Are ebikes "worth" it?

[QuarterMillionMan]

The new brakes that I installed yesterday is really bad and has poor stopping power and travel a long distance to stop. I will be looking for better brakes. And I have it adjusted to where just a light tap on the brake lever engages the brake caliper pistons to move the brake pads. As disneysteve mentioned brakes are vital and I shouldn't be messing with cheap Temu brakes.

[kork13]

Can always jam a shoe between the tire and chain stay if you need to stop a bicycle with no brakes. Anyone do that as a kid?

My classic move as a kid was to come barreling down a big hill next to my house, straight into my neighbor's yard, and slam on the "brakes" (pedal backward). In spite of tearing up my neighbor's grass, blowing both tires (simultaneously ... twice ), injuring myself repeatedly, and always getting chewed out by whatever neighborhood adult saw me do it (because that's how communal discipline worked back then -- everyone's kids was fair game) .... I never really learned that it was a bad idea. I just had fun going fast.

[ua_guy]

Kork, you had me laughing. Oh, the things we used to do on bikes as kids. I loved coaster brakes, coming in hot and skidding sideways to a stop, and then get yelled at for leaving tire marks on a pristine cement driveway, or tearing up the grass. Making ramps and platforms for jumping..riding bikes until it got dark outside. I still have joint pain from my test pilot days and the stupid stuff we'd do. And of course, any big, steep hill was meant for setting speed records on the way down! 30mph these days..I think about what if I were to crash. Holy smokes, I'd never walk again.

[Fishindude77]

I think about what if I were to crash. Holy smokes, I'd never walk again.

I think about that too.
A crash at even 10mph is gonna do some damage and put me out of commission for a while.

[kork13]

And of course, any big, steep hill was meant for setting speed records on the way down! 30mph these days..I think about what if I were to crash. Holy smokes, I'd never walk again.

You're telling me ... I've yet to learn that lesson.

15 years ago I was living on Okinawa, and took my road bike up through some of the hills. Coming down one particular hill, I clocked 48mph .... I knew for a fact that if I hit a pebble or the slightest bump or pothole, I was going to die. Even today, if I come across a good-sized hill, it's a personal challenge to see how fast I can go.

[disneysteve]

You're telling me ... I've yet to learn that lesson.

15 years ago I was living on Okinawa, and took my road bike up through some of the hills. Coming down one particular hill, I clocked 48mph .... I knew for a fact that if I hit a pebble or the slightest bump or pothole, I was going to die. Even today, if I come across a good-sized hill, it's a personal challenge to see how fast I can go.

When I'm in my old neighborhood, I'll be driving down a hill I used to bike on and think, "What the hell was wrong with me?" I don't even feel comfortable driving down some of those hills now.

[ua_guy]

I see all around me what "mountain biking" has become. Yes, there are many of us who still don't ride full-suspension bikes and aren't interested in the extreme side of the sport. But wow, has it has gotten wild. The bikes, the stunts, the trails (groomed tracks!), the air time/ jumps/obstacles, annnndddd.... the crashes. Gear for the sport now resembles motocross gear, but some of the more extreme bikes now resemble motorcycles.

I'm over 50 miles on my e-bike now and the charge is still high 40%. I've been itching to get out to ride more but the last 10 days or so have had absolutely dreadful weather. I've never liked riding in the wet/cold so hopefully the weather will give me a break soon. I was really enjoying my rides.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The Los Angeles ocean bike path runs about 5 miles from the southern tip in Torrance/Redondo beach to the north in Santa Monica. I see more electric bikes than traditional bikes. In addition, I see all types of electric scooters, electric skateboards, electric one-wheeled things, older Segways, electric foil surfboards including a tow type device which pulls the foils surfboards, etc. A lot of parked Teslas and other electric vehicles. And I see all sorts of crashes such as bike vs bike, bike vs pedestrians, bike vs sand on pavement sliding crash, etc. I usually do the lower half from LAX airport down to Redondo beach. There are Chicanos with their beach cruisers and boom boxes to racer types dressed in spandex in helmets with Treks or Cannodales and other expensive bikes to senior folks with expensive ebikes such as Rad Power or Aventon, etc.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm on the hunt for any of these caliper brakes.

Top 5 Best Bicycle Brake Calipers (Highly Rated Products) of 2026

[ua_guy]

I used to love riding a bike along the Long Beach harbor, from the Pike down to Belmont Shores. It was about a 10 mile ride out and back. Used to walk it, too. Many fond memories of going up to the LA beach towns when we lived down there.

QMM, I assume you'd just buy your brake kit online? Even the Shimanos are pretty cheap. What are you waiting for?

[QuarterMillionMan]

On eBay I ordered this $15.99 Bucklos brakes which was the 1st one on the list of the top 5 best brakes.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Long Beach is very bike friendly with lots of bike lanes and the bike path from DTN-LB to Belmont Shores. For 10 years I worked at LBPD but I'm not a cop. My big government employer had us stationed in the LBPD on Broadway Ave, near Ocean Blvd and Shoreline Drive & The Pike Outlets. I used to walk there on my lunch break. Every April LB hosts the Grand Prix races and on the news they are already putting up the barricades to close off the access there for the races. Very nice area there in LB but there are also some bad areas in the LBC. Lots of cruise ships embark there for the Mexico cruises (ie, Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, etc). Twice I did the 4 nighter cruise to Mexico, once on Carnival and another on Royal Caribbean.

[QuarterMillionMan]

For cars ceramic brakes are better than semi-metallic. For bikes, I couldn't find any information on the composition of the brake pads so I went with the top 5 best brake information from the website above. Price usually is a good indicator of quality but it is not always the case.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Pro-tip: I use motorcycle mirrors on my ebike which are solidly mounted and not flimsy Mickey mouse bike mirrors.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My eBay $585 ebike died today returning home from the beach going up a steep hill all LED lights went dark. Luckily the insurance that I bought for $24.99 from eBay when I purchased the ebike is good for 3 years. I bought it in March 2024 simultaneously when I bought the ebike and the insurance. I will try to fix it myself first but if I can't fix it, I will activate the insurance.