Do e-bikes make that big a difference?

[Boktiet82]

I am just curious about how big a difference e-bikes makes on the effort required to ride. The camera riders that follow the leaders in the EPIC seem to be following the leaders with relative ease, especially on the inclines. Granted, I guess there needs to be a certain level of fitness involved to ride these distances behind the leaders, but do e-bikes make it THAT easy to do this with what seems to be 50% of the effort involved riding a normal bike?

[Gerhard765]

From what I have seen yes it can make a big difference as long as the battery lasts.

Did a local 80 km race a while ago with one fairly big climb in. During the climb a bloke came racing past me as if was standing still. He was on very heavy side (guess 130-150 kg) but on the e-bike he raced past most people up that climb. 

From what I understand, you can adjust the power from the bikes battery. Lower setting will mean longer power (or distance) but will require more effort from the rider. For very high setting you get a lot of power from the bike but after 20 or 30 km (guess) battery is flat and you have to provide all the power yourself, which you don't want as e-bikes are on the heavy side.

If I can get swambo interested in cycling I will try to get her an e-bike that we can ride together at my pace. 

[thebob]

I tried a Trek Rail last weekend. Went up a small climb that takes me between 2:00 and 2:30 on my normal bike. Did it in 45 seconds on the ebike and felt like I could have pushed way harder

[wolver]

Don't underestimate the fitness and skill of those media riders.

Also of relevance is that they have a back-up team that swaps out the batteries along the way so they don't have to worry about conserving battery and can used the highest assist level if they feel necessary. Reality is that under normal conditions you can't do a long ride on max assist, so it kind of forces you to put some effort in. Depending on the model/power of the bike, the highest level of assist is a real turbo so the answer to your question is definitely a yes, below that you still have to do some work if you want to go longer.

Edited March 24, 2022 by wolver

[DuncanDoughnuts]

Those camera riders are also on bikes that have been de-restricted. There is no way a ebike will keep up on the flats when they doing 40km/h.

 

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, Boktiet82 said:

I am just curious about how big a difference e-bikes makes on the effort required to ride. The camera riders that follow the leaders in the EPIC seem to be following the leaders with relative ease, especially on the inclines. Granted, I guess there needs to be a certain level of fitness involved to ride these distances behind the leaders, but do e-bikes make it THAT easy to do this with what seems to be 50% of the effort involved riding a normal bike?

The media riders are all incredible athletes in their own right, give them some motor assistance and they make it look easy..

Stefan Sahm for instance won the epic 2/3 times with Karl Platt. he would probably podium on the masters if he chose to ride in that category and trained accordingly. 

[Eldron]

Most ebikes offer around 250w of assistance. Most ebikes have around 350-500wh batteries.

250w is probably around the average rider's FTP so theoretically (with heat/efficiency losses) an ebike can offer 1-1.5 hours of the riders FTP.

Effectively double power for 1-1.5hours.

For perspective - this will allow the average riders to smash the world hour record.

[babse]

Yes

[_David_]

Lot less effort required it's like riding a bicycle with a motor you can almost freewheel the uphills 😜

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, wolver said:

Don't underestimate the fitness and skill of those media riders.

Also of relevance is that they have a back-up team that swaps out the batteries along the way so they don't have to worry about conserving battery and can used the highest assist level if they feel necessary. Reality is that under normal conditions you can't do a long ride on max assist, so it kind of forces you to put some effort in. Depending on the model/power of the bike, the highest level of assist is a real turbo so the answer to your question is definitely a yes, below that you still have to do some work if you want to go longer.

 

There was a nice clip on the 2021 coverage about the media ebike storming through the water point .... slid the bike to a halt at some 45-degrees .... he was barely off his bike and they had removed his battery, fitted the new one, and he was ready to go before the team had done their water stop.

 

Certainly helps if battery life is not a concern.

 

 

Handling such a heavy bike (bike plus media gear) over that terrain for 8 days must be a HARD workout !!!

 

 

BUT ..... these bikes typically "only" put out 250W ..... the likes of Matt puts out a LOT more power going up those hills.  So those media riders certainly get a good level of assistance, but they must work hard to keep up with the top riders !

[Grease_Monkey]

3 hours ago, Boktiet82 said:

I am just curious about how big a difference e-bikes makes on the effort required to ride. The camera riders that follow the leaders in the EPIC seem to be following the leaders with relative ease, especially on the inclines. Granted, I guess there needs to be a certain level of fitness involved to ride these distances behind the leaders, but do e-bikes make it THAT easy to do this with what seems to be 50% of the effort involved riding a normal bike?

Yes, I just went up Helderberg for a lunch time ride on my e-bike. On a normal bike up and down takes me just under an hour if I push hard with my heart jumping out my throat and sweating enough to solve Cape Town's water problems (about 12km, 500m climbing). I just did it in 40mins, my heart rate didn't go above 130, I stopped to take in the views, and even replied to a few Whatsapps while I was up there. Hell, I hardly broke a sweat. 

 

eBikes and normal bikes are not even remotely comparable. 

[Meezo]

1 minute ago, Grease_Monkey said:

Yes, I just went up Helderberg for a lunch time ride on my e-bike. On a normal bike up and down takes me just under an hour if I push hard with my heart jumping out my throat and sweating enough to solve Cape Town's water problems (about 12km, 500m climbing). I just did it in 40mins, my heart rate didn't go above 130, I stopped to take in the views, and even replied to a few Whatsapps while I was up there. Hell, I hardly broke a sweat. 

 

eBikes and normal bikes are not even remotely comparable. 

Shame on you

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, DuncanDoughnuts said:

Those camera riders are also on bikes that have been de-restricted. There is no way a ebike will keep up on the flats when they doing 40km/h.

 

 

We got glimpses of the ebikes speed through Genadendal yesterday.

 

SLOW turns, blast over the road, and then he had to stand on the peddles to catch the two lead riders .... accellerating that weight from 10 to 35km/h at that rate takes way more than the 250W of the ebike.  Think he was clipping at 40km/h when he caught up to them, then back down to 35km/h through that twisty flat single track.

 

SURE, the motor helps a LOT.

 

But I have utmost respect for these media riders 

 

[Boktiet82]

Thanks, really adds perspective to what you see on TV. 

[Eldron]

Does anyone have specs on the media ebikes? I can't find any info.

Respect for the media riders - can't be comfy in all that gear for hours and hours!

[mikkelz]

Yes.

In terms of the amount of damage it does to my ego. 😜