You still ask yourselves whether an e-bike is a right choice for you? Then this blog will help you make a final decision. Reasons to buy an e-bike can be very different; fun, hill riding, going to work, city commute... Let's start:
1. Go further
That is very obvious. With your own power, you can only go so much. Lets now see an example of how an e-bike can help you to go further and explore more. Let's see that you can travel 50 km on your own before you get too tired. With an electric bike, you can travel around 80-100 km per battery charge using half the pedal power or even more if you decrease motor assistance. So an e-bike is basically like riding a tandem bike with your friend who helps you as you pedal.
2. General health
Disregarding a myth that e-bikes are for lazy people and losers, by riding an e-bike one can achieve some positive results. By riding an e-bike you burn 2/3 the number of calories as on a regular bike although you feel like you put much less effort than that. Around 30% of e-bike owners use them every day, just imagine how much effect it has on your health.
3. E-bikes are faster than cars
That sounds very odd at first. Let me explain. A regular car can reach up to 200 km/h on a highway with no traffic. That is amazing, but the fact is that in the real world (especially in busy urban streets) you will not find the conditions to reach such speeds. The average speed of a car in traffic is very low due to traffic jams, traffic lights and other cars on the road. So, on average, you will be much faster riding an e-bike. My personal experience confirms that every working day. With an e-bike, it takes me 15 minutes to my office, while with a car it takes about 25 minutes due to morning traffic jams (+ finding a parking spot).
4. No sweating
Sweating is a serious issue, especially during summer months. Anyone who rides a bike to work knows that. I had that same problem before I bought an e-bike. I was always cycling with my backpack (which made me sweat even more) in which I had clean work clothes. I had to arrive 10 minutes earlier to work and very swiftly change clothes before anyone else comes to work. It was like a nightmare. I have an e-bike for more than a year now and since then I have never arrived sweaty to work.
5. Riding uphill
We all know how hard it is to climb a steep hill with a bike (even with a 1000 different gears). Imagine that you live in a very hilly terrain and that you often have to climb home hills. E-bikes are here to flatten all these intimidating hills and make them enjoyable and very manageable. Imagine what will it feel like if you were riding uphill but had twice the power? You just imagined what is it like to ride an e-bike.
6. Saving money
Most of us need some form of transportation. U the western world that is usually a private car in which one person rides 90% of the time. The price of such transport is very high because cars are the second biggest monetary expense after housing. Let alone the price of the car itself, it needs fuel which is more and more expensive, it needs to be registered once a year and there are maintenance expenses. Imagine how much money you can save with an e-bike. It costs more than a regular bike but it uses electricity which is very cheap, around $1 per 10000 km and maintenance costs are very small. The only bigger expense is a new battery after every 50000-100000 km or 1000 cycles or so.
7. 100% safe for the environment
E-bikes do not emit toxic substances and use renewable energies(electricity) as a „fuel“.
8. Parking
In these days it is increasingly difficult to find a parking spot thanks to increasing number of cars. There are two options with a car: come earlier so you can find the spot or pay for a private parking spot. With an e-bike possibilities are endless: you can park it anywhere or take it with you to the office as I do.
I believe that this blog helped you make your decision and that you changed your attitude toward e-bikes. In the beginning, I thought that they are lazy-machines, but I was proved wrong after I decided to buy one. It is a game changer for me.
Author: Martin Matešić