What People Get Wrong About Electric Bikes!
Welcome back to another day here in the bike shop. If you’re new here, my name is Forest. I’m a bike shop manager and mechanic. Today, I’m killing a couple stereotypes about electric bikes. Here we go. I know there’s so many opinionated people in my comment section. This video is probably going to start a war down there in my comments. I think the first big thing I’d like to touch on is that people who ride ebikes are assumed as lazy. I think there’s various different types of people who are into riding electric bikes. Doesn’t mean that you’re lazy. Some people commute to work on their electric bikes. Not everyone does do it for exercise, but I totally understand where some might be coming from on this topic. Maybe you don’t do it for the exercise and you ride fulltime in turbo mode or use the thumb throttle, and that’s completely okay. However, if you are looking for exercise, you can ride that bike in maybe eco mode or power level one. That’s going to allow you to ride farther, use less battery life, and in turn gain more exercise. And I’m really not sure I agree with that statement. I mean, you can ride an electric bike on level one assistance for a quite a long distance. That level one assistance might let you achieve the same amount of exercise you’d be receiving in a shorter distance on a normal bike. You’re overall achieving a farther distance of ride as well. That’s definitely a pro and a contradictive statement to a few people I’ve seen in my comment section calling ebike riders lazy. The other big statement I wanted to touch on that I’ve seen is that all ebike riders are older people. I’m here to completely trump that statement. You can throw that one out in the back for now and let it rest. Uh that statement is entirely false. I have people come into my shop every day that are younger folks that want to buy ebikes for various different reasons, not just exercise. Although I do think ebikes are great for those who are maybe physically not able to ride as far as they would like to on a normal bike. I think the ebike really steps up in that regard and can allow people to go uh much further than they usually would before. Ebikes are dangerous and they’re just too fast to be ridden. Um again, there is definitely some danger to it, but it is cycling and cycling in general is dangerous. I think a lot of times when it gets really dangerous is when you’re riding on the road. And I don’t think it’s dangerous because of the person riding the bike. It’s the person in the car that might not necessarily see you. Regardless, even if you have all the lights and you’re riding during the daytime, I think it still can be really dangerous, especially when you’re on the road. People should definitely realize that yes, it is fun, but take all the proper safety precautions. You really should be wearing a helmet. And I know that probably sounds really repetitive. You hear that all the time, but you really should be wearing a helmet when you’re riding a bike in general, whether it’s electric or not. Um, I’ve seen too many accidents, people coming into the shop. You guys saw that video I filmed not long ago where the wheel got all bent up because the guy uh got halfway run over. Luckily, he was completely fine, but the bike wasn’t. And I would not want to see that happen to anyone. Wear your helmet and all your protective gear. People who ride electric bikes don’t know trail etiquette. I’m here to slash that a little bit as well. I have plenty of friends who are very serious mountain bikers and take trail etiquette very seriously and they still do ride electric bikes. So, I’m here to tell you not everyone on an ebike is disobeying trail etiquette and disrespecting hikers out there. I have seen some bad apples out there on social media. I wish I hadn’t, but I do see it every once in a while. There is some folks out there that still refuse to obey trail etiquette. And I really think you should because if you don’t, it paints a bad picture for the rest of us cyclists. Whether you’re on an ebike or not, you should obey trail signs and trail rules. And that way trails can stay open for a long time to come. Cuz it’d be a real bummer to see your favorite trails closed down from not obeying trail etiquette. They’re only good for commuting. I heard someone say in my comments, and I’m going to totally disagree with you on that one. And I think after you watch this video, you’re definitely going to have a different opinion as well. There is plenty of ebike, mountain bikes out there, and there’s plenty of different things electric bikes are good for. Yes, commuting is one of them. You can mountain bike, you can road bike. I’ve even seen an electric BMX bike. I’ve even seen electric tricycles here in our shop. And as long as you’re getting out there and riding, that’s what really matters. I had somebody just comment, “All small ebikes are just mini motorcycles.” Check this out. Just got one of these in. Yes, there are some ebikes that don’t have pedals on them, and they’re usually geared towards smaller children, but is it really still classified as a bike without crank arms and pedals? I’d like to see that discussion down in the comments below. I’m not really sure if I should classify those as bikes or not. We can’t lift them in the stand because they don’t have a seat post like normal bikes do. You’re not really pedaling