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11 months ago I bought myself an ebike and since then that's pretty much the only way I commute. It's 12.5km from home to office, so 25km per day, about 75% of

11 months ago I bought myself an ebike and since then that's pretty much the only way I commute. It's 12.5km from home to office, so 25km per day, about 75% of the time (25% remotely). Year round, in Helsinki Finland. So snow, freezing temps many months per year. And rain. I have two kids; one at daycare, one goes to school. Every day I either take younger to daycare of pick her up. Yesterday trip meter crossed 4000km, pretty much only from commuting. My 12.5km commute takes 33 minutes when there isn't snow on the ground. During winter it takes few minutes longer. Weather is not an issue. I wear normal office clothes, so typically jeans and shirt. If it's raining, I wear gore-tex jacket and pants on top of office clothes. If it's raining heavily, I put gore-tex mittens and shoe covers. Those hard-shell clothes are always in my pannier bag, because you never know when the forecast is wrong. Also when it's cold, the same shell pants and jacket goes on top of office clothes. If it's really cold, I wear fleece jacket or merino wool hoodie underneath the gore-tex jacket. When temps drop below -10C, I put some long johns underneath jeans and also wear ski goggles. I'm never wet when arriving no matter how hard it rains. I'm not sweaty, so no need for shower. The only downside is that during the first 6 months, I lost 6kg, so had to buy new clothes. These are the clothes I wear on top of my office clothes: * https://rab.equipment/ca/meridian-jacket * https://www.cube.eu/fi-en/cube-blackline-rain-pants/12215 * https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_CA/product/waterproof-overmitts/ * https://www.vaude.com/en-INT/Men/Accessories/Gaiters/310/Bike-Gaiter-Short?number=012790100360 and all those are year round in my rear pannier https://www.ortlieb.com/en_us/twin-city-urban+F8102 https://www.ortlieb.com/en_us/twin-city-urban+F8102 if I'm not wearing those. Rear pannier also carries my laptop and other work related equipment, mostly mobile phones needed for development/testing. Bike commuting is fun, relaxing, healthy and fast enough for trips roughly under 15km. Weather does not matter. If you live in part of the world where it snows, bike path maintenance might be the dealbreaker. Also, if there isn't a viable bike route at all (pretty typical in many parts of the U.S.), then surely bike commuting is hard. EDIT: Oh, almost forgot, merino wool buff during winter months is really nice.

Gareth321 4y ago
I love my ebike too, and I have a similar commute and routine with the kids. That said, in summer time in Denmark, I get sweaty. So I need to wear cooler gear and I often need a shower when I get to work. It definitely adds time to the commute so it's not all roses.
weberer 4y ago
Do you have some special winter tires or something? I also live in Helsinki, and would never bike in the winter since every path is packed ice and a thin layer of gravel. I slip enough just walking.
- cesnja 4y ago
  You can buy winter tires with spikes.
- hpaavola 4y ago
  I use Routa from Suomi Tyres. Those are studded winter tyres. I guess Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus is a popular choice in the category.
user_named 4y ago
How come you lost weight from riding an ebike?
- hpaavola 4y ago
  Because in Europe ebikes are bikes with assistive motor, so you need to pedal and the motor just assists. So there is no throttle. And pedaling, even when it is easy, is an activity which consumes calories.
  - alistairSH 4y ago
    Another clarification... many of the higher-end e-bikes act as a power multiplier. If you put 100W into the pedals, you get 200W at the wheels (roughly). To go ~20mph, you're putting in ~15mph worth of effort. For my wife and I, that means she can keep up with me with a similar perceived exertion, which is really nice. Some of the less expensive e-bikes just have a dumb switch on the pedal to meet legal requirements. You can barely pedal at all and the motor will accelerate to 20mph (or faster). And some have a throttle that bypasses the pedals completely (typically not allowed on bike trails/lanes, though hard to enforce).
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    Not really, in Germany there are also ebikes where you don't need to pedal.
    - hpaavola 4y ago
      Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32002L0024&from=EN https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CEL...) states: "cycles with pedal assistance which are equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0,25 kW, of which the output is progressively reduced and finally cut off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25 km/h, or sooner, if the cyclist stops pedalling" So, vehicles which do not require user to pedal, are not electric bicycles. Those are something else. Yes, it is legal to drive such vehicles, but those are not ebikes. Typically those vehicles require you to have an insurance, possibly type approval and maybe even drivers license, depending how fast they go and how powerful the motor is.

Gareth321 4y ago

I love my ebike too, and I have a similar commute and routine with the kids. That said, in summer time in Denmark, I get sweaty. So I need to wear cooler gear and I often need a shower when I get to work. It definitely adds time to the commute so it's not all roses.

weberer 4y ago

Do you have some special winter tires or something? I also live in Helsinki, and would never bike in the winter since every path is packed ice and a thin layer of gravel. I slip enough just walking.

cesnja 4y ago
You can buy winter tires with spikes.
hpaavola 4y ago
I use Routa from Suomi Tyres. Those are studded winter tyres. I guess Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus is a popular choice in the category.

user_named 4y ago

How come you lost weight from riding an ebike?

hpaavola 4y ago
Because in Europe ebikes are bikes with assistive motor, so you need to pedal and the motor just assists. So there is no throttle. And pedaling, even when it is easy, is an activity which consumes calories.
- alistairSH 4y ago
  Another clarification... many of the higher-end e-bikes act as a power multiplier. If you put 100W into the pedals, you get 200W at the wheels (roughly). To go ~20mph, you're putting in ~15mph worth of effort. For my wife and I, that means she can keep up with me with a similar perceived exertion, which is really nice. Some of the less expensive e-bikes just have a dumb switch on the pedal to meet legal requirements. You can barely pedal at all and the motor will accelerate to 20mph (or faster). And some have a throttle that bypasses the pedals completely (typically not allowed on bike trails/lanes, though hard to enforce).
- pjmlp 4y ago
  Not really, in Germany there are also ebikes where you don't need to pedal.
  - hpaavola 4y ago
    Directive 2002/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32002L0024&from=EN https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CEL...) states: "cycles with pedal assistance which are equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0,25 kW, of which the output is progressively reduced and finally cut off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25 km/h, or sooner, if the cyclist stops pedalling" So, vehicles which do not require user to pedal, are not electric bicycles. Those are something else. Yes, it is legal to drive such vehicles, but those are not ebikes. Typically those vehicles require you to have an insurance, possibly type approval and maybe even drivers license, depending how fast they go and how powerful the motor is.