My Retirement E-Bike: Improved Happiness from Battery Power

I received a rather reasonable lump sum upon my retirement that I could have frittered away on luxurious holidays and posh shoes. However that didn’t happen. Instead I was a good girl and used most of it to generate an income for coming years. After all I have a few years before I can draw my State Pension. I also put aside a few thousand pounds for house renovations.

But every so often you’re allowed to treat yourself aren’t you? And surely the end of my working life had to be marked in some way. So I celebrated by buying myself an e-bike. I’ve coveted one since I hired one for a city tour of hilly Lisbon. It was a revelation. I positively whizzed in and out of those iconic yellow trams. Now I’ve cycled since I was a wee one and love the sense of freedom that it gives me but, to be honest I’ve never enjoyed going up hills. Until that is I experienced how a battery could make mincemeat out of those gradients in Portugal’s capital city. ‘You go, grandma!’ some cheeky blighter yelled after me!

E-Bike Mark I

My e-bike purchase was a significant one, perhaps the most expensive aside from proper motor vehicles and houses. So I thought long and hard about what I wanted beforehand. The right model needed to be lightweight with a reasonable range and the ability to fold so I could easily take it on a train or pop it into the back of a car.

Of course I did quite a lot of research so you’d think that I’d be giving you a recommendation for the e-bike that I bought myself. Not so. . Despite thorough investigation, my experience with the bike that I chose has been somewhat of a nightmare. It arrived damaged, required repairs, and presented ongoing issues, including a pedal falling off during a challenging uphill ride in Cornwall with a double decker bus on my tail!

I initially sought a refund but faced challenges with the manufacturer. I sent the bike back to them twice. Let me tell you it wasn’t an easy thing to wrap up. In the end I adopted a more philosophical outlook. The constant complaining was very stressful. So my partner, Paul, made the necessary repairs to ensure the bike’s safety, and I came to accept its unique creaks and groans as quirks. While I won’t publicly name the manufacturer, I’m open to sharing my experience privately so that you don’t make the same mistake.

However don’t let my tale of woe put you off getting an e-bike yourself. On the bright side I thoroughly enjoyed my purchase despite these hiccups. My quirky, rattly e-bike still ranks among the best possessions that I’ve ever owned. It reinvigorated my love of cycling.

E-Bike Mark II

When I first mooted the idea about having one Paul was initially sceptical. In his youth he’d been one of the early adopters of a mountain bike. He pooh-poohed the idea of being helped along by a motor. But health problems have meant that he’s experienced a decline in strength and energy. So after a while he came around to the idea.

Instead of buying an e-bike off the shelf he’s converted his existing mountain bike. It took about half a day and he ended up with a superior albeit heavier bike than my own off the shelf e-version. What’s more it was a fraction of the cost. I was a bit jealous but then my mum offered me the Dawes bike that she was no longer using. So I snapped it up and Paul converted that one too.

Both kits were bought from Yose Power. Paul’s battery fits onto his down tube whereas mine slots into a carrier behind the back seat. One of the reasons that he chose this brand was due to its safety certification. We’ve all heard the stories about the fire risk from dodgy e-bike batteries.

Our E-biking Adventures

Cycling has become a big part of our lives again. Our bikes are useful for nipping around town on errands. They cope with the not insubstantial hills in our town rather nicely. We especially love take our bikes away and exploring around the areas where’ve we parked up in our motorhome. We’ve added extra solar panels on the roof so we can charge our bike batteries when we are off-grid.

While going up hills now is a relative breeze it’s not completely effortless. The motor provides assistance but we have to put into some muscle power so cycling still contributes to our fitness. Going downhill, the assistance disengages, but the digital display still shows the speed I’m achieving. It’s nippy. I often pass surprised onlookers who seem amazed at the sight of a grey haired fat bird effortlessly speeding down a hill at thirty miles an hour.

We’ve negotiated some impressive hills as our adventures in Spain attest. We climbed up to the second and third highest villages in the Sierra Nevada overtaking some rather peeved blokes on racing bikes. More recently I discovered out just how long my battery lasts on a hill climb when I did a fifteen miles ascent in the Pico de Europa mountains. It conked out just as I reached the cable car station at Fuente De, our target destination. Of course being powerless on the way back didn’t matter. Freewheeling back down to the campsite was so much fun.