We got an e-bike! Ever since covid hit, we took my car off the road to save on insurance and gas. I started biking to work pretty regularly and realized that biking to work has a few impracticalities- the main one is a trade-off between speed and smelling like sweat. Biking takes just a bit too long to be practical when I consider that I don’t have a shower at work and can’t really reek when I get there. Enter the e-bike!
Two things I wasn’t expecting: for the bike to feel so heavy (I knew it weighed 75+ pounds, but I didn’t know what that would feel like on a bike) and for it to still feel like exercise to ride it (this is a pleasant surprise- I was worried an e-bike would get rid of the health benefits but I don’t think it will). Without the battery, this bike is a BEAST to move around. It’s possible but I wouldn’t want to do it for more than a kilometre or two. Thankfully, with the battery helping out, the added speed really helps it to feel like the effort It takes to turn the crank is worth it. Of course, if you wanna cheat, it has a throttle- I like that for when I want a quick breather but I don’t want to slow down, and also for getting started from a stop. The gear ratio is really heavy to get started.
Anyways, like any vehicle, once you have one yourself you see them everywhere! E-bikes are definitely a big deal right now, lots of people from all ages get them. I would say there is a disproportionate amount of seniors I’ve seen with them, which makes sense- you want to have a bike ride but don’t have the stamina? Get an e-bike. I’m not sure how many people get them to be their daily driver like we did, but I’m excited to save gas/insurance and only add 5 minutes to my commute with an e-bike as opposed to a car.
