Does anyone have an electric bike?

Have to say the Idea of an electric Bike is becoming more and more appealing with costs of running a car. I know not suitable for everyone but for me, I'm doing less than 2km a year, diesel car, live quite rural ,main shopping town 19km but roads good. Its downhill there, uphill back (live in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

@8valve makes excellent points, my own worry is servicing .I've done a little research and locally electric bikes up around the 2.5 / 3k Mark, on recommendations have looked at rad bikes (online) and they offer excellent value, I know opinions differ and of course you'll pay for Quality, Specs, Brand but have to say I'm 90% committed to taking the plunge in early 2022 😏 will just maybe have to talk nicely to neighbours when weather not so good 😁

Both my parents have one, and absolutely love them.

Personally think they’re fantastic, especially in terms of getting people who wouldn’t be the fittest or most keen on getting on the bike (for example my ma who hadn’t ridden a bike in 20/30 years now cycles her radbike 6km each way into work).

They make a huge difference in terms of effort, particularly if there’s any hills, but it’s not completely sailing along, you do still need to pedal.

Any cycling is better than no cycling so go for it, great story from Squidgy aswell that's the real benefit of them, although the first time an oldie flew past me on my push bike i was concerned until i realized they were on one of these bikes !

Please do report back, I've seen there's a backlog but at least they are very transparent about this and pre orders etc 😏

Got a VanMoof at the start of Jan.

Have put over 1,500 km on it so far, mostly just cycling around my local area but with a few commuter trips into the city (the actual reason I got it, naively thinking back when I ordered it that I'd be long back in the office by now).

Every kilometre that I do on it is one that I would have either driven, got a bus or DART, or just not done at all. For me, it hasn't replaced a regular bike, it has mostly replaced my second car. I wasn't a cyclist previously. For me there have been no downsides, only benefits.

I'd suggest that you also budget for decent rain gear - jacket, gloves, overshoes or waterproof boots and trousers. Get some decent lightweight ones and you won't need to rely on the neighbours at all, except on icy days! Full length mudguards and decent rain gear and you will be fine on even the wettest days. Also, decent lights, but a lot of ebikes seem to have them built in. You won'r regret it anyway. I'd be getting one instead of our tiny second car if the kids were a bit bigger. Though to be fair, the tiny car is electric so better than most for tootling around and costs almost nothing to run aside from the insurance. When it's just me and the wife i'll be shifting the second car and going full time bike.

I've been commuting 18km each way for over a year now, 8000km up on an e-bike..

Saved a lot of time sitting on buses and on fuel for the car.

If you are getting one, as above make sure you buy from a reputable place, if its not specced correctly or a cheaper model you can end up with brakes that aren't properly able to stop the bike, or wheels that are fine on a regular bike that aren't able to deal with the added force of the motor - broken spokes etc..

I have an electric bike I got about six months ago - and it's hands down the best thing I ever spent money on!

Not sure I'd be using it to replace a car if I lived up a mountain, mind you.....

I did have a real bike until about 2 years ago, and didn't use it as much as I should have because it was usually just too much like hard work to get home. I don't cycle for fitness, I cycle to get from A to B.

The battery just takes all the pain out of cycling now - if I'm against the wind, or uphill, or both, just boost the power and Bob's yer uncle!

The rest of the time, I keep it at minimum assistance so I'm still actually cycling and getting a bit of exercise.

I live in the city and mostly only tootle around the place, so I got basically a commuter bike that I'll never break any land-speed records on - it's a folding one with only 7 hub gears - if I was buying again, I'd probably go for a normal hybrid-style, but this one suits just grand for now.

I did rent a monster electric mountain bike away on holidays recently to tour an island, and it was an absolute beast of a thing! Fantastic fun!!

I honestly couldn't recommend the e-bike experience highly enough - I'd say my car use has dropped by a third, and for one particular journey I regularly make which could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 in the car depending on traffic levels, it's a guaranteed 20 mins (15 if I hoof it) door to door, which is another great advantage.

I bought a Himo Z20 recently and use it for a 20km round trip commute to work. I'm only in office 1 or 2 days a week but loving it so far. I plan to eventually sell our second car as it gets such little use at this stage. I've been lucky so far in terms of not needing wet gear but will definitely invest in some soon. E-bike is great in that I'm not sweaty at all going in to work and then can still get some exercise on the way home.

