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E-bike vs road bike shootout on Austria's toughest climb

How would an 18kg Giant electric road bike fare against a 7kg, top-of-the range BMC? Only one way to find out

In the US, I learned, they call it ‘paperboying’. You learn something every day. I’m right on my limit here on the upper slopes of the climb, weaving from one side of the road to the other in an attempt to lessen the gradient. A couple of kilometres ago I stopped and stuck my head into a stream at the side of the road, and had a word with myself. I won’t let the climb beat me.

I never really know whether it’s better or worse to know what’s coming. Today I know. Ahead of me the road stretches away at a constant gradient of about 18% for the next few hundred metres. Beyond that it corners out of view and gets even steeper: a 22% ramp before you leave the trees and hit the alpine meadows with a kilometre to go to the cable car station. And how do I know? Because two days ago I rode this climb for the first time, and I had plenty of energy to take in the sights. Because I was cheating.

Often when you talk about riding an electric bike, you’ll get someone who’ll say: they’re so heavy. Why would you want one? You’d be better off just getting a nice light road bike, you’ll go a lot quicker. So in the interests of pseudo science I thought I’d take it upon myself to do a really hard climb both ways, and see what the difference is.

The climb in question is the Kitzbüheler Horn. It rises from the town of Kitzbühel and ends up at the Alpenhaus cable car station at 1,670m. There’s 900m of vertical climbing to do in the 7km of tarmac, so a quick calculation puts the average gradient at just under 13%. For seven kilometres. Most alpine climbs are about half that. I’ve not done many climbs that average higher. Even the mighty Mont Ventoux only manages 9%, the fearsome Mortirolo 11%. It’s a test alright.

A tale of two bikes

Giant Road E+ 1 - full bike 2.jpg

So here are the contenders. In the blue corner we have the Giant Road E+ 1. Drop bar electric road bikes aren’t very common but the Giant is a fully fledged racer with the addition of a 250W Yamaha SyncDrive motor and a 500Wh battery pack. You get hydraulic discs and Shimano Ultegra gears. The penalty for the drive system is weight: this Giant weighs in at about 18kg. We’ll be posting a full first ride review of the bike on our sister site, ebiketips, soon.

BMC Roadmachine Di2 - full bike.jpg

In the green corner sits the brand new BMC Roadmachine. The Roadmachine is BMC’s new all-things-to-all-men fast bike that combines the stiffness and light weight of their race platform with a bit of aero tweaking and some comfort concessions to make it fast, light and comfy. I had a top-of-the-range Dura Ace Di2 bike with hydraulic discs. We’ll be doing a first ride piece on the BMC separately but it’s a serious piece of kit, no doubt about that. Weight is not much over 7kg, so the BMC has an 11kg advantage over its motorised rival.

Climb 1: Giant Road E+ 1

Turning off the main road the Rad am Horn ducks under the railway and sneaks through a housing estate before following a stream up to the point where it kicks left and the real climb begins. Often when you approach a climb on a road ride the talking stops as people get focused for what’s coming, and funnily enough it’s the same this time, but more because none of us really know what to expect. How hard will this be?

I start the climb in Eco, but soon I’m in the middle assistance mode, Normal, which seems like about the right balance of doing some work yourself whilst the motor takes some of the strain. We pass the 7km to go sign and the road climbs a series of switchbacks on a steep meadow that offers a magnificent view across the valley. Another sign warns of a 15% section but the climb intensity bar at the bottom of the poster suggests that there’s worse to come higher up. Much worse.

Giant Road E+ 1 - riding 1.jpg

Like on any other climb, the ride splits up. You might expect it to stay together as we’ve all got the same assistance available from the bike but some of us are climbing in full-gas Power mode while others aren’t. Also, there’s a fairly wide range of non-motorised ability within the group. So the fit lads on maximum boost fly off the front and I’m where I’d expect to find myself: somewhere in the middle. I’m not really built for hills. This motor helps, though.

Giant Road E+ 1 - horn 1.jpg

The sun’s shining and the nature of the climb – it basically zig-zags up one steep side of the mountain – means you get glorious views, better the higher you climb above the valley floor on the vertiginous slope. For a while I stick the bike in top assistance mode, Power, and spin up the hairpins while I take in the view. Hitting the steeper section at the top I’m suddenly dumped back into reality with a bump: the bike’s power screen says something about a SyncDrive error and the motor cuts out. The bike stops almost immediately on the 18% gradient and I’m left thinking that the remaining 1,500m suddenly seem like a long, long way. If I’d had a support number to call they’d have told me to turn it off and on again. So that’s what I try, and thank heavens, I’m back under power. I drop the motor down to normal and spin up the hairpins to the ski station. I’m not really out of breath. I wasn’t wearing a heart rate monitor but for most of the climb I was probably at about 140-150bpm, a gentle Zone 3 workout.

Climb 2: BMC Roadmachine

My Roadmachine is fitted with a compact 50/34 chainset and an 11-28 cassette, so pretty good climbing gears really. As the road climbs to what marks the start of the climb proper, I look down to find I have one gear left. Turning the corner I see the road rise aggressively ahead of me and clunk, I’m down to bottom gear. I haven’t even reached the 7km to go sign yet.

BMC Roadmachine Di2 - riding 7.jpg

The first bit is a crawl, but it’s manageable in a straight line: 12% gradients and loose hairpins the like of which might make up the steeper sections of a normal col. But these are just the hors d’oeuvres here. A brief respite through the toll booth and it’s time for business: long, draggy 15% sections stacked up the meadow, one atop the other. Somewhere here, still with over 5km to go, the paperboying starts. I check the Garmin for distance and each kilometre is taking an extra 50m or so as I weave up the steep bits.

It’s hot, and I’m on my limit. My vision is reduced to the next thing I’m aiming at. That fence post. That hairpin. That writing on the road. Grind, grind, make the catch, find another goal, grind, grind. I stop to dunk myself in a cold mountain stream and that gives me a bit of a boost as the gradient lessens just a notch and the road snakes from the meadows into the forest.

Then it’s time for the brutal 18% stretch stretching off into the distance. I’m barely moving and it’s such, such a long way to the point where the road disappears round the corner and I know that round the corner it’s even worse and I have to stop and have a breather and get some water on board. I’m pretty broken. I’ve been in bottom gear since the very start of the climb. I need at least two more gears. I try to remember what gear I was in aboard the Giant; all I can remember is that it didn’t really seem to matter that much.

BMC Roadmachine Di2 - horn 3.jpg

Somehow I make it over the 22% ramp before the final switchbacks and at that point I know I’ve made it: the cafe is looming above me and it’s just a case of scrabbling up the remaining four or so hairpins before I can have a nice sit down. I can’t up my pace for the final section though. I don’t have anything left, I’ve been on my limit basically all the way up.

Scores on the doors

The Horn is used on the Tour of Austria most years, and Strava is full of pros posting unachievable-for-mortals times. Top of the pile is Victor de la Parte: his win on stage 6 of the 2015 Tour, posting a time of 27:57 up the climb, gives him the KOM but more importantly handed him the win in the race that year. So how close could I get to that time on an e-bike?

Pretty close.

I posted 28:11. It’s worth noting that, firstly, my bike cut out at one point and that cost me a minute or so. Also, I wasn’t really trying that hard. One of the other journalists on the ride, who I’m giving about 40kg away to, went hard up the climb in full-assist mode and managed it in about 18 minutes. I could probably have done it in something like 22-23 minutes if I’d been giving it the beans. So easily faster than a pro under their own steam.

