I understand fully and that sounds like a great solution.
I am fortunate that my wife and I have similar fitness levels when it comes to cycling. She has been my cycling companion for almost 50 years. However it is inevitable that that ideal situation will not last and it will be sad when one of us starts to lag. That could well be the impetus for an electric bike to level the playing field.
I have probably bored quite a few people on this forum, but I’ve become a big fan of using a heart rate monitor (using a watch on my wrist, so not the most accurate) to gauge effort. So, even if pedal-assist is used, you can look to see if you made a good effort if your heart rate was in a certain zone for a desired number of minutes.
One of the attractions for me about ebikes is to get up to speed with vehicular traffic more easily on side streets. I prefer to ride on bike paths, bike lanes, and lightly traveled neighborhood streets, but being able to better pace on moderately busy streets that I have to traverse sometimes would be helpful.
I still want the exercise and would like to dial back pedal assist where/when I don’t need it
One thing I don’t understand is how much effort is needed to pedal an electric bike. I would be interested if there are ways you can change the amount of assistance that the electric bike provides so you can still get some assistance but a workout as well.
We just cross posted, but many ebikes allow you to vary the amount of pedal assist.
Could you expand upon pedal assist?
We cross posted yet again. Thanks.
Many ebikes sold here allow you to vary the amount of pedal assist from zero to what ever their max is. The number of available assist levels vary by manufacturer. Note that zero assist can be strenuous given the much heavier weight of ebikes.
If you start considering, you might want to read about the difference between torque sensing and cadence sensing ebike motors.
Thanks. I will try to get better educated on this.
I don’t know the ages of the other posters here but I know, at age 72, it is tempting to water down or discard the fitness routines I have religiously followed my entire adult life. I see e-bikes as a temptation to slack off but if they can still provide a decent workout and increased range they are worth considering.
Now if I could just find an excuse to stop working out with weights. That is the most soulless activity I know.
I do weight training when I transfer wine bottles from one wine fridge to the other.
You should really throw in some 12oz hammer curls to round out the routine.
I bet you could take an ebike on the path and simply not use the motor.
The brand name “specialized” always drives me nuts. Don’t make your brand an adjective!
Isn’t Giant an adjective as well? I always think of it that way, the company is Giant Manufacturing, and I’ve always thought it was an adjective even though it could be ‘a giant’ manufacturing things.
Yup, also annoying. Not as annoying because at least I know people don’t want gigantic bikes. While a bike that is in some way specialized is totally reasonable.
e bikes sure are cool but i can’t get by the hassle of having to lock them up everywhere you park and constantly worrying about them getting stolen
This is not what I’m looking for, but there is a killer deal on this ebike for the rest of the month. Currently priced at $500, regularly $900.
That’s a hot deal. It has a 504Wh battery compared to 672Wh for their more $$$ bikes, and a 500w motor instead of 750w. I think this is the bike I rode in Greece, and the only thing keeping me from maybe ordering one is the lack of gears. I found the single speed to be fine with the assist but would really prefer to have 10+ speeds.
Yeah, single speed is a dealbreaker for me given that it’s pretty hilly around here. If I lived in a flat area I’d be more tempted.
Honestly, it was fine in Athens, which was reasonably hilly. If you want to cheap actuary this it’s a great bike. But I’d rather wait and buy what I really wanted.
The tour operator told me he only uses Rad Power and has seen very few failures in his fleet of a dozen or so bikes, with three years of exposure. That sold me on the brand.