Would you complete an 8 mile commute (16 round trip) on an e bike?

[Hatefreezingweather1]

It's mainly down the East Lancs road if anyone knows it.

Have to take 2 separate buses to get to my job, takes around 45 minutes. However on Monday the morning bus just didn't turn up, no warning, and 3 evening buses failed to turn up, meaning I had to pay for taxis each way which wasn't cheap.

Not sure if it's due to COVID isolation but I can't rely on buses and seeing whether they'll turn up or not.
I did the bike ride yesterday and it took me an hour each way /(even on electric) which is probably quite slow?

Brutal too even if enjoyable in parts, the path is very bumpy and muddy in parts. Not sure I can face that ride every day, does it seem doable to you ?

Depends if snacking while riding is legally 'a thing '? I would need a jolly tasty incentive for that but I would consider it..

Get an e moped instead

I think you'd get quite a lot quicker quite fast if you did it regularly? I would expect to be able to manage 15mph on an eBike? The bike should assist you up to that speed, so if you charged it every night I would expect you to get the round trip out the battery?

I think it's worth giving it a punt for a few weeks and maybe timing it and seeing if you get faster?

Yes, because with the ebike it is effortless - you still have to spin the pedals but whack the power up to full and let the motor do the work. I used to do a 4 mile each way and I was quicker door to door than if I was getting the bus. Ebikes are a great solution for commutes of this distance. You don’t arrive all sweaty like if you were cycling, it’s great!

You need to get a good strong lock and waterproofs too.

DH started cycling to work ( ten miles each way) during the petrol crisis and he continued to cycle in once the crisis was over for another three years.
It’s doable if you can avoid fast roads and have shower facilities at work.

PS do you have to ride on the path instead of the road? I don't know the area.

You’ll get faster too once you know your route.

Thanks for replies, East Lancs is a busy dual carriageway road, I don't feel confident riding on it yet so I go on the path, which is questionable in parts and also quite hilly (luckily have the electric assistance)

Can do 4 miles in just over 20 minutes with it so hopefully I will get faster as people have said

No I wouldn't do that unless I really really had to. It'll be horrible in the rain.

8 miles on an ebike sounds like great exercise.
and is alot more reliable than the bus.
get proper locks. a frame lock & chains.
raingear & high vis
a pannier & pannier bags.

you will get a bit quicker with practice.

Defo do it! It's loads better than the bus, although I recommend decent waterproofs and bringing a hairbrush/possibly straighteners to work to deal with helmet hair!

Yes, it’ll be fine. All you need for rain is decent waterproofs, and you won’t need a shower after such a short ride on an effortless e bike. I’d expect that journey to take 30 - 40 mins each way

Which part of the East lancs is it? No way I'd want to do it on the 60mph parts but would consider it on the 40mph part

I feel more motivated to do it now 🙂

My husband used to commute 26 miles round trip each day in the hilly Chilterns on a normal bike.

His body was yum at the time. I couldn't do it though, too lazy, but it doesn't sound insane to me.

I used to do a similar distance and time on a normal bike into central London as my best commute option.
The good news is that you can use the bus if you fancy a day off!

The barriers to cycling (or e-bike or even motorbike / scooter) I found were rain, cold and danger.

On a bicycle if it rains you get wet. Even with waterproofs (get wet with sweat instead). So a shower and change of clothes needed after both directions.

Cold is another challenge, decent clothing that keeps me warm and getting the right clothes for the right day. Often I'd get halfway and take a layer off (so having a pannier on the bike was great). Not expensive stuff, decathlon, lidl are good value, but also normal joggers and ski gloves on a cold day were great.

Danger is multi-faceted, cars, potholes, dodgy areas, pinch points or badly designed roads. I chose routes that were nicer even if not the most direct (often avoiding other cyclists TBH!). Try some routes and see how you feel.
Danger can also be due to weather. My quiet road gets icy and is gritted infrequently, so two wheels are scary on those days. I have used an off-road route on a gravel path on snow / ice days because it is safer (but on a wet day is very muddy so I avoid).

Game changers for me were decent lights to see where you are going on unlit paths, mudguards to keep clothes clean / dry when the roads are wet and pannier bags.

Sounds like you have a bike already so give it a go. If you can commute in January then other months will seem easy!

It's basically from Salford to Wigan borough

Yes, you'll get faster and faster. Maybe tell yourself you'll do it 3 days a week and get the bus if the weather is horrible and see how it goes

Don't want to do it daily as I had to pay for new brake pads only a month after getting the bike , so don't want to go through anything too quickly but maybe 2 days on the bike and 2 on the bus (I work 4) could be good

I used to commute 8 miles to work in Birmingham on a road bike, no major hills. Even then I always accounted for an hour for the entire journey. My best speed is doing a mile every 4 minutes so on good days e..g lights almost always green on the road I could do it in 45 mins.

If you have to stop for lights or crossing itll always add time hence why an hour was always what I took into account.

To be honest on an ebike I would of thought you'd do it quicker as it doens't most of the heavy work but I've never used one.

Had to stop at a lot of crossings which added time

Definitely would, if the weather looked terrible for the odd day go on the bus. In Spring and Summer it will be a lot more pleasant too. Lots of benefits with the added exercise and money saved. Like others have said, invest in some decent gear like panniers and waterproofs and it will be fine. I cycled to ride my horse and muck out twice a day for years as a teen/twenties and I generally enjoyed it.

Well you’ll certainly get fit

But also don’t underestimate how grim it can be on a really wet, windy day. (I did London cycle commuting all year round, but my distance was half that.)

It's going to be -2 round here tomorrow morning which is a little concerning so might wait until Friday?

The crossings are adding your time whereas if you were on the road you would shave some time off as some of the time the lights will be green for you to continue. A crossing can be anywhere from 2-4 mins by time your allowed to go so if you have lots thats where your time is adding up.