Discussion: e-bike

For Rhonda. I asked when I tried the Trek, why they hadn't gone with the Giant e-bikes. She said there were fewer options, and then said that for her(5ft 8) the geometry was wrong and she was too stretched out.

Sounds perfect for you!

Some say that e-bikes are cheating, but if it makes it more enjoyable, than that's all that matters. Back when I had the recumbent I was researching a company called Bionx that made an electric setup that could replace the rear wheel on a bike you already had. But these days there seem to be a lot of companies selling full-on electric bikes..

The one I tried is a medium, but I was able to get the seat post up high enough to approximate my own bike, and it was otherwise more or less comfortable. A large would be a better fit, though. As far as cheating? Maybe if I tried to take it in a race (although it's not like you could hide it). No, it's more about making it possible to ride from home, and to do it without hurting myself.

I googled electric folding fat bike, and got numerous hits. (It actually auto-completed.) They look more like regular mountain bike tires than true fat tires, but hey, it's more than I expected. OK, you have me intrigued. It might make more biking on Rampart Range feasible. (Of course, I've been doing none the last few years, so any is an increase.) I need to make sure it wouldn't bother my right knee, as biking sometimes has, but I may give it a try if I can borrow or rent one. (Folding to fit in the back of my Chevy Volt, fat for a longer season, the Great Sand Dunes, the softer bits in the valley bottoms, I'm thinking.) Perhaps you've started something Charlie. E-bike category in the next MTBO? Or categories by amp-hour rather than age?

Don't know how I'd feel in a group bike ride, say in a hilly part of Italy, where the majority of the others have 'assisted' bicycles. Would I still have the sense of accomplishment after topping out after a long uphill grind?

Some others on a/p know what I mean; we used to look forward to the challenge of a gnarly climb, and the sense of victory at the top. But now are we Luddites, doomed to suffer the taunts and laughter of our 'assisted' companions as they whiz effortlessly past, and then dance all night in the small hotel disco, after we go to bed early? Would we feel like a biking hero, like Chris Froome? Or The Goat?

No need to be competitive all the time. Some people ride bikes, some go on foot, some have ebikes, some motorcycles, some cars. Everybody picks what works for them, and we all enjoy the world. When I bicycled across the country in 1983, I remember conversations with other bikers from the east coast whom we met in Nevada/California and shared stories of our travels. We were on Motobecanes, they were on Harley-Davidsons, we were all travelers, and nobody laughed at anyone. (But we definitely earned their respect, out there under the desert sun.)