I do sometimes wish I hadn't hung up the bike about 10 years ago, mainly because I feared being knocked over and being severely injured. I have looked at E-Bikes and in my mind I imagine a 30 year old me, then reality kicks in and I realise if I was knocked off my bike I would in all probability never get up again. Note I do ride a 120cc Honda bike around the property though.

I have noticed in Qld some very senior citizens riding adult sized trikes - fortunately I have not yet discovered an easy way of carrying one in the van - so I will live on.

At around the one grand mark E-bikes are monetarily affordable but they should only be used by competent cyclists, mentally and physically fit that won't be a hazard to themselves and other road users. Only you are in a position to judge

I bought an electric bike about 4 years ago and love it. I took up cycling a few years before retiring to maintain a level of fittness and due to a dislike of walking and a couple of dodgy knees. I originally had a basic mountain bike but after a health issue I was unable to cycle at the same level as before. I bought an e-bike, a Earth M15 pedal assist mountain bike, and have not looked back. Pedal assist means the motor assists in pedaling, particularly up hills, difficult terrain and head winds. The pedal assist cut out at 25 KPH when you are on your own. I now regularly ride 100-120 kms per week mainly on bike tracks and some roads in bike lanes. E-bikes range in price from about $1000 upwards, mine cost $2500. They are substantially heavier than normal bikes and more robustly built, particularly the mountain bikes. Mine is 25 kgs compared to 18 kgs for my mountain bike They are becoming increasingly more popular with a very large range of brands and models. If you get one have a decent lockable chain as they are very attractive to other people.

I've had an ebike for nearly ten years, the first one was a Bafang bottom bracket drive on a good quality full suspension mountain bike, it and its battery still work well.
Eighteen months ago I bought a top of the line carbon framed full suspension bike, a company demo at a good price after an electric bike demo day in our town. It now has over 4,000km on it and has had the battery replaced under warranty at 1300km.
A modern bike with full suspension is a much nicer ride especially on less than ideal country roads and tracks which are the most prevalent surfaces in Australia and they still work well with good brakes etc on dedicated bike trails and paths.
We bought a cheap basic no suspension ladies Ebike for my wife to get back on a bike after a 30 odd year departure from bike riding and its shortcomings quickly became apparent once she got the hang of it due to our cobblestone local roads as she found that the brakes got more use than the pedals as it was hard to control at speed!
She now has a full suspension touring Ebike that she loves and the basic one is for sale.
Look for the best quality you can afford and any ebike MUST have disc brakes for safety, they are heavier, usually on the wrong side of 20kgs and us oldies tend to be heavier too so the ability to stop is very important.
Another thing to make sure of especially if intending to use in rural and bush areas is that tyres/tubes are fitted with sealant to prevent flat tyres as three corner jacks are everywhere!
The quickest way to wreck a good bike is to carry it outside the vehicle on a rack as the weather, dirt and dust will destroy the drivetrain unless they are constantly serviced.

After I had both hips replaced, I got myself a pedal assist E bike...., it was perfect to help me recover..., not bearing weight in the drive train(legs !). I took it easy and slowly built up muscle condition then strength. Operation was very successful and recovery more so ! After regaining almost full mobility(I even took up surfing again - I'm only 65), anyway's.., I decided the Ebike was (1) way too heavy and cumbersome to move and lift and (2) the E bike was making me lazy. So I bought myself a proper ultra lite weight mountain bike. How lite ? ultra lite - very easy to manhandle and lift onto either carrier or into vehicle, with lot's of very efficient gears.., also it has very good suspension and larger tyres...., oh and everything is VERY easily adjustable on the MTB, not so easy to adjust stuff on an E bike ! Anyway, that was about 10 years ago and I'm still loving it.
E bikes are undoubtably very usefull.., but, if you use one beware of a tendency to get sucked into going too fast(especially on roads).., and IMHO they can make you lazy and less inclined to be more active ! nuff said

-- Edited by Sandyfreckle on Tuesday 8th of June 2021 09:22:03 AM

-- Edited by Sandyfreckle on Wednesday 9th of June 2021 05:12:34 AM

Just received an RAC email update here in WA, and there was a link to an interesting article on e-bikes.

I thought this may be of interest to those that are in the market or just information for others. 

New e-bikes in WA 2021 | RAC WA

 

I can write about E bikes with  personal experience, having been a bike rider for the last 20yrs and found that I needed a little extra help so graduated to E bike, 1st being a $900 Aldi purchase.  It was a normal guys bike BUT with battery over rear wheel and E motor on rear wheel, was comfortable to ride , however, throwing my leg over the bike was becoming a  problem, especially with the battery over the rear wheel  meant that you would catch yr leg on the battery and also the battery being so high up made the bike top heavy. In addition I found that the rear motor further added to the bike being rear heavy and would tip over easily.   I decided that Aldi bikes are ok for the young and energetic in high kicks/gymnastics. My wife had  a folding E bike $2500 which was step through and a real winner with 5 motor speeds  and disc brakes , I took over riding this bike, however,  it was a little small to ride comfortably, but very easy to get on and off an ideal ladies bike.

I then decided that a new E bike was in order BUT I required  step through making easy to get on and off, E motor in the centre at pedal position and battery in the centre. The bike is well balanced with weight in the centre and EBike looks good, it was not cheap Canadian design Norco but nice to ride.  Back to the Bike trails.

-- Edited by jeepnudger on Friday 16th of July 2021 06:30:13 PM