What Is The Best Electric Bicycle For Seniors

Video Blog

July 30, 2019

Hey guys, Dustin here, CEO of sixthreezero. Today we're going to talk about the best electric bikes for seniors. Let's jump right in.

So electric bikes are great. They make riding lot more fun, a lot easier for anyone that doesn't want to overexert themselves selves on rides. I've ridden electric bikes, I think they're awesome. I mean, I love my regular bike too. But electric bikes are great if you just kind of want to cruise somewhere or you're going to be going super far and on the way back you maybe want some pedal assistance or want to take it easy and click the full throttle and let the bike do the work.

So when talking about electric bikes for seniors, I'm not going to recommend any particular bike necessarily. What I am going to talk about is what are the features you'd want to look for in an electric bike as a senior.

Now it's hard to classify what we mean by the word senior. I'll let you guys at home determine if you fit into that category or not. But I'm just going to generally talk about some features that I think provide and make more safety, make it easier, make it simpler, things like that. So let's start.

Firstly, when talking about an electric bike, you still have a frame most times like a normal bicycle. So for seniors, I would recommend an electric bike that has a swooping frame. Something with a lower step-through frame, ideally, I think would be much easier to get on and off and to dismount, especially when you have the motor involved. You'd want to make it as easy as possible to get on and off the bike. If it's challenging just to put your foot down or to put both your feet on the ground that that's not going to be conducive to safety. So for any electric bike, regardless, make sure it has a low step-through height.

In particular, I can point out our Every Journey electric bikes, our women's one, in particular, has a very low step-through. It makes it easy to mount and dismount. Also, it has a forward pedal design. So when you stop the bike, it allows you to put your both feet flat on the ground, but when you're riding you can still get ample leg extension. So that's a great feature I think for senior riders and has made our Every Journey the normal bicycle, non-electric, very popular with, with people 35 years and over, in particular for age groups, 50 to 70. So that's one feature.

The other feature I would recommend is I wouldn't necessarily opt for the most powerful motor. So with the different electric bikes, you can get motors up to a thousand watts, thousand watts plus. Now, depending on the state you live in and the laws, you're going to have to see what's legal without registering, things like that in your particular state, which we did another video about that. You can check out our YouTube channel or just Google electric bike laws by state and you're gonna be able to get more information on that.

But for the motor size, now for a 250-watt motor, if you have the full-throttle option and you hold that full throttle down, you're going to be able to go about 15 miles an hour. With the 500 watt motor, if you hold that full throttle down, you're going to be able to go about 20 or so miles an hour. With pedal assist, if you pedal while engaging the motor on the 500 watts, you'll be able to hit about 28, depending on how fast you can pedal. If you can already power that bike under your power faster than 28, then you're going to go faster than 28. Then pedal assists on the 250 watts, you could reach again about 20, 25 miles an hour.

So when you're talking about riding 15 miles an hour and you're older, in the senior category, that's pretty fast. Once you hold that throttle down and you're moving, it feels pretty fast. 15 miles an hour feels fast. I think for typical every day riding around town, a 250-watt motor's just fine. It will do fairly well on very small rolling hills. Now, if you are going to be tackling very big hills all the time, I'd recommend a 500 watt. But generally speaking for seniors, I think 250 watts is absolutely enough motor. It's going to allow you to ride longer. It'll give you good pedal assist. It'll take the ease off. If you want to go full throttle and hold it down at 250, the top speeds are just enough.

Again, I've ridