This e-bike has been my first experience e-biking and really my first experience riding a bicycle in the city – I grew up in suburbia which is a bit different than a city. Cities have more cars and also have more sidewalks potentially more refined streets including bike trails and parks.
Part of the reason I got an e-bike was because it is substantial mobility at a fraction of the cost of a car and it also helps with low emissions, green. Being able to charge using green energy and then get around the city is pretty cool. That said I would not advise everyone to ditch a car and grab an e-bike, there are caveats that are hard to fully appreciate if you haven’t e-biked, or bicycled in the city.
Some of these caveats are there are not bike racks everywhere, meaning parking is sometimes less desirable, and less just a pull in and shop. That matters because while someone is on a bicycle they might need to use a restroom, and restrooms are generally not public (have to go into stores) and when they are there might not likely be a bike rack close by.
Getting to see the city in an open way is really nice. One might be able to do similar without an electric motor on their bike though this might require more exercise which has potential for both good and bad. Exhaustion does not always lead to greater ability to perceive potential threats like cars, trains, bikes, and walkers all around you. I do pedal sometimes, pedal assist is nice kind of a hybrid of exercise and being able to maintain constant speed at a lower rate of exertion.
Having an open air environment means that people have more potential to talk to you which has potential for both good and bad. I haven’t really traveled to harder parts of town yet no surrounding protection might be scarier in some environments and with e-biking it might be easy to get lost. Smartphone holders exists where you can use GPS, thought might need to pull to the side at times, and being lower on the food chain than cars and trucks equates to going with flow is sometimes a necessity (equating to hard to use GPS while in motion).
Milage is a somewhat important topic. I felt it necessary to get an extra battery yet generally speaking I can get a lot of milage of one battery. I have taken one trip to suburbia and while I had an extra battery with me I did not have to use it. I was able to use the train to get closer and then rode out from there. Milage equates to time spent as well, so capped at 20 mph – one might get 10 miles in the city in an hour with stop signs, slowed traffic.
Furthermore, milage is generally milage without getting lost, knowing where you are going is important. One time when I was actually scared of being low on battery not knowing exactly where I was going factored into that – extra battery capacity gives some flex that might not otherwise exist.
I have had two minor falls in the first 500 miles. One that involved getting caught in train tracks (my tires are the thin kind, not the fatter tires that might not have the same problem). Another fall that involved riding right after rain and a high incline on the garage of the apartment building where I am living – slipping while braking is IBD when surfaces are slippery, not riding in rain or around time it rains has potential for a lot of value added.
Visibility on a e-bike or bicycle is generally less than ideal, I have been wearing a bright neon green construction vest from Home Depot to try and help improve that – better helps, better should not be equated to ideal. I wear a helmet, and it is easy to get going and forget you don’t have a helmet on. At night I try to add LED lights, and I have a set of LED lights I bought from Amazon on the wheels to help increase visibility – I chose blue partially because red and green are both used for traffic signals, potentially more difficult to tell at night.
Worth noting that I have had health problems, and I am not young with a full life in front of me. There are real dangers e-biking some of which I mitigate from a reminder I am not immortal, my future is far from a guarantee. E-biking seems to help with some stomach issues I have at times as well – something a bit unexpected. Seems like it works by activating sympathetic nervous system potentially taking pain away from rest and digest.
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All that said the experience is pretty incredible. Getting to see the city, and film the city is really cool (though filming comes with more caveats at times than I like – cybersecurity, ability to edit, and laws around filming make investment harder – seems like this many years after invention of the digital camera we should be further along).
There are cracks in the road, big potholes at times – more one rides around the city the more familiar one becomes with what to avoid and when to avoid it. There are areas in the city where there is extra gravel on the road, like potentially around construction sites which could lead to a more slippery environment while breaking. Not riding on the cracks has potential for value added. There are big rocks at times that can be avoided many times, potentially not always.
I feel like I have made some good decisions including watching videos on YouTube about cycling in the city, trying to obey traffic laws, increasing visibility, wearing a helmet, and making sure the power on the throttle is off while on sidewalk and potentially areas where more people including children are walking. Good choices might be why I have had a good experience, one that has allowed me to get 500 miles thus far.
Personally, I think the problem solving and re-enforced processes in riding have also increased my mental acuity a bit as well. Not driving for long periods, potential for not always appreciating the value added by continually tasked with problem solving like that in a fast-paced environment. Easy to take for granted the value driving adds.
The open air is nice. I have had back problems and cold air riding is pretty nice cooling at times (like ice packs on my back). I ride with a pair of construction gloves from Home Depot that give a nice mix between warmer hands and dexterity, they also saved my hands a bit in one of the falls. Voltage levels on batteries are higher than 24V thus knowledge of Electrical Safety seems like worth knowing, which I have talked about on other places of my vlog – Electrical Safety is important and amplifies far less than ideally, and even those with knowledge can’t tell by sight alone if a piece of metal is high voltage or not. Different, higher voltage than a car battery worthy of note (48V is 4 times that of a 12V battery).
I provide allot of free content on this blog, this video is not mine thus can’t give away its content for free. I provide to raise awareness.
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