And what about me under my own steam? Well, it took me a round hour. 1:00:41 to be precise. Could I have done it faster? Maybe a bit, if it was cooler (the second climb was certainly hotter) and I had a bike with a couple more climbing gears for a big lad. And I wasn’t carrying a hydration pack and a big camera. Excuses, excuses. It wouldn’t have made that much difference. At my current level of fitness, even with perfect conditions and equipment, I wouldn’t be much under the hour.

Giant Road E+ 1 - riding 3.jpg

What did we learn?

Well, we learnt that e-bikes are quicker up climbs. Who’d have thunk? But there are people out there who genuinely believe a light road bike will go faster up a climb than a bike with a 250W motor. These people have never tried an e-bike, and doubtless never will. They’re wrong though. SO wrong.

There’s more to it than that though. The Kitzbüheler Horn is an amazing climb. It’s a great road with a sensational view, and you can buy ice creams and fluffy toys at the top. The unrelentingly brutal nature of it means that it’s pretty much out of bounds to anyone that’s not reasonably fit. E-bikes change that: pretty much anyone that can ride a bike would be able to get up it on the Giant. When we did it on leg power alone we were sharing the climb with elderly cyclotouristes who would overtake us, spin up to the next hairpin, take some pics, watch us struggle past, then hop back on and overtake us again. Bastards.

Riding up the Horn unassisted is good for many reasons: the sense of satisfaction, the fact that you’re pitting yourself against a hard climb and the fact that you can measure yourself against the pros. I wouldn’t, ever, describe it as being in any way fun, though. It might be a not-fun part of a fun and satisfying day ride which will be the basis for many that-time-we anecdotes to bore your mates with. The climb though: it’s fun on an e-bike. Call it cheating if you want. But if you’re on your bike to have a good time and see stuff, you’ll have more fun and see much more stuff with a bike like the Giant, on a climb like this.

BMC Roadmachine Di2 - riding 6.jpg

Of course, a bike ride isn’t just a climb. And it’s worth noting that on the flatter sections of our loop (I did basically the same ride on both bikes) the idiosyncrasies of EU electric bike law come into play. E-bikes are limited in Europe to 25km/h (15.5mph), and when you’re buzzing along on the flat that’s not a difficult speed to achieve, even on an 18kg bike. So you spend the majority of a ride not getting any assistance at all. An example: the climb to the top of the Horn took my battery stocks down to just over half. But riding back in a group on reasonably flat terrain only knocked about another two or three percent off the charge, in 15km of riding. Cruising at 28km/h you’re not getting any help.

You adjust your style of riding too. Normally if you’re in a group riding on the road and there’s a slight rise you’ll raise your effort to keep the speed up. If there’s a short, sharp ascent then you’ll get up out of the saddle and power over it. Neither of those approaches make sense on the Giant. It’s heavy enough that the extra power you need up that slight rise becomes a big push, and getting up and stamping on the pedals isn’t something that the bike responds well to: it feels cumbersome and a touch unstable when you try and kick off a sprint. So instead the approach you take is to let the speed drop to a point where the motor kicks in and surf the extra assistance at about the motor cut-off limit.

Other countries have different maximum speeds. In most of the US and Canada it’s 20mph (32km/h) and that would be a much more sensible maximum assist level for a bike like the Giant. Sadly, it’s not one that’s available to us in the UK. As it is, the Giant feels a bit of a halfway house: it’s great up the hills but somewhat compromised on the flat. The rolling bits were quicker, and more enjoyable, on the BMC without being obviously harder work.

My lasting impressions of the Giant Road E+ 1 and the BMC Roadmachine are both favourable, and you’ll be able to read them soon on here and on ebiketips. Would I swap the one for the other? I don’t think so, but I’d love to have both: I can see that having the Giant in the shed would be great for the times when you’re time pressed or just tired, and want to spin your legs without making too much of an effort. Or you could use it as a leveller if you’re not as fit as the people you ride with. It’s just N+1, after all. Or in this case, maybe N+1e.

 

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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43 comments

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joules1975 | 7 years ago
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Really interesting article, but it suddenly hit me.

People looking to spend that kind of money on a bike are going to be pretty keen cyclists, the and the price difference between the two bikes is huge. Plus, take the motor and battery from the giant and it's not that far off the BMC.

What about at the lower end, where people are only just getting into biking or are looking for their first bike to take them on bigger rides at a faster pace.

An interesting test would be between a £1300 electric bike and a £1300 road or fast hybrid bike.

The difference in the base bikes would be much larger than in your test.

Avatar
kitkat | 7 years ago
1 like

Perhaps admins can demote this story now?

It has been at the top of the page for a while and there's plenty of other advertising the sister e-bike site anyway

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DaveE128 | 7 years ago
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I find it really bizarre that instead of putting gears that are appropriate for alpine climbing onto a road bike, it seems some people would sooner consider buying an e-bike.

Appropriate gears would be a far cheaper way to make it an enjoyable ride, albeit the ride would last for longer!  1

I'm so sick of bike manufacturers trying to sell me bikes with macho gears. I prefer to spin, not grind, and there are hills in many parts of the UK. And yet I'd still rather get up the hill under my own steam, even if it took me three times as long.

The thing that bothers me about the proliferation of e-bikes is in the off-road area. I enjoy riding off road, and fear that e-bikes will cause access increased access issues, especially with chipped bikes (I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one chipped e-mountain bike on the road - flying along at over 20mph while barely turning the pedals over). Having said that, I couldn't help but chuckle when I overtook a guy on an e-bike on a semi-technical and somewhat steep off road climb a few weeks back!  1

I think it would have provided more of an all-round picture of the pros and cons if the comparison had included riding back down the mountian on both bikes! I suspect the weight of the e-bike would have been slightly scary, but I'm not sure.

 

Avatar
dave atkinson replied to DaveE128 | 7 years ago
1 like

DaveE128 wrote:

I find it really bizarre that instead of putting gears that are appropriate for alpine climbing onto a road bike, it seems some people would sooner consider buying an e-bike.

Appropriate gears would be a far cheaper way to make it an enjoyable ride, albeit the ride would last for longer!  1

you find it really bizarre that people who aren't especially fit want to go out and do some riding?

this climb is a fairly extreme example. but there's plenty of people out there who lack the fitness to do the riding they'd like to do. so what, they should just man (or woman) up? I'd rather people rode e-bikes than no bikes.

"appropriate gears" is just the new "lighter bike", really. the difference between doing a climb like this on an e-bike and a normal bike is night and day.

DaveE128 wrote:

I'm so sick of bike manufacturers trying to sell me bikes with macho gears. I prefer to spin, not grind, and there are hills in many parts of the UK. And yet I'd still rather get up the hill under my own steam, even if it took me three times as long.

that's pretty narrow view: you're not so macho that you want too-big gears, but you're macho enough that you can't imagine anyone ever wanting some help.

DaveE128 wrote:

I think it would have provided more of an all-round picture of the pros and cons if the comparison had included riding back down the mountian on both bikes! I suspect the weight of the e-bike would have been slightly scary, but I'm not sure.

The ride back down was fine. the giant has standard non-finned rotors and i managed to get some brake fade in the tight bit at at the top but for the most part it's a competent and stable descender. I managed to wind it up to 85km/h so i must have been reasonably confident  1

I was quicker down on the Giant than the BMC. just.

Avatar
DaveE128 replied to dave atkinson | 7 years ago
0 likes

dave atkinson wrote:

DaveE128 wrote:

I find it really bizarre that instead of putting gears that are appropriate for alpine climbing onto a road bike, it seems some people would sooner consider buying an e-bike.

Appropriate gears would be a far cheaper way to make it an enjoyable ride, albeit the ride would last for longer!  1

you find it really bizarre that people who aren't especially fit want to go out and do some riding?

this climb is a fairly extreme example. but there's plenty of people out there who lack the fitness to do the riding they'd like to do. so what, they should just man (or woman) up? I'd rather people rode e-bikes than no bikes.

"appropriate gears" is just the new "lighter bike", really. the difference between doing a climb like this on an e-bike and a normal bike is night and day.

DaveE128 wrote:

I'm so sick of bike manufacturers trying to sell me bikes with macho gears. I prefer to spin, not grind, and there are hills in many parts of the UK. And yet I'd still rather get up the hill under my own steam, even if it took me three times as long.

that's pretty narrow view: you're not so macho that you want too-big gears, but you're macho enough that you can't imagine anyone ever wanting some help.

DaveE128 wrote:

I think it would have provided more of an all-round picture of the pros and cons if the comparison had included riding back down the mountian on both bikes! I suspect the weight of the e-bike would have been slightly scary, but I'm not sure.

The ride back down was fine. the giant has standard non-finned rotors and i managed to get some brake fade in the tight bit at at the top but for the most part it's a competent and stable descender. I managed to wind it up to 85km/h so i must have been reasonably confident  1

I was quicker down on the Giant than the BMC. just.

I wasn't saying no-one should buy an e-bike. I just thought the choice of gearing on the normal bike wasn't a fair comparison if what you're looking for is to make it more enjoyable for those of us whose fitness isn't TdF-level!  1 The resistance to speccing low gears on road bikes always frustrates me. I would like lower gears to be more widely available and I'm always amazed how many people I see walking up hills on sportives, who are riding stock cassettes.

For me, a sensibly geared road bike would be perfect, and I have no need of an e-bike (unless I'm really in a rush to get up hills). Again though, there are plenty of people that I'm sure they are great for, and probably the best choice. I just think the article makes that group of people look bigger than it really is, as the comparison is to an unsuitable-for-mere-mortals road bike. I think a road bike with sensible gearing would suit a lot of other people too.

Interesting to know that the downhill was fine. The heavier bike will have a higher terminal velocity but is perhaps less easy to corner. Sounds like they have sorted the handling well.

Avatar
DaveE128 replied to DaveE128 | 7 years ago
0 likes

DaveE128 wrote:

dave atkinson wrote:

DaveE128 wrote:

I find it really bizarre that instead of putting gears that are appropriate for alpine climbing onto a road bike, it seems some people would sooner consider buying an e-bike.

Appropriate gears would be a far cheaper way to make it an enjoyable ride, albeit the ride would last for longer!  1

you find it really bizarre that people who aren't especially fit want to go out and do some riding?

this climb is a fairly extreme example. but there's plenty of people out there who lack the fitness to do the riding they'd like to do. so what, they should just man (or woman) up? I'd rather people rode e-bikes than no bikes.

"appropriate gears" is just the new "lighter bike", really. the difference between doing a climb like this on an e-bike and a normal bike is night and day.

DaveE128 wrote:

I'm so sick of bike manufacturers trying to sell me bikes with macho gears. I prefer to spin, not grind, and there are hills in many parts of the UK. And yet I'd still rather get up the hill under my own steam, even if it took me three times as long.

that's pretty narrow view: you're not so macho that you want too-big gears, but you're macho enough that you can't imagine anyone ever wanting some help.

DaveE128 wrote:

I think it would have provided more of an all-round picture of the pros and cons if the comparison had included riding back down the mountian on both bikes! I suspect the weight of the e-bike would have been slightly scary, but I'm not sure.

The ride back down was fine. the giant has standard non-finned rotors and i managed to get some brake fade in the tight bit at at the top but for the most part it's a competent and stable descender. I managed to wind it up to 85km/h so i must have been reasonably confident  1

I was quicker down on the Giant than the BMC. just.

I wasn't saying no-one should buy an e-bike. I just thought the choice of gearing on the normal bike wasn't a fair comparison if what you're looking for is to make it more enjoyable for those of us whose fitness isn't TdF-level!  1 The resistance to speccing low gears on road bikes always frustrates me. I would like lower gears to be more widely available and I'm always amazed how many people I see walking up hills on sportives, who are riding stock cassettes.

For me, a sensibly geared road bike would be perfect, and I have no need of an e-bike (unless I'm really in a rush to get up hills). Again though, there are plenty of people that I'm sure they are great for, and probably the best choice. I just think the article makes that group of people look bigger than it really is, as the comparison is to an unsuitable-for-mere-mortals road bike. I think a road bike with sensible gearing would suit a lot of other people too.

I don't think sensible gears are the new light bike. The claim for light bikes is that they are just as fast. The claim I'm making for sensible gears is that the level of exertion required can be the same (albeit at much reduced speed).

Interesting to know that the downhill was fine. The heavier bike will have a higher terminal velocity but is perhaps less easy to corner. Sounds like they have sorted the handling well.

Though I suppose, to be fair, that the main point of the article was about which is quicker, I was picking up on the comparisons of how pleasant it was/effort required/how much it might put someone off doing it.

Avatar
Christopher TR1 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Man, that E-Bike is fugly!!

Avatar
BikeJon replied to Christopher TR1 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Christopher TR1 wrote:

Man, that E-Bike is fugly!!

But that is a fine looking BMC. I've not really been a fan of them before but this one is very nice IMO.

Avatar
brakesmadly | 7 years ago
2 likes

My much smaller lighter less strong partner hired an eBike when we went to Tenerife. There's no way she could have tackled those hills without the assistance, and it meant we could ride together (up to a point, where she clicked up to maximum assist and dropped me) all day.

Oh how she enjoyed turning the tables on me on a long climb!

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muppetteer | 7 years ago
0 likes

Anybody tried a Gocycle? My dad's 87, but finds riding a unpowered bike a bit of a struggle on the hills/inclines. The step through frame looks good too for him. 

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wycombewheeler | 7 years ago
0 likes

What about on a 100 mile lumpy course like the chiltern 100 or dragon ride? On the flats and descents no penalty, but how far does the battery last?

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cyclisto | 7 years ago
0 likes

Well e-bikes have some certain advantages. However they are heavy to carry and you can get almost equally amount of polluted air.

Unless drastic measures to improve air quality are taken, commuting by bicycle is doomed...

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harrybav replied to cyclisto | 7 years ago
0 likes

cyclisto wrote:

you can get almost equally amount of polluted air.

You maybe don't commute on a major bus route.

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Cyclosis replied to cyclisto | 7 years ago
2 likes

cyclisto wrote:

Well e-bikes have some certain advantages. However they are heavy to carry and you can get almost equally amount of polluted air.

Unless drastic measures to improve air quality are taken, commuting by bicycle is doomed...

 

You are aware that you are subjected to more polluted air in a car or bus than you are riding a bike?

Plus on a bike there are the obvious health and fitness benefits. So it's a net win all-round for commuting by bike.

 

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Bmblbzzz | 7 years ago
0 likes

It would be interesting to see how a more ordinary electric bike coped with this climb. One with an upright position, mudguards, lights, a basket on the front and a rack. The 'motorized' version of something that might weigh 18kg without a motor. Put some shopping in the basket and a child in a seat on the back too! My guess is it would still be quicker than anyone other than a pro. 

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fenix | 7 years ago
0 likes

We had a test day at work last year. Pretty sure the e bike didn't need pedal assistance?

And what I want is an e bike that you can only turn on the motor for the last hour or so of your long ride. No cheating on hills - but when your legs are gone and there's inevitably a head wind - you have help.

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oldstrath replied to fenix | 7 years ago
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fenix wrote:

We had a test day at work last year. Pretty sure the e bike didn't need pedal assistance? And what I want is an e bike that you can only turn on the motor for the last hour or so of your long ride. No cheating on hills - but when your legs are gone and there's inevitably a head wind - you have help.

Easy enough to do that, but the extra weight might get annoying.

Avatar
dave atkinson replied to fenix | 7 years ago
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fenix wrote:

We had a test day at work last year. Pretty sure the e bike didn't need pedal assistance? And what I want is an e bike that you can only turn on the motor for the last hour or so of your long ride. No cheating on hills - but when your legs are gone and there's inevitably a head wind - you have help.

something like the vivax assist system then? review of that coming up on ebiketips soon...

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MNgraveur | 7 years ago
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Forgive me. Perhaps I saw one too many ATV this past weekend...

 

 1

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sidesaddle | 7 years ago
5 likes

E-bikes are the new mopeds, or will be the moment the allowable speed is upped a bit. But despite being slower they are intrinsically everything a moped promises but fails spectacularly to deliver. A 50cc motor is often rated at around 3kW compared the Giant's puny 0.25kW, but look at the torque specs (which are what really matters) and the positions are reversed; 80Nm @ zero RPM vs - wait for it - 3.5Nm @7000ish RPM. 80Nm is equivalent to 48kg force on a 170mm crank, for all 360 degrees of its' revolution. 

What the numbers actually mean is that a moped won't go up hills, even little ones, whereas an e-bike is totally built for them. Riding a moped involves winding the throttle to the stop and praying that the gradient is shallower than the power curve, but it never is. Stressful to say the least. On even a Chinese Christmas cracker e-bike, you just look forward to the excuse to stop leaning on the pedals. It's the perfect means of getting from A - B without sweating or wearing a full-face lid.

Despite all the cries of cheating, the roads will soon be teeming with these things. They'll look like crap but they'll be overtaking you up hills and won't mind stopping at lights. Enjoy guys.

Avatar
moonbucket | 7 years ago
5 likes

The strident machismo based resistance to e-bikes shown by some  is a redundant reflex and faintly amusing. You'll still be on a normal bike earning those kilometers so what does it matter?

Would you tell someone who does the London - Brighton run on their scooter that their annual pilgrimage doesn't count because they didn't run or cycle it?

Does the skier downhilling the black run on La Saulire not get to post about his exploits because, well, he took the chairlift up and used gravity to get back down?

So you did the Alpe d'Huez in a credible time? Ah, sorry, that doesn't count because you were in aerodynamic lyrca, cleats and on a 7kg carbon bike and someone's Great-Grandad once did it on a penny farthling in full victorian clothing.  10
 

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harrybav | 7 years ago
0 likes

I enjoy point-to-point holidays traversing the French alps, going via the odd famous TdF mountain but mainly on the quiet no-rules backroads, like Robert Louis Stevenson on his donkey. I use a road bike, for the weight, but reckon a c90 would be enjoyable (might run out of road too quick though?) and an ebike, recharging at night would be great too.

For the benefit of those that rage against anyone having electrical enjoyment, I mention that if I were into sailing around the coast from island to island, I'd probably like a sailboat, or a small putt-putt or a new fangled eBoat. See also microgliding holidays, travelling from small airstrip to small aistrip, camping by the side, using a wind glider, or a pedal plane, or a small motorwing, ora a new eGlider.

 

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alansmurphy | 7 years ago
2 likes

Marche, as a MAMIL i.e. there's no chance of me reaching 78 years of age, the need for one of these may come quicker than I hope.

 

This Sunday I attacked every hill I could find around Mow Cop, Congleton Cloud, Bosly, Wincle, Cat & Fiddle. I ride with a group that I'm slightly younger and fitter than, we ride together and have the odd blast for fun, but...

 

"I'm disabled"

 

I know, what a mealy mouthed twat I really am, when one or other or maybe both my lower legs are amputated in the next 3-10 years I will remember how wonderful it must be to be you, invincible.

 

At such time though I will be sourcing replacements which will involve cleats, will potentially want to ride more (commuting to work or short trips to the shops) and would love to be able to cycle with my friends on the weekend. Now I'm not sure on the pains of power trasfer through carbon fibre prosthetics but if I needed a 5%, 10% even 20% assistance to be able to cope and enjoy the fresh air, is that really offensive to you?

