Electric bicycles?

saddletramp

saddletramp

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saddletramp
I know this sounds a bid strange but I'm considering buying an ebike. For exercise mostly.

My wife is on a mission to buy me a new bike for Christmas. I really need to drop around 40LBS. I have a 20 year old Schwinn mountain bike that I absolutely hate. I bought it from a friend and the frame has always been too large for me. Thus, I seldom ride it. So she persuaded me to stop at a local bike shop & just look.

I rode a bunch of bikes around the neighborhood near the bike shop despite the 30 degree temps. There were several I really liked. I came to the realization that my wife was right...if I bought a bike I actually liked I would ride much more. I was about to tell her to go ahead & buy me a Specialized brand hybrid bike when the salesman asked me if i wanted to try an electric bike with "pedal assist". The bike looked high-tech and cool so why not. He explained a few things & off I rode.

I loved it. It was fantastic. I could have a little pedal assist or none. It shifted like a normal bike but the harder you pedaled the easier it got. I was pedaling at a moderate pace, looked at the speedo, & was doing 26MPH! When I shut the pedal assist off it became a regular bike again except a bit heavy.

My wife wants me to ride with her a lot more. She is ten years younger than I am so at times I just don't have the energy to ride as long or as far as she'd like. Our average ride is 7 to 10 miles or so. I figured with the ebike I could use pedal assist when I was a bit worn out and let her keep riding to her heart's content.

It appears from the research done electric bikes actually offer good exercise. Owners tend to ride them more often & for further distances. I'm thinking this is is a win win.

Any ebike riders out there?
 
saddletramp said:
I really need to drop around 40LBS.
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You can ride that bike across the entire country and you're not going to lose 40 lbs. It's all about your diet. I weighed 255 lbs. or thereabouts 6 months ago. I'm now at 210 lbs which is right where I wanted to be. I reduced my calorie intake to about 1800-2000 a day plus going to the gym twice a week and doing HIT exercises. I still eat my steak and potatoes and have a cinnamon roll every now and then. I just don't eat a 32 oz porterhouse, or a huge cinnabon in one sitting like I used too. I get those Costco mini cinnamon rolls. A couple of them and my sweet tooth is satisfied. ;)
 
One of my customers owns a bike store, and he said e-bikes are very popular. He said it makes riding fun again. And he said you do get plenty of exercise.
 
A powered bike to lose weight........ hmmmmm....

Years ago someone dumped a moped in the ditch next to our race shop. We retrieved it and actually got it running. I don't think we lost any weight with it though.

I will say once we bored and stroked the engine we did get a lot more speed out of it.
 
saddletramp said:
I

My wife wants me to ride her a lot more. She is ten years younger than I am so at times I just don't have the energy to ride as long or as far as she'd like.
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Yeah, it happens dude. Getcha a regular bike and get some energy. ;):D
 
IMG_3631.JPG I have an ebike. Ignore what these other uninformed people are saying..you can definitely get great exercise and burn calories...plus it's fun!!!

I bought my ebike over a year ago and it has been a game changer. I now commute to work on my bike about 75% of the time....12 miles each way. In the car it takes 45-1:10 depending on traffic (Los Angeles). With the bike it's always @ 40 minutes...plus it's fun! My bike has a Bluetooth app that controls and monitors functions. It calculates that I burn 400 calories each way to and from work. Trust me...I feel like I'm getting exercise....I'm just not all sweaty when I get to my destination. I also use my ebike for trips in my car and airplane. As you may have noticed, ebikes are typically kinda heavy, but the model I bought is one of the lightest, at 35 lbs, plus it folds up very well...fits great in my Grumman Tiger.

There are tons of options out there. They vary greatly in price and functionality, depending on how you want to use it. My particular model (Gocycle G3) goes up to 25 mph and gets between 20-50 miles per charge depending on your settings plus how you ride it.) My advice is don't go for the cheapest. Not to say you have to spend tons of money....but you often get what you pay for. The absolute best site to go to is www.electricbikereview.com. It's an excellent resource...plus he has a great YouTube channel that reviews just about every bike out there (and there are many!) Lemme know if you have any questions.
 
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This is something I need to give more consideration to. I don't need to lose weight (in fact if I did I'd end up in a casket) but when I was in my 30's I rode a lot, and now I'm a couch potato. I could see using the pedal assist for inclines and then turning it off for flat and downhill.

Won't unwind 20yrs... but it might be nice to feel like I'm 40 again :)
 
I own a lot of bikes. My work afforded me the opportunity to get free or deeply discounted high-end bikes so I did. Mountain and road and gravel. My current favorite is my E fat bike. E bikes are awesome. Not nearly the workout of a regular bike but fantastic nonetheless. And riding an E bike is way better exercise than not riding at all.
 
Wingsofglass said:
And riding an E bike is way better exercise than not riding at all.
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An electric powered bicycle probably gives a person more exercise than sitting in a chair drinking beer and eating vinegar and sea salt potato chips.
 
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