🚴 Why Don't You Ride to Work or for Everyday Commitments?

[pagheca]

As someone else said... this is an eMTB forum and I don't find the same joy in road riding as my mountain bike.

That’s a fair comment, and I’d like to clarify this point.

I chose to ask here precisely because, on a general e-bike forum, it’s obvious that many people use them for completely different purposes. Here, instead, the focus is on a different kind of sporting activity. At the same time, plenty of people here discuss bikes used for other purposes, like touring, cargo bikes, and so on. And I was curious to know which is the main obstacle in a worldwide community.

 

[Atos62]

For commuting I do not want to wear down the EMTB.

EDIT: My friends ask me why I do not own any "normal" bike. Well...normal bikes are kinda boring
And they do not handle rough terrain or for riding long hours on flat terrain they lack the confort.

 

[IATR]

1. Chuck the bike in the van, drive to work, finish work and drive to the local trails, go home.
2. Van to work, get home on a nice night and take the road bike out for a few hours.
3. Van to work, weather’s a bit shitty, come home and take the gravel bike out.
4. Van to work, come home and pick my son up, head to the trails.
5. It’s pissing down/blowing a hoolie: van to work, come home and go on the turbo.
6. Rarely, no thing planned on the night and the weathers okay: take the Surly to work, no riding planned that night

 

[irie]

That’s a fair comment, and I’d like to clarify this point.

I chose to ask here precisely because, on a general e-bike forum, it’s obvious that many people use them for completely different purposes. Here, instead, the focus is on a different kind of sporting activity. At the same time, plenty of people here discuss bikes used for other purposes, like touring, cargo bikes, and so on. And I was curious to know which is the main obstacle in a worldwide community.

Given the focus here is on a different kind of sporting activity then this is not the right place to post the poll, instead post a poll in a place which instead addresses a worldwide community.

 

[Base]

The rare time I take my emtb to work is prob cause I forgot to charge my ebike that I use regularly. I must say the emtb is so much better to use when it comes to the rough roads we got here from the construction going on and I don't have to dodge potholes.

Where it does suck at commuting is the wide handlebar and if I'm not in a bike lane I'll get stuck behind a car that's to close to the curb where as the ebike has much narrow bars I can squeeze thru much easier. Also no rack on it so I'll have to wear my backpack.

Work parking is secure enough I don't have to worry about someone getting in and stealing it even though I still lock it up.

 

[Mars2]

Why I will never take my EMTB to commute to work:

- Will get stolen in the first half hour I park it or would miss half of the part if I lock it good. just the frame left
- I will not be able to stop at red light too much afraid to get Bike-jacking
- will destroy expansive super soft gravity tire on road ( Stupid)
- will shorten maintenance time of expansive suspension, brake .... to drive on road ( stupid)
- will loose a lot of value because the bike will get old much faster.
And so many more reason.....
I would feel so stupid on MTB in city, a little bit like those guy's with big 4X4 car that only see city, their most extrem 4X4 action is to pass a speed bump at 5MPH because they are afraid to damage it

I have a 15 year old cargo bike to travel in city. A Bullitt Cargo

 

[billwarwick]

Well…I’m retired (retyered for you British folk). My house is only 2km from the trail entrance and half of that is pavement. Most of my riding buddies drive to the bottom of the riding trails where we meet up, every day, early in the morning. We’re like an EMTB gang. Nobody messes with us…except for a couple of crazy squirrels .

My last EMTB commute, a few years ago, was to a doctors appointment. 5km away and a place to lock up the bike. I got there early

Even though I locked up my EMTB, my anxiety levels were through the roof. I kept checking on my bike every few minutes while I waited for my appointment. In retrospect that was a bad idea.

I never considered commuting while I was working. Too far, too dangerous, too risky.

Retyred. Very good, obviously reading other threads as well.

 

[sjturner2112]

I have one (1) kind of expensive EMTB. EMTBS are not set up for commuting. They are too expensive. They stand a fanstastic chance of being stolen. There no features fo commuting on the ETMB. No reflectors, no lights, the tires are completely wrong (and will get ruined rather quickly on asphalt), our summers in the south are 100 F + almost every day, it rains all the time where I live, it's generally a poor idea to use you EMTB as a commuter. IMO. I will have to say, if you are commuting or Urban tasking on your EMTB, then you don't really have it set up for any kind of trail riding.

 

[Redbikejohn]

For everyday use I'd like to use my bicycles a lot more, but there is mostly no way to lock up an expensive bike securely.
Work is a non starter as I do 12hr shifts and its 21 miles. I used to cycle 25 miles each way in my previous job but that was only 8hr shifts.
I'd also not use an ebike for that as the 15mph limit is daft. I can sit at 20mph plus on a flat easy (carbon road bike). A 27kg emtb would just be a heavy anchor to lug along. OK it can be chipped but the police love to confiscate they now so the motorbike is my preference.

 

[Iamthearrison]

I bought mine as a means of getting to work and having some weekend fun. Ride there and back every day, unless there's ice on the roads. Door to door is around 3 miles , but I generally take the long way round that takes in a couple of public parks and off road trails, that's around 10 miles in total. I'm lucky on that I can keep it inside the building in a place I can see it during the day, but there's been talk of them buying a dedicated bike store, in which case if what they buy isn't fully enclosed so the scrotes can't see what's inside it, and properly secure with locking points inside, I'll probably stop. They've said they'll consult the people who are actually going to use it if that goes ahead, but what they say and what they actually do are often two very different things (they've been saying they're sorting the cycle to work scheme for the last 2 years but we haven't seen it yet).

 

[Johneracer]

I run aggressive knobbies for local trails and pavement is very hard on them. To ride pavement I would need a different tire but that would compromise off-road ability which im Not ok with since my emtb is off-road therapy tool. I would need to buy second wheel set but odds are I would rarely use it anyway since I hate riding a bike around cars. I’m spoiled by peace and serenity of the wilderness trails.