Me and my E-bike

MY ELECTRIC BIKE

I feel here I need to talk more about my electric bike.  It is an Orbea Gain F-30 and it is beautiful.  It is a hybrid style in a wonderful flame red/orange colour.  The battery is sneakily hidden in the downtube so it doesn’t look like an E-bike.  But because I am such an honest person I always confess if I overtake someone!!

When, before my first ablation, a friend suggested I get an E-bike I was upset and insulted as I thought they were implying I’d never recovery enough to ride a ‘proper’ bike again. But, in fact, it is one of the best things I have ever purchased.

It has three battery settings – red/amber/green or you can use it without any help.

Red helps lots, I barely get out of breath when I use that setting and it races up the steep hills nearby (Suffolk steep that is!).  It’s perfect for early post-ablation riding.  The range is about 24 miles

Amber is more hard work, but a huge help uphill.  You get a bit more of a workout without overdoing it on the hills.  The range is about 29 miles.

Green is perfect for a fitter person – it gives you a bit of speed (so I can ride with OH and make him puff) but still helps on the hills but just a bit!  As I got fitter I experimented with riding a few minutes with the battery on green and then switching it to zero help for a few minutes.  The bike is super heavy (16kg) and so, to be honest, the green setting is probably mainly helping to overcome the sheer weight of the machine. 

I think by the time I can pedal, say, 10 miles on green I would be ready to switch to one of my lighter non-electric bikes (the correct number of bikes is X+1, when the number of bikes you own is X) . I always try not to run out of battery as it is just so heavy to ride plus you have to overcome the drag of the motor which is in the back hub.

But it’s a great piece of kit and I’m so pleased I bought it, it really did help me keep sane when I was limited to only being able to walk less than a mile.

SETTING	RANGE	TIME TO RIDE AFTER ABLATION	MY EFFORT LEVEL
RED	25 MILES	Three weeks	Easy. Hills easy
AMBER	29 MILES	7 weeks	Bit harder
GREEN	50 MILES	12 weeks	A decent workout but some help on hills
BLUE (NO HELP)		Alternated this with green. No date recorded.	Blooming hard work!

 

And here is a more scientific study.  I cycled a local route of 7.60 miles, with one steep but short hill.  This is the comparison between the different settings, the effort put in and the speed.

 

BIKE	SETTING	SPEED	AVERAGE HEART RATE	MAXIMUM HEART RATE	WEIGHT OF BIKE	STYLE OF BIKE
ORBEA E-BIKE	Red	14.36 mph	84	101	16 kg	Hybrid, straight handlebars, chunky tyres
ORBEA E-BIKE	Amber	14.34 mph	104	118	16 kg	ditto
ORBEA E-BIKE	Green	13.18 mph	96	96	16 kg	Ditto
SPECIALIZED SIRRUS SPORT (NON E-BIKE)	none	12.36 mph	99	99	13 kg	Hybrid, straight handlebars, sporty tyres

 

So what does this tell us?  You can see there is not much difference in speed between red and amber on this test BUT that the effort level on amber was so much higher.  You can also see that the ride on green and the Sirrus ride are similar in effort but that the green was a tad easier AND faster.  But also not a ridiculous amount so.  You can also see that I really blitzed it that day on Amber – highest heart rate of the lot.

 

One thing to point out is that the e-bike only helps up to 25 kph (15.5 mph).  Above that speed the motor cuts out, so if you do decide to really go for it, you will not have much assistance at all.  In fact, if you were fit and fast you’d not get much help at all – but then you wouldn’t need it.

 

The E-bike is really for the unfit or handicapped (in the more general sense of the word – that is, injured or recuperating) cyclist or for someone who wishes to ride to work etc without arriving dripping in sweat.  That said, many keen cyclists find they do more cycling than ever before when they buy an E-bike as it is less of a bind and so they go out more. 

It’s also brilliant if you want to go further than usual, hillier than normal or if one rider is a lot faster than another – to even things up.

In short I LOVE my E-bike, though I LONG to get back on a proper bike!