The Devils in the details

So after my travails with my electric (assist) bike these are my thoughts on 'hybrid' bikes in Chicago.

What a Concept...

Our flat land and "30MPH" traffic makes perfect hybrid bike environment. In traffic you can maintain with traffic flow to make yourself visible, manueverable and competitive on speed. The 20MPH top speed is fine for most roads even into the close ring of burbs tho as ya get into 40MPH four lane roads the auto idiots could start to be real deadly.

With most bikes rated for 25-40 miles per charge most commutes are in range and tho these bikes tend to be 50lbs the battery assist allows you to pedal for speed and distance for all but the longest commutes.

HOWEVER the bike/electric matrix has some downsides. My choice of Prodeco was designed as a Shantner/Cyrus boardwalk cruiser not a "REAL" working bike. It had NO weather resistance, the construction wouldn't stand up to city streets much less anything other than paved trails and battery placement had such forces brought to bear on the 10lb battery mount the construction ripped apart like tinfoil.

As the owner (the money is gone ne'er to be seen again) I am left with learning my lessons and hopefully saving others from similar fates.

When you start to wade in the 'hybrid' market see, touch, feel and look for all the potentials.

Battery-mounting weight needs to be well located and hung.  Rack mounts above the rear wheel like conventional trunk racks see too much motion and vibration to hold together UNLESS heavily strapped. Relying on plastic clips or pop riveted sleds to hold such forces are asking for disaster.

And no matter where ya mount a battery on a bike its gonna get wet. So you need weather resistant containment be it the battery case or a pouch/shroud or whatever. In Chicago you are gonna get caught in the rain at some time so be proetected rather than have a wet to shorted battery.

There are several makers that have battery mounts that sit in the frame or orient up and down rather than horizontally that seem to me to be better options but I have not seen them in action. I do know any flat mount needs straps, tight restricting straps...

Until there are more shops that offer hands on sales experiances with hybrids be careful. I did the web route and am paying the price.

The concept holds so much promise I hope the inept engineering and merchandising of these first generations of electrics doesn't kill the marketplace because as I age I'm gonna need the hybrid to fill in where my body falls short.

Jeff