E-bikes: anybody have one?

[The Annoyed Man]

I'm getting very interested in e-bikes and have been looking at some of them online. It's an expensive proposition, so I'm trying to do my due diligence. So far, the one I keep coming back to is the Rad Power Bikes "RadRover" model, which at $1,499.00 is considered to be an "entry level" model. However, it seems to have a lot of features for that price.

Do any of you guys own an e-bike, and if so, what model, and why that one?

[TreyHouston]

Go to a Bernie rally. These kids that dont have rent can afford those!

[striker55]

Actually the fat tire bike I have people have converted it to an ebike

[striker55]

Video showing the fat bike in action

[The Annoyed Man]

Striker55, I considered the possibility of powering an inexpensive fat bike. I took a good long look at the Dolomite, like you suggested. What does an upgrade like that MXUS hub motor cost?

[treadlightly]

If I win the lottery, a long shot since I refuse to waste money on tickets, I"m thinking one of these would be nice to add to the two wheel fleet:

[striker55]

I have no idea, I just knew that people did that. The second video I think the guy said he sold the parts.

[Abraham]

I had no idea these critters existed.

Do you peddle to store up juice in the battery?

Or, is there no peddling involved?

Being a cycling purist, I look at them with a rather jaundiced eye, but simultaneously I'm intrigued.

[The Annoyed Man]

I had no idea these critters existed.

Do you peddle to store up juice in the battery?

Or, is there no peddling involved?

Being a cycling purist, I look at them with a rather jaundiced eye, but simultaneously I'm intrigued.

There's different systems, but all have pedals and a crank. Some are hub drives, some are mounted to the crank. Some have regenerative braking, others do not. But I haven't seen one yet that charges the battery while you pedal. I would think that the cranking energy required to charge the battery would cancel out the cranking power put out by the motor. At best, you'd have a zero sum result. The manufacturer (Rad Power Bikes) that I'm looking at offers 4 models, 2 of which do not have regenerative braking. The two that don't are more off-road oriented, and the two that do are more "city bikes".

The model that I am looking at - as do most of the models - has a large rechargeable 12 volt battery that mounts somewhere on the frame, which puts out 750 Watts and is good for as much as 40 miles using cranking assist mode, or about 20 miles in throttle mode. In cranking assist mode, you set how much assist you want (levels 1 to 5) by means of the handlebar mounted LCD control interface. The controller itself is a separate box that is mounted down low on the back of the seat stay tube. You can simply turn the whole system off, and then you have a regular, but very heavy bicycle. The 7 lb battery can be removed, and you can ride without it, but the motor is in the rear hub, so that's a fixed asset that is always going to be there as part of the weight, and the bike is still very heavy.

This particular model weighs in at 63 lbs with the battery mounted, but heavy weight is endemic to pretty much all of them, as they are pretty much all in the 50-60 lb weight range. Next to beefy frames, the items which contribute the most weight seem to be the battery, drive hub, and - in the case of the one I'm looking at - fat 4.5" tires and wide steel laceup wheels. Some of that weight can be dispensed with by upgrading the tires and wheels. But some of it, like the motor and battery, are unavoidable if you want to have an e-bike. I don't know much about bicycle tire manufacturers, but back when I rode motorcycles, Kenda knobby tires were generally regarded as junk dirt bike tires that were not much for performance, but good for just burning up on rocky hills because they were cheap. Many of the fat bikes I've seen, both powered and unpowered, seem to come with Kenda tires, and apparently, those tires and their tubes are very heavy. It is possible with an infusion of cash to replace both the wheels and the tires/tubes with much lighter units of the same width.

Here's a video that explains a lot about the RadRover model, and it's companion model the RadWagon:


The purists, for the most part, mock those who buy e-bikes .....and come off sounding very elitist and close-minded, by the way..... and those who are more open-minded see them as opening up bicycling to a whole new bunch of people who are either not able (like me, for now) or not interested in working so hard just to go for a ride. MY opinion, FWIW, is that there's a place for both at the table, and in fact, many of the e-biker posts I read on forums were from people who owned both powered and unpowered bikes, and who ride them both. The biggest concern the off-road purists have is that the powered bikes will tear up the trails, primarily because they can climb faster. But the purists forget that hikers had the same concern about mountain bikers in the early days of off-road biking, and it took some years of mountain bikers proving that they too can be good stewards of the trails they ride before they began to be accepted by hikers. In one thread I was reading on mtbr.com, it was a thread titled "The ebike everyone has been waiting for" in the "E-bikes" forum, it was basically a hate-fest with purists (including the moderators, by the way) lecturing the e-bike owners about being irresponsible, and not having enough equity in the game to have "earned" the right to ride on trails.......yada yada yada. They sounded like a bunch of local surfers threatening a visiting surfer...... "this ain't your beach, man!" Really. Funny thing is, I was there years ago, as a so-cal mountain-biker, when mountain-bikers were first trying to prove that they could be trusted out in nature, and years later, there were still people out there tearing up trails, proving that, as a class, mountain-bikers didn't have a lock on virtuous behavior either.

