Comment by jacquesm

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.