Comment by xchaotic
4 years ago
It’s worth saying that it’s not to hard to train up to being able to do 100-200km rides with no electronic assist. At such distance, the weight saving is probably outweighing the battery and you can use the space in the frame can be used for luggage such as extra clothing. At longer distances the ride limiting factor is comfort, not stamina / endurance - here the Ebike adds nothing
I can do 100K rides just fine, but not in the same time. An e-bike is much more convenient for that, we have this thing called wind here that can really get you. On my 10 speed (an elderly Guerciotti, very nice bike) my peak is 38 or so and I can average about 28 for a two hour ride, after that it drops and there is no way I could do a return after 65 km at that speed without slowing down considerably.
I've done many 10's of thousands of kilometers on bikes and there is no way to compare the two in practice, even the very best racing bike can't keep up with an e-bike over a long distance unless the rider is tour-de-France level.
E-bikes add range, compared to what you would do on your own in the same time. That is what makes them viable replacement for a car, suddenly 60% or so of your car trips are within the range of the e-bike, and with this large battery for me that is more like 95% or even more. Since getting the second battery for the e-bike I haven't used the car more than twice (that's a few months). Car ownership has gone from being a 'must' to 'uneconomical' and no regular bike that I've ever owned had that property.
And that's before we get into the fact that without the assist I have a hard time to get started at all.
The author provided a compelling reason for this long-distance ebike: they have an injury and the acceleration assist allows them to cycle without aggravating the injury. I don't think it's fair to assume that every person who wants to cycle 200km can do so without electrical assist.
This has got to be a troll comment. On an ebike on the top assist levels you can pedal leisurely at ~50watts and get 300 watts of output to travel at 30kph plus, and tackle any climbs with no issue, while not getting your heartrate up all that high. Sure 100-200km is still far and not everyone will want to go that far even on an ebike, but it's undoubtedly much easier than a non-assisted bike. You have to train pretty seriously as a cyclist and be in really good shape to ride 100+ km like it's no big deal. And you have to make sure you plan out water stops and plan enough food for the ~5000+ calories you will burn.
And "the weight saving is probably outweighing the battery", is completely untrue. The increased weight of an ebike is probably adding like 5-10 watts of drag on flat ground and maybe 20-30 watts on hills, while the motor is providing 250 watts of output. It's not even close to canceling out, that would be insane.
Well I can do 100-200 km rides with no electronic assist but I am quite tired and hungry as all hell after that. And it takes time (I don't think I've averaged over 30 kph on a long trip so yeah that's 3-6 hours of cycling plus breaks).
I would like to be able to make these trips 1) faster 2) with less effort.