Another commuter on an e-bike!
 

I usually commute with my e-bike, but not today - carbon fiber road bike it was. However, another person that works in the same building pulled up next to me as we were both getting ready to go in... he was riding an e-bike! I also pointed out another e-bike that was locked to the railing about 40 feet away from us. That's 3 e-bike commuters in the same building! (somewhere between 100-150 people work in the building.)

There are 10-15 others that commute on a fairly regular basis with their regular bicycles. I'm impressed. That's a pretty decent ratio for the car centric world that we live in. I'd love to see this grow. E-bikes make the commute really quite easy.

Article on today's cnet website:

http://www.cnet.com/news/electric-bo...he-fast-track/

For a while there was a couple riding in on e-bikes shooting out of the woodland trail onto eastside about the time I was turning off eastside to go up the woodland trail each morning for a year or so.

There are people I see a lot of for a long time and then some vanish, and I wonder where they went.

As much as I don't care for e-bikes...if they get more people onto bikes then that is pretty cool

I used to think the same way. But my riding partner is 70 and he's got two really bad knees and the only thing really helping him is his electric assist bike. I'm not for lazy people and kids using them per say but for people who actually use them for good reason I really support.

There are some morning when I wished I had e-assist. Man, it'd great when I'm a bit tired and going into that 20 mph headwind.

For education/information purpose, I will stick my 2cents in here... There are E-Bikes and there are E-Assist bikes.

1; E-bikes, Throttle only for assist. Riding one is like riding a moped...
2; E-assist, PAS (pedal assist sensor) Riding one is like riding a normal bike, one must pedal to get anywhere but there usually is 4 levels of assistance...
3; E-Assist, PAS with throttle, Is like a normal bike one must pedal to get anywhere, or throttle and is like a moped...

Very helpful, thank you!

I'm even for lazy people using them, better than driving, if it helps people switch to bike commuting I'm for it! For kids I'm not so sure, hopefully they live close enough to school they don't need what an eBike offers.

I don't care what you ride. If you ride, you're having fun, being safe, and not being a jerk... then please, enjoy yourself. As far as e-bikes go... I'd love to see "lazy people" replace their automobile commute with an e-bike commute if possible. I guess I'm lazy. I love riding both bikes, but my e-bike is so much better equipped for my commute that I take it every time unless it's a beautiful day and I have a light load to carry. That happens rarely after October and starts to happen more regularly after mid June.

There's a guy near my house with a recumbent 2-wheeler e-bike, looks to be a home-built contraption. Small front wheel about 20", and probably a 26" rear wheel. I don't think he commutes with it. I only see him riding it around in the park, and to/from the park.

I'm don't know that I have seen anyone use the terms quite the way you do, but the concept is not new.

Well, I have a throttle, and I'm stronger than the motor, so I'm gonna say its assisted. :-)

E-assist is more about the power.
Much Above 250 watts, and the motor will easily out-power you, Pedal or no, its more like a moped. In the 250 watt range, it's more like pedal assist.

Well, if it gets people out of cars, that is a good thing.
given that there isn't anywhere really in the country where you can ride 25mph, it is going to lead to some interesting regulatory attempts (it already has - each state is a little different).

It has been kinda nice the last couple of years being the only one around on an ebike though. Really throws the people in cars off...

Sounds judgemental. Who decides the good reason? So, if it is not for good reason then they must drive a car right? Because that really is the alternative that most people will choose.

The faster we get over the separation we are creating with other bicycle riders the better off we'll be.

I'd prefer everyone on e-assist bicycles rather than in cars.

Yes I'm sure people can look at it differently. Yes the motor can easily out power me if I set the level high enough, but you can have a 1,000w motor and it can still be said it is assisting you if the PAS is set to 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, of whatever YOU ARE PUTTING INTO PEDALLING EFFORT after that, the motor is doing most of the work, so it's not assisting any more but doing... And what ever amount of pedalling one does is assisting the motor...

One of the guys at my workplace has been commuting on an e-bike for a few years. He is 60 years old now. He only does it seasonally between May to October. When the weather starts to get colder he stops riding and takes public transit.

My wife does a 35 miles one-way commute twice per week (takes the train home). I rode up with her this AM part way for fun. We got passed on the street by an E-commuter doing about 25mph. He was gone and out of sight a minute later.

We are considering getting her one so that she can do the commute in a more reasonable time. Right now it takes her about 3 hrs and an e-bike could take a huge bite out of that time. She would do it more frequently if she had an e-bike.

That is exactly who the E-Bike is for... But I would go for the E-Assist bike (PAS), as then you still need to pedal to get anywhere... JMO

Yes: I totally recommend pedal-assist bikes. Also: a number of states are regulating them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws

A lot of them say: an e-bike that does not go over 20mph is, legally, equivalent to a bicycle. Over that and you are, legally, a moped or a motorcycle.

This makes sense to me. My e-bike is pedal-assist (meaning: not a throttle; I have to pedal to make it go, and the motor just helps me out.) It is like a bike, except that when I hit a hill, I can turn on the assist, and it helps me out. But it's not much faster than a bike (if you can ride over 20mph, it's slower); its not the sort of bike that I'd be scared to encounter on a bike path, etc. I once rode a moped, and it's completely, totally different.

I got my e-bike mostly because I have to lecture in front of a bunch of people (200 or so) as soon as I get to work, and I would rather not do this while horribly sweaty. But it also helps with rides I'd love to take, but that have big big hills between me and the ride.

I'm working on changing my mind set. Here we have a lot of peoples using gas assist bicycles and they are stinky as he11. I am not for kids using e-assit though.... perhaps I'll change me mind. I think (actually I know... I run a school) that kids today are very physically lazy. Is it better then driving a car? Yes. But so is stabbing someone just shy of killing them.

I have to sit at a desk as soon as I get to work, but I don't like to be horribly sweaty either. My solution? Change clothes when I get to work. :) I do this even if the temperature is perfect because I am not comfortable riding in work clothes.

What happens if the e-bike battery gets too low or the motor otherwise malfunctions? I understand you can still pedal it as normal, but how bad is that on an 50lb bike? (what do they weigh?)

Then you just ride it like a normal bike, depending on what set up you have, it can be no noticeable difference... like a normal bike or it can be like pushing a moped, not really doable. On my set up, if you didn't see the E-Assist parts on it and you rode it you probably wouldn't even tell it was am E-Assist bike. ;)