Gidday from The Cycle Tourist

[The Cycle Tourist]

Hi
I'm an Australian who along with my wife is heading to the UK/Europe in 2015 to have a crack at setting a new electric bike world long distance record of in excess of 16,000 klms over about 11 months of cycling. We will be riding Haibike xDuro Trekking RX men's/unisex RX e-bikes sponsored by e-bikeshop.co.uk and plan to predominantly use the EuroVelo cycle network in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. Given I am a newspaper journo (retired) I will be blogging and writing about our experiences along the way for a range of websites and magazines etc. The hope is that Pedelec Forum members will be able to help spread word about the record attempt and can maybe even open a few doors along the way (any help with possible sponsorship opportunities at this early stage would be REALLY welcome). We are currently getting a professional website built that should go live in January some time.

In the meantime looking forward to ongoing interaction with Pedelec members.
Cheers
Gary

 

[RobF]

Your schedule is only 900 or so miles a month.

Lots of commuters/club cyclists do that on ordinary bikes.

Ebikes have an image problem over here, so you are inviting derision if you portray your adventure as some sort of distance attempt.

You will be riding at the same time as Steve Abrahams, who is looking to do more than 75,000 miles - not kilometres - in one year, on a push bike.

That's an average of 205 miles a day, every day, 365 days in a row.

http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk/

 

[Cyclezee]

If anyone wants a bit of a challenge try these http://glowwormbicycles.com.au/perth-to-sydney
http://www.ezeebike.com/Katima to Cape Report.pdf

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

The current e-bike record is 16,047km s. What I said was that we are planning to ride in excess of 16,000 kms, but hows many kms over that figure are achieved only time will tell. Also, while the riding on an e-bike may be easier, the logistics are much more involved given the need to charge batteries on a regular basis. E-bikes, like it or not are the new frontier in the bicycling world, so any so-called derision is very short sighted. It is also hard to see how e-bikes could have an image problem in the UK/Europe given the huge growth in sales over the past few years - in Germany alone there were more than 450,000 sold in the past year alone. Sales in the UK are also going through the roof .
In conclusion we have received far from derision about setting out on the record attempt - admiration would be a more accurate noun to use going by the support received so far.

Enough said

 

[RobF]

The current e-bike record is 16,047km s. What I said was that we are planning to ride in excess of 16,000 kms, but hows many kms over that figure are achieved only time will tell. Also, while the riding on an e-bike may be easier, the logistics are much more involved given the need to charge batteries on a regular basis. E-bikes, like it or not are the new frontier in the bicycling world, so any so-called derision is very short sighted. It is also hard to see how e-bikes could have an image problem in the UK/Europe given the huge growth in sales over the past few years - in Germany alone there were more than 450,000 sold in the past year alone. Sales in the UK are also going through the roof .
In conclusion we have received far from derision about setting out on the record attempt - admiration would be a more accurate noun to use going by the support received so far.

Enough said

You seem to know an awful lot about ebikes in Europe, given your location on the other side of the world.

Ebikes and their riders do have an image problem in the UK, that is a simple matter of fact.

I can't speak for mainland Europe, I'm not near enough to know.

Sales do look good there.

I reckon sales in the UK are a lot less strong.

Only today Dave from Kudos Bikes has said the number of places in the UK for customers to test bikes is diminishing.

He is thinking of cancelling his annual test day through lack of interest.

Hardly sounds like a buoyant market to me.

Like it or not, distance records on ebikes are regarded as largely pointless.

The overwhelming majority of people will think all you are doing is sitting on the bike, throttle wide open, waiting for the miles to pass.

You and I know there's no throttle on a Bosch bike, but 99.9 per cent of the population do not.

Someone posted on here about an ebike distance record, some members were a bit sniffy about it.

If ebike users think distance records are a waste of time, you are going to struggle with those who have never ridden an ebike.

There's nothing wrong with what you want to do, but you would be better of focussing less in the publicity on the distance aspect.

 

[oriteroom]

You will be riding at the same time as Steve Abrahams, who is looking to do more than 75,000 miles - not kilometres - in one year, on a push bike.

That's an average of 205 miles a day, every day, 365 days in a row.

http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk/

Just read Mark Beaumont's 'Man who Cycled the World' about his record breaking 18,236 miles in 195 days (just under 7 months). That was quite gruelling, his riding that is, not my reading about it .

The Steve Abrahams ride looks particularly challenging, and as you say on a push bike. The distance is phenomenal, equivalent to 85+ Land's End to John O'Groats without a break and with all that UK weather can throw at him. I believe he is doing all his riding in the UK, not the sunny continent. I shall follow his progress.

I also seem to remember a couple of long distance ebike rides that started, but never heard if they completed/achieved anything. There was one round the world effort, and another on going from Beijing Olympic Stadium to arrive at the London Olympic Stadium in time for the 2012 Olympics. Did they succeed?

I agree with Rob, that any attempts to capture public opinion, or even majority cyclist attention, on e-bike challenges is difficult. Most see e-biking as 'cheating', and whilst we all know it isn't, or needn't be, you don't have to use the assistance, it's a common jibe aimed at e-bikers from the Lyra brigade and Joe Public in the UK.

 

[RobF]

Thanks Mike.

The OP - perhaps inevitably - took my comments badly, but they were only an observation drawn from experience.

Steve Abrahams pushes himself harder than is medically sensible.

I believe that's one of the reasons Guinness won't have anything to do with the attempt.

Most of his ride is in the UK, but he wants to fit the Paris Brest Paris audax into his busy schedule.

It seems the overall route is far from set in stone, and will depend partly on where he can get offers of overnight accommodation.

It says on the website somewhere he plans to return home - Northampton, I think - regularly.

Abrahams is an experienced distance cyclist and intends to ride further than his daily average in the better weather, and not as far in the winter.