Electric bicycles - who buys them?

[PushedDover]

johnnymiller said:

I’m no riding expert, haven’t pointed a bike down a muddy hill since 2003 so any average performing components are likely to outperform an out of shape 42 yr old anyway at this point.

Looking forward to it, glad your pleased with yours vindaloo! Any tips for a new owner? The guy on the vid changes the bars for wider ones I noticed.

Was in those same-ish shoes. Two years ago, I was buying a litre of Oil for the MX5, came out of Halfords with a Carrera MTB (circa £350 thing)., started using it for laps of the country lanes. Last year I bought the Decathlon Hybrid 920 and tried to get out 2 or 3 times a week on the roads round the villages for a 15 mile / 1 hour ride - just for the general fitness, stave off a little bloat and the overall well being of exercise.

Moved house to a great village (Osmotherley, N Yorks) where we are laden with the outdoors and that lifestyle.
Bought the two Cube EMTBS early lockdown, having not ridden an MTB / Offroad for probably 25years. (my old Specialised Hard Rock is hanging on the wall in the bike shed next to all of the above's)

I have just turned 750miles on the eMTB. I have been really trying this last week as coming off the Keto diet to return to normal life after 5 weeks of it.... so every morning up at 6am, 90mins / 17-20 miles, and the same again every night. 180 miles sincs Saturday - smashing it out and enjoying all of the rides.
Confidence increases. Mileages and smiles.
I have bought a pair of Aftershokz headphones so i can ride, listen to Podcasts and such but still hear out for others / traffic etc.

Recommendations ? I doubt you 'need' to tinker with the bars and it would undoubtedly need tools, bits and bobs to mod too if diameters are different etc.
I'd suggest a saddle bag for a plethora of bits and parts if you are going off and you are needing to survive breakdowns and punctures. So, some tyre levers, tube patches, spare tube, multitool, few tiewraps, a small folding knife etc to bodge things to get you home.
Bottle / Bottle cage that will also talk a mini-pump fitting on the side (the fat / squarer downtubes often struggle to sneak one on the frame as there is less space in the nook between the frame and bottle radius)

Mudguards. Maybe not seen as 'cool' by some, but it means it is fair more useable, less likely to kill your clothing every ride, and especially on the front - preventing the lifting water from the front tyre. See the Mudhuggers, you can pimp them with Decals so not so 'bleeeurgh black'.


oh and Pedals ? ! Does the bike come with pedals? most don't.
And following that - I have found changing to a pair of 'Five-ten Freestyle' MTB shoes have been great. Solid footing when clattering around.



Then obviously after a few weeks... you start buying loads of crap to tart it up make it better etc...

See my delivery yesterday :
New forks - upgrades from Springs to Air on my eMTB

£170 from Decathlon

[Dog Star]

Pushedover - those are the forks for the Cube Acid One?

I want to upgrade the forks on Mrs DS's Acid One - they're qute cheap and nasty and very noodly are the factory fit ones, and some chunkier air forks would make it ride much better I think.

[PushedDover]

Dog Star said:

Pushedover - those are the forks for the Cube Acid One?

I want to upgrade the forks on Mrs DS's Acid One - they're qute cheap and nasty and very noodly are the factory fit ones, and some chunkier air forks would make it ride much better I think.

I'm afraid thats a call I am not 100% to call.
the lad who serviced mine and I had a chat about the huge variety of factors in the selection. He suggested those to go on my Reaction Hybrid EX

How similar is the headstock on the Acid One is beyond me - especially as it may alter in the variants?
Anyone better educated on this ?

Hope he is right, and I will know on Monday when fitted :-)

[vindaloo79]

LeighW said:

We're away in the lake district in our camper. We'd been having great fun bombing about on our new Cube Acid 400s, right up until an hour ago when the chain snapped on my wife's bike. It had lasted 51 miles. Not great. Hopefully I can get it fixed tomorrow, I don't have a chain tool.

That is a disappointing start for you.

I assume you are being sympathetic to the drive chain and not setting off in the smallest rear cog in turbo mode, I was doing that for a while as it just provided so much torque but it's putting a lot of strain on the casette and no way would I be doing that on a normal bike.

[anonymous-user]

vindaloo79 said:

That is a disappointing start for you.

I assume you are being sympathetic to the drive chain and not setting off in the smallest rear cog in turbo mode, I was doing that for a while as it just provided so much torque but it's putting a lot of strain on the casette and no way would I be doing that on a normal bike.

