Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 18,267
Likes: 6,631
From: ,location, location
Bikes: Foundry Chilkoot Ti W/Ultegra Di2, Salsa Timberjack Ti, Cinelli Mash Work RandoCross Fun Time Machine, 1x9 XT Parts Hybrid, Co-Motion Cascadia, Specialized Langster, Phil Wood Apple VeloXS Frame (w/DA 7400), R+M Supercharger2 Rohloff, Habanero Ti 26
You can tour on an e-bike but I would want something that I can get support (parts and maintenance) for all over just in case. In the end we had a customer who bought a R+M and toured Africa for a few months and had a great time. The owner at my old shop he went touring all the time on his electric bikes and loaded them down frequently. Though he had routes and extra batteries at other shops that he would store so when he went around he was well set and he owned a shop so he got top level service and a few times our GM went out to rescue him and solve a mechanical issue. However he was rough on his bikes basically the test subject for them to make sure if they worked for him they would work for the customers so while he did treat them rough they held up pretty well. The mechanics would complain but I kind of tallied things and his bikes weren't in for service that often usually it was adding something new to it for testing but not a ton of work on it compared to other stuff.
I have two electric bikes I would use for touring happily but I also have a standard steel touring bike from Co-Motion which would be more ideal for touring in many ways as well. No charging needed no chargers required less to go wrong that is not easily fixed on the road or limpable on the road. I don't need a computer to fix my regular touring bike in anyway. That is not to say I am knocking e-bikes I love e-bikes and generally my bikes have gone a while without much work. My R+M Supercharger hasn't been plugged in for a while and is working fine and gets regular checking.