I bought an Ebike

[_MeDotOrg]

I used to be a serious recreational rider. I didn't race, but I used to ride about 180 miles a week, did century rides, the Aids ride, etc. Many years ago I caught a trolley track while wearing toe clips and tore by ACL clean off the bone. It was reattached, but my leg has never been the same. I gradually stopped riding.

I've been out of work since March, so I'm going a bit stir crazy. Started thinking about an Ebike. Did some research, watched YouTube videos, hung out in Ebike chat rooms. Probably not the smartest thing I've done financially, but YOLO. Rode one home today:



I didn't get the bike until 5pm, so I haven't had much of a ride yet, but WOW. Yeah, it weighs a ton, but going up hills is a breeze. An electric bike is kind of a perfect vehicle in San Francisco: a small city, but very hilly, with poor parking.

For those who are interested, the Bike is a Gazelle Medeo T10. Gazelle is a Dutch bicycle company that's been around since the 1890's. The drive system is a Bosch design that is torque sensing rather than cadence sensing. What that means in practical terms is that the electric power delivery feels much more organic, like your legs belong to Eddy Merckx.

I'll leave a follow up after I've put a few miles on it.

[_Jersey Girl]

I personally cannot wait to see what Shades has to say about this because when I posted that JB bought one he and RI basically mocked it because they are not nice people.

Congratulations on your new ride! JB rides around the neighborhood on his and really enjoys it. It's one of the ways he can escape me since we're "safer at home".

[_MeDotOrg]

Horses for courses, as they say. Yes, ebikes can be expensive, and if you're looking at only bang for the buck, a used motorcycle will get you further faster. But that's not the objective here. I don't own a car, and riding a bike (at this time) is a less risky health proposition to taking the bus.

by the way, have you noticed when you research something on the internet, every other ad you see is for the thing you researched? All I see now are ebike ads!

[_Nomomo]

Looks like a nice ride! It appears from the photo to be what is called a "pedal assist", as most eBikes are.
I bought my 1st eBike a little over 2 years ago.

As my needs and requirements are quite different that yours perhaps, my two eBikes are not pedal assist. They have no pedals (they only have foot rests), and are much smaller so I can fold down the handlebars and carry it easily with one hand onto the Metro Busses, and the Light Rail without crowding, or annoying the other passengers.

Top speed is 18 mph, which is as fast as one needs go on a bicycle.

The deal is, if that your eBike is capable of going more than 18 mph under unassisted electric power then it is illegal to use on the sidewalks regardless of whether or not you are traveling at a much lower speed.

Otherwise if an eBike's top speed is limited to under 18mph, then you can legally ride it on both the Street and Sidewalk. The above is a national regulation everywhere in the United States and Canada.

The "Controller" box on your eBike uses an electronic circuit to limit the electrical power to only supply power upto a speed to 18mph to meet this regulation, using calculations from the signal from the "Hall Sensor" in your rear wheel hub.

[_Gunnar]

Your story reminded me of an accident I had on a solex bike in Sønderborg Denmark. A solex was a lightweight gasoline powered bike that could either be pedaled like an ordinary bike or powered by a small motor that flipped down onto the front wheel and drove it by means of frictional rollers. The front wheel got caught in a trolley track, and the bike stopped dead, causing me to flip headfirst over the handle bars onto the pavement. I immediately shrugged it off and got back on the bike, but I had a headache for an hour or so. The next week, a work crew repaired the pavement where my head hit. True story! Saved by my hard, Norwegian head!

All right, I confess. Though my head is undoubtedly hard, it really didn't do much damage to the pavement. The road repair was nothing more than a previously scheduled removing of the no longer in service trolley tracks.

[Guest]

There are class 1 and class 3 motors. Class 1 gives pedal assist up to 20mph, Class 3 gives pedal assist up to 28mph. Class 3 is not technically legal on certain bike paths, but I think you only get into trouble if you're going over 20. You actually have to look at the model number of the motor to know. A 28mph ebike is not something you need for recreational riding. But Class 3 enables you to keep up with traffic on a lot of city streets. For a lot of riders the torque rating (expressed in newton/meters) is important. Shows how much the bike can carry and push uphill.

Gunnar, I remember those solex bikes! There were actually a few around when I was growing up.

Nomomo, that is a very cool looking bike. Looks like a lot of fun. There are actually 2 kinds of pedal assist: cadence and torque. Cadence is based on how fast you spin the pedals, torque is based on how hard you push the pedals. The majority of torque systems are mid-drive, not hub drive. If you ride a cadence bike and then a torque bike, you will experience the difference. The torque sensor seems much more married to your natural style of riding. There is much less of a learning curve as to how to integrate the electric power, it just feels more intuitive.

And Shades, Specialized makes a racing ebike for only $14,500! Such a deal!

[Guest]

Horses for courses, as they say. Yes, ebikes can be expensive, and if you're looking at only bang for the buck, a used motorcycle will get you further faster. But that's not the objective here. I don't own a car, and riding a bike (at this time) is a less risky health proposition to taking the bus.

by the way, have you noticed when you research something on the internet, every other ad you see is for the thing you researched? All I see now are ebike ads!

I'm not surprised you don't own a car, if you live in San Francisco. It would be almost as unnecessary as owning a car in a city like Copenhagen (or as the Danes call it, København). The public transportation in that city is so extensive, reliable and cheap, it would be almost insane for a resident there to put up with the inconvenience and expense of fueling, maintaining and insuring a motor vehicle, and the futility of finding a convenient place to park it, unless you needed a motor vehicle for your business. If I wanted to go somewhere in Copenhagen, I either rode my bike, or walked to the nearest bus or trolley stop, and within 90 minutes or so I could arrive at any other desired destination in that city of over 1.5 million people. And that included time waiting at the bus stops and transfer points. I could hardly have gotten anywhere faster by driving myself, especially when counting the time looking and waiting for an available parking spot conveniently near my destination.

[_Jersey Girl]

Saved by my hard, Norwegian head!

I'm a bit skeptical. :confused:

[_Gunnar]

Gunnar, I remember those solex bikes! There were actually a few around when I was growing up.

I'm surprised! The only place I have ever seen them was Europe, specifically Denmark. Did they have them in this country too, or were you in some other country when you saw them?

[_MeDotOrg]

Gunnar, I remember those solex bikes! There were actually a few around when I was growing up.

I'm surprised! The only place I have ever seen them was Europe, specifically Denmark. Did they have them in this country too, or were you in some other country when you saw them?

A few, as in not many. But I remember thinking that has to be the simplest bike conversion. Buy the way, Gunnar Frames are well thought of in biking circles. Gunnar frames are named after Gunnar, shown below: