Hello, is an ebike a suitable alternative to a expensive train commute?

[Deleted member 4366]

You can get through all the traffic on a moped, so it can be a lot quicker than a car. When I commuted 34 miles to Birmingham, it used to take me 90 minutes in the car and 45 minutes by motorbike.

The main advantages of the moped are the cost, comfort and reliability. Not many e-bikes can do 1000s of miles without attention.

You can have security issues with both of them, but I'd say that you're much more likely to have something nicked off a bicycle, like wheels, saddle or LCD than from a moped. If you have secure parking, that's not a problem to consider.

I used to commute 15 miles each way by e-bike, which I think is a nice distance. 20 miles would be just about tolerable if you're a die-hard type, but I think further than that would become a chore. My ride was along fairly quiet main roads, so not too bad apart from the first and last miles, where the traffic was worse, and I have to mention that rush hour traffic is not very tolerant of bicycles. I would say that there would be a reportable incident nearly every day at some point, so make sure you get a dash-cam or two. The rest of the day, it's completely different for some reason.

 

[anotherkiwi]

You can get through all the traffic on a moped, so it can be a lot quicker than a car. When I commuted 34 miles to Birmingham, it used to take me 90 minutes in the car and 45 minutes by motorbike.

The main advantages of the moped are the cost, comfort and reliability. Not many e-bikes can do 1000s of miles without attention.

You can have security issues with both of them, but I'd say that you're much less likely to have something nicked off a bicycle, like wheels, saddle or LCD than from a moped. If you have secure parking, that's not a problem to consider.

I used to commute 15 miles each way by e-bike, which I think is a nice distance. 20 miles would be just about tolerable if you're a die-hard type, but I think further than that would become a chore. My ride was along fairly quiet main roads, so not too bad apart from the first and last miles, where the traffic was worse, and I have to mention that rush hour traffic is not very tolerant of bicycles. I would say that there would be a reportable incident nearly every day at some point, so make sure you get a dash-cam or two. The rest of the day, it's completely different for some reason.

Road rage... People where I live are either people on holiday - "no bike is going to get to the beach quicker than my car!" or irate locals stuck in trafic jams caused by tourists taking their car to the beach, rather than walking, and who want to drive over anything moving faster than them including pedestrians...

All the cycle paths bar one (to a high school on the outskirts) are designed for tourists and sight seeing, not for locals who need to get places on their bike...