Yes, I snapped my chain climbing on technical sandy trails with lots of sudden jerky pushes, that I would never of dreamed of climbing on a normal bike. You can snap a chain in such times.

[johnnymiller]

PushedDover said:

Was in those same-ish shoes. Two years ago, I was buying a litre of Oil for the MX5, came out of Halfords with a Carrera MTB (circa £350 thing)., started using it for laps of the country lanes. Last year I bought the Decathlon Hybrid 920 and tried to get out 2 or 3 times a week on the roads round the villages for a 15 mile / 1 hour ride - just for the general fitness, stave off a little bloat and the overall well being of exercise.

Moved house to a great village (Osmotherley, N Yorks) where we are laden with the outdoors and that lifestyle.
Bought the two Cube EMTBS early lockdown, having not ridden an MTB / Offroad for probably 25years. (my old Specialised Hard Rock is hanging on the wall in the bike shed next to all of the above's)

I have just turned 750miles on the eMTB. I have been really trying this last week as coming off the Keto diet to return to normal life after 5 weeks of it.... so every morning up at 6am, 90mins / 17-20 miles, and the same again every night. 180 miles sincs Saturday - smashing it out and enjoying all of the rides.
Confidence increases. Mileages and smiles.
I have bought a pair of Aftershokz headphones so i can ride, listen to Podcasts and such but still hear out for others / traffic etc.

Recommendations ? I doubt you 'need' to tinker with the bars and it would undoubtedly need tools, bits and bobs to mod too if diameters are different etc.
I'd suggest a saddle bag for a plethora of bits and parts if you are going off and you are needing to survive breakdowns and punctures. So, some tyre levers, tube patches, spare tube, multitool, few tiewraps, a small folding knife etc to bodge things to get you home.
Bottle / Bottle cage that will also talk a mini-pump fitting on the side (the fat / squarer downtubes often struggle to sneak one on the frame as there is less space in the nook between the frame and bottle radius)

Mudguards. Maybe not seen as 'cool' by some, but it means it is fair more useable, less likely to kill your clothing every ride, and especially on the front - preventing the lifting water from the front tyre. See the Mudhuggers, you can pimp them with Decals so not so 'bleeeurgh black'.


oh and Pedals ? ! Does the bike come with pedals? most don't.
And following that - I have found changing to a pair of 'Five-ten Freestyle' MTB shoes have been great. Solid footing when clattering around.



Then obviously after a few weeks... you start buying loads of crap to tart it up make it better etc...

See my delivery yesterday :
New forks - upgrades from Springs to Air on my eMTB

£170 from Decathlon

Useful post cheers for that, got a bottle/cage on the way and some decent pedals, wasn’t sure on the puncture stuff as not sure if tubeless or not and what to get. Was also thinking footwear but haven’t done that yet. How are the aftershockz headphones faring? Saw them on tredz and they look interesting, think Costco do them as well.

Feel like a kid waiting for a new bike at Christmas lol

[PushedDover]

johnnymiller said:

How are the aftershockz headphones faring? Saw them on tredz and they look interesting, think Costco do them as well.

Great !
I asked on here a while back as I used to like listening to podcasts with my phone on the handlebars mount on my road hybrid but found that I wanted a little more oomph - some weirdo in Biker Banter stalked me for this the other week.

Several recommended the Aftershokz so I bought a pair for GF and I to share as the lock down eased and the roads became more populated with the cars. The plan was she can use when jogging, me when riding.
Truth is we both use them daily. She'll wear when riding the horse, poo picking the field etc, and I use daily on the bike.

Quite surreal using siri to read out and dictate text messages etc. Feels like Jarvis

GF thinks they are a little big for her and looking to a second set for a smaller head for her.

[The Mad Monk]

sambucket said:

vindaloo79 said:

That is a disappointing start for you.

I assume you are being sympathetic to the drive chain and not setting off in the smallest rear cog in turbo mode, I was doing that for a while as it just provided so much torque but it's putting a lot of strain on the casette and no way would I be doing that on a normal bike.

Yes, I snapped my chain climbing on technical sandy trails with lots of sudden jerky pushes, that I would never of dreamed of climbing on a normal bike. You can snap a chain in such times.

If you had rear wheel hub drive - or front wheel hub drive - and NOT mid-drive, you wouldn't be putting the strain through the chain. (I think that rhymes!).

