Retro ebikes

longun

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Retrobike Rider
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So, we know they've been around for over 100 years in very primitive forms and the first real pedal assist bikes came out around 1992



So me and nobby were talking earlier about retro ebikes, we dont tend to see many early ones, such as the one above and though that an ebike thread could be cool???

We all know they're more accepted now and do have a place within cycling for a vast number of reasons not will they ever be retro pr just old???

Can you see folk in 20 years looking through ebay to find a 90s version or an early 2010+ offering hankering after the Joy's of limited mileage, weight, crap geometry and poor parts?

Ponder and discuss my friends

Xxxx long and nobby ;)
 
Re:

In my experience, ebikes have a much more finite life than a regular bike. The battery is only good for a certain number of charge cycles, and manufacturers will only support a particular model with replacements for a while, as they change battery configurations quite a lot. This will make getting parts for old ebikes nigh on impossible.
 
Re:

but inside the packs, are they not just normal batteries in a common format and so could be modded for newer ones?
 
There's already an aftermarket battery rebuild scene for the first hybrid cars (Honda Insight Coupé - the battery pack can be rebuilt with NIMh D-cells !). Unless the bike battery is inside the frame I'm sure a rebuild could be done that would add capacity too
 
I deliberately went for an external battery model when i bought mine so the battery can be upgraded. Like the cars there are already aftermarket and upgrade companies around. On some packs it is just a matter of swapping out AA cells to either the same or a higher amp hour rated cell.
 
A bicycles function will never diminish, so yes, in years to come i think people will still buy older e-bikes, maybe not out of desirability but more practicality, assuming it still works of course, oh, and the bicycle tax that will be around by then isn't too high :)
 
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