Your Own History of E-Bike

[harryS]

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

I was a never a hard care biker, but one of my first dates with my wife was a bike ride, and even though she got sun burned, she stuck with me. We did many casual rides over the years, but it got less and less as both of us passed 60. Saw our first ebike in 2015, and I figured we would ride more if we had ebikes. So that's how we started.

My personal history includes being a retired electrical whiz, home improvement guy with tons of tools, and car enthusiast. I bought my wife a basic beach cruiser ebike, and when I saw how they were made, I converted an old Trek. Here's my $2500 car (so sez my insurance company) and our first two ebikes



I found putting motors into bikes much easier than doing the same with a car, and have done a lot of that on both old bikes and newer ones. Maybe the future will be a old folks trike. We don't ride far or fast. but try to get in a daily 10-12 mile ride.

My wife has ridden 800 miles this year on a little Schwinn step-thru folder. Should get past 1000 soon. We've on 20" bikes for our joint rides. I still get out my 26" beater for solo rides and try to get some miles on my regular bike too,

 

[indianajo]

When I was laid off age 58 in 2008, I gave up driving so I could live at a poverty level. Rode a MTB from the charity resale shop, and another huffy cruiser from another shop near my summer camp. Good news, lost 40 lb, 40 point chloresterol, 15 bpm rest pulse. Both bikes dumped me on my chin 4 times when I'd hit a bump or stick. Meanwhile, global warming happened and my 3.7 hour commute to/from summer camp extended a few times to 6 hours due to "unseasonable" headwind.
converted the huffy cruiser to electric with an ebikeling hubmotor and 2 trash batteries. Liked the feel, hated the too fast PAS but liked the throttle, hated having the 17 ah battery go dead in 7 or 11 miles. Hated the battery swinging with the front wheel, too slow steering. Bought a lunabike battery dec 2018, along with the yubabike bodaboda left unpowered jan 2017. Moved the ebikeling motor to that 2018, ditched the PAS sensor, rode it 5000 miles in 2 1/2 years. Wore out the $221 ebikeling motor 7/20, changed over to Mac12 hub motor I bought from luna 11/19 before tarriffs went up. Still riding, put 60+ miles on last week, even though start of social security payments tripled my income in 2016. Have dropped another 10 pounds on the bodaboda and another 10 points chloresterol. No angioplasty for me, I work too hard 3-4 times a week. My legs are stronger than ever, my knees are much less painful than in 2008 when i could hardly walk. The bike has needed 8 tires, over a dozen tubes, a set of brake pads, a shifter cable, a chain, various lights, a fender, 3 fender struts, and 3 seats so far and still not happy. I need a lounge chair under my hips, not a plastic bench. Selle resto royale tortured me yesterday. I could possibly ride 80 miles with my college buddy in Palo Alto if my hips didn't hurt so badly after 2.5 hours. My legs are great! PS the stretch frame has not dumped me on my chin yet.