The €500 bike was in Leclerc last summer. It had a fantastic specification for the price. It’s not a problem for me as I already have a good bike but as mine is a touring model I was interested in getting one that was more suitable for using on unmade tracks. I was very tempted.
I’m sorry I linked that article, it was an edit, an afterthought, after I’d posted the original. I thought it might be useful for other people who haven’t experienced e-bikes and weren’t sure what they were. Sometimes one can’t do right for doing wrong. I really expected this to be an easygoing thread and have been somewhat surprised by the unpleasant negative replies.
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With an e-bike you will probably spend more than half your time riding without resistance so it’s important to have an e-bike that’s a good bicycle as well. Mine is. It’s components are top quality, as with most things you get what you pay for.
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Well, at least you engendered some discussion 
I can see the appeal but like cars there does seem to be something of a premium on e-bikes.
Obviously it is hard to say whetherthe Leclerc offer bike was any good, I have noticed some pretty cheap VTT’s on offer in Super-U and always wondered whether they are any good (at some point we’ll probably get a set to keep over in France).
Unpleasant, negative? I’m entirely pleasant & positive about e-bikes, but the bank account isn’t!
Although having said that, we have had to rescue an elderly person who had cycled further than his natural abilities allowed, and his battery ran down so he couldn’t get back, and have been run over by another who really shouldn’t have been on something he couldn’t control. So I’m not necessarily positive about all those who use them…
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Good points Mary, there is a good cycle track near here, goes from Billiers to Pen Lan, a few kliks, I would be tempted to have a cycle if I lived there. Otherwise, yes, a two wheeler has to have a substantial power plant in it, for security (self preservation)reasons. 
Your post is another reason why I started this thread, most people don’t have a clue what an e-bike is. There are European standards and putting it simply there are two categories, those that have assistance up to 25kmh and those that have assistance up to 40kmh. The former are the most common and are used like a bicycle, the others are treated like mopeds and need insurance, protective clothing and are banned from cycle paths and cycle parking. They are few and far between.
The simple e-bike is in no way more dangerous than any other bicycle as it is no faster and will probably have superior tyres and brakes. You get the assistance when you need it which is usually going up hills and against headwinds. Even with assistance people on racing bikes will be passing you. It just makes cycling a more pleasant experience for those who are older and less fit. You still work as few provide any drive without you pedalling as well. My e-bike has extended my horizons and I will happily head off to destinations way beyond those that I would consider practical on my normal bikes. It’s a way to get more out of living in a beautiful place with stunning countryside and villages to visit travelling along quiet roads. If I want to go further I get out my 1300cc V4 motorcycle but that is something completely different!
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You control most e-bikes by turning the pedals. Somebody out of control on an e-bike would be just as out of control on a normal one. I really don’t understand your negativity. If you don’t like them or feel they are too expensive fine but all these tales of woe…
It was amazing value. I also have two non electric mountain bikes and they were both much more expensive than the e-ATB in Leclerc.
Perhaps the danger is the subjective thing.
I’m attracted to e-bikes, as a way to: a) avoid a license but still go faster/farther, b) save my energy, c) not have to have the muscle mass and stamina and yet still go the same or greater distance, and c) feel like I can compete with regular traffic as the spurt of energy gives me a feeling of power.
I see myself being able to avoid strenuous exercise with an e-bike. Getting up and down the hilly streets in Sancerre, more easily, means I can go to the convenient big supermarket at the bottom of the hill, at the expense of… What… Well, rather than walking through to the smaller shops at the top of the hill. That’s not really good, to be able to bypass the small stores, in order to glutton over the plentiful and cheap? I hope not to bypass just because…it’s convenient. There’s a quality of life that I bypass, as a result. That’s a localized and subjective opinion.
In order to handle adversity: an accident or a problem, we need to be physically ready. How many times I have laid down my big motorcycle… argh. But now I have experienced it, I know how to avoid. Having the big heavy bike, with all of its inherent responsibilities in taking care of it, me, and my fellow travelers. I have been called ‘stupid idiot’ while learning to ride; oh, those first forays. I was a small fish in a big pond, working on getting into the stream. I wouldn’t want to avoid the learning curve, or make people expect others to be hitting the ground running - that is to say, there are always ‘learners’ on the road. Perhaps as we improve and make it less necessary, we make more a-holes out there with no patience for others who are learning.
I guess perhaps I see it as the e-bikes make one a big fish in with some, and it is too easy to try to be in the same stream, a scarily small fish in with some of the big ponds, if that makes sense.
Perhaps an e-bike seems too easy, like a short-cut. It crosses into pedestrian, and non-motorized cyclist traffic and yet insists on being in the road traffic without the safety. Let’s make electric motorcycles.
Errr? Really don’t get what you are accusing me of. I should have learnt by now never to respond to your posts.
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Well, it is interesting, how one gets a bit of this here. So, I wanted to say that I liked your example a lot, about helping the fellow who’d run out of power on his e-bike.
My take on what you wrote was that life throws curves and challenges, and problems; it’s good to help others when we can. Creates stories to tell, especially if/when others accept our assistance.
Trying out new stuff is cool, and being aware that others are trying out new stuff and that we’ll encounter that trial and error as we putt along (at whatever speed), creates the stories of our lives. Ah, that’s almost too sweet, isn’t it… Yikes.
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Where do you live? The shop that I bought mine from lent me one for a test ride before I bought mine. That was another interesting thing, the price in a local, specialist bike shop was the same as on the internet.
Too expensive, heavy, poor quality parts, limited lifespan, had to rescue somebody, almost run down by an out of control rider, not nice to ride.
Which of those points are not negative?
I sorry but as somebody who has owned and used an e-bike since September 2016 I think that your posts are very negative. I’m sorry you find my posts objectionable but I am posting from a position of familiarisation and experience. I bought mine after a recommendation by an older French neighbour who had found that the mobility that an e-bike gave her was amazing. I too was surprised by their ability and posted to see if there were any other converts. Obviously not but I really didn’t expect so much fault finding which I doubt is based on the products on sale today.
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I test-rode one in Burlington Vermont, and it was a good experience. It was a short ride, wished I’d had time for longer.
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Err…“have hired one on holiday and enjoyed the experience and would be keen to swap”… .what’s negative about that? And I don’t see that commenting that the ones I could afford have drawbacks like being heavier is negative, it’s just the reality.
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One positive. Well done. You are not up to date. Your choice, in my opinion you are missing out but you’ve made your opinion of my opinion very clear.
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I have just returned from a very hilly 30 km bycycle ride.
Have decided that next time we are on holiday and see a shop that hires them we will ‘have a go’.
It would be nice to be able to extend our range …
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Go to a shop and see if they will lend you one for half a day.
We actually don’t have any bike shops around us here, the last one closed some years back.
The nearest is a Decathlon and that is a 120km round trip, and it’s in an area where we wouldn’t want to try out an E bike, flatish and uninteresting.
May try to take a weekend somewhere in late September early October and see what we can come up with !
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