Ebikes & Bikes for Everything, + Much of What I’ve Learned Riding Bikes for 75 Years (Part I)

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In Part II, I will discuss bike safety.Public transportation is heavily used in other countries and some large US cities. I begin by discussing how bikes can be used as last-mile transportation in conjunction with public transportation. However, to a large extent in the US, we jump into our cars for transporting ourselves, our kids, and most everything else because there is no nearby public transportation and we don’t realize there is any other option. In this article, I discuss how we can substitute ebikes and bikes for the family car in many situations here in Utah. The same substitution would apply in many other places in the US. However, in many places in the US, there are no bike paths and roads are too narrow and/or too busy or car speeds too high to make bike transportation safe and practical.

I’ve ridden bikes for transportation for a big part of my life (75 years since I got my first bike at age 10). However, about 10 years ago, I discovered ebikes and found them to have a huge multiplier effect on the utility of a bicycle. If you are young and athletic, a regular mountain bike or road bike can be a very effective means of transportation. However, if your route is long or has steep hills or you are not so young and athletic, an ebike goes a long way toward making a bike practical and pleasurable.

• Last mile in conjunction with public transportation in Utah. There is usually a significant distance from our homes to the nearest public transportation. There is also usually significant distance to our work or other activity at the other end of our trip. For Utah heavy commuter rail (see Frontrunner photo below), there is a parking lot at each stop and we can park a car at the starting station. But what about the other end? Riding a bike to the starting station and taking it along gives you transportation at both ends.
  • Frontrunner heavy rail: Bikes can be taken on a rail car (see below)

• • Trax (street car): Bikes can also be taken on Trax.

• • Bus: Many city buses these days have bike racks on the front (see photo below), so bikes can be used for last-mile transportation with buses.

• Commuting to work by bike: If you have dedicated bike paths or official bike lanes on your streets, or even low traffic roads, you can safely use your bike for a commute of up to 10 miles each way or 20 miles each way on an ebike. It can be a pleasurable ride in good weather. It won’t be fun, but you can ride in the rain if you have good rain gear. You can ride in the winter in temperatures above 20 degrees if you wear warm gear, including a balaclava. It’s nearly impossible to ride safely if your roads and/or bike paths are covered in snow. However, many bike paths are plowed. You may choose to ride only on non-rainy days with temperatures of 50 degrees or warmer. Extremely hot and humid days could also be a problem, but may be fine early in the morning with an ebike, especially using the motor of the ebike.
• Recreation: I personally ride an ebike 6 days a week, which I am motivated to do and is a big positive for my mental and physical health. At age 85, it’s the one physical activity I can do where I feel like I’m only 20 years old again. My editor may not rate recreational uses very highly since they don’t replace fossil-fueled car trips. However, a third of our whole economy is spent on health care, and if we can do something pleasurable that will improve our health, it’s a big plus on a personal level as well as significant for the whole economy. I also use my bike quite frequently to run errands.
• Transporting our children on bikes and with trailers:

Ebikes with jump seats or bike trailers are in common use these days. Note: Both the kids’ seats and the kids’ trailer can be repurposed to carry groceries or other items you have picked up. It is much easier to pedal a heavy utility bike or pull a trailer if you are riding an ebike.

• Transport to and from school by children and parents: I go to an elementary school frequently to pick up my grandson. You see the activity below of kids leaving on ebikes and escooters and a mother on an ebike picking up her child.

• Using bikes for running errands and shopping: If you have a utility bike with jump seats for children or a kid’s bike trailer, like you see above, you could pick up a decent load of groceries or many shopping items. If you don’t have a special bike or trailer, a small pack like I’m wearing in the photo below is enough for a gallon of milk and a small grocery order. Saddle bags are another option for carrying groceries and other items on bikes.

• The old and handicapped can use (special) bikes: When you are too old or handicapped (balance compromised) and can’t ride a 2-wheel bike, a Not A Wheel Chair or a recumbent trike are excellent options for transportation. An electrically powered chair as shown below can also be used for indoor or short outdoor transportation.

How to prevent flat bike tires

To wrap up, here’s a tip of advice. You are 10 miles out on a country road and you have a flat tire. Flats are one of the biggest downsides to bike riding. Most road bike riders carry an innertube, tire tools, a wrench, and a CO2 cartridge for tire inflation. I can change a tube in my garage, but doing it on the road is an entirely different thing. For a flat mountain bike tire, I will ride on the flat or walk a couple miles. Farther than that, I call my wife for rescue. Here in Utah, flats from thorns are a serious problem. I joke that the thorns here were personally designed by God to go through bike tires. I’ve discovered Styrofoam Tannus Armour brand inserts (see photo below) that give another 3/8” protection for the tube and virtually prevent all thorn flats. Another option is tubeless tires. They won’t prevent flats, but are much easier to repair with a little tire sealant.