Electric Bike Adventures (e-bikes)
Electric Bike Adventures
Electric bikes make our bike adventures very doable
You don’t have to be a super fit or regular cyclist
Even if you are – choose to ride easy, and have some fun!
You don’t have to be a regular, fit or strong cyclist to enjoy riding close to free-roaming wildlife such as Zebra, Wildebeest, Ostrich or Giraffe. An electric bike will help turn those pedals with considerable ease. They are great fun and they do have a place in our adventures.
What exactly are electric bikes?
An electric bike is basically a regular pushbike with added components that work together to allow it to operate as an ‘electric’ bike. Those components (an electric motor, a battery, a sensor, and a display) together form a ‘drive system’ that provides pedal assistance as soon as you begin to pedal. It immediately becomes so much easier to pedal, each downward stroke being helped by the battery-powered drive system. All of those components make the bike a bit heavier of course, but otherwise, they are the same bikes.
Why use an electric bike?
Because you can! You don’t have to use an electric bike, a standard bike is normal for these adventures. But as far as our adventures are concerned, the effort required to cruise across the terrain suddenly reduces enormously with an electric bike. You can majestically keep up with anyone who is cycle fit! It’s not cheating, you still have to pedal! The ride becomes doable and you can then concentrate on the wonderful scenery that these great adventures take you into.
The power assist will come into its own across the softer terrain and on any uphills. For example, Day 1 of both the Ngorongoro Bike Ride and the Kilimanjaro 360° is the same and crosses plenty of soft savannah. The final day of the Ngorongoro ride is a stiff uphill too! The terrain varies from wide-open savannah to fruit and coffee plantations to undulating tarmac roads.
As there are only a limited number of electric bikes available, sharing is possible. You can alternative with a friend on a day on/off basis with a standard bike, or as you please throughout the day (morning/afternoon, an hour on/off, etc..)
Does the electric bike power itself?
No, it doesn’t! The power assist does what it says … it assists the pedal strokes as you pedal.
There are a number of power modes on the display (commonly 4) that sits in front of the rider on the handlebars. They range from ‘eco’ up to ‘turbo’. Eco provides the least amount of assistance and in doing so will extend the range of the battery.
What happens when the electric bike’s battery runs out?
We have spares on board the support vehicle and will replace the battery when the time is right. You will have power for the entire ride each day. Batteries are constantly being developed and we endeavour to obtain longer-range batteries.
What type of electric bikes are they?
The bikes we use are normal mountain bikes and can be ridden without the electric assist being switched on. But they are built with the electrics integral to the bike and therefore will be heavier than their non-electrical counterpart. Riding them without the electrics switched on will be more difficult (heavier bikes).
Electric bikes look the same as normal bikes. You can see the battery housing just above the pedal housing, and the display on the handle bars.
The display gives you all you need to know about how your bike is performing. Importantly, it shows the battery life. We have spares on the support vehicle.
