Anyone have an E bike?
Discussion
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rolex said:
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Kermit power said:
ZesPak said:
Nope, don't own an E bike, wish my commute was only 30 miles.
For you that might be the only possible excuse, but how many people actually commute 6+ miles by bike? If this helps even a couple of people (who are obviously not in as great shape as you are) to take the bike over any other form of transport, I'm all for it.
Otherwise, how about just cutting down on time? For the same effort that got you 10mph before (not everyone loves to show all his assets by wearing lycra), you can do your commute at a steady 15mph, no matter what the weather does. That's some serious gain.
But yes, of course if you do it without batteries, you're better than everyone else
. Or just get a real hpv like a recumbent bike instead of something as archaic as an upright bike 
.
I'm 5'10. Since I started commuting, I've dropped from just under 20 stone to 17.5 stone, but that's still not 17.5 stone of finely toned muscle!For you that might be the only possible excuse, but how many people actually commute 6+ miles by bike? If this helps even a couple of people (who are obviously not in as great shape as you are) to take the bike over any other form of transport, I'm all for it.
Otherwise, how about just cutting down on time? For the same effort that got you 10mph before (not everyone loves to show all his assets by wearing lycra), you can do your commute at a steady 15mph, no matter what the weather does. That's some serious gain.
But yes, of course if you do it without batteries, you're better than everyone else
. Or just get a real hpv like a recumbent bike instead of something as archaic as an upright bike .If I can do it, so can well over 99% of the population. Maybe not every day, and to start with, maybe not both ways even on one day, but they can do it, and they don't need an E-bike to do it.
Giving it more thought, I'd allow an exemption for anyone unfit with hills of more than 5% gradient, but other than that, if they can't be arsed to get out of the car and give it a try, I don't think an E-bike is going to make a blind bit of difference.
Same with electric cars, I wouldn't buy an electric car to save the planet, I'd buy it for cheap motoring. If saving the planet a bit happens at the same time then great, but that's not my reason for buying it.
There's some odd replies on this thread, mostly displaying a complete lack of tolerance and empathy of other peoples' situations.
I used to live 7 miles from central London, so I tended to cycle 5 days a week. I now live 21 miles from central London and on the top of the North Downs.
Door to door by train/tube is 55 minutes using my Brompton. My average bike to work is approx 1hr 20. And that's elapsed time - I still need to lock up the bike and get changed which can add another 10/15 mins. Coming home I average 1hr 35, again plus 10/15 mins to be ready.
As I have young kids the bike commute can only really be done once or twice a week now.
So I'm tempted by an ebike for 2 or 3 days a week, whilst using a regular bike still for a day or so. I'd need to know how much time I could shave off.
To those saying a motorbike? Never ridden one and can't see it being as quick as an ebike into central London. Oh and parking is harder.
I used to live 7 miles from central London, so I tended to cycle 5 days a week. I now live 21 miles from central London and on the top of the North Downs.
Door to door by train/tube is 55 minutes using my Brompton. My average bike to work is approx 1hr 20. And that's elapsed time - I still need to lock up the bike and get changed which can add another 10/15 mins. Coming home I average 1hr 35, again plus 10/15 mins to be ready.
As I have young kids the bike commute can only really be done once or twice a week now.
So I'm tempted by an ebike for 2 or 3 days a week, whilst using a regular bike still for a day or so. I'd need to know how much time I could shave off.
To those saying a motorbike? Never ridden one and can't see it being as quick as an ebike into central London. Oh and parking is harder.
A 125cc will be as quick in londen, and a lot quicker outside of london.
But, it'll produce fumes, need liquids and generally will cost more and less will be tolerated in terms of where you ride and park.
In the city they (e-bikes) make a lot of sense. I did a 9 mile commute on a normal bike for years, but I had the opportunity to shower at work, I know a lot of workplaces don't provide this opportunity and then some assistance might help you avoid the need to shower, while still having cheap and easy transport.
From what I've read from this thread though, it sounds as though they are a lot more expensive in the UK?
Over here you can have a decent E-bike (Oxford, Batavus,...) for less than €2000 (£1500), which is a very reasonable amount imho for a decent new bike.
But, it'll produce fumes, need liquids and generally will cost more and less will be tolerated in terms of where you ride and park.
In the city they (e-bikes) make a lot of sense. I did a 9 mile commute on a normal bike for years, but I had the opportunity to shower at work, I know a lot of workplaces don't provide this opportunity and then some assistance might help you avoid the need to shower, while still having cheap and easy transport.
From what I've read from this thread though, it sounds as though they are a lot more expensive in the UK?
Over here you can have a decent E-bike (Oxford, Batavus,...) for less than €2000 (£1500), which is a very reasonable amount imho for a decent new bike.
Hoofy said:
I quite like the idea because it saves me having to pedal. I can then save my energy for playing sports or the gym.