I would disagree about smaller wheels being easier to cycle - they're incredibly twitchy.

Mine has smaller wheels, but has a spring "damper" on the front wheel that steadies the steering, so it cycles like a full-size bike - I tried a few of the other folding bikes with small wheels and I found them fairly lethal!

I never even considered the wheel size to be honest. Just that it would have the range for my commute and be comfortable. The fact it folds is handy also as it takes up less space in a hallway.

Just curious about the part where you say the motor stops assisting at speeds over 25km/h. Does that mean that if you wish to travel at 30km/h you have to do all the work or does the motor still assist? Sorry if it sounds like a stupid question - I have no experience of e bikes.

if you can cycle a heavy ebike at 30kmh.......maybe you don't need an ebike!! :-)

No issues so far. It's good build quality, weighs 20kg with the battery in.

I'd be a decent enough cyclist and own a few road bikes. I bought an eBike for just scooting around the area, dropping the kids off to the creche with a trailer, doing a short commute (8km) into the office ...etc. Basically when I don't want to break a sweat.

I received my new ebike during the week and took her up Howth head in Dublin, inclines up to about 9% in sections. Here's my experience of it.

So firstly the bike is limited to 25km/h, it has a mid drive motor and has levels of assist (eco, normal, high), the top level provides 200% power assistance on top of what you're putting through the pedals, torque of 60nm. The bike weights 17kg which isn't light, but it's light for an ebike. The bike is a 1x crank with 9 gears. The gear range is ok.

Anyway I took it out in high assist mode and along the coast from Clontarf. The moment you start pedalling you can feel the bike accelerating with greater effort than you're putting in. On the flats i got to 25km/h with a 3-4 seconds. The computer on the bike has power bar which indicates how much "help" you're getting at any point in time. The motor does cut out at 25km/h. So when you go above 25km/h you're effectively on your own. This is fine, normally when I'm going above this I was on a slight decline so you're not really working much.

I then took it up Howth, Sutton side up by the graveyard. I was wearing jeans, jumper and a jacket for my sweat test :) ... On a road bike at best on the steepest sections I might average about 16-18kph depending on the day. On the ebike i was consistently around 20-21kph and it felt like I was just riding on a flat surface, so it really does flatten the road. The nice thing about the gears and a mid drive is you have full assistance of the motor across every gear, which you don't get with a van moof or something like it, so you have alot more options. I got to the top of Howth head easily, without sweating or huffing puffing staying well under 25kph. The total trip was 23km and i used about 20% of the battery apparently.

I have to say it's a great bike and it really fills a niche for me. I won't be using it for exercise, still a road bike enthusiast, it's really for the times when I need the convenience. Like hauling a kids trailer up some hills twice a day on the creche drop!

btw this is the bike I got

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/vitus-mach-electric-bike-2021/rp-prod195707

J

Hi All,

Anyone know what is # 1 the best commuting ebike that one can buy ? # 2 What is the best ebike in the 1000 / 1500 bracket ?

Also do you think they are prone to getting robbed more, if left hitched to street furniture ?

Thanks,

6541

1) Is too subjective. The range is vast and varied. Best to look at from point of view of the requirements and research the bikes that fit those requirements. What drive type you require, is torque important to you, what daily km range would you cover, do you need gearing, is the commute hilly, do you want a throttle...etc.

There are options in the 1k-1.5k ... Radbikes seem to be the obvious popular choice from what I see around town.

Regarding theft, any bike is a target in town. Nicer bikes will catch the eye. Make it less attractive to rob, lock it well, take the battery and control computer with you if possible.

Most ebikes have removable batteries, which are locked to the frame with a key, however they do come in different shapes and sizes. So while it might be possible to remove, it might not be practical to carry around with you. This is my battey. It weighs 2.5kg.

The controller clips off like any bike computer.

Yeah the key is just making the bike a pain to rob quickly. I'd favour a decent chain and padlock over a U-Lock. With the latter thieves will wreck the bike trying to get it by using the bike as a lever to snap the U-Lock.

Out of interest what tyres are you running on the Vado?