Aushiker

Given the recent discussion on riding the Great Divide on an e-bike, this blog post from April 2017 might be of interest. It shows what can be done, if not necessarily the way some of us would do it.

alan s 

Not quite sure what this has to do with bike touring, but congratulations to him on pulling solar panels with a motorized bike through the Outback.

boomhauer

this stuff is my favorite....
I mean...how bad do i need to be energized?
seems like the whole point is getting away from you current life (pun intended).

p.s. I have a dynamo hub for pandora music.

Aushiker

Ah well each to their own ...

rifraf

Theres a lot of different reasons someone might use an electric or fuel assist on their bike.
I don't, but have no difficulty in relating what they are doing to bike touring.
They have a bike.
Its loaded with panniers.
They are touring.
I don't see the point of getting hung up on the semantics of whether or not their bike is assisted with a non human power source.
Not saying you should change your opinion on it, but its merely different strokes for different folks.

Aushiker

Well said ... Plus to me, if someone thinks outside the square, someone gets out and has a go their way or whatever it sure beats sitting here at my desk wishing I had what it takes to have a go at the Canning Stock Route [BTW this is Scott of Porcelain Rocket fame ...]

djb

In the ladies thread about e biking the divide, I tried to put out reasonable, practical concerns.
One other Ive thought of is how someone using this stuff would really want to be able to troubleshoot any problem electrically wise, and hopefully fix it. If not, you're dealing with a heavy bike to pedal, and most likely, lets face it, the folks doing this will be folks who are weaker riders physically due to whatever reason.

and thats ok, just with the divide ride idea, or somewhere else far off, pushing or riding a heavy rig could very well be beyond their abilities if there was a problem, let alone simply if the battery ran out earlier than expected.

350htrr

Things can always go wrong but one should try anyways if that is what you want to do, as long as one is prepared properly the risks can be managed most times to the point that it ends up a fun trip. Having done 3 short (E-Bike tours ) of 800Kms nine days+ without plugging into a current tree, or a wall socket... It has certainly become doable.

jefnvk

I'd have far more of a practical concern with that than the lady on the Great Divide. If that thing craps out in the Outback, especially to someone who may not be physically fit enough to make the trip under their own power with all their gear, it could literally be deadly.

Been barking up that tree since the first ebike argument I've ever heard, but sweet, someone else can have a go this round!

fietsbob

Yes , in Solar Panels size Matters..

PedalingWalrus

Because it is bike touring

alan s 

So is this, I guess.

PedalingWalrus

As long as You are touring on a bike or with a bike then yes that would be correct.

The description of this forum is There are many kinds of bikes: a recumbent bike, pedal assist bike, fat bike, cargo bike ... as long as it is a bike we're doing good. If the description of this forum was:

... then your argument would hold more water :-)

jefnvk

Not to derail this thread anymore than it is likely to happen on its own, but what racks are those? They look like they fit a 5" just fine.

350htrr

People tend to think their way is the best way.. and... I'm not totally immune to that train of thought either... It's when they start to think it's the only way is when problems manifest themselves...

350htrr

In other words, bicycling is pedaling... But, then along comes...

Pedaling 70% and having 30% assistance max 350 watts, is till bicycling with an E-Assist, IMO... But, then along comes...

E-Bikes that you don't actually need to pedal with crank rotational sensors, with 750 watts...

E-Bikes with throttle, again you don't actually need to pedal at all, 750 watts... I am pro E-Bikes... but,
for some/most people things seem to change at certain points.

For some it changes at, as soon as a motor is added.

For me it changes when pedaling is not actually required,

For others still it changes when the law says they are no longer riding a bicycle at over 750 watts and a throttle...

Aushiker

As this ride was in Australia and assuming the bike is legal [1], the actual limit is 200 or 250 watts (depends on the state) and must cut-out at 25 km/h (not that last criteria is likely to apply on the Canning Stock Route). So nothing more than e-assist.

He was actually quite slow on the ride as well so not sure he really even benefited from having the e-bike.

[1] It is an off the shelf bike so I would assume it was legal

350htrr

Been there and done that, sometimes it was a definite benefit and at other times not so much...

alan s 

Troy Szczurkowski: Yakima Highroller racks to Jayco Dove Outback

rifraf

I'm sure people told Marco Polo that if he didn't walk, then exploring the Silk Road wasn't "real".
I'm reckon he simply ignored the nay sayers or perhaps a single digit salute as climbed aboard a camel or horse.

cb400bill

Stop with the off topic posts.

Robert C

As people here know, so I wont belabor the point, I did ride an e-bike from Kansas to Utah this last summer. The route took me over two Continental divide summits (I had to have crossed it an odd number of times; but one of them wasn't marked)I never plugged in (that was part of the point).