E-bike snobbery

[arknor]

Yeh, but a 100k ride around the Cotswolds or another hilly terrain at 20mph average is a different matter altogether.

OCUK strava stats for last week top 10 based on average speed.
I'm guessing the top 4 are doing club rides in a pack though.

0 of them will be with an ebike, an ebike probably wouldn;t even get into 16mph average

anyone on an ebike would be like 30th out of 40.


Ebikes are literally slower than the majority can do on a normal bike., its a sad fact. I'm not saying they should do 24mph cos most cyclists can sprint that speed.

but they aren't exactly an attractive option.

if you are a regular commuter and have 2 bikes, you'd probably take the normal bike almost every time, unless you live somewhere hilly

 

[China Man]

OCUK strava stats for last week top 10 based on average speed.
I'm guessing the top 4 are doing club rides in a pack though.

0 of them will be with an ebike, an ebike probably wouldn;t even get into 16mph average

anyone on an ebike would be like 30th out of 40.


Ebikes are literally slower than the majority can do on a normal bike., its a sad fact. I'm not saying they should do 24mph cos most cyclists can sprint that speed.

but they aren't exactly an attractive option.

if you are a regular commuter and have 2 bikes, you'd probably take the normal bike almost every time, unless you live somewhere hilly

I guess my point is to that the heavier bike plus the weight of the person riding it will have a big impact of how much damage it can cause. We are not just talking about the difference in weight of the normal bike vs ebike but also the many other factors associated with the over all weight and also the times it reaches such speed. There will be heavier persons and also heavier payload compare with rider with road bike and skinny outfits

I am more than happy to take my bike to commute over normal bike, I can be in my suit and tie and ride at 15mph without sweat and carry my brief case, laptop, pack lunch and a kitchen sink.....big fat tyre and no need to have shock to my spine with thin tyres. However, I take my train to work because my wife banned me from any two wheel commute and it is a half an hour train journey into central London.

 

[Armageus]

OCUK strava stats for last week top 10 based on average speed.
I'm guessing the top 4 are doing club rides in a pack though.

Shock as a Strava table highlights speeds >15mph. I'd wager there are far more people on bikes and even ebikes that don't use Strava.

 

[Shadowness]

And I’m guessing a lot of those might be Zwift. Easy to do 25mph or so in pace partner group with not much effort.

 

[arknor]

Shock as a Strava table highlights speeds >15mph. I'd wager there are far more people on bikes and even ebikes that don't use Strava.

most people who show an interest in cycling on this forum will likely be signed up to strava though, people of varying fitness levels.

out of 40 ocukers who rode last week, an ebike would only be able to keep up with 10 of them

this was me a few years ago and I wasn't that fit back then

I doubt I could even manage 14.7mph average over 20miles on my ebike.


there's no fast speeds on easy straights to make up for the times you have to slow down for people or whatever. (I'm usually on shared cycleways where people walk dogs etc)

There literally slower than normal bikes, if your legal anyway

 

[China Man]

lol Strava is for active people who look to track activities...why would Ebike user use it and if using it why keep track of progress? I am sure someone would use it but more of the how fast my DIY illegal ebike can do? It would be dumb tho

 

[UTmaniac]

And I’m guessing a lot of those might be Zwift. Easy to do 25mph or so in pace partner group with not much effort.

Exactly that, Zwift speeds are far higher than many of us could hold outside, especially if riding outdoors solo like myself and not trying to ride fast with a tailwind.

I'm currently 7th (Steve) this week on the OCuk group by average speed with 19.1mph, from a very short TT; a pen E 32min road race plus 12min cooldown https://www.strava.com/activities/13225567991 ; two group rides yesterday totalling 32mins at z1/z3.
And this is me with long covid, with an estimated FTP of 209W (95% of 20mins) and estimated Lactate Threshold Heart Rate of 156bpm, where fatigue really kicks in badly if I'm trying to do more than approx z3 beyond 30mins at 96(ish)Kg.

But going back to '22 before long covid, my estimated FTP was 306W and my LTHR was typically 170-175bpm at approx 80Kg, where I could happily ride for approx 4 hours at a Normalised Power over 209W and throw in some big efforts up inclines. My Cube Attain GTC Disc is an aero brick with an outrageous 610mm stack for 388mm reach with non-aero wheels at the time, typically riding routes with approx 60 feet per mile where I usually concentrated on climb efforts such as https://www.strava.com/activities/7299139882 , so 20mph+ stretches on the flat were rare and when I did them would often need 300W to overcome the extra aero drag such as https://www.strava.com/activities/7175450743/ and https://www.strava.com/activities/7496040907

 

[China Man]

Exactly that, Zwift speeds are far higher than many of us could hold outside, especially if riding outdoors solo like myself and not trying to ride fast with a tailwind.

I'm currently 7th (Steve) this week on the OCuk group by average speed with 19.1mph, from a very short TT; a pen E 32min road race plus 12min cooldown https://www.strava.com/activities/13225567991 ; two group rides yesterday totalling 32mins at z1/z3.
And this is me with long covid, with an estimated FTP of 209W (95% of 20mins) and estimated Lactate Threshold Heart Rate of 156bpm, where fatigue really kicks in badly if I'm trying to do more than approx z3 beyond 30mins at 96(ish)Kg.

