Should You Buy an eBike?

If You Buy An eBike, Is It Just Too Lazy?

We had a lot of things to consider when we went to buy an eBike!  We were over 50 but we still liked to ride bicycles. It got us out in the fresh air and sunshine.  And gave us the mobility to explore a bit further than just walking did. But for a few years we had been assessing if it was time to buy an eBike.

When we moved to our condo by the lake, a key selling point was the walking / biking path just outside our door along Lake Ontario. But I must admit with each passing year, our bike riding was limited by some diminishing in my physical shape. On really windy days by the lake, it felt like we are standing still when we rode into the wind. The Lakeshore Rd hill we took to ride right into the Toronto downtown core became a mountain in my mind. And at some point, my own endurance sent us back towards home.

Early European eBike Experiences

When we travelled in Europe, we have often looked for opportunities to rent a bike.  And in almost all cases, there are eBike options available. We rented an eBike when we visited Barcelona and biked for hours along the shoreline.

Many European cities were very flat and didn’t need the assisted power for hills.  But the powered bike provided us with much greater range.

eBikes have been sold in Europe for a long time and they have evolved with great European style. In Barcelona we also saw the very cool SMART eBike used for bike tours. We saw the coolest bike when we were in Bologna. The “WayEl E-Bit” was both powered and small enough to fold into its own carrying case.

At the very high end of the spectrum, these eBikes would not be our starting level eBikes!  But we came home from that trip determined to investigate what eBikes we could find in Canada.

Looking Into eBikes In Canada

On a weekend trip to Ottawa, we went looking for a bike rental shop that had eBikes. We headed into the Byward Market we drooled at the window of Scooteretti where the candy red Pedego eBike sat! It looked so sleek and European!

We were very disappointed to find that they did not rent eBikes.  But the owner spent over an hour answering all of our questions.  We talked about what eBike options there were in Canada, the features we should look for and the trailering options. We walked away understanding that while the market was not as developed in Canada.  But the aging population and the European experience was creating an emerging market.  There were some established brands that had servicing available in Canada. We now knew you could buy an eBike with support in Canada.

While the Ottawa shop would be happy to take our order to buy an eBike, we continued our search closer to home. We spent another hour talking with one Toronto eBike store owner to narrow down our selection. David was looking for sporty while I was looking for comfort. While it might have been cute for us to get matching bikes in different colours, it looked as if our basic needs might mean a compromise for each of us if we selected one model.

We narrowed down our choices and left to do a bit more online research and to decide on purchase timing.  August in Toronto meant that the bike season was almost at an end.  And we left in a few weeks for 10 weeks in Italy). We were tempted to take the end of season discounts.  But we finally decided to wait until the spring to buy an eBike and see what new models might hit the showroom floors.

Checking Out eBikes At The Bike Show

What better place to look at all the options to buy an eBike than the Spring Toronto Bike Show! We headed off early to ensure we got some inside track time to test out the options. By now, David had compiled his matrix to help guide our eBike selection. We hoped this would allow us to quickly get to a short list of bikes to test ride.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that almost half the show floor was dedicated to bike sales.  And they were going out the door fast! On the last day of the show, it appeared that there were some good deals to be had!

We were interested to find that there were many other brands than the few ones we saw in our eBike research so far. A few Canadian manufacturers caught our interest.  But after we spent some time looking at the product line, none fit my requirements so we moved on. We looked to get an additional discount for buying two bikes.  So we needed an eBike dealer with ones for both our requirements.

One booth exclusively dealt in Italian bikes. These were much more stylish than many of the other eBikes we saw.  But the servicing options sent us on our way. We were not at all comforted when they said they would call up other dealers to find someone to service the bike if we had a problem! Servicing was definitely one of the criteria on the spreadsheet.

Finding An eBike Dealer That Met Our Needs

While we stopped at a few other booths, the extensive display at Gears gave us the choice we looked for to buy an eBike. We ran through our requirements with the helpful staff at Gears and narrowed down a few bikes to test ride. With our helmets in place, we went around the indoor track to test the bikes.

The indoor course was a good place to try out sharp turns.  But the slippery concrete floor and short runs really did not give me a great place to test the power feature of the eBike. My first requirement was that the eBike would ride well as a regular unpowered bike so the course worked ok for me. While I did want the power assist, I absolutely wanted to be able to ride the heavier bike by leg power as much as possible.

In the end we narrowed it down to two models. The CUBE Elly Ride Hybrid was David’s selection. This model was closer to the bikes we rode and looked pretty much like regular bikes.  But they featured newer Bosch battery technology that gave some additional power when needed.

I still contemplated a Pedego bike and was drawn to the new Boomerang model introduced this year.  A key feature was the very very low step-over crossbar. This was a major requirement for me as I continued to lose flexibility – the lower the better! But this lower step-over came with a more casual style of bike that rode with much less precision than the CUBE bike. At one point David couldn’t help himself when he labelled this the “old lady bike”.

I monopolized the Gears eBikes for a while as I alternated riding around the track on the two selections.  But even with that, I was not firmly committed to a model.  Unlike David who had already chosen his yellowish (“honey-mustard”) CUBE Elly Cruise Hybrid eBike!

Test Rides At The eBike Store

We put down a deposit to hold the show prices for us to buy an eBike and went home. I waffled over my decision for a few days.  Did I want a better version of the bike I rode today or did I want to buy an eBike that would meet what I felt were my emerging needs?

One more test ride might help me to get to a final decision.  So we headed back to the Gears store in Missisauga to test ride one last time. Arriving at the store, we found a massive store with everything a bike fanatic could want.

