they needed new batteries, and were still sitting in the shed much more than they were ever used. So in Feb of this year (10 years old) I sold them.View attachment 60885View attachment 60886

My intent was to get back into e-bikes and start riding again (even though we still hadn't gone into official COVID lockdown at that time). Not having ridden the Pedegos much for a while, I was NOT intending on getting a bunch of new e-bikes with specialized purposes, but instead just a couple of 'all purpose', reasonably priced bikes to get us riding again.

Well, that didn't work out very well with me. I became very excited at the capabilities which the current e-bikes have as compared to our 2010 Pedegos. My investment guy calls me an 'accumulator', and he is quite correct in that assessment. My wife and I ride every day, and we have pairs of different styles of bikes for how we want to ride that day (clipped in and fast for conditioning, fat tires for relaxed riding or on ungroomed trails, bikes for easier long rides or to the market, bank, hardware store, etc.). There may be a total of less than 5 days where we haven't ridden since February. Here is a part of the 'fleet' which is currently in the daily riding rotation:
View attachment 60888

The Turbo Vado is currently wearing platform instead of clipless pedals, as my brother and his daughter are coming by today for an e-bike ride and he is not clipless pedal experienced.

E-bikes have become a significant feature in our daily lives, especially during this period of COVID. They have provided excellent physical fitness benefits, and just as important, sanity to our lives during lockdown. My wife is still dealing with cancer, but she can still ride daily and the e-bike means that we can ride comfortably together. I take for granted that she is an experienced and excellent rider, and that riding acoustic bikes together is something that we did when we first met and were going out about 38 years ago. Sometimes it only dawns on me how good a rider she is (and how fortunate I am) when we ride with other ladies (friends, family), who are not as capable as she is.

I believe that our e-bike stable is now complete and in the last couple of months I have not been tempted to purchase any additional units (a strange feeling for me ). We actually have 'more than enough'.

Oh, except that the Juiced HyperScorpion which I had ordered for my wife early last February is due to be delivered today!

You say this is only “part of the fleet?” Wonderful read. Best regards to your warrior wife!

 

[FlatSix911]

Americans or not, 'toys' come in many flavors!
And he or she who dies with the most toys wins!
And we could go further off the beaten path and drift further from this original thread topic. Now that I'm currently not engaging in new e-bike 'retail therapy' during COVID induced restricted movement outside the home, we could talk about my newest toys. Backyard friendly (very quiet) air guns. I've currently got a 10 and 25 yard range set up in my back yard... and since the best guns are made in Germany, England and Sweden, they are still available (unlike many Chinese manufactured goods). My current favorite is:

View attachment 60964
I'm just starting out and not very good, but it is pretty darned easy to cover 5 shots @ 25 yds with a U.S. dime:
View attachment 60966
But I don't want to go off-topic and talk about it...

Very cool... wish I was permitted to fire my M1911A1 (M15) in the backyard.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On topic, gents...
Just returned from Warmia ride where I took a swim in a lake -- stark naked!

 

[TMH]

Now that's not an image I needed before lunch!

 

[TMH]

Here's a better image: Built my wife's new HyperScorpion this morning. She now likes assisting building her own bikes! I'll start a separate thread on this, but fortunately her bike arrived in virtually perfect condition (one tiny paint nick on the battery you can actually see in the pic - THAT'S ALL!), and all of the electronics seem to fire up properly. Topping off battery for its first test ride this afternoon. Here it is with zero miles on it:

 

[FlatSix911]

Here's a better image: Built my wife's new HyperScorpion this morning. She now likes assisting building her own bikes! I'll start a separate thread on this, but fortunately her bike arrived in virtually perfect condition (one tiny paint nick on the battery you can actually see in the pic - THAT'S ALL!), and all of the electronics seem to fire up properly. Topping off battery for its first test ride this afternoon. Here it is with zero miles on it:

View attachment 61026

Congrats on her new ride... will you be able to keep up with her?

Here's a closer look at the 30+ mph Juiced HyperScorpion electric moped

The Juiced HyperScorpion is one of the most anticipated electric mopeds of 2020. Pushed behind schedule by the COVID-19 pandemic,...

electrek.co