Slightly OT - Anyone have an ebike? (UPDATE ADDED BELOW)
 

I've been intrigued lately with the idea of getting an ebike. I have had one total knee replacement surgery and need to have the other knee done, so being able to turn on and off the electric assist when needed is appealing to me. I enjoy bike riding other than when it is hard on my knees (particularly on the hills). I'd love to hear from anyone who has actually ridden an ebike since there isn't anyplace around here where I could go test in advance before riding.

We rode them this summer in Gettysburg while on vacation. They definitely assist with hard pedaling and in fact, if you don’t want to pedal at all, you don’t have to. Just turn the throttle on the handgrip and you zip right along. I think they are a great option for people with knee issues. You can adjust how much assistance you use. Turn the throttle a little and pedal as well, pedal without the throttle at all, or use it without any pedaling. It’s too bad you don’t have somewhere to try them out because they’re an investment. Too much money IMO to buy without trying first.

One thing to know is they are heavy. So not really easy to load into the back of a vehicle or put up on a bike rack in the garage, for instance.

We thought about getting them because where we live there are huge hills all around us and we have to drive somewhere to ride our bikes. We looked online for a place near us that sold them because we wanted to be able to try them or at least be able to return them if they weren’t what we wanted. We never pulled the trigger though.

I hope that helps.

This is very helpful. I would be riding the roads around our farm so wouldn't need to load it up to take it anywhere. From research I've done, I think I would want some shocks (since would be riding on dirt roads) and gears (since I would want to do more "riding" than just with assist). I'm tempted to start with a somewhat less expensive model ($700 range vs. $1,500 range) to see how much I like it and then upgrade later if I find I use it regularly. I spent $800 for my Trek bike several years ago so I don't know why I'm hesitating so much to pay a similar amount on the ebike.

I'll have to talk my husband into the assembly part!

Not a comment about riding one, but here in NYC they are highly desirable in terms of theft. In fact, the delivery guys just had a protest asking the city for help because so many of their bikes are getting stolen. My point is, to make sure you have a safe place to store one. My neighbor was hauling one into the elevator because you can't lock them up on the street.

I did read that in some reviews. I have noted some models do have locking batteries and others do not.

I live in an area where we don't even lock our doors so that wouldn't be a concern for us. Our road bikes have been sitting in our carport unlocked for months....I would never have done that while I was still living on the east coast.

I have an ebike for about 5 year and I love it. I go to it to my work which is 15 km. At the moment in the fall it is colder and raining and my body does hurt when I am to long in the rain.But when it is nice weather I use it. I have no regret buying it and have a bike where you can take the battery of.

It is true that during the Corona time there are much ebikes stolen. This season I did not use it a lot to my work in the hospital because there was a ebike gang who were stealing the ebikes in our bicycle storage. They walked with an old bike to the storage and told that they forgot their key to open our bike storage. They even seem to have some keys to open expensive bike locks.

We even have surveillance walking arround and Somehow they steal them when they are not looking. I hope that it will be less next year but I will surely go on my bike for rides in the country for relaxing.

My husband and I ended up getting ebikes -- they are so much fun! I had ridden them first and then he and I rented locally before buying, too. We pretty much always have the assist on unless we are going downhill -- it's no joke that they are a fair bit heavier than a normal bike, so even riding on flats it's nice to have a little bit of assist.

Good to know about the theft issue. I also live somewhere where we don't have to lock and the bikes just get left out, but we talk about loading them up and going somewhere for lunch or whatever. We might have to rethink that.

Good luck with the decision!

A friend of mine just bought one and loves it. She is 65 and there is a very hilly park near her house where she used to ride a conventional bike, but could no longer get up the hills. On the ebike, she can ride up the hills now without getting all tired and winded and she said it's so much more enjoyable. She bought hers from Walmart. It's a foldable bike.

My husband bought a Trek Townie Go https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ie-go/c/EB210/ several years ago and loves it! He bought the Townie because you sit up straighter, it has fatter tires and is just more comfortable for him. He has never been an exercise fan, but he will now do the 22 mile loop to a local state park and back a few times a week.

As others have said, Itis heavy. 55#. We had to get a new bike carrier to transport it. His knees and back always bothered him on his old Trek, but this does not.

Lori

I had an ebike, and gave it away to a family member. I could not use it. I used to bike - a lot. It was a normal weekend to go on a 50 mile bike ride. Then I got into mountain biking. I raced, and traveled to bike events all over the country. So I'm pretty comfortable on a bike, on all kinds of terrain.
The problem for me is that the ebikes are heavy. The first time I went down a fairly steep hill, I was terrified. I was not confident that the brakes would be able to stop such a heavy bike going downhill. If I fell, it was going to hurt - a lot ... If a car pulled out in front of me, I doubted that I could swerve quickly enough.
So then I thought I would just use it for rail/trails or flat areas like along the beach. But the bike was so darn heavy to get into and out of the car, that it just stopped being fun.
I really, really want to like them but I'm just not comfortable on them.