That crap chased me away from that website before I even posted my first post. I went and joined the forum at electricbikereview.com, where the discussion is much more civil, and at least focused on the object of my interest. And by the way, I also own a very nice Giant Trance mountain bike, which I would ride today if I could. Maybe, if I can get back into good enough condition, I will ride it again some day. I'm not opposed to "pure" bicycling. But right now, between various injuries and an incipient weight problem, I can't do it. If an e-bike will get me out riding and get me out of doors and active, and help me to get back into shape and lose more weight, then I frankly don't care what the purists think. They can do them, and I'll do me. Meanwhile, the guys at electricbikereview.com seem supercool, and they gave me good advice. You can see the thread here: https://electricbikereview.com/forum/th ... ver.13863/. My question and their answers begin about 2/3 of the way down the page (you'll recognize my avatar).

[Abraham]

TAM,

Yikes, I'm not that kind of purist. I loath elitism.

You're interest and desire to get one of these bikes is great!

Once you get started and get stronger as you obviously know you will having been a mountain biker in the past, I see an E-Bike as a great idea.

Having various injuries myself, I have some idea of what you're going through. My need for exercise, but having to postpone and heal up is crazy making for me...

Having crashed/injured because of a distracted cell phoner caused me to cut back my mileage significantly.

Having experienced said injury due to a cell phone distracted idiot, (the worst of the lot being those who text and drive caused me recently to post some hyperbole in wanting them to go to prison, but if you ever been injured by one it's kinda like how a liberal becomes a Conservative after they've been mugged epiphany, but I digress...

For sure, I love cycling and an E-bike is just another form of it.

So, I say go for it!

[The Annoyed Man]

Well, we ordered our bikes! Two RadRovers from RadPowerBikes.com: https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/ ... 1121017969


Specifications here: https://www.radpowerbikes.com/pages/rad ... ical-specs

I'm super excited. I'll still be gimping around on my feet for a while, but I can for sure ride a bike right now.

[Chris]

If you do get one, research long and hard before you go off riding it. I've heard ACOE managed trails will not allow them.

[The Annoyed Man]

If you do get one, research long and hard before you go off riding it. I've heard ACOE managed trails will not allow them.

Yes, I am aware that they are not universally welcomed. The key to that is for e-bikers to participate in trail maintenance work parties and demonstrate to both the rest of the riding community and any governing authorities that they will be good citizens on the trails. For now, the only ACOE managed hiking/biking trails in my immediate area would be those around Grapevine Lake. It is my understanding that the legalities have to do with whether or not the bike will exceed 20 mph under its own power; because realistically, simply coasting downhill off the power on a fat-tired e-bike, you're not going to be going faster or doing any more damage to the trail than any other slightly heavy fat bike.

Anyway, thanks for the reminder. I'll be careful to check if there's any doubt.

[oljames3]

TAM, until ACE revokes the firearms prohibition, riding on ACE land is a non-starter, isn't it.


When I first saw this thread, I thought you were talking about a real bike. Then I realized you meant electronic, so I thought of this:
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM, until ACE revokes the firearms prohibition, riding on ACE land is a non-starter, isn't it.

Yeah.....you got me there! I totally forgot about that. You're right. It's a non-starter.

When I first saw this thread, I thought you were talking about a real bike. Then I realized you meant electronic, so I thought of this:
http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

I've been curious about those electric powered motorcycles, but probably not enough to own one, primarily for reasons of relatively limited range. If I ever buy another motorcycle, it will be something with some serious range and comfort......not a "commuter bike". I've owned my share of sport bikes and dual sports. My next motorcycle will be either a sport tourer or full dresser. My RadRover bicycle, with between a 20 and 40 mile range, will get me almost anywhere within a 20 mile radius of my house as long as I'm willing to use pedal-assist instead of throttle. And if I'm going solo, I can double that range just by putting the battery from my wife's bike into a backpack or other bag, carried on the rear rack.

But, unless the zombie apocalypse comes true and there's no more gasoline available, I have no intention of making the RadRover my primary transportation. I like driving my car too much for that.