Coming up on a year since I switched to an ebike, so I figured it’s a good time to look back at how my work commute has changed.
🚲 Average Speeds
- Bike: 13.90 mph
- Ebike: 20.22 mph
🚀 Max Average Speeds
- Bike: 18.06 mph
- Ebike: 23.87 mph
⚡ Fastest Short Route to work (~9.8 mi)
- 00:25:18 — 23.21 mph — Yamaha Wabash RT
- 00:34:13 — 17.21 mph — Giant Seek 0
- 00:34:26 — 17.10 mph — Priority Apollo
⚡ Fastest Midrange Route home (~12 mi)
- 00:32:28 — 22.32 mph — Yamaha Wabash RT
- 00:52:02 — 13.91 mph — Giant Seek 0
- 00:57:23 — 12.71 mph — Priority Apollo
⚡ Fastest Long Route home (~18 mi)
- 00:55:12 — 19.59 mph — Yamaha Wabash RT
- 1:11:44 — 15.19 mph — Giant Seek 0
- 1:20:16 — 13.53 mph — Priority Apollo
📊 Sample size:
- 1,391 activities
- 16,079 miles total
- Avg distance: 11.56 mi
- Avg elevation gain: 278 ft
- Timeframe: Sept 2021 → Sept 2025
by Mysterious-Series135
8 Comments
fricking awesome comparison project, thank you
saving at east an hour of time a week is a pretty big deal. I value my time at minimum $25 an hour. If that midrange route is much nice that looks like the ideal unless you running late.
Interesting comparison, thank you. And this is an honest question: what about the loss of benefits from cardio exercise? Do you make up for through other exercise?
I kinda regret not buying the RT when they had that crazy sale at $1800. I mean I didn’t because I already had comparable gravel e-bike, but damn what a value it was.
I’ll stick with my track bikes.
But e-bikes are definitely fun
As a 10+ year analog commuter I’ve thought about going ebike so many times but realize id lose a lot of muscle and endurance. Seems so much more fun though.
Is that ebike speed average moving time speed? Or overall average speed? 20mph average is moving, and to be clear I’m not mad at it, just impressed.
I ask because I commute via ebike but the amount of times I have to stop/slow down has put my overall average speed at about 15.5-16mph depending on how lucky I get with lights or if I have to stop at an at-grade train crossing.
I’ve done a similar comparison but not that scientifically.
My commute is 13 miles across suburban Vancouver WA with one hilly section and about 25 stoplights and stop signs.
I average about 10 mph on bike so it takes more than an hour. By e-bike I average about 20 mph (normal cruising speed is about 25 mph but the stop lights kill my average).
So basically the e-bike doubles my speed and halves my commute time. Or really, it doubles my commuting range since I don’t normally bike that far except during really nice weather.
E-bike is a Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0
Regular bike is a TI cyclocross bike outfitted with rack, fenders, and road tires.