We left Yuma on Wednesday morning on our way towards Tucson for the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Rally that starts next week. We are going to arrive on Thursday, overnighting at the Pinal County West Campground for just one night enroute. We are arriving to the rally a little early (it starts next week on Wednesday) because we have volunteered to help as part of the parking team.
Before leaving Araby Acres (the RV park in Yuma), we rode our bikes over to visit some other RVers in the campground -- a couple that we had "met" through RVillage (a social tool for RVers) and another couple who had stopped by to talk with us a couple of days before and who had offered to let us try riding their RAD electric bikes.
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| Heading off on the RAD bike -- the owners had told me that it is easier to get going with the throttle, so I tried that, and it did get me going without trouble. |
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| Coming back on the RAD bike so Carl could try it. |
We liked these better than Lectric bikes that we have tried before -- my feeling on the Lectric bike was that it would let me start pedaling and then accelerate too quickly and I almost felt like I was getting whiplash. The RAD bike did not have that feeling -- neither did the Townie bike that we tried at the bike shop in Yuma. I like the Townie bike because the pedals are out in front of the seat so it is easy to put my feet down flat when I stop and still have full extension of my knees when I'm pedaling; it is also the same style bike that I am used to riding. We are still debating whether we want electric bikes or not... we like bike riding for exercise, and it seems that having e-bikes could take away that benefit. But, we've also heard from others that you tend to ride more and further with e-bikes.
The other concern with e-bikes is that we know that our current bikes are getting a *lot* of wear since they are stored outside all the time, and carried on the back of the motorhome when we are traveling. They are getting very "beat-up", and we'd want to protect new e-bikes better. In addition, e-bikes are a hot commodity for theft and just having them locked up with a cable may not be sufficient. They also need to have a bike rack that allows them to travel being supported on their tires, instead of being hung from the frame, as our current bike rack does. So, we have looked into options that would allow us to store the e-bikes in the back of the Jeep. Of course, the back of the Jeep is already being used as a garage, so... there isn't a lot of space there.
The Lectric bikes that we tried are foldable -- the frame folds in half front-to-back, and the handlebars have a quick-release that allows them to fold down -- we've heard from multiple folks that they store them in large totes in the back of their SUV -- which is a plus for the Lectric bikes, but we are not comfortable with the way that the pedal assist works. The RAD bikes that we rode on Wednesday are bigger and heavier (75 pounds) -- I don't think there is any way we could fit them into the Jeep. The Townie bike that we tried at the bike shop would be my first choice, but, again, fitting it into the Jeep would be a challenge (we would have to take the front tire off and fold the handlebars down by undoing two bolts, and then laying it over while sliding it into the Jeep and then setting it upright for traveling) -- my concern is that getting it in and out would be such a chore that we would be tempted to say, "Oh, it is too difficult, let's not bother."
Right now, our need is not great -- we just want to eliminate the need to pedal uphill... and we don't run into that need very often. If we had e-bikes, we think that we might go further and take paths that are more challenging... oh well, we're still in the decision making process!
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