When I tried out an e-Bike last summer I loved the ease at which I could actually pedal up hills. It had downsides of course, overuse had left some of the parts of the hire bike I rode needing replacement, the sorts of things that you probably wouldn’t put up with on a personal ride. The suspension had no rebound or suspension and the air cap was stuck on so had I had a pump to adjust it with I’d have been unable – besides in those days I didn’t know about adding air to the fork to make them function properly – and the hire place failed to mention it or indeed give any basic instruction on the basics of the bike.
So going into the purchase of my new eMTB back in March I knew some of the things that I wanted, some were because I’d loved them on my then existing bike (dropper, air forks), and some from riding the eMTB last summer. I couldn’t afford a Cube which was what I had my heart set on initially, to buy the model that actually came with reasonable Air Shocks and a dropper was going to be the thick end of four grand, which was not entirely unreasonable, but was about a grand out of my potential price range. Besides Tredz who I was buying from had no good offers on the Cubes while they did on the Haibike.
One of the main things I was looking for was to get assistance in going up hill. I have always struggled in pedalling up hill, even at my peak fitness levels in my early twenties once the hill got over a certain grade I’d get off and push. I seldom had great bikes in those days (or well set up bikes anyway). And while I was able to pedal all the way from Otley to Horsforth up the main road – not the Chevin or Pool Bank, and especially not Old Pool Bank, on longer rides I tried to avoid hills as I knew I’d be off pushing before too long.
When my Haibike arrived I initially used it in the greatest assist mode. It’s Yamaha motor/electronics and the assistance modes range from High down to Eco – from most assistance to least. You can also switch the assist entirely off while retaining the speedometer, odometer, etc. The issue I found in those early days was that as soon as the assist dropped down below a certain point you would be pushing the weight of the bike and yourself, but also the resistance of the motor too, it meant that gaining speed or climbing a hill was much harder, than just riding a normal analogue bike. A lighter bike with decent gears would be better.
I soon realised that trying to ride everywhere in High Assistance mode wasn’t doing me any favours, other than on the steepest of steep hills I was doing little work myself, so I wasn’t going to lose any weight and getting more exercise was one of the principle reasons for getting a new bike. For a long while I used primarily Standard Mode, not quite as powerful as High, it meant I was finally starting to get a little fitter.
And then as I started to get a little fitter I began to find Standard a little too easy too, so I now mostly use Eco+, it has other advantages besides feeling more comfortable to actually ride though. When pedalling in Standard or High once you hit the magic 15.5MPH/25KPH you feel like you’ve hit a wall when the assistance stops and all of your pedalling power goes into just pushing the bike along. I was actually considering getting a speed mod (and invalidating both the warranty and my insurance), because riding at above 15.5 was so much harder… assistance to 15.5 and then a slow drop off to say 25.5mph would feel better I’m quite sure. It wouldn’t be like I was just adding a throttle would it. Except most of the speed mods I found were just that, yes they boosted the speed you could go, but they also added a throttle… and it’d be rude to not use it right?
When I was first looking at buying an eBike over just a new bike I talked to a couple of mechanics – mostly while trying to get my previous bike to the point where it worked better all the time and one thing that I heard mentioned several times and have since heard mentioned online via YouTube is that when a typical eBike is being serviced it often comes in with a damaged cassette and worn chain, the damage to the cassette is nearly always to the smallest 1-3 cogs (the highest gears) because most eBike users stick it in High and leave it at that, they may have 10+ gears to use but in high power mode you typically don’t need to actually use any of them. My bike is currently 10 speed, and I use all of my cassette cogs, with the least used probably being the largest Granny ring, when I finally replace my cassette with a new one – probably an 11 speed as my derailleur is now 11 speed compatible, though I’d need a new shifter too – I want the whole cassette to be well used.
When Stanley first arrived into my life in 2022 I walked the better part of 3,000 miles (the distance I tracked) in that year, and I got fitter – quite a lot fitter. In 2023 I lost quite a bit of that fitness, partly due to physical issues with my feet and ankles and partly due to mental health issues which meant going out was far more of a struggle than it had been in 2022. In 2024 after starting on DIY En I lost a lot of the body dysphoria that made 2023 so difficult, but it didn’t fix the tendons in my ankles/feet so deciding that if I could cycle for a good proportion of the spring/summer I’d buy a new bike, I began to regain some of the fitness I’d lost. But issues with my elderly Saracen and then with the only slightly newer (but still better equipped) Voodoo Hoodoo and overall lack of fitness and ability meant that while I did do more exercise than 2023, it wasn’t like I was doing as much as I wanted.
