Originally Posted by
linberl
Yes I am probably overthinking this, but it's not something i can reverse if i get the wrong thing; my budget will allow just one conversion. I use very little power, I rarely go over 15 mph, I have a slow cadence around 50rpm because i need to use my bike to keep and build my leg muscles due to my medical condition (i'll save the long explanation). Much of my riding is stop and go city street riding since it is my car as well - one or two blocks, stop, take off, rinse and repeat. As a result, I found picking one gear and riding like a single speed worked well for me on my 2 wheelers - easy enough to take off from a stop and strong enough to get some resistance while pedaling. Speed didn't matter because i was stopping so often. Shifting up and down was just an annoyance every couple hundred feet. Now I also do ride the Bay Trail for fun and exercise but my city riding is the priority because i have to be able to run all my errands and get places. The Trail rides are optional. i may have freaked myself out a bit when reading an article about mid-drives:
How To Ride a Mid Drive Ebike Without Breaking It – Tales On Two Wheels
I read every post again. Seriously, the best thing for you is work with the system you have already invested money in. If rear flats are a pain then make your rear tire flat proof. It is possible. The use protocol you describe for your riding cannot be as effective as a systematic program of weight training in a fitness facility. Then when you ride you can focus on riding as transportation period. A 52T times anything is an immense gear. You say you don't use much power. Have you ever tried to take off with no power at all? I wouldn't be able to do it in a 52 x 13 gear! And your cadence cannot be 55rpm much of the time. Quite a bit of the time you are probably barely pedaling. I am curious as to how you got here. Did a medical professional tell you to buy this e-assist trike? Seems to me you could do a couple of things to make you life a lot easier. You could (like I already said) use a gym for ALL of your fitness, muscle building and health maintenance needs, and use a non-powered bike for transportation, maybe a folding design to use in tandem with Mass Transit for longer trips. You could probably get an electric scooter for local transportation, and it might not cost anything. No flats. No exercise either, but I really don't think you get much from the system you have at present. Besides that is what the gym is for.