As many as seventeen percent of cyclists use the e-bike in the welovecycling.cz website, which was attended by 800 relevant respondents. In addition, 38 percent of respondents are considering buying an e-bike this year.
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The same survey states that e-bike users are mostly older tourists who consider the bike less a means of transport, but rather associate it with tourism.
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However, the fact that bicycles with batteries are only “for pensioners”, according to Petr Skůček from the PRE service center, is definitely not the case. Families with small children are also important clients. “The daughter suddenly stays on the bike all day,” she says, noting that the child will not lose physical effort even on the e-bike, but she will avoid a difficult climb, thanks to which she will cover a much longer distance.
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The selection of e-bikes is varied today.
According to Skůček, city or sports electrocycling remains more of a background in addition to tourism, although by no means exclusively.
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“In our cities, we often come across a lack of infrastructure, not to mention recharging, but especially the storage of any bicycles in apartment buildings and urban development in general,” he points out.
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“However, the user’s radius for daily commuting is increasing, so for many clients, an e-bike can also make a lot of sense for intensive and regular use,” he recalls.
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Electric bicycles will find marginal sports use again in extreme downhill runs, where riders will help each other on the way up during training so that, in short, they can catch more downhill runs.
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What is right for you?
As with any bicycle, you must first select a type. Mountain e-bikes predominate, but according to Skůček, trekking types are also rightly on the rise. “People will find that they are more comfortable for a relaxed ride, so we offer more and more,” he says.
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Even purely city e-bikes, which do not fit into nature at all, are not left behind. “Thanks to the lowered frame, they allow easy and comfortable boarding and disembarking, which is best used in traffic – in the everyday city jungle when commuting to work or shopping. The fenders allow you to ride in any weather, you can attach a bag or shopping basket to the carrier and you can easily place the e-bike on a stand, ”advises the Czech manufacturer Crussis.
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Today, e-bikes have a so-called central drive, even from cheaper pieces, from which customers should not discount due to the performance and reliability of the assistance.
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The prescribed limit of assistance is 250 W, which the leading manufacturers regularly reach. However, the difference is then in the torque, which ranges from the usual 60, 70 Nm to the extreme examples of 120 Nm for expensive, sports-oriented pieces. However, with the use of such strong assistance, the range drops sharply, which otherwise reaches up to 150 km.
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The batteries stored in the frame usually have a capacity of 600 to 700 Wh, but again you can choose an e-bike with a 900Wh battery for those who want to leave most of the weekend without recharging. But then it is necessary to take into account that the larger the battery the user chooses, the more expensive and heavier the bike is. Even two kilograms, which makes a bike weight of about 23 kg a lot.
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If you like more information, most e-bikes today already offer a relatively advanced on-board computer, where it is possible to view the battery status and comfortably select the level of assistance to which the calculated range corresponds.
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Not only the electrical assistance mode can be selected on the computer located on the handlebars.
The maximum speed at which the assistance works is legally limited to 25 km / h. With the help of an “box” from an external regulator, this boundary can be broken, but on the one hand, it opens up disputes with ordinary cyclists in traffic and, on the other hand, police officers often shine light on such “chip tuning”.
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And because as the saying goes “what you don’t brake, you don’t want to”, it’s good to remember quality brakes with an e-bike. With higher weight, easy to reach speed and cant, they are more important than ever. This is another argument for the surcharge for the established brand.
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The price of a modern e-bike of decent quality starts at approximately CZK 60,000. Not only the mentioned elements, such as the power of the assistance, the battery, the on-board computer or the brakes, the price tag for higher quality pieces is raised by far beyond 100,000, but they are also conventional parts, such as the derailleur and the self-supporting construction of the e-bike.
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Even today, it is true that e-bikes are in stock on the market. “However, the time when the customer could choose from several specific colors and be able to configure the e-bike in detail from the stock pieces is basically gone,” Skůček admits, adding that specific e-bikes are still awaited today.
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An alternative, however, is a loan that costs approximately CZK 400 per day or about CZK 2,000 for the entire weekend.
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