Is a 28 mile round commute too far?

[KellyBear]

Hi there,

I'm looking into getting my first electric bike. I have a standard dutch style schwinn bicycle which haven't used in years, I bought this with intentions to ditch the car and cycle to work but then moved house and I feel it's too far to commute on standard bike.

I've popped my address into google maps and done a cycle route and It calculates the route at 14 miles each way, as an unfit (I'm very overweight) newbie, in all honestly will an electric bike be do-able over that distance?

Back to my weight, as I am well over 100kg, I'm aware I will probably require a more hefty battery than the standard ones as the quote of 30miles in a charge will be a lot less for me I'm guessing?

I'm after a sit up and beg dutch style bike, with a low step through. I like the Juicy bikes but don't know if I'll be too heavy.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions,
Thanks!

 

[trex]

it is a bit.
You will be sitting on the saddle at least one hour there and one hour back. Doing it day in day out is hard on you, not on the bike, especially if you did not ride a lot recently.
If you still want to go ahead with it, try get something fairly cheap to start with.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I did a 30 mile round trip commute for 2 years.You can just make it with a 10ah battery as long as you don't have too many hills, but a bigger battery would mean that you don't have to pwdal so hard. Your legs will soon become quite strong, so each week you'll be setting new targets for quickest time and the least battery used.

Have a look at the Ezee bikes. They have a very strong motor and a 14 ah battery. The motor will give more help than most bikes on the hills. The smaller motors that you get on many other bikes won't have enough oomph for your weight.

If money is tight, the Woosh Big Bear is also a strong contender because it also has a large strong motor and big battery; however, they sell very quickly, so if they have them in stock, a quick decision would be necessary.

The Juicy bike might be OK. Your weight won't be too much for it, but you might find that the motor's not strong enough to get you up steep hills.

 

[KellyBear]

I thought it might be, hmmm I could go part cycle, part tram but the tram is expensive.

I pay around £40 a week in fuel to work and £20 a week for parking. So the savings on a complete cycle commute would be amazing but not if it kills me hahah.

 

[KellyBear]

I did a 30 mile round trip commute for 2 years.You can just make it with a 10ah battery as long as you don't have too many hills, but a bigger battery would mean that you don't have to pwdal so hard. Your legs will soon become quite strong, so each week you'll be setting new targets for quickest time and the least battery used.

Have a look at the Ezee bikes. They have a very strong motor and a 14 ah battery. The motor will give more help than most bikes on the hills. The smaller motors that you get on many other bikes won't have enough oomph for your weight.

If money is tight, the Woosh Big Bear is also a strong contender because it also has a large strong motor and big battery; however, they sell very quickly, so if they have them in stock, a quick decision would be necessary.

The Juicy bike might be OK. Your weight won't be too much for it, but you might find that the motor's not strong enough to get you up steep hills.

Thank you for your suggestions, as well as the Juicy bikes I was looking at this one from Woosh as it says it's for those over 100kg. Are these good bikes?
http://www.wooshbikes.co.uk/electric-bikes/santana-cd/

 

[KellyBear]

I also like this, but that might be because it's very pretty, how does the spec of this compare to the Woosh Santana CD?
http://www.roodog.co.uk/polka-dot/

 

[awol]

How about drive part way to a supermarkets carpark and ebike the rest if the full distance turns out a bit much.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

They're all good bikes, but the problem is the power to weight ratio with a 100kg+ rider on board. The Woosh Santana will manage your journey, but it'll be a lot slower than the Ezee because the Ezee has 50% more power. There's also the option of a bigger battery for the Ezee and you can increase the speed to 20mph by joining a couple of wires, so you can cut your journey down a lot.
Have a look at this one - the one on the right.

http://www.cyclezee.com/ezee-sprint-8.html

http://www.cyclezee.com/uploads/2/8/6/0/2860781/220058_orig.jpg

 

[jackhandy]

Another option might be to fit an Ezee kit to your Schwinn, if it's a bike you are fond of & comfortable riding.

 

[KellyBear]

Yeah I was thinking I could perhaps start off doing part drive, part cycle as I think the fuel will be cheaper than the tram.

85% of th journey (looking at google maps) will be along canal tow paths, so I'm assuming it will be pretty flat.

I love the look of that one on your link d8veh, and more power would be better...joining the cables like you said - can a girl like me do that or does it need to be someone who knows about these things?

 

[flapajack]

Yes, you would probably kill yourself at that distance

 

[wehey]

I have just fitted an ezee conversion to my bike (last weekend)and would highly recommend it.
Derestricting it is easy.
With my brief experience with the battery range, as long as you were able to recharge at work it would be no problem.
With a full charge I can get 12-13 miles on full power (20+mph flat riding) )without pedalling.
With minimal pedalling you could do a 1 way trip with ease but would need a full recharge to do the return trip

 

[KellyBear]

That's fine, I could easily recharge it at work and then again in the evening when I get home.
If I derestricted it and cycled on tow paths would I be likely to be stopped? Do people police this kind of thing?

 

[Sheffmax]

Bear in mind that if you are using a tow path for 85% of the journey you will not be able to do the journey at the same speed you would on the road. It may be flat but you will probably encounter walkers, fisherfolk and other cyclists necessitating slower speeds which means that you would be looking at a commute of nearer 2 hours than 1 hour.

 

[wehey]

That's fine, I could easily recharge it at work and then again in the evening when I get home.
If I derestricted it and cycled on tow paths would I be likely to be stopped? Do people police this kind of thing?

Tbh I wouldn't derestrict it.
15mph is plenty for a new cyclist and will increase the range dramatically.
I have been cycling for 30+ years and derestricted is quite an experience and took my breath away lol

 

[Artstu]

Tbh I wouldn't derestrict it.
15mph is plenty for a new cyclist and will increase the range dramatically.
I have been cycling for 30+ years and derestricted is quite an experience and took my breath away lol

Around 1 hour to 1.15 seems reasonable.

A slight thread highjack here, @wehey does it still feel like a bicycle or more like a moped?

 

[KellyBear]

Bear in mind that if you are using a tow path for 85% of the journey you will not be able to do the journey at the same speed you would on the road. It may be flat but you will probably encounter walkers, fisherfolk and other cyclists necessitating slower speeds which means that you would be looking at a commute of nearer 2 hours than 1 hour.

There is the option to go on the road, it's just the way google maps suggests that's all.

 

[trex]

do it to keep fit, don't do it to save money.

 

[Clockwise]

There is the option to go on the road, it's just the way google maps suggests that's all.

The google suggestions aren't always great, they go by the legal top speeds and not the actual speeds so tow paths, shared paths and even awfully slow traffic lights mess it up(a couple of cycle only lights in london go once in a blue moon rendering the route pointless). If you are confidential on the bike and know the area then with a nice spring day and no reason to rush home from work varied routes and "where does that road go" just happens.

I would also factor in cycle clothing, locks, lights, stuff. It can all be done on a budget but riding daily I would plan for atleast 3 "outfits", cycling with the wrong gear can make it very unpleasant at times.

 

[Cyclezee]

I did a 30 mile round trip commute for 2 years.You can just make it with a 10ah battery as long as you don't have too many hills, but a bigger battery would mean that you don't have to pwdal so hard. Your legs will soon become quite strong, so each week you'll be setting new targets for quickest time and the least battery used.

Have a look at the Ezee bikes. They have a very strong motor and a 14 ah battery. The motor will give more help than most bikes on the hills. The smaller motors that you get on many other bikes won't have enough oomph for your weight.

If money is tight, the Woosh Big Bear is also a strong contender because it also has a large strong motor and big battery; however, they sell very quickly, so if they have them in stock, a quick decision would be necessary.

The Juicy bike might be OK. Your weight won't be too much for it, but you might find that the motor's not strong enough to get you up steep hills.

Minor correction Dave, the standard eZee bike battery is now 15Ah not 14Ah