E-Bike Myths
E-bikes are cheating: Who are we racing? Then wouldn’t carbon fiber and titanium that make it easier to ride be cheating? Don’t even get me started on those wind cheaters and their drop handle bars. By golly, be a real athlete, sit up straight into the wind and ride a steel fat bike!
You see, that IS what makes an e-bike. You still have to pedal. You still put in the effort just like riding carbon fiber means you get more for your effort. An e-bike is just a more versatile and affordable way to accomplish the same thing.
AN E-bike will make me lazy: You would think that study after study showing that e-bike riders actually tend to ride MORE than traditional bike riders would be enough. Would the fact that Greg Lamond, the only North American ever to win The Tour De France, rides one and trains on one, be enough (great pace line training without assembling a team)?
E-bikes are noisey: This at least is based in ancient lore. They haven’t been noisey now for years. You can hear some of the more expensive integrated motors at very high cadences, but generally speaking, you will never hear an e-bike.
I’m afraid I’ll get out somewhere and run out of battery: Generally speaking, if you ask this question, you probably aren’t going to ride far enough to use half your battery. There is a battery indicator and good displays will show available voltage as well. When you reach half, turn around. You don’t worry that you will ride a traditional bike too far that you can’t make it back.
What about water?: E-bike displays are notoriously finicky if they get wet. I ride year ’round, in almost all types weather (rain certainly never stops me). I do often put a plastic bag over my display, when my poncho isn’t covering it. This is probably over kill. As for batteries, they are sealed. Connections in battery brackets actually have drain holes. Motors are sealed as well and nearly all controllers now are potted against any sort of contamination. Water just isn’t an issue.
They’re dangerously fast, heavy, high voltage…: Legal e-bikes, like any shop would sell, fit one of three catagories. Class I is pedal assist only and limited to 750 watts and 20mph. Class II is pedal assist and/or throttle, limited to 20mph. Class III is pedal assist up to 28mph and throttle limited to 20mph. 20mph is far below speeds cyclists routinely reach on lightweight road bikes (I am often passed on my e-bike). 28 is less common, but attainable for short distances by most. Few e-bikes will have much battery for long if ridden at those speeds. Now, if you’d like to ride all day at 15mph, experience no wind or hills, then the e-bike shines.
An e-bike is 12-25 pounds more than the same bike without a motor. Most of my conversions are hybrids that end up weighing in at just under 40#’s. Most of my factory e-bike options come in between 45#’s and 55#’s. Would you say that a person 25#’s overweight is dangerous on a bicycle?
Hopefully we all know that the 48 to 72 volt batteries, used on legal e-bikes, at 12 to 20amps, is not dangerous. That said, care should be taken when hauling your bikes. Remove the batteries to avoid unlikely, but potential fires if struck in a motor vehicle collision (easier on contacts as well).
E-bikes are high tech and unreliable: An e-bike motor is roughly the size of my tiny fist. It turns usually a helical gear to a reduction gear that turns your chain ring. There are a couple one-way bearings refered to as clutches. A few integrated motors use belts or chains inside. I can tear any of them down and reassemble them in 45 minutes. They are in no way as complex as an old Sturmy Archer 3 speed hub.
Electric motors are known to last, under daily use, for a hundred years. There just isn’t much to go wrong. Two years ago, I finally disposed of my wife’s grandfather’s bench grinder from the 1940’s.
I have installed dozens of e-bike kits for conversions. Of them, I have had TWO warranty claims. Both could easily have been avoided and took just a few days to resolve.
Replacement Batteries Are Soo Expensive!: Not only are batteries doubling in capacity about every two years, but dropping in price about 50%. What’s more, even an electronics newbie like myself can take one apart and replace the cells (inside, they look like a honycomb filled with what appear to be, but aren’t, AA batteries. More and more, I am recommending my customers get smaller, lighter weight batteries and use two. Swapping them makes them both last longer and on very long rides they can take both!
What have you heard that concerns you about e-bikes? I’ll look in to it and give you an answer ASAP.