Before we go too far, I want to make crystal clear that the following thoughts on eBikes apply to me and me only. I’m not telling you what to ride or how to ride it. The bicycle is a freedom machine, and it’s not for me to tell you what to do with your freedom.
So.
I bought an eBike. Of course I did. It took some time to concoct a reasonable rationale, but I got there eventually, because it’s a bike after all, and I had to know what it was all about. The bike I bought is a commuter/errand style contraption. Sometimes you don’t want to get sweaty just to pick up a prescription or drop a thing off at a friend’s house. To me, this felt like the most obvious application for an eBike, though I have some friends who ride eMTBs and think they’re very fun.
My eBike purchase did not go very well, but that’s neither here nor there. I will sometimes use this bike for errands, but far less than I imagined I would. Why is that? As it turns out, I actually prefer to pedal (and yes, I know, you have to pedal most eBikes at least a little bit.).
Let’s go back to my friends who ride eMTBs. They’re roughly my age (50s), and their lives are busy. At some point they let go of the habit of riding all the time, and that means they have less pedaling fitness than they used to. They still want to enjoy the occasional trail day with friends, but not having the legs or lungs means they have one way to stay in the game.
It works for them.
But this is sorta my nightmare scenario, the day when I can’t ride the rides I daydream about. My favorite riding right now is technical single-track. In New England, that means punchy little climbs, muscular moves on boulders, etc. For me, the experience is richly kinesthetic, by which I mean I like the pedaling part, but also the synchronization of mind and body that completes each challenging move. It requires a certain amount of fitness. For me (and I repeat FOR ME), the experience will be less satisfying on an eBike.
One day, perhaps I will need an electric motor to access these experiences I crave, but that day is not here yet, and I’m inclined to put it off as long as I’m able.
As an aide, the question of where and how eBikes belong in performance scenarios, e.g. on group road rides or in the woods, is an open one. Our bike culture is still sorting out how it feels about all that. I try to remain agnostic. Inclusive feels better than exclusive to me, so I’m not inclined to tell folks where they should or shouldn’t be on their eBikes.
But I’ve decided for myself.
I’m not riding an eBike, because I’m dedicated to being able to continue riding my other bikes. I still have physical ambitions that require whatever fitness I can muster still. The electric motor sings a sort of Siren song. I hear it, but for now I’m staying the course.
Good read, Robot! Or is it Emlyn now?
I’ll turn 70 in a few months, assuming I make it. Still riding the bikes I rode ten and twenty years ago, including technical trail riding where one can FDGB. Major difference is the corncob cassettes have turned into something more closely resembling a frisbee. the 12-23 cassettes are now 12-32 cassettes and the 53/39 chainrings are now compact cranks, in honor of my aging knees, more beer storage around the middle, and the roads that go up for miles at a stretch.
I don’t like how e-bikes have become the Latest Shiny Toy because I think Americans have too damn many toys already, including these new lithium powered SUVs and trucks that mean someone’s land is being excavated by child labor to make the batteries. I do like the idea of replacing car trips with e-bike trips on something like that RadWagon. And I hope RadWagon is not getting sued as I heard they were subject to a lawsuit.
But sure, getting some of us older codgers off the couch and onto e-bikes is probably better than leaving them on the couch.
As far as that mail order bike you bought, is it one of the ones where the battery catches fire because the cheap battery and inappropriate charger were never safety tested? In that case, I guess you are lucky the damn thing just died. I do recall on all my lithium powered lights on my commuter bikes, the instructions say to top them off once in a while when not in use. Sometimes I even remember to do that!
E-bikes have no appeal to me at this point. I ride for the physical challenge, not to be able to stay with a particular group. Injuries and other time commitments are piling up on me to the point where I’m slower and can’t/don’t ride as far or as often as I used to. Maybe in the coming years I’ll decide that the electric assist is just the thing I need, but I’m not there yet.
The thing I worry about the most is that electric assist allows riders to “get in over their heads”. People who don’t know how to handle a bike at speed can suddenly go very fast. Yesterday morning on my commute to work I was about 100 yards behind someone for about 3 miles and it was obvious from the lack of relative effort they were exerting that they were on an e-bike. I watched them for the time with curiosity to see if I would close the gap or if it would grow. Then, I came around a corner to find the rider splayed out across the trail. I didn’t see the crash due to the corner and some trees, and I stopped to help them and make sure they were alright. Turns out they had drifted off the trail into some brush and that caused the crash. I’m not saying that was the fault of the e-bike, but this person probably would not have been traveling as fast or with as little awareness if they were pedaling all on their own thus reducing the likelihood of the crash.
I have a few riding buddies who have gotten e-bikes to be able to continue to ride with the group. I’m fine with that, as I know they know how to handle the bike at speed. But, I don’t trust 99% of the people I see on e-bikes to know what they’re doing.
Also, I really don’t want yet another thing I have to remember to plug-in to recharge.
About three or four years ago I read a peer reviewed article in a medical journal about motorcycle riders augering in because of rider error. A fair amount was caused by older people getting back into motorcycling who are buying bikes with engines three times the size of the superbike engines I recall from my misspent youth. Same genre of problem: People who no longer have the reflexes to handle a bike at speed where the bike can suddenly go very fast.
Yea, not really interested even though I can’t do the riding I used to.
I’m 58 and fit enough to be mid-pack Cat 4 in CX. I raced the Leadville Stage Race again this year. I’m targeting Unbound Gravel in 2025 as a 60th birthday present. I’m doing core workouts 3x/week targeting a national championship in 2044 when I’m the fresh young thing in the 80-84 field.
Ridden conscientiously, I’m 100% all-in on e-bikes for others and won’t have a hint of disappointment when they’re right for me. But every day that I’m turning my own cranks is one more day of battling Father Time to a draw.