You should try one, you won't get far without pedalling.andrewrob said:
The thing is though not everyone wants to bike to work to get fit, for me its just a much cheaper way of commuting, as I said before we don't have showers at the office so I can't turn up a mess so the E bike is the best alternative.
Same with electric cars, I wouldn't buy an electric car to save the planet, I'd buy it for cheap motoring. If saving the planet a bit happens at the same time then great, but that's not my reason for buying it.
My comment was more in reaction to the number of people saying they - or others - couldn't ride a normal bike if they weren't fit. Regardless of whether or not you like E-bikes, that's complete bSame with electric cars, I wouldn't buy an electric car to save the planet, I'd buy it for cheap motoring. If saving the planet a bit happens at the same time then great, but that's not my reason for buying it.
ks, and is the sort of thinking that results in us being raped for billions in taxes so that the NHS can treat obesity.I still do not see how a commute to work by bike is anything but a complete pain in the bum.
By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
272BHP said:
I still do not see how a commute to work by bike is anything but a complete pain in the bum.
By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
There is no working it out. It's simple.By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
You just cycle normally.
Like the millions of people in Holland do every single day...
Now I actually do cycle in pretty hard for fitness. I do have the benefit of changing facilities, somewhere to hang my clothes up, a heated towel rail and plenty of showers.
But I've tested it and cycling in gently, not raising a sweat at all, is actually only a few minutes slower. Get an ebike, even easier than easy.
Yes thanks.
And final nail, Dutch women cycle, that is all.
Oh I agree it makes sense with a gentle ride in. I cycle 2 miles everyday to the train station in my office kit. but I make sure I don't break a sweat and thankfully it is as flat as holland and lightly trafficked as well.
Its the furiously charging roadies biking 20mile to work that I don't get.
Its the furiously charging roadies biking 20mile to work that I don't get.
Bit of gap between 2 and 20 miles!
8 miles - my commute - is pretty easy and un-sweaty, but you do need EXACTLY the right outerwear to be happy, otherwise it'll be really miserable.
I often commute for split shifts, so 32 miles daily, that's pretty tiring but I just need to sleep more.
No weight loss for me but a massive increase in beer consumption, rehydration is important don'tchaknow.
8 miles - my commute - is pretty easy and un-sweaty, but you do need EXACTLY the right outerwear to be happy, otherwise it'll be really miserable.
I often commute for split shifts, so 32 miles daily, that's pretty tiring but I just need to sleep more.
No weight loss for me but a massive increase in beer consumption, rehydration is important don'tchaknow.
272BHP said:
I still do not see how a commute to work by bike is anything but a complete pain in the bum.
By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
You can tell you've never tried it!By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
Let's work it out.
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear. You would also need a place of work that opens on Sunday so you could take all your kit for the week to hang up. You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
No thanks.
I have one reasonably sized locker. I can't fathom why you'd need two, as why would you actually keep cycling gear in the office?
I'm also not sure why you'd feel the need to take your clothes in on a Sunday. Just how big are your clothes? I just take mine in bit by bit as they need topping up in my pannier bag.
Do you need a shower room? For my commute, yes. We've got one. I'm not sure why it needs to be "less than busy" though? Occasionally, I might have to wait a couple of minutes. So what?
Why would you bring your towel home with you every day? All you've done with it is wipe clean water off your clean body as soon as you've come out of the shower. Are you saying you wash your towel every day at home? Just hang it up to dry, and swap it out every few days.
As for "festering kit" at the end of the day, in my experience, it feels and smells a whole lot cleaner at hometime than a work shirt that I put on at six in the morning before getting a standing room only train and tube jourrney!
Then there's "ramming my expensive trousers and shirt into my bag". I keep a suit in the office, so trousers aren't an issue anyway, but for the shirt, just what sort of bag and/or shirts do you have?
Sure, I stuff my shirts into a bag. Then I get home and stuff them into the washing machine, and do you know what? Nobody can tell they've ever been in a bag when they come out!If you want to make life even easier, the chances are if you work in a large town or city that you'll be able to find a dry cleaner who will do your weekly work laundry local to your office for a day or two's train fare as well, which is even better.
I'm in a customer facing role, and I have absolutely no problem being perfectly presentable. In fact, I'll often look far more presentable than my colleagues, especially if it's been raining on the way in.
As for the why do it, why not? I don't know about you, but I've got kids, so if I used up a couple of hours of dead time every day sitting - or more likely standing - on a train packed full of stinky people, I don't have another spare couple of hours in the day to go out and get my exercise. If I cycle, it effectively gives me those two hours back to do something constructive. My stress levels now go through the roof on any day where for whatever reason I have to get the train in!
Amateurish said:
I was similarly sceptical about ebikes until I tried one last month. It was this beauty:
I was using it to tackle some trails in the French Alps. Seriously, it's fantastic. I was getting up trails which would have been impossible for me otherwise. It opens up whole areas of the mountains where mountains bikers can't normally get to. And I was totally knackered by the end.
