Are e-Bikes real bikes? Are they good or bad? Opinions?

[heidiswift]

I found a few past threads on e-bikes here, but one turned into a discussion of explosions and the other was from 2006.

I'm a cycling journalist and I'm really interested to know what intelligent, thoughtful, civil people like the wonderful cyclists in this forum think about these things.

As a woman with a 60+ year old mother who might actually ride a bike if she didn't have to suffer the indignity of walking up the hills she can't handle, I definitely see some good uses for these assist bikes.

What do you guys think? I'd love if you could add your voices to the comments section on the blog so we can expose some level-headed thinking around this. (The comments on a post in the Oregonian website yesterday turned into lost of piss and vinegar. Not helpful.)

This is the post with the rest of my opinion about them: http://gritandglimmer.com/e-bikes-awesome-or-awful/

[Biciclista]

Hi Heidi, what you're going to get here are a lot of opinions, but since you asked:
I ride a bike because i need the exercise. I am 58 years old and 10 years ago i was having serious health and vitality issues due to a life of inactivity. I live in a very hilly town (seattle) and while i can escape some of the hills some of the time, i can't escape them all of the time. I used to push my bike up some hills too, but nowadays I just ride.
While I am not suggesting that your mother CAN or SHOULD learn to ride up and down those hills, that's what cycling was about for ME.
I see people on power assist bikes all the time, and while they are sharing the dangers of the road with me, there is a fundamental difference just like there is with motorcyclists. We understand each other, we face the same dangers, but that's it. So if your mother wants to ride an Ebike, let her.
why not?

[PamNY]

First, being 60+ has little to do with buying an electric bike. Absent a specific disability, your mother probably can build hill-climbing strength if she wants to. If she doesn't want to, she can buy an electric bike or walk the hill.

In addition, why is walking the hill an indignity? Is this her perception, or is it yours? I walked hills all the time before I built strength, and that's in Manhattan where we have very little in the way of hills.

People who are snobbish about bikes are just like people who are snobbish about anything else -- probably not worth your time or your mother's.

Anyone who wants an electric bike for whatever reason should buy one. In your mother's case, I would encourage her to look at whether proper gearing would allow her eventually conquer that hill, and to stop worrying about what other people think.

[sfa]

There was a blog post/article in my local paper about these yesterday and I spent some time online looking at the products mentioned. I'm also curious enough that I might take one for a test ride since there's a local shop that carries them. http://www.baltimoresun.com/features...,3729617.story

Looking at them online, though, I was struck by the tradeoff--sure, you get an electric assist for hills, and I was thinking that it would be a nice thing to have on my commute to work--11 easy miles of rolling to flat terrain and two miles of straight uphill slog. But is it really that much of a benefit when you're dragging a LOT of extra weight around during the times you're doing the pedaling yourself? I think that the slight uphill from my house for the first mile of my commute would be nearly as difficult as that two mile slog if my bike were 50 pounds (the weight of the eZee urban commuter bike). I think the temptation for someone starting out who isn't already in good shape would be to skip the pedaling and only use the motor. If the goal is to have a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation, there's nothing wrong with that. But if someone wants to get into shape and thinks the e-bike will ease them into cycling, I think they'd do better to start with a lighter bike and get into shape the old fashioned way.

Sarah

[NbyNW]

All good points above. All I have to add is:

One Less Car.

[Triskeliongirl]

I personally don't care for ebikes. To me the point of a bike is that it is human powered. The examples set by the older members of our cycling club (60-80!) let me know that biking is one of the best sports we can do to age gracefully. So, my recommendation is to get your mom a real bike, with appropriate gearing to take her up any hill she likes.

[kenyonchris]

I found a few past threads on e-bikes here, but one turned into a discussion of explosions and the other was from 2006.

I'm a cycling journalist and I'm really interested to know what intelligent, thoughtful, civil people like the wonderful cyclists in this forum think about these things.

As a woman with a 60+ year old mother who might actually ride a bike if she didn't have to suffer the indignity of walking up the hills she can't handle, I definitely see some good uses for these assist bikes.

What do you guys think? I'd love if you could add your voices to the comments section on the blog so we can expose some level-headed thinking around this. (The comments on a post in the Oregonian website yesterday turned into lost of piss and vinegar. Not helpful.)

This is the post with the rest of my opinion about them: http://gritandglimmer.com/e-bikes-awesome-or-awful/

My opinion? E-bikes...great if you want to bike with an option not to.
However, using one on a group bike ride. Uh, no. Using one at a rally? Uh, no. Wearing spandex or aero bars on one? No again. And, for the love of Pete, if you own an e-bike, don't pass someone in granny gear, panting their way up a hill with their heart rate monitor beeping alarmingly! Bad, bad form.