something like that around. They’re just going to be more for small children to get used to balancing and whatnot, but some of them can go pretty fast. Regardless, I still do choose to change flat tires and stuff because they do use usually 14 or 16in tires and normal bike inner tubes as well. So, we do still choose to service those. They’re very practical and very efficient. And here’s my hot take on that as well. I think electric bikes can be very practical, especially if you have short distances to commute to work or you’re commuting in areas that have lots of traffic cuz you’re not sitting there just idling in a car. oftentimes it might even take you less time to get to work if you don’t have to sit there and you’re stuck in traffic when you can just hop on your bike and jet down there. I know there’s a big debate as to if they are really that environmentally friendly. I know the lithium ion batteries are a huge topic right now and I have seen a lot of electric bike actual fires go on. I have seen some articles recently about ebike fires and whatnot. I would like to think a lot of those are definitely homemade projects. I do have to tell you, I have not seen any ebike fires from brands that our shop carries or any of our neighboring shops carry as well. Those are going to be a lot of your name brand bikes. They’re just a lot higher quality. My opinion is yes, they are practical. Are they efficient? Yes, they are efficient. Are they efficient for the environment? I think in the meantime, I’m going to say yes that they are. I know there’s going to be some opinions on this in the comments below. If you’re trying to get away from a car, I feel like they are efficient. you can charge them up pretty quick at your house versus filling them up with gasoline. What do you do when you get rid of a lithium ion battery? That’s definitely a topic for another day, but I know there’s going to be some people in my comments that would love to share their thoughts. I would love to see you guys discuss this down in the comments below. I know there’s got to be loads of you that know what happens and how to service and how to dispose of a lithium-ion battery properly as well. I think another hottake opinion is that a lot of people that ride them don’t really care about their health and that I know plenty of people who are getting into electric bikes in order to get healthy again or to get back to that position they would like to be with cycling in general just so they can get back to that fitness level they were at and hop on their normal bike eventually. Or maybe they just love the ebikes so much they’ll just stick with that. I know in my riding group we have about 50% people on ebikes and 50% people on normal bikes. And when you ride with people on ebikes, you just have to understand they’re going to be faster than you. They’re probably going to get two or three laps on a mountain bike, whereas you’re going to get one lap on your normal mountain bike. But that’s totally okay. That’s something that we have to come to terms with when your riding group has some electric bike riders in it. Ebikes can break up friend groups. And here’s my opinion on it. If you have a friend group of people that’s used to riding mountain bikes with each other and then a few of them decide to get ebikes and all of a sudden they realize that they’re a lot faster and they can ride a lot farther than the people on the normal bikes, maybe this could alienate the people on the normal bikes and cause them not to want to ride with their buddies anymore because maybe their buddies are doing more laps now and they’re not as tired whereas the guy on the normal bike can burn out really fast. I think as cyclists, we do all have to come together and realize that we’re all out there for the same reason, and that is to have fun. If you’re going to ride your normal bike with some guys on ebikes, just realize they’re going to try to go faster. They’re probably going to be able to go a little bit farther, unless you’re an absolute beast, of course. I know there’s some people out there that are nuts on the normal bikes, and that’s awesome. But for the normal guy like me, I got to come to terms with the fact that some of my buddies are on ebikes, and I totally support them. I’m glad they’re out there and I’m super stoked to still be riding with them. And everyone that I’ve met has been super cool. What I call ebike riding a real sport. I believe ebike riding should be considered an actual sport. And here’s why. So, I go to plenty of mountain bike events all over, particularly races. And at every race I attend, they have an ebike category now, which is really cool because it gets people out there who might not be racing otherwise. And it gives people that extra drive to get out there and sign up for that. and overall gets more people stoked on the sport. Seeing that race category, I really enjoy it because I know a lot of people that show up to those races to race their ebike and just to have a lot of fun absolutely ripping down the hill going like three times faster than they would be on their normal bike. It just creates a super good atmosphere. And to be clear, they’re not racing against folks on normal bikes. They have their own specific category, their own specific age group. Ebike riders damage trail networks and shouldn’t be riding on mountain bike trails. I believe electric bikes that