[shady lee]

Pushedover,

Let us know how you get on with those shocks bud

[PushedDover]

shady lee said:

Pushedover,

Let us know how you get on with those shocks bud

i clearly post in this thread too much already - so highly likely I will !

[LeighW]

vindaloo79 said:

LeighW said:

We're away in the lake district in our camper. We'd been having great fun bombing about on our new Cube Acid 400s, right up until an hour ago when the chain snapped on my wife's bike. It had lasted 51 miles. Not great. Hopefully I can get it fixed tomorrow, I don't have a chain tool.

That is a disappointing start for you.

I assume you are being sympathetic to the drive chain and not setting off in the smallest rear cog in turbo mode, I was doing that for a while as it just provided so much torque but it's putting a lot of strain on the casette and no way would I be doing that on a normal bike.

I think that's possibly a factor, she has sod all mechanical sympathy, and I kept having to tell her to change down when she was slowing down, but still, I think it should have stood up better than that.

We were fortunate that we were only just setting out on a ride when it snapped, rather than in the middle of nowhere.

[Justin S]

Just take the busted link out and carry a spare quick link on you and stick that in its place. Most chains are non repairable these days and when you do try and push the pin back through , may damage further the side plate and make it the weakest point to fail again.

[The Mad Monk]

Justin S said:

Just take the busted link out and carry a spare quick link on you and stick that in its place. Most chains are non repairable these days and when you do try and push the pin back through , may damage further the side plate and make it the weakest point to fail again.

Or

Buy a bike with front or rear hub drive, and a throttle. Then, when the chain breaks, you think to yourself - "oh! that's mildly irritating, never mind, I will ride home on the throttle."

[anonymous-user]

I’ve never ridden a hub drive mtb road but are they viable for riding technical stuff? I’ve never seen a premium mtb go that route.

[nickfrog]

The Mad Monk said:

If you had rear wheel hub drive - or front wheel hub drive - and NOT mid-drive, you wouldn't be putting the strain through the chain. (I think that rhymes!).

Sounds like a poor consolation for the downsides of hub drive.

For balance, my SLX 12 chain has just gone through its first 1,000 miles of fairly grueling work on a Decoy (I am 88kgs / 6ft1) and hasn't snapped and is showing little wear. I guess they're designed to take that kind of abuse.

[Justin S]

The Mad Monk said:

Justin S said:

Just take the busted link out and carry a spare quick link on you and stick that in its place. Most chains are non repairable these days and when you do try and push the pin back through , may damage further the side plate and make it the weakest point to fail again.

Or

Buy a bike with front or rear hub drive, and a throttle. Then, when the chain breaks, you think to yourself - "oh! that's mildly irritating, never mind, I will ride home on the throttle."

Its no effort fixing a chain, so keep it simple and legal with pedal assisted than with a throttle

[Easternlight]

Phil. said:

Easternlight said:

This thread is bad news, I've been following for a while and now I've got this coming!
i need to find out what all the fuss is about.
Unseen, never even touched an E bike!

You are going to have so much fun. If you don’t report having a smile on your face the first time you ride it, then I won’t believe you

Smile permanently fixed

[Phil.]

Easternlight said:

Phil. said:

Easternlight said:

This thread is bad news, I've been following for a while and now I've got this coming!
i need to find out what all the fuss is about.
Unseen, never even touched an E bike!

You are going to have so much fun. If you don’t report having a smile on your face the first time you ride it, then I won’t believe you

Smile permanently fixed

[quinny100]

How much assistance do e-bikes provide for climbing steep hills?

I’ve just landed a job less than 2 miles from home with good cycle facilities at the office. There are a few short steep climbs on the way, but coming home it’s almost all uphill.

I used to cycle to work 10 years ago and quite enjoyed it, but I’m older and nowhere near as fit now. Back then it used to take me 7 minutes to get to work, but about 30 minutes to get home because of the topography of where I live. Going to work I could technically pedal about 150 yards and freewheel the rest of the way - I could easily break the 30mph speed limit if I pedalled! Coming back it wasn’t much quicker cycling than walking really because I just ended up spinning in the granny gear!

[gangzoom]

quinny100 said:

How much assistance do e-bikes provide for climbing steep hills?
gear!

Depends on the eBike. I bought my eBike for commuting, it cost £2k has a fancy mid drive unit in it, but actually a sub £1k hub motored ones would have been fine and probably provided more/same support.

The cheaper eBikes don't look great, but are much better value for money.