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First 100 miles on my E-Bike

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Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#21

Post by mitchtbaum »

mindB wrote: post #9

Author seems to think an internal drivetrain for a bike would be more reliable. Maybe somebody more mechanical can chime in, but my understanding was that the opposite was true: only reason cars have to use an internal drivetrain is for cooling and external ones are generally more reliable?

This looks like an interesting approach. Perhaps there's a better, universal way to do it:

Nuseti mountain bike features a sealed drivetrain - New Atlas

https://newatlas.com/nuseti-inner-drive-system-mountain-bike...

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#22

Post by username223 »

CompelTechnic wrote: post #11
mindB wrote: post #9

Author seems to think an internal drivetrain for a bike would be more reliable. Maybe somebody more mechanical can chime in, but my understanding was that the opposite was true: only reason cars have to use an internal drivetrain is for cooling and external ones are generally more reliable?

External drivetrains are exposed to dirt and debris, which wears down the bearing faces quickly. There are certain bicycles that use partially enclosed chains and sprockets for which chain maintenance is greatly reduced.

Bearing faces? Most bikes have sealed bearings these days, so there's no need to overhaul your bearings after riding in the rain. The chain and cogs need some cleaning and lube, but modern dry chain lube also makes that much less onerous.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#23

Post by johnbender »

> My third favorite thing is that I can get to work in basically the same amount of time as driving. On my E-Bike, it takes 22 minutes to get to work (7.5 miles). It takes me 15 minutes to drive there.

I live about 6 miles from where I work in Los Angeles. I ride my bike (not an E-bike) in three or four times a week. It takes me 25 minutes on average. By contrast, it takes me at least 35 minutes to drive, not including time to park and walk to the office.

I ride on neighborhood roads most of the way for safety, I have to do some personal cleanup when I get there and Los Angeles is particularly bad where traffic is concerned. With all that in mind, it's still worth considering for others in a similar situation.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#24

Post by jordache »

username223 wrote: post #17
CydeWeys wrote: post #10

I'm surprised the author spent so much money building on top of a base bike of such low quality. That department store bike is what bike snobs would call a "bicycle-shaped object". You certainly shouldn't not be cheaping out on the actual bicycle for an e-bike, as you're putting the bike (and particularly the brakes) through forces they were not properly designed for. The author even admits such: > The brakes are oft…

This. For the $1500 the author spent, he could have bought a decent bike instead of strapping a motor on a $200 piece of cast-iron junk. Plus, a 1000-watt motor is ridiculous: that's the kind of power generated by a pro sprinter, and over twice what a pro climber generates on average. A 100-watt boost would be enough of an advantage to make most hills easy, and would probably weigh and cost far less.

> $200 piece of cast-iron junk.

He used an alu bike...

mechanical disc brakes worked for a decade before hydraulics.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#25

Post by freefal67 »

jmull wrote: post #19

The laws around e-bikes in the US can be a deterrent. E.g.: [The Murky Legality of E-Bikes]( https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/02/the-murky-legality-of... ) The second paragraph gives you the flavor of it: > Under federal law, an electric bike with a maximum assisted speed under 20 miles per hour can be sold as a bicycle, not a motor vehicle. Under New York state law, riders would need to register these as they wou…

This isn't enforced in New York. Every delivery guy in the city is now riding an e-bike. They're a menace. Their bikes weigh a ton and they occasionally utilize the sidewalks. I had a friend who was knocked to the ground by one.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#26

Post by jordache »

I still think the opportunity cost of not having a car is greater than whatever you pay to make it instantly available, should you want to take that trip during poor weather, or sufficient distance to make the ebike non applicable.

Unless you are content with the daily patterns that are constraint by the range of your e-bike.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#27

Post by waytogo »

I don't grok e-bikes. I like them and I'd like to get one but I just don't know how I will manage the charging. I am livinig in a big city and have no garage and no wall socket in front of my street door. And 100% of all destinations I ride to don't have wall sockets for charging neither.

So, I would need to carry every time the heavy battery upstairs (3 floors)? I am anyway always full-loaded with bags or whatever and don't want to carry every-time this stupid battery as well.

Then, the really beautiful e-bikes have an integrated battery in the frame, a bit like the iPhones. How should this now work?? I carry the 17-20kg bike upstairs every time?

Ok, only if you have a house with a garage in some suburb you can ride those bikes but then you are usually so far way from the city center that you need a car again.

As a final note: These bikes are so much heavier (17kg and up) and I am wondering if it's that much more effort to ride a light 10kg bike without any electrical motor.

So, I am really curious about the real use case of e-bikes.

Edit: Why the downvote?

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#29

Post by patcheudor »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #14
agumonkey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

16mph is already surprisingly dangerous in crowded situations

I've found with mine drivers can be surprised, especially on inclines They expect you to slow to a crawl but you keep going and they find they haven't left enough room to pass.

This! I was a semi-professional (CAT 1/2) racer in college and routinely road in the 22 to 30+ MPH range. 30+ MPH is surprisingly easy on busy roads with a good draft coming off traffic. A day wouldn't go by while riding in the city that I didn't have a close call with a car and in fact a bus hit me once while passing me on a corner (the driver cut the corner, going over the white-line). In order to not die I did a lot of accident avoidance training and in fact this was something our team routinely pushed as part of our training. We'd focus on one particular aspect each month like learning how to crash by renting out some time at a gymnastics gym (foam pit).

I can't imagine anything past 15 MPH for the general public is a safe thing based solely on the bike handling skills of the majority of the general public. I literally put hundreds of hours into developing top-level bike handling skills that 99% of the population will never reach in order to ride quickly because once you reach a certain speed threshold, the threats (drivers not expecting you) and risks (more kinetic energy between you and the ground and you and a vehicle) go up significantly.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#30

Post by rorykoehler »

WA wrote: post #6

I have put about 3,000km on my E-bike in the last 1.5 years. It's limited to 25km/h, because then I don't need a license, it's fast enough for city traffic (mostly in bike lanes anyways) and I get to tow a trailer for my kid. Biggest advantage: Hills don't exist for me. We live in a city with quite a few hills and day care is about 70-100m below our appartment. Doing this trip twice a day with its 15% slope would tak…

The 25km/h limit is why I won't buy one. Pointless for normal use.
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