have good torque sensors in the motor allow the rear wheel to do a lot less skidding, particularly when you’re riding up. I don’t believe any bike does a large amount of damage on the downhill, especially when you’re coasting. I really don’t see the problem there. I see the issue when you’re riding up and not with all electric bikes. if they have pedals and you can control how much assistance it’s giving. I know a lot of people use that to their advantage in order to not destroy trails because a lot of ebike riders might dig those trails themselves as well and they don’t want to see them destroyed. However, I have seen some videos recently of people out there on electric dirt bikes and in my opinion that’s a totally different category. They’re a lot more powerful. Throttle control is better than an actual dirt bike, but still pretty hard to control. And they have a crazy amount of power. I’ve actually seen some trail damage recently of folks riding up what was supposed to be a mountain bike trail where you would normally be riding down. And it does do quite a bit of damage to mountain bike trails. Big ruts, big breaking bumps, stuff like that. In my opinion, they’re only really damaging during the wet season when trails are soft, people are digging out there. the big heavy electric dirt bikes. You know which ones I’m talking about. They really sink in. The tires have a lot of tread and they absolutely rip. I know if I had one when I was a young kid, I would totally be out there as well. So, I’m not going to bag on anyone who owns one of those. I do think that they’re sick, but they definitely have a time and a place. And with all the extra laws that are being added into electric bike riding nowadays, e- dirt bikes like Surons and Taras are getting harder and harder to ride on the road. So, I totally understand why they’re ending up on mountain bike trails and places that are a little bit more unsanctioned. Just be cautious. And if you are riding one, be aware that if you’re on a well-built mountain bike trail, the folks that are digging that trail would probably appreciate that you rode it when it was dry outside and trails are hard packed. When the trails are muddy, bikes that are hard to control like that can leave big ruts. And if you do decide to ride and you leave a big rut, please go back and fill that rut in. Do a little bit of trail work. Do a little trail work so that way when the next guy rides down, everything is safe and good to go, just like it was when they were finished being built. And that actually leads me into my next topic. Ebike riders don’t do any trail work on their mountain bike trails like normal bike riders do. This is going to get some people fired up as well. I know that for sure. I’ve seen this comment multiple times on a couple of my videos and I’m here to say I have plenty of friends out there that ride electric bikes full-time and they are the main trail builders on all of our trail networks around where we live. There’s multiple groups that go out and they use the ebikes to carry all their trail tools and they do plenty of work. Now, we have groups of normal bike guys, people on dirt bikes, groups of ebike guys. We all get together, try to form a big group, and that’s really how you get the most amount of trail work done. Sometimes you can even use a siron or a dirt bike to go rip in a new trail before you go through with your normal bike and you groom it up. You just have to make sure that the guys on the surons and the dirt bikes are aware that once that wet season comes around, they’re really going to have to be cautious and maybe refrain from riding the Suron or the big dirt bike on mountain bike trails. That’s in my opinion, other than cities taking trail networks down, that’s the only other thing that really destroys bike trails. So, will electric bikes fully replace normal bikes? My opinion on this is no. And I know that’s controversial as well. I think normal bikes still have a big place in the cycling industry. Yes, ebike is another niche category of the cycling industry. Ebike sales have been drastically increasing in the last few years over normal bike sales. I still think there’s a huge market for normal bikes out there, whether it’s competition or just a guy wanting to get into riding normal bikes. And I think there’s definitely a big market for both. So, there you have it. Those are the most controversial ebike stereotypes a bike shop manager like myself sees every single day. If you guys did enjoy this video, go ahead and leave me a comment below. Leave me your opinion on a couple of the things that I talked about, and I’d love to chat with you there. If you enjoyed this video, go ahead and click the playlist I have linked in the description. You can find so many more videos just like this one. As always, you guys, please give me a like and subscribe, and we’ll catch you next week. Thanks for watching.
In this video I’m exposing stereotypes and what people get wrong about electric bikes, addressing topics like ebike efficiency, ebike battery life and the ebike market. We’ll also be debunking common ebike myths and when the best time to ride them is.
Disclaimer: This video contains my personal opinions and although controversial, should not be taken as a one sided argument. I probably left a few things out, I will save for next time 🙂
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