Bicycle Forum

[esoxlucius]

Anybody here use an electric bike? Been thinking of getting one.

As you're probably aware I'm mad keen on cycling, the self powered variety. I'm fit as a fiddle, not an ounce of fat on me, and I feel great, all at 54 years of age.

I have friends who have bought electric bikes with a view to keeping fit. It doesn't work like that with electric bikes. The first inkling of a slight uphill gradient and they "press the button". They are kidding themselves and then wonder why they don't feel any improvements in fitness, or that they don't seem to be losing any of that excess weight.

To feel any real benefits of cycling, you need to occasionally go into the "hurt zone", which I do basically the whole ride! No pain no gain, a well known but very true saying in the world of exercise.

Electric bikes, imo, are ok for true cycling beginners. You only "press the button" when you're going uphill, at least until you get accustomed to the work load of doing it manually. Gradually you will find that you don't need to "press the button", even when going uphill. That is real progress for a beginner and the next step then is to get a normal bike.

But of course you might want one for totally different reasons other than to exercise. Maybe to save fuel money in the car and travel to work and back on it, which is fine.

But if you are going the exercise route then you need to bear in mind what I've said because "that button" is an easy cop out and ultimately you'll not get any of the benefits that true cycling will offer you.

 

[aussieman57]

As you're probably aware I'm mad keen on cycling, the self powered variety. I'm fit as a fiddle, not an ounce of fat on me, and I feel great, all at 54 years of age.

I have friends who have bought electric bikes with a view to keeping fit. It doesn't work like that with electric bikes. The first inkling of a slight uphill gradient and they "press the button". They are kidding themselves and then wonder why they don't feel any improvements in fitness, or that they don't seem to be losing any of that excess weight.

To feel any real benefits of cycling, you need to occasionally go into the "hurt zone", which I do basically the whole ride! No pain no gain, a well known but very true saying in the world of exercise.

Electric bikes, imo, are ok for true cycling beginners. You only "press the button" when you're going uphill, at least until you get accustomed to the work load of doing it manually. Gradually you will find that you don't need to "press the button", even when going uphill. That is real progress for a beginner and the next step then is to get a normal bike.

But of course you might want one for totally different reasons other than to exercise. Maybe to save fuel money in the car and travel to work and back on it, which is fine.

But if you are going the exercise route then you need to bear in mind what I've said because "that button" is an easy cop out and ultimately you'll not get any of the benefits that true cycling will offer you.

I spent many years riding mountain bikes off road so I get what you are saying. I'm a little older than you (a decade) and also in shape. My goal here is to have something that my wife can keep up with me riding.

 

[esoxlucius]

I spent many years riding mountain bikes off road so I get what you are saying. I'm a little older than you (a decade) and also in shape. My goal here is to have something that my wife can keep up with me riding.

I see. So you're riding a normal bike and your wife is riding the electric bike? That's fair enough. There's another well known saying I can quote here...."happy wife, happy life", lol.

I don't think she'd be too pleased with you sticking her on a normal bike and expecting her to ascend like a tour de France climber, lol.

 

[aussieman57]

I see. So you're riding a normal bike and your wife is riding the electric bike? That's fair enough. There's another well known saying I can quote here...."happy wife, happy life", lol.

I don't think she'd be too pleased with you sticking her on a normal bike and expecting her to ascend like a tour de France climber, lol.

I get tired of her telling me to slow down and having to wait for her. LOL

 

[Ulu]

I took Judy out bicycle riding and today I rode the mongoose. I did pump the tires up to 20 psi because they only had about 4 pounds last night. and it was squishy.

Today it was faster riding, but it did not change as much as you might think.

Judy had a much easier time keeping up with me because this bike is indeed kind of slow with the big knobby tires.

For the custom bike I’m only going to run the fat tire on the back and the knobs are going to get shaved off. The front is just gonna be a conventional tire, so it shouldn’t have any more drag than you would expect.

 

[Ulu]

I bought another aluminum wheel bike. I bought it just for the front wheel, tire, tube and rim liner, which altogether at the bike shop would have cost over $100. For a steel wheel. Not aluminum.



Some parts of this bicycle are very very cheap, but some parts of it are amazingly good and I will be using them.

The cassette and the shifter are better than the mongoose gear. I will certainly be using them

 

[Ulu]

So I’ve been putting together a frame jig, where I can build some custom bicycle frames. This is not finished yet but it’s just in the development stages.

There’s the blue Schwinn bike all torn down. I’m using it to establish some set up dimensions.

I thought I wanted a taller frame for my little black Dutch bike and I bought this enormous centurion with the elliptical sprockets & arms.


I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to ride this bike. I might end up customizing this frame.

 

[stratos]

What a neat thread. This is the most detailed "cross-over" cycling/fish-keeping thread I've come across. Happy cycling everyone, and happy fish keeping. I've been riding a 1988 Rocky Mountain Stratos aluminum "mountain bike" as a commuter (bought it new), and a 2006 Trek 5200 carbon fibre racer (also bought new) for long distance club riding. I like to cycle really long distances, starting at 200km. Any other randonneurs here?

 

[esoxlucius]

What a neat thread. This is the most detailed "cross-over" cycling/fish-keeping thread I've come across. Happy cycling everyone, and happy fish keeping. I've been riding a 1988 Rocky Mountain Stratos aluminum "mountain bike" as a commuter (bought it new), and a 2006 Trek 5200 carbon fibre racer (also bought new) for long distance club riding. I like to cycle really long distances, starting at 200km. Any other randonneurs here?

I'm a keen cyclist. I've got two carbon racers. If I tried doing those type of distances on my racing geometry frames I'd be a cripple, lol.

I used to do longer rides when I was younger. Spending 5 or 6 hours in the saddle was the norm for me, but nowadays I prefer much shorter punchier rides of around 2 hours.

 

[stratos]

I hear you on the appeal of shorter rides. I'm thinking my randonneur days may be behind me, though I do like the full-body work out that a 8-9 hour ride provides.