Go for it! I bought my wife an eBike a little over a year ago. It's the greatest as now she's able to ride the longer distances with me. Previously, I'd have to carry all the gear and she would struggle to hit 40 miles. Now she carries her own gear, has managed a 65-mile day, and still has enough energy at the end of the day to go exploring at our destination.
A few things about the eBike adventure:
That's about it - supposed to hit 64F here by early afternoon in the metro Atlanta area so I'm heading out to do 30+ plus today after installing a new chain.
Steve, that was an exceptionally full and thoughtful reply. Thank you. It's good to be in touch again.
When you say that a conversion would be "clunky", do you mean the motor would function less than perfectly or that a kit is less than aesthetically perfect?
A kit is by far the less expensive arrangement, with the benefit that I keep my original bike. That saves having to get used to another machine and, of course, it also saves a lot of money. I found what I thought was The Bike for Me in Holland, made by Santos. It looked like a road bike and had everything I fancied, right down to the sturdier wheels. I wasn't sure about belt drive but maybe only because I haven't tried it. It would even be built to measure with a choice of dozens of colours.
I was close to looking up train times to Rotterdam when I saw the price: a few coins short of €8000. That's three times the price I paid for my first house. Back to the drawing board.
It is extremely generous of you to offer us your own bikes. Acceptance would cause a lifetime of guilt. I am grateful beyond measure, however.
I'll keep you briefed on what I decide. Much coffee will be drunk before I make a choice.
My thanks again, my friend.
happy days
léo
Hi Paul
That sounds promising and I've had a look on the website.
When you spoke of the bike's range, was that with full camping gear? You said that originally Kath carried no bags and that you had everything on yourd (this, of course, coupled with opening doors for women and permanently accepting guilt despite insufficient evidence is why men die younger).
happy days
léo
leowoodland@neuf.fr
kath don’t camp :-D. We cycle from hotel to hotel. And honestly it’s really nice. I’m working up a solo tour where I’ll camp 90% of the time. But I digress.
She does carry all her clothing, toiletries, snacks in two panniers on the rear rack. She uses my ortleib city front panniers so I think combined they are something like 25l of space. Keeps her from overpacking. But the battery range is combined with carrying some tour weight.
I think what I primarily meant by "clunky" is aesthetic, although despite our investment in the torque sensing bottom brackets our Bike Friday conversions do not quite feel as smooth in responding to what our legs are asking the bike to do, compared to the Bosch systems on our factory bikes. However the clunky aesthetics are also noteworthy. The main components - motor, battery, motor controller, and handlebar console are all connected by multiple wires. In a retrofit, these get strapped to the outside of the frame, whereas in a factory build they are threaded inside. Also the motor controller is a box with wires going in and out, that is commonly integrated with the motor in a factory centre drive, or otherwise hidden in a factory build. In our Bike Friday case, this "ugly" box is strapped to the seat post. Also, with our Bike Friday Bafang systems, the controller maker and/or the console maker rather expected a throttle to be fitted. So there is an unused throttle wire strapped somewhere. Also, if there would be a throttle, then the brake levers need a shutoff feature that overrides the throttle if you touch the brakes. We simply declined to install the shutoff equipped brake levers, but that left the system forlornly with wires that would have connected to those levers. Those wires are also strapped uselessly to the frame somewhere.
I've now converted three bikes - my US upright touring bike, my US recumbent touring bike, and , a new to me, Crank-forward bike to e-bikes using TSDZ2 conversion kits which cost me around $500 each. Articles about the conversions are on crazyguy, user ID mjb, and a journal of a short, after I converted it, tour on the CF bike is posted here . Update: I noticed after I posted this that my three articles about e-bike conversions had been moved, by Neil I assume, from crazyguy to the topicwise ebike section. That is no biggie in that, if you want to read them just go to crazyguy and then change the topicwise topic to ebikes and go to the article category. to find them.
Currently my two non-conventional US bikes are e-biked and upright touring bike is back to 'normal'. I decided that, if I was not going to tour on it, I'd rather use it for local rides without having to worry about somebody stealing the battery. The two non-conventional bikes benefit more from the the e-assist and are more likely to be used on tours now.
The recumbent - an old V-Rex - has the newer and better open source software and firmware. The CF bike, a 2007 Rans Fusion, has the Stock setup. My upright bike, is like the proverbial axe whose head and handle have been replaced, has tens 0f thousand miles of touring on it and thousands of local miles while the V-Rex has maybe a fifth as much for both. The CF bike was new to me with low mileage and has done just one e-bike tour which was less than 700 miles and a thousand miles or iess of local riding since I e-biked it.
I did have some issues with the CF bike when I toured on it last summer, but none of them had anything to do with the e-bike part. I did days of up to 60 miles with over 2000 feet of climbing using only one 36 V battery with less than 400 watt-hour capacity. That is pretty much the bottom end for e-bike batteries. I'm now in my late 70s so I definitely needed the e-assist on several big hills that are 1000 feet or so of continuous steep climbing. Part of my ability to do things like that now is the fact that I was a very strong climber for many years and I still know how to pace myself while climbing.
I did carry a spare battery, and plan to do that on any e-bike tour, not because of the extra range it would give me, but because there are other situations which might make it necessary. On this tour, I did experience one of those situations. I planned to end that day in a very small town with one place - a motel - for me to stay. It was full. so I stopped for supper and to stock up on water and then rode on looking for a place to wild camp. That town is in the mountains so it was hard to find a flat place. The place I did find was so steep that I couldn't even use my small tent, but the weather was OK and the bugs weren't bad so I didn't really need a tent. I had a good night's sleep in my emergency tube tent and, in the morning, switched batteries before the next day ride.
That ride journal is the only journal I have on cycleblaze and is easy - look for CF - to find.
One of most important things folks need to realize is that touring on a e-bike should not be like touring on a motorcycle. The motor is there to assist you with steep climbs, not to supply the work that you could be doing yourself on flat land and gentle climbs.
Part of good bike touring is knowing how to minimize the weight you are carrying. For summer touring, my bike weight, several decades ago, was near 100 pounds. Now it is 65 pounds. E-biking a bike with the TSDZ2 and two batteries I use adds about 20 lbs. That is for summer long rides and does include camping equipment, water and food for a day and full rain gear. So my loaded e-biked touring bikes weigh less than my regular touring bikes do when loaded.
For many years I toured with four panniers, a large handlebar bag and a large underseat bag for tools and supplies. Then, in 2014, when I bought my V-Rex from a friend in Longmont CO, I needed to figure out how to ride it home with only a rear rack for panniers. That required me figuring out how to do loaded touring with out front bags. That was not a trivial change but. having figured out how to do it, I realized it saved a lot of weight and reduced air resistance.
Now I tour with two large rear panniers instead of four smaller panniers on all my bikes in the summer and I even have toured, without camping equipment, with only a single large rear pannier and my large underseat bag mounted on the other side of the rear wheel to balance the weight. That one pannier weighs 10 pounds and my loaded camping pannier also weighs ten pounds. Getting rid of the font panniers makes riding my loaded bike feel much more like riding an unloaded bike and noticeably reduces the weight and the bikes air resistance.
Hi Mike
It'd be lovely to call in to see Rebecca. The problem is that she's in Australia and I'm not. But the site looks useful and I appreciate your suggesting it.
Thanks again.
happy days
léo
2 years ago