E BIKE FUN

After a long period of deliberation, I bought an E Bike.  An electric bike.  With a removable lithium battery driving a 750 watt electric engine.  It goes 0 to 60 in, well, it doesn’t go 60.  It doesn’t go 40.  With pedaling, I can maintain nearly 20 mph, which is ok for a guy my age.  The average tour de France speed is around 26 mph over the 3 week period so I figure being able to maintain 17 – 20 is OK for me.

It's a RadCity from Rad Power bikes.

For exercise, the electric bike isn’t as good as a real bike.  But it’s a heck of a lot better than driving a car.  And it’s way more fun.  The bike has 5 power assist levels to kick in when you pedal.  It also has 7 gears for pedaling, along the lines of a conventional bike.  The learning curve is pretty short on how to manage the two, but I expect it will take a long time to really optimize the combination beween pedal and power.  

There’s also a button.  When depressed, the throttle is activated and you can use the engine without pedaling.

This is not a rocket ship by any stretch of the imagination.  Primarily it’s an ‘assist’ when you pedal.  The throttle does come in handy when a more spirited start in traffic is desired.   Or starting uphill.  The downside is the power drain.

The essential tradeoff is between the pedaling and engine power.  Battery life is finite.  The less you use it, the longer it lasts. 

As I write, I’ve put 150 miles on the bike.  From relatively short 7 mile bursts on the Burke Gilman to longer Bellevue to Ballard rides across I-90 and one 26 mile ride from Ballard to the hill above Renton.  I’m getting to know the strategies involved with each type of trip.  For the 7 mile commute, it’s all about speed.  No worries about battery life, use the assist with relative abandon and go for it.  The only limitation is safety and certainly on the Burke, you can go too fast.  With this bike I am trying to find a Burke / surface street combination that works.  Faster on the streets (albeit slower than cars) and prudently slower on the Burke.  I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ giving E Bikes a lousy reputation. 

When I do the 7 mile burst, I can use power assist levels 3,4, and 5 and really scoot.  The exercise value is less as I use the battery more.   

For the longer trips, I use power assist level 1 and 2.  Yes, it’s slower – but on the 26 mile ride to Renton, I had about 20% of the battery remaining.  Had I used the higher assist levels, the battery would have died somewhere shy of my destination.

Earlier this week I biked 11 miles from Bellevue to Renton.  There’s a great combination of bike trails and quiet streets that connect the two towns and I was able to ride the 11 miles in about 40 or 45 minutes and while I did get exercise and huffed and puffed a bit, I kept it just below breaking out in a sweat.  We went out to dinner that night and I biked in street clothes and arrived feeling pretty fresh and ready for dinner. 

The 18 mile rides back home are fun and interesting.  Following 108^th in Bellevue to the I90 Eastgate bridge, you cross Mercer Island and get out onto the MI floating bridge.  The new one.  The old one sank.  Here’s where the power assist comes in handy.   Climbing up over the I90 lid on Mercer Island and climbing up the western slope of the bridge take some pumping on a conventional bike.  I’ve done that.  With the power assist, it’s relatively easy and much, much faster.   Especially right at the end of the bridge with the sharp hill that goes to the pedestrian / bike tunnel above the car tunnel.  Easy.

The only sketchy part of the trip is after dropping down on Dearborn there’s a short 2 block section requiring either a stint on the sidewalk or getting full on into traffic, migrating from the far right hand bike lane to cross 2 lanes of traffic to set up for a left hand turn on to Jackson.  Here, the power really comes in handy as I can match the speed of the cars. 

There’s another, less intuitive way for bikes which avoids this problem and I’ll try that next time.

After dropping down to the Seattle waterfront, it gets interesting with all the construction, but they’ve done a fair job keeping the bike path separate.  After clearing Pier 70, it’s a breeze.  The Sculpture park morphs into Centennial park and for over a mile there are no cars and the bike path is separate from the pedestrian path.  All this right on the waterfront with glorious views. 

The path takes a 90 degree right hand turn at Smith Cove then meanders through the BN train yard at interbay.  Completely caged in, the trail goes right along then over the train tracks and exits near Magnolia.  From here you drop down onto Commodore way,  paralleling the southern side of the ship canal.  At the locks you need to dismount the bike and walk it across the locks and just like that you are in Ballard.  Fun commute.

So far the E bike has been great.  It’s Thursday and I haven’t touched the car since Sunday night.  I signed up to use a bike facility at work.  $25 a month and I get to use an enclosed ‘cage’ with a bike rack.  There are showers and towel service as well.  Perfect.