Hopefully our real road test would provide the answer. At over $3,000 Cdn each, this was not a decision we took lightly. We both remarked that we spent less on our first used cars!

My cherry red Boomerang bike was in the front window.  We got it set up for a test ride on the surrounding quiet streets leading down to the lake. It was quite windy and the ride back had a gentle incline so I was able to take the bike through the paces both with no power and with increasing pedal assist power settings.

The fatter tires and generally heavier bike absolutely rode at a slower coasting speed than my current bike.  But I had no problem riding the bike with no power. The pedal assist gave me just that extra push when I needed it. While it was a less precision ride, it was fine for the typical kind of cruising we did. And when I put it on full throttle, I could sit back and let the bike go! I had my bike selected.

Our Final eBike Purchases

David had no desire to change models.  But when we got to the store we saw a matt black CUBE with a slightly different gear system and a slightly lower price. Probably the biggest thing we disliked about the CUBE model we saw at the bike show was that it came only in purple and this ugly yellow colour. Matt black was so much better! So David too had his bike!

We had most of the biking gear we needed except new locks and bike covers. We knew we needed heavy duty locks (like motorcycle locks) to ensure the eBikes would be safe. Since the eBikes lived in the garage of our condo – a good cover would also be essential. A little research got us the best bets for both.

The last thing we needed to order was the bike carrier. eBikes approach 60 pounds even if you take the battery off.  So a regular bike carrier really was not going to work. We looked at several models of hitch mounted bike carriers that were used for eBikes and selected our Thule model. All we now needed was to get the Volvo fitted with a hitch and we would be off and travelling with our eBikes!

Selection Criteria To Buy An eBike

David’s eBike selection spreadsheet to buy an eBike included all the things that were important to us:

1) eBike Frame Size / Shape

• We quickly discarded the idea of folding bikes. While they may have been practical for travelling, the smaller wheels meant we worked harder.  And the smaller size meant there was a tradeoff in performance (e.g. smaller battery capacity).
• My key requirement was a low step-over frame. Traditional girl’s bikes had a lower frame.  But they still were not low enough. Most of the eBike coaster type bikes had much lower step-over frames.

2) Batteries – Capacity and Type

• Battery capacity was measured in Amp Hours. It was a measure of how long we could go before charging. Most bikes came standard with about 10 Amp Hours but we looked for more. 15 Amp Hours gave us a bit longer time between charging. We planned a few longer bike rides and did not want search for an electrical outlet mid-ride!
• It appeared that all of the eBikes came standard with nicad (NiMH) or newer lithium batteries. Which are safer, lighter and pack more energy for their weight. eBikes had different lithium batteries (i.e. lithium manganese cobalt – Smart e-bike) and moved to smaller, lighter more powerful technologies. The CUBE bike that David selected had a Bosch battery with lithium-ion with “unmatched energy density”.

3) Motor Drive – Capacity and Location

• Motor capacity was measured in Watts and gave us an idea of how much extra assistance the motor gave us. It was especially important because we were heavier (e.g. it needed to move more weight).  But it was also important to move quickly off the mark or if we wanted to go faster.
• Most of the eBikes came standard with about 250 Watts. We looked for 350 Watts that gave us just that little more power.
• The traditional location for the eBike motor was on the rear wheel drive. This location was vary common and could even be retrofitted to existing bike frames.  But the downside is lack of drive power, especially noticeable going up a hill. The newer trend was to put the drive motor at the pedals. This was called different names; centre drive, mid drive motor system.
• The CUBE has a second generation Bosch Drive Unit Active Cruise listed at Optimal Drive Position in the bottom bracket. This option gave David more efficiency for longer ride distances and better climbing. He peddled the actual drive motor, not a chain to a motor (in the rear wheel hub). The biggest concern was that this was newer technology in Canada.
• David’s chosen bike had the motor at the pedals. While mine was on the rear wheel in the more traditional location.  We would see if motor location made any difference!

4) Brand – Servicing and Reliability

• The key here was a brand that had been around in Canada for some time and had some history. We did not want to be on the bleeding edge of new technology or a brand new company. David still bought the CUBE Hybrid because of the “Bosch” reputation.
• Similarly, we wanted to know that there was local servicing for the eBike. No matter the warranty (most seem to be very minimal) or the proven reliability, when something went wrong, we wanted a local place for repair.

Is An eBike For You?

As I have noted, I was looking for a new bike that offered some assisted power. I was not looking for a scooter or trail bike! The eBikes we chose rode equally well unpowered so as long as you are not too lazy.  We did most of our riding with little or no power assist. If we really got lazy (or need the extra power), the power was there.

I hoped that the eBike would take away the tendency to not go and ride unless the conditions are perfect. I could now ride when it was windy and on a course that had some hills. We can take our eBikes to other scenic locations and know that we can do a gentle but longer ride.

The eBike was probably not a great option if you are doing a lot of off road riding. Although the big fatter tires should handle grass and dirt with no problem. I would just not want to make the eBike take that much abuse (although there are eBikes targeted at this use).

When we were at the bike show, I stopped by one of the local bike riding clubs and asked if I could still ride with them. Since our bike still looks like a bike and can be ridden with no power, we didn’t violate any of their rules. But they did sneer down their noses just a little bit at this less traditional approach to biking.

We Were Glad We Chose To Buy An eBike

We planed to ride the new ride the new eBikes over the summer over the summer .  At that time, we will provide an updates once we had more experience and were able to validate our decision to buy an eBike. You may even catch glimpses of the bikes in our summer blogs!

Have you gone over the to dark side with an eBike? Any other things people need to consider when making a purchase?

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