Originally Posted by
ollo_ollo
I agree with this 100% as I am one of those "older" people and we also tend to be "frugal" with our $$.
In my case, there was an unexpected benefit to a pedal assist bike:
I neglected my cycling for a few years while building our home, then found I was so out of shape, I was only doing short rides on bikes with a triple crank! My best bikes weren't being ridden at all, just so I could avoid the shame of walking up steep hills.
I got a cheap, pedal assist, electric just to expand my riding distance for running errands and such but found it was a great way to get back in shape as it forced me to expend effort to pedal in order to have extra speed and hill topping ability. I will be doing a review of my e-bike experience soon. (with pics!) Don
Don't know if you read my Bike To E-bike Experience post, but if you do/have you will see that I'm a 50-something returning to biking after 20+ years away and out of shape. It only took me 6 months on a E-bike to make the jump back to pedal. During that time I relearned much of what I use to know and learned even more about mountain biking, something that I had not done before. Now I own a Santa Cruz Hightower (CSH) setup for Trail, All Mountian and even local cement bike path use with Ergon GP5 bar ends mounted in front of the grips. This full suspension beast can truly do it all in comfort and style, but certainly not a frugle purchase at all.
Last weekend I road a cement riverbed trail 20+ miles to the beach and back with a friend on his road bike using the CSH with tires pumped up to 50psi. We generally cruised at about 14mph and averaged about 12mph according to his road bike computer. What surprised me the most about riding this somewhat higher end FS carbon MTB 29er was how easy it climbed the street underpasses. It rolls so well that I actually felt it climbed the underpasses easier than the E-bike and it rolled down the front side as fast as my buddies road bike.
Off road you have to hold it back on descents, as it will just continue gaining speed regardless of what is in front of you.
There's is no way I could have got to this point, riding such a nice bike in such a short time without the E-bike purchase. I do miss its' effortless rides. So much so that I'm in the process of doing a custom build with all my upgrade parts and a belt drive frame with 3spd IGH rear hub for putting around the neighborhood, beach cruising, as a loner for others to join in a ride without having to be an ironman and just plain fun ride to have around.
You are in your mid-70's and still riding. I'm in my mid-50's and want to still be riding when I'm your age. That's what it is all about; staying active and healthy to the end.
Get this. As we were setting up for our ride in the parking lot an 83 year old woman came over to talk with us while she waited for her ride partner. She was doing her first 50 mile ride and couldn't wait to post the results on her FB page. Mentally and physically fit as a whip at 83! We went towards the beach that was 10 miles away, so 20 miles round trip. They went 15 miles inland, then planned to turn around and go 25 miles to the beach, and finally 10 miles back to our starting point. As I was pulling out after our ride was done, she was pulling in for a water and protein break at her 30 mile point. Looked great and full of energy to finish her 50 mile goal. Awesome!
Hope you and I still going at 83 too...