But going back to '22 before long covid, my estimated FTP was 306W and my LTHR was typically 170-175bpm at approx 80Kg, where I could happily ride for approx 4 hours at a Normalised Power over 209W and throw in some big efforts up inclines. My Cube Attain GTC Disc is an aero brick with an outrageous 610mm stack for 388mm reach with non-aero wheels at the time, typically riding routes with approx 60 feet per mile where I usually concentrated on climb efforts such as https://www.strava.com/activities/7299139882 , so 20mph+ stretches on the flat were rare and when I did them would often need 300W to overcome the extra aero drag such as https://www.strava.com/activities/7175450743/ and https://www.strava.com/activities/7496040907

Wow, some serious number crunching.

What kind of speed do you think you can do with a 28kg bike with fat tyre

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Ebikes are literally slower than the majority can do on a normal bike., its a sad fact. I'm not saying they should do 24mph cos most cyclists can sprint that speed.

All my KOHs are still on a road bike.
My brother in law who tried my eBikes against his Cervelo also tried a speed test and he came back laughing at how slow they were.

 

[scoopex]

dood I'm 6"2 and weight 95kg... I'm not fat or muscley

you saying I can't pedal 24mph on a normal bike?

15mph is a slow average speed for a normal bike over a few hours ride.. people do it all the time on here and they aren't super fit athletes. that's counting all the bits where you have to slow down and speed back up again too.
the average speed for the whole duration of the ride.

most people who ride bikes a few times a week can do around 20-24mph fairly easily

Im just lazy

Let's hope you don't get it confiscated.

I have its speed limited to UK regulations and tbh I don’t take any risks with it.

 

[UTmaniac]

Wow, some serious number crunching.

What kind of speed do you think you can do with a 28kg bike with fat tyre

Back in '17, when I was 43, I began trying to get fit on a Voodoo Wazoo fatbike with 4" Jumbo Jim tyres. On a good day in early spring, I averaged just under 17mph on a random ride to Marwell Zoo and back.

As for e-bikes, the ~25Kg Ridgeback hire hybrid ebike I used last September when I was ~95Kg, I averaged just over 12mph on a 3hr10min hilly ride https://www.strava.com/activities/12385118616 . I'd been told the full battery might only last ~30 hilly miles in eco mode, so I turned the assist off when not going uphill and ended up using ~60% of the battery over 39 miles having already used 20% on earlier rides. It left me heck of a lot less fatigued than the slightly longer ride on my road bike back last Easter!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Im just lazy

I have its speed limited to UK regulations and tbh I don’t take any risks with it.

That's good to hear but you know if you were pulled over all they would see is a 2000 watt motor.
It's one of the reasons I buggered my 1000 watt off after seeing other cyclists having theirs confiscated.
The main reason was I thought 30mph on a Trek MTB was way too fast for our roads so went back to a 250 watt.
Yes I could have restricted it but it seemed pointless having something only doing 15.5mph but I could still get it taken off me.

 

[arknor]

lol Strava is for active people who look to track activities...why would Ebike user use it and if using it why keep track of progress? I am sure someone would use it but more of the how fast my DIY illegal ebike can do? It would be dumb tho

what utter nonsense I have over 1300miles of ebike rides on strava.... My ebike automaticly syncs itself to strava without me having to do anything but turn it on or off, I'm guessing pretty much all ebike brands can do that.

people want to see how many miles they have rode and how many hours.... you can still burn calories on an ebike

you think spinning ht erpedals at 90-100cadence on an normal bike is any different to 90-100 on an ebike? it's literally spinning theres barely any muscle involved unless your on a hill

and then no one got big legs from purely riding hills, you can still get a heart rate work out on an ebike and cardiovascular

 

[China Man]

Wow, it auto sync as you switch on the eBike. That’s one way to use it for sure like a black box. There is a section for eBike so I am sure a lot of people are using that?

The only times I used Strava with e-bikes was when I ride in the woods which track the route, climb and speed, testing new e-bikes on the road etc. After a while I found it pointless data as it track performance of Bike and not overall health. If I have it auto sync to my bike then I would use it like a black box and see how my battery condition? I don’t see how it track free wheel effort apart from cardio times if it is used on flat roads.

Do you do a lot of mountain tracking? That’s when I think it would benefit the most.

 

[scoopex]

That's good to hear but you know if you were pulled over all they would see is a 2000 watt motor.
It's one of the reasons I buggered my 1000 watt off after seeing other cyclists having theirs confiscated.
The main reason was I thought 30mph on a Trek MTB was way too fast for our roads so went back to a 250 watt.
Yes I could have restricted it but it seemed pointless having something only doing 15.5mph but I could still get it taken off me.

I live in a place where you don’t see any police officers either in cars or on foot. I’m very aware of the legal situation but it came through customers directly from China. It’s primarily used for short journeys and I don’t speed about like someone who deals drugs.