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MNgraveur | 7 years ago
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What's the point? You can't ride up a steep hill? Walk. Or use a motorized vehicle to see the sights. Or take the ski lift. Just don't pretend you rode your "bike" up it. 

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oldstrath replied to MNgraveur | 7 years ago
8 likes

MNgraveur wrote:

What's the point? You can't ride up a steep hill? Walk. Or use a motorized vehicle to see the sights. Or take the ski lift. Just don't pretend you rode your "bike" up it. 

Why on earth does it matter to you how someone else gets up a hill? I rode up to Emosson on Monday, and sure, doing it unassisted felt good(at the top). One of the (many) who went up quicker was on an ebike, as I discovered at the Dam. Doesn't change my fun level, except I'd rather he rode a bike of any sort than took another car up there.

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dave atkinson replied to MNgraveur | 7 years ago
7 likes

MNgraveur wrote:

What's the point? You can't ride up a steep hill? Walk. Or use a motorized vehicle to see the sights. Or take the ski lift. Just don't pretend you rode your "bike" up it. 

riding an e-bike is "using a motorized vehicle to see the sights" and there isn't anyone here 'pretending' otherwise. it's a nice way to get about. i really don't see what the fuss is about.

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oldstrath replied to dave atkinson | 7 years ago
6 likes
dave atkinson wrote:

MNgraveur wrote:

What's the point? You can't ride up a steep hill? Walk. Or use a motorized vehicle to see the sights. Or take the ski lift. Just don't pretend you rode your "bike" up it. 

riding an e-bike is "using a motorized vehicle to see the sights" and there isn't anyone here 'pretending' otherwise. it's a nice way to get about. i really don't see what the fuss is about.

Only that it's nicer to have an ebike come past than another bloomin car. Be better if all the people who 'cannot ride a proper bike up' used an ebike instead of a car. the sooner 'proper cyclists ' stop twining about them, the sooner that may happen.

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50kcommute | 7 years ago
1 like

Love this, great article.   I can't wait to get one really - I like going out on the bike in 'day clothes' and being able to get that bit farther afield without getting there all sweaty, packing some gels and 2l of drink.  Bring on the ebikes!!

It would be good to see a review comparing some ebikes against eachother - like the specialized turbo.

 

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marche | 7 years ago
2 likes

It is what it is – a motor(ized) bike!

Would you compare a Harley with a pedal bike…
Why compete a Strava KOM with a motor? 

I hear the comments already: "there are disabled people, my wife, my knees", etc. You don't need to climb alpine mountains too be a hero. Take your time. The adventure is hidden just around the block with your basic pedal bike at any speed!

Every rider is a winner and motors are for losers!

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dave atkinson replied to marche | 7 years ago
18 likes

marche wrote:

It is what it is – a motor(ized) bike!

Would you compare a Harley with a pedal bike…

Go out and ride a Harley-Davidson, and then go and ride an e-bike, and then tell me they're the same thing. or even similar in any way.

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Why compete a Strava KOM with a motor?

agreed. that would be ridiculous. i was using strava as a way of timing the climb, nothing more, and it's interesting to see a) how much extra speed you get from an e-bike and b) how much extra speed the pros have than me even without one.

Quote:

I hear the comments already: "there are disabled people, my wife, my knees", etc. You don't need to climb alpine mountains too be a hero. Take your time. The adventure is hidden just around the block with your basic pedal bike at any speed!

Every rider is a winner and motors are for losers!

nice inclusive attitude there. there's a vast cross section of people who don't want to be heros. they don't see riding a bike as heroic, or epic, or whatever. they just want to have fun and see stuff, or get to the shops, or the office, or a million different things. And if they do want an adventure, and an e-bike allows them more freedom to have one, who are you to tell them that they're a loser? you need to stop looking at cycling as a whole through the prism of sport riding.

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