While I typically use the name Lost online for a number of reasons, but mostly related to how I feel about my mental state, I actually find it pretty hard to get lost. And I love to explore new places, on my older bikes when I was younger I’d regularly on nicer days go off for the whole day (and once or twice overnight) to just see what was what. But these days I just don’t have that capability – at least not on my older bikes, I avoided big hills and never felt very secure about getting home if something happened to the bike (or me), so while in 2022 I had walked pretty much every path that I could with the dog in the surrounding area (up to around 15mi from home) and certainly been over or on most of the more noticeable hills. With the supposed extended range of a bike I hadn’t actually gone any further and wasn’t even really planning anything. The eBike gave me about 40 miles of range in Standard, my longest ride to date was ~35 miles and I got home with around 10% of the battery remaining. I have always thought I’d have around 40 miles, but that’s the closest I had tested it to.
Having made the change from mostly cycling in Standard to mostly in Eco+ though I have increased my options and ability. My fitness levels have increased, I now challenge myself to get up hills that I either wouldn’t attempt at all or would still get of and push, and increasingly am succeeding. Partly this is due to an increased confidence on the bike, but partly it’s because I can stand up to pedal for short sections now which I couldn’t before. My DIY En addiction means that I don’t build muscle the same way a normal male would, and I’m nearly fifty so muscle building is harder anyway, but my legs are actually starting to have some definition – something I don’t really care for as I do not want to see great masculine muscles all over my body – I’ve even lost weight a little, but there is a long way to go there.
Eco+ makes it even more imperative to use all the gears, you can’t just put it in high and climb anything – I mean you couldn’t anyway and I still use Standard and High on really steep or technical terrain as it’s a heavy bike and I just don’t have the power to muscle through on Eco+ (though I’m getting there). But I find myself riding up hills that even two months ago I’d need to be in the lowest gear and highest assist to climb, yet manage in a lower assist – maybe not Eco+ but Standard instead – and dropping down the gears so I’m not spinning my legs so hard.
And lastly and the main reason I started to switch over from Standard to Eco+ and that I hope eventually allows me to switch to Eco and maybe one day even an analogue bike again, is the increased range it gives me to go out and explore. After the first month of riding the eBike, once I had realised what a boon it was to my overall enjoyment of physical exercise and before many of the issues I have had with the actual components I started planning some longer 40+ mile rides, I complete circumnavigation of Pen-y-ghent, forcing me to ride into the top end of the Wharfe valley, a trip to Ripon to see a friend (I’d have to overnight and recharge for that one), getting a train up to the Esk Valley in the Lake District, then riding to Windemere and getting another home… etc. Have all been examined and reduced to one basic issue, if my maximum range is 40mi to an empty battery, I can’t do any of them without significant risk. If the hills are too steep or I have to change the route on the fly due to something I cannot see on the map. I just don’t have the range to make them work.
On Tuesday I rode 28.5mi from home, a mixture of the normal hilly terrain I normally ride, according to Strava I rode for 27.92mi (I generally use the tripometer on my bike) and climbed for 2,190ft. My longest to date ride was 34.55mi with climbs of 3,216ft. I used around half the battery on my more recent ride for not far short of the distance, and while there was definitely less climbing done, nearly everything that wasn’t >10%+ was ridden in Eco+. Extrapolating from that in Eco+ mode I probably have around 60mi of range. I finally get to go and see some of the places I have wanted to explore on my own since I was a kid and that for one reason or another I just haven’t been able to since then. I’m even revisiting the idea about learning to drive – I can see a campervan of some kind in my future in honesty. Being able to drive to somewhere then ride 60mi before moving on/recharging the bike holds a huge draw to me now.
I want to make the switch to Eco too, which would in theory give me even greater range. I think I will probably reach the point of diminishing returns though, I’ll still need Standard or High for the hardest of climbs, making actually using a bike in Eco and then needing to accurately switch to high and back while riding a pain. Eco is only one mistaken button mash from basically Off, changing up is easy, changing down could mean all of my momentum is cancelled by suddenly having zero assistance. On top of that I really don’t want to build too much muscle, I have enough problems with the way I see my physical shape that I know that would not be comfortable and in the past my answer to that has to been to just remove that activity from the things I enjoy – bit of definition yes, some sleek muscles probably, true cyclists thighs/calves – ugh no.
So along side a campervan with enough generation power to charge an eBike, I could see a nice new fully suspension analogue or a lightweight eBike… though I do rather have my heart taken by one of the Niccolai Enduro MGU eBikes (one of which has a 1060mah battery), which is neither affordable nor lightweight.
And that’s all assuming that I can get some more work done on my novels, can sell them (or find another job with actual hours to work). More on that in another post, writing proceeds. Job hunt is piss poor.