RVing with E-Bikes

[paxdiver]

Well, I've finally joined the E-Bike club. I've absolutely loved my Trek Marlin 7 and will keep her, she's going to get fixed up in Flagstaff in a week from the little incident I mentioned on this site leaving Vegas not long ago. But this past week I took the leap of BROKENESS and bought a Trek Powerfly 4 electric mountain bike. It's nearly identical to my Trek Marlin 7 but with improved components and a 500W battery. I went to South Tempe to test ride it and it was a grin ear to ear with the torque and power of the motor. Great reviews on the Bosch CX Performance motor, and it rode nice. While I enjoyed my Trek Marlin 7 I never really rode it outside of the campground due to my stellar physical shape (literally and figuratively) but I think this is going to give me that nudge to get out of the campground, go find bike paths either paved or trails as I can take it anywhere and get outdoors more. So far in the few days I've had it, Amazon has made about 214 deliveries and I got all of the goodies I want on it including a top of the line Kryptonite U-Lock.

Who else has entered this evolution of crazy expensive biking but joy of riding opportunies abound?

Powerfly 4 Gen 3 - Trek Bikes

Discover your next great ride with Powerfly 4. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

I have done the same, e-bike has been liberating. Bad knees have finally slowed me down for hiking. The bike had opened the door. I absolutely love the e-bike. When planning camp sites I research nearby bike paths and trails. Good luck with your adventures!

 

[Neal]

Make sure your bike rack can handle the weight of your bikes. Know the limits and also do not travel with a bike cover on as I did and nearly took out a Loves fuel truck! Thread on here somewhere.

 

[NWIP]

I highly recommend having insurance as we had one stolen and 2 drowned in hurricane Ian. This is company we had them insured after first one was stolen. Ultimately policy is written by Markel at about $145 per bike for a year.

Spoke Insurance

Bicycle Insurance for cyclists in America

www.spokeinsurance.com

 

[Rich W.]

Make sure your bike rack can handle the weight of your bikes. Know the limits and also do not travel with a bike cover on as I did and nearly took out a Loves fuel truck! Thread on here somewhere.

I’m building a custom rack to hold these bikes. Part of it will be removable and double as a bike rack, all of it lockable. And I will get insurance. My first quote was over $300/year so I like the suggestion above from @NWIP. I’ll also check with a couple others that I use for various things. I’m up to a little over $9k for two bikes (“had to” upgrade one) so it makes sense to insure them.

 

[Jim]

I’m building a custom rack to hold these bikes. Part of it will be removable and double as a bike rack, all of it lockable. And I will get insurance. My first quote was over $300/year so I like the suggestion above from @NWIP. I’ll also check with a couple others that I use for various things. I’m up to a little over $9k for two bikes (“had to” upgrade one) so it makes sense to insure them.

Darn Rich, I've owned cars that didn't cost that much.

 

[Rich W.]

Darn Rich, I've owned cars that didn't cost that much.

Like my ‘70 Challenger or ‘64 Chevy pickup, Corvair Van (Greenbriar Sports Wagon I traded for the labor on a brake job) or a handful of VWs, and countless dirt bikes, and many other cars I can’t remember, all of which I bought for $200 or less? Yeah, I’ve had similar thoughts.

Along with the enjoyment of longer rides, ease of getting back to base, and some minor exhilaration, I’m hoping for a health benefit without sacrificing my knees, or worse. I also want to spend some of my $$ on myself rather than leave it behind, but it is a bit of a balancing act since I’d also rather not run out early either. So far it looks like I’ll be ok.

This is also my Christmas present to us and one is red, the other green, and you can’t pick colors if you want to buy inventory in stock, so it must have been meant to be. Anyway Im not taking any cruises, or traveling to Europe, and don’t have kids in school, so….new toys. I’ll post some pics when I pick them up in a week or so. And of course we have more than ten times this much in the DW‘s horses so this is cheap by comparison.

 

[Jim]

I also want to spend some of my $$ on myself rather than leave it behind, but it is a bit of a balancing act since I’d also rather not run out early either.

Yes, lol, I deal with this equation on a daily basis.

 

[Rich W.]

I highly recommend having insurance as we had one stolen and 2 drowned in hurricane Ian. This is company we had them insured after first one was stolen. Ultimately policy is written by Markel at about $145 per bike for a year.

Spoke Insurance

Bicycle Insurance for cyclists in America

www.spokeinsurance.com

So far two on-line bike insurance quotes came out around $380/year for one bike. I’ll try progressive and state farm since I use them on other stuff. It might be covered for theft under my home owners.

Edit: This is the Tero 5.0 that I “had to” upgrade to after running the numbers on the range calculator. Interestingly with the more powerful motor and bigger battery, this brings us within one mile of range and 100’ of elevation change under the same conditions with the extra 90lbs that my bile will be carrying over the DW’s 3.0. If we were both riding the 3.0 version, I would have about 26% less range. I had this $1600+ realization late last night and made the change today. Probably get the bikes at the end of next week.

 

[NWIP]

I will say I had better luck after I called Spoke than the online quote, I asked if there was a multiple bike discount . Also our bike’s are class 1 and I think rate is higher for class 2/3 bikes.

 

[Rich W.]

I will say I had better luck after I called Spoke than the online quote, I asked if there was a multiple bike discount . Also our bike’s are class 1 and I think rate is higher for class 2/3 bikes.

Thanks. I’ll call - it’s almost always the best way to get things done. These bikes are class 1 unless you do a firmware change. I found this article and chart on the three classes interesting - I didn’t even know about this a few days ago.
What Are the Classes of Ebikes? Where Can Ebikes Be Ridden?