Looks good, but how does that actually work ?I was using it to tackle some trails in the French Alps. Seriously, it's fantastic. I was getting up trails which would have been impossible for me otherwise. It opens up whole areas of the mountains where mountains bikers can't normally get to. And I was totally knackered by the end.
272BHP said:
By my reckoning its practically impossible if you work in a customer facing role and want to be fresh and appear smart and presentable.
I work in a customer facing roll and manage fine.272BHP said:
You would need 2 big sized lockers. one for all your clean and ironed clothes for the entire week and another for all your sweaty bike gear.
One place to put 4 shirts if you drive/train/bus one day and leave the rest. Not two big lockers. One small space. With a little care trousers can be carefully rolled up and packed in a pannier and come out perfect. Hang them overnight after ironing (freshly ironed stuff seems to crease more) Fold them in half, put something to roll them around, roll tightly from the bottom and put them in last. A trick I learned from a salesman I used to work with who looked after our far east sales, and I find my trousers come out a lot better than someone who has been sat in their car for the las hour.272BHP said:
You would also need a less than busy and well ventilated shower room so you could get dressed and not be dripping over your keyboard for the first half hour of the day.
Well, you need a shower room, yes, which more and more offices have. But you put it in a very over dramatic way.272BHP said:
Then at the end of the day you have the joy of rolling up your expensive shirt and trousers and ramming it in a sports bag (along with your still damp towel) and putting back on the now festering kit you wore in the morning - lovely.
Plastic carrier bags, and don't put your kit in a bag. Hang it up to air. Most places have some form of cloak room or the like. My cycling shirt goes on the coat stand. Many peoples cycling gear costs more than their work clothes.It's not difficult and no where near as much of a hassle as you say. Cycling 5 days a week might be a bit of a pain, but doing it 4 days is no problem at all (and frankly I need a day off the bike in the middle of the week) even in a customer facing roll.
spiritof'76 said:
Amateurish said:
I was similarly sceptical about ebikes until I tried one last month. It was this beauty:
I was using it to tackle some trails in the French Alps. Seriously, it's fantastic. I was getting up trails which would have been impossible for me otherwise. It opens up whole areas of the mountains where mountains bikers can't normally get to. And I was totally knackered by the end.
Looks good, but how does that actually work ?I was using it to tackle some trails in the French Alps. Seriously, it's fantastic. I was getting up trails which would have been impossible for me otherwise. It opens up whole areas of the mountains where mountains bikers can't normally get to. And I was totally knackered by the end.
http://www.bosch-ebike.de/en/komponenten/drive_uni...
Blimey its a piece of piss to cycle to work, the more you do it the eaiser it get as you get in routine
All this talk about showers and packing loads of stuff etc... my last office didn't even have hot/warm water, just a cold tap and a tiny cubicle!!! I used to often deal with company mds and heads from US/Europe with no issue of appearance
I have my own office now and at the last office I work, so just hang all my work clothes there in a cupboard, when I drive I usually wear a tracksuit and get changed at work now. Keep a couple of suits for special visits...bag of toiltries and towel that gets washed every few weeks and lots of BRUT!
Yeah drying wet cycling clothes can be a pain in some offices. That's about it
My misses works a night shift now, so I'm up at 6:30 to walk two mad dogs, then get my toddler up, change her and feed her, see two teenagers off to school, then misses gets back from work, hand over toddler, then have 35 minutes to cycle 10 miles to work, usually on a 14kgs ancient single speed bike and 5 minutes to get changed and washed at the other end. The cycling is the easiest bit!!!!!!
Trouble with commuting by bike, some people just over think it instead of just doing it. If an electric bike suits you just get on and ride it. Personally I like to keep things as simple as poss, even if it does mean I have to ride a 8% climb on a 46/16!
All this talk about showers and packing loads of stuff etc... my last office didn't even have hot/warm water, just a cold tap and a tiny cubicle!!! I used to often deal with company mds and heads from US/Europe with no issue of appearance
I have my own office now and at the last office I work, so just hang all my work clothes there in a cupboard, when I drive I usually wear a tracksuit and get changed at work now. Keep a couple of suits for special visits...bag of toiltries and towel that gets washed every few weeks and lots of BRUT!
Yeah drying wet cycling clothes can be a pain in some offices. That's about it
My misses works a night shift now, so I'm up at 6:30 to walk two mad dogs, then get my toddler up, change her and feed her, see two teenagers off to school, then misses gets back from work, hand over toddler, then have 35 minutes to cycle 10 miles to work, usually on a 14kgs ancient single speed bike and 5 minutes to get changed and washed at the other end. The cycling is the easiest bit!!!!!!
Trouble with commuting by bike, some people just over think it instead of just doing it. If an electric bike suits you just get on and ride it. Personally I like to keep things as simple as poss, even if it does mean I have to ride a 8% climb on a 46/16!
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