Having had a probable seizure earlier this year, I had to surrender my driving license. We live on the outskirts of town and on a hill which means that while walking into town is possible, walking home up the hill when I’m tired often isn’t. The bus stop is further up the hill and I hate standing around for buses: the buses home aren’t frequent and I often get the timing wrong, plus someone always seems to light a cigarette right next to me. So the loss of my driving license was going to seriously cramp my independence, and just as I was taking a turn for the better too! My family knew how much I was upset by this and decided to club together to buy me an electric bike, as an early Christmas and birthday present.

A normal bike wouldn’t have been feasible as it would still have been exhausting to get up the hill home, and I often use up too many Spoons while out and don’t have many left to get home. Electric bikes have two ways of working. The first and main way, called Power Assisted Pedalling (PAS) or Pedelec, is when you’re starting to cycle turns on the motor and it helps you as you cycle. You can go a lot faster with minimal effort and hills are significantly less effort. The second way, Power On Demand or just “throttle” is where you do nothing and the motor gets you moving. Electric bikes vary hugely, one of the most important and easiest ways to tell them apart is the type of battery they have – very cheap bikes are likely to have very heavy, inefficient batteries with a short life span.
We chose a bike for me that was new on the market – the Powacycle Salisbury LPX – as it seemed to be the best bike we could get for that value. Powacycle makes a lot of reasonably priced electric bikes and the Salisbury LPX is now one of their best. It is made different and better, by the powerful but extremely light Lithium Polymer (LPX) battery, which is new to the mass production market. The bike has front suspension, an aluminum frame, 6 speed gears (you don’t need many when you have a motor!) and hybrid bike tires for all terrain. Its range is up to 30 miles and the top speed with the motor is 15 mph.
The bike arrived by courier in a large box and all I had to do was attach the pedals and seat and put the handlebars in the correct position. The first charge of the battery takes all night, but after that it can be recharged in 2-4 hours. To do that, you just unlock the battery, slide it out from its casing behind the seat and then plug the main power charger in.
Despite the relatively light battery, which in itself weighs 2kg, the bike is very heavy compared to a normal modern bike. I learned the hard way not to go out when I wasn’t sure I had enough charge left because if the battery dies, you are left with an extremely heavy and unwieldy bike with only six gears!
I can’t use the throttle alone going up hills, but with the PAS, even the steepest hill becomes possible. Many a serious looking male cyclist has given me a condescending look as they flashed past while I pedaled along on the throttle alone, only to find that I then caught them up on a hill, without even having to stand on the pedals! Using the throttle on the flat enables me to have a rest without having to stop. It also helps to get over that wobbling (for me) moment of effort when you first start off and have got the bike in too heavy a gear.
It has given me a huge amount of independence and is helping me to get fit again without having to risk using too many Spoons and setting myself back. When I had a puncture recently and it sat, deflated and forlorn in my kitchen for two days before I got a repair kit, I realized how much I have come to depend on it and I wouldn’t be without it.
© 2007 by Lindsey Middlemiss, butyoudontlooksick.com
Powacycle Salisbury LPX electric bike