In those early days, when another biker would finally realize that I was riding an electric bike, they would say: Why are you riding an electric bike, don’t you ride a bike for exercise? I could never convince them, but I would say if you want more exercise, you just reduce the assist level or ride faster. Four years later, I got him onto an ebike.įigure 5: With My Grandson, Now 10. I had a big success with my 5-year-old grandson in 2015 (Figure 2) when I took him to a big empty parking lot, gave him a little push, and he rode off like he had been doing it for years.
#Izip bike with 500w rear hub motor how to#
Over the years, I have taught a number of my children and grandchildren how to ride bikes. Some people are human dynamos and can do these things without a problem, but they are showstoppers for the rest of us. It also makes pulling your kids or grandkids in a bike trailer a breeze rather than a miserable chore (Figures 6 and 7). I was soon to learn the advantages of electric bikes: they virtually eliminate problems with the things you hate most about biking - going up steep hills (in some areas, steep hills make regular bikes impossible for most people), biking into a strong headwind, and making that trip that is longer than your comfortable range. However, I got some test rides and I was hooked. They weren’t for sale, and Cannondale wasn’t even supporting them in the US. They were European demos from a bike show. How I first learned about ebikes: In 2013, I walked into a bike store in American Fork, Utah, where the owner had picked up two Cannondale ebikes. I like my newest Fantic bike even better and accumulated over 1000 miles in the five weeks my Bulls bike was in for repairs to replace the motor that I wore out. My longtime favorite Bulls E-Stream EV FS AM 45 Class 3 bike has almost 8,000 miles on it. I ride my electric bike almost every day and estimate that I have ridden almost 20,000 ebike miles over the last seven years. I started riding ebikes and bought my first electric car at about the same time, in 2014. There are very different types of electric bikes and they can be suited to each type of riding - you just have to get the right match for you. Bottom line: you get the versatility of a wide-tire mountain bike with much less physical effort than a $15,000 road bike. This was a revelation to me and I now spend at least 20% of my riding off-road. You can ride off-road single-track trails. You can veer off the pavement onto the shoulder and most likely just ride back up onto the pavement.
You can drop off a curb or hit one and hardly notice it.
#Izip bike with 500w rear hub motor full#
Going to an ebike, you have wide mountain bike tires, you can have full suspension and disc brakes, and you can gain not two or three percent but a 500% in assist to your muscles (from the motor). Forget riding for even a short run on gravel - it is miserable. Driving off pavement is asking for a thorn and a flat. Also, if you hit a curb or drop off a curb, you could also be in big trouble. After that, you still have a bike with very narrow hard tires that rides well only on very smooth pavement, and if you happen to veer off the pavement onto gravel, dirt, or grass, you are likely to have an unhappy ending. Problem: Some people spend many thousands of dollars for an extremely light carbon-fiber road bike with wheels with deep fairings to gain only a percent or two in efficiency. (Image courtesy of Specialized.) Why You Should Consider An Ebike Last, I will lay out ebike tips for everyone.įigure 1: S-Works Turbo Creo SL, $15,000 carbon-fiber bike. Then, I will go through my history with ebikes. I have also ridden fat-tire bikes as rentals, which come with some tips of their own.įirst, I will explain why you really need to buy an e-bike. However, to help out those who are curious about ebikes, I will concentrate on basic principles that I have learned over seven years of riding two rear-hub-drive bikes and three mid-drive bikes. For that reason, I couldn’t possibly evaluate them all. There are well over a hundred electric bike manufacturers now, and it seems like it will be a thousand soon. The number of ebikes is getting up there, too. I like to say: I do a pretty good impression of a 90 year old when I walk, but when I ride my electric bike, I feel like I’m 20. Interested in getting an electric bike (ebike)? Curious about ebikes? Like reading stories about ebikes? This article and guide includes the following sections to cover those different interests:
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