A nice electric cargo bike is essentially as good as a car except it’s a bike so it’s more fun. Mine actually serves as the family’s second car and can actually haul bigger, bulkier stuff than my car.
However, it is not a very good car in the middle of winter.
TC: I’m the only motive power on my cargobike(s); it seems like cheating to moped them (and if I had an electric motor on my xtra I couldn’t take it out on brevets.)
Thanks for answering that question before I could ask 
i agreed for a long time but:
a- i don’t now, nor will i ever, ride as much as you
2- e bikes are actually a blast and offer some real utility for some, despite what former wanna be bike racer/mechanic jawn_doe would insist
- a real cargo bike without on much more than a tarck century sounds rough
d- i kind of pine for a motor on my clydesdaled bike, but then it would be even heavier and less fun/feasible to ramp up the jawns
5- i think a cargo bike is the only way i would actually invest in an e-bike
Sadly, I’ve fallen behind on dragging my new machines out on brevets. My emergency randonneuse hasn’t seen anything longer than a 100k, and my 3-speed & gravel®©™ machines haven’t seen anything longer than about 80km (And the xtracycle replacement & traditional randonneuse are slowly grinding through the pipeline and will need to be brevet-tested! When it warms up I’m going to have to start commuting out to Mount Hood to get the appropriate miles on everything new.)
It’s gotta be a VERY long day in Ogden.
Oof.
If I had kids I would totally get that Surly. Shit, it would almost be worth it just for hauling another dog around. Wish I had an idea of how much exercise you’re still doing on those pedal assist bikes… Like is it just easier for the same speed or is it the same effort but you just cruise along at 20mph all day?
It’s easier and you cruise at 20
It makes you feel like Superman.
Until you try to lift the stupid bike.
This is too bad. I did enjoy this comment though:
I’m starting a wheel company its called “a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck.”
Shades of Mavic?
I am keen to see that myself. On an hour commute, my ebike only saves me 5-10 mins max, and it can do 53kmh before I run out of gears. I want to compare heart-rate on normal bike, e-bike, and driving the car. Not sure how tho, as I’m pretty sure my Power tap unit will got to sleep when its not measuring power. I am wondering if there is some neurological programming going on, it definitely causes you to start pedalling slower when you get back on a real bike.
I’m definitely working less hard than riding a normal bike. You can use less motor though. Don’t know if Bosch does this but Shimano allows you to adjust the amount of boost you get for each setting.
You can also use the motor to get up to speed and then shut it off. Having the levels of boost on a shifter is nice, use it kind of like chainrings.
I feel like every major publication has had enve mtb rims fail on them at some point in a long term test. Every time they brush it off as a thing that happens and talk about how great enve was with the warranty.
It’s sort of been a long time coming and this probably would have been that if enve hadn’t fucked up the warranty, too.
The Bosch systems I test rode were terrible when turned off, even on the flattest of ground. It wasn’t like riding a regular (really heavy) bike at all. It was like pedaling through mush.
The Surly is the most expensive of the e-assist longtails and I have no idea why
Same here. Turn off pedal assist and it feels like the BB has been filled with sawdust and peanut butter.
