Which commute bicycle is best for me?

best electric bike for commuting image

Tara

I am looking for a bicycle for a commute to work of about 8-10 miles and would consider an electric model. Can anyone offer any specific models? There is so much out there to choose from. The area where I live can be fairly hilly, so higher number of speeds would be best, and I'm wondering how often there would have to be battery replacement on an electric bike. Any help would be appreciated, preferably from personal experience, but speculation from an experienced rider would also help. Thanks.

Answer
You can get a good electric assist bicycle - for a few THOUSAND dollars. http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/collections/electric_assist/models/ Or...you could take the initiative to get a nice entry level "performance hybrid" with the gears to pull hills under your own power. And this bike may just come factory equipped with fenders & a rear rack for under $400! You will get & stay fit. Electric assist bicycles make you fat & lazy. What if the charge in the battery runs low or out at the wrong time & in the wrong place? Then you are faced pedaling an extremely heavy bike home under your own power. See these two links...

http://www.rei.com/product/826111/diamondback-insight-rs-commuter-bike-womens-special-buy
http://www.rei.com/product/826110/diamondback-insight-rs-commuter-bike-special-buy

What is the best electric bicycle out there?

Tim

Looking for an electric bicycle for commuting...range isn't too crucial as long as it's greater than 10 miles. Affordability is important.

Answer
There are now many electric assist bicycles out there. Some come complete and some kits you adapt to your own bicycle. A great place to start might be here: http://www.electricbikesreviews.com/

There are two general types of electric assist bicycles. They are hub motors and friction motors. For either one the motor and batteries will add weight to the bicycle.

Features you will want to look for should include:

Light with a good power to weight ratio.
The added weight of the batteries should be well placed for the design of the bike and not simply put anywhere.
Ability to remove the battery for charging inside the home.

Regenerative braking captures inertial energy and tries to convert that back into electricity to charge the battery. Bicycles are much lighter than a car and so have less inertial energy to capture. Batteries can't accept a massive influx of energy at once. As a result batteries are not so good to capture inertial energy. The good news is that while this may not be an extremely useful feature it virtually comes free with an electric motor

A fairing of some sort will extend range probably more than regenerative braking. Because of its lower wind resistance an electric recumbant makes some sense: http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/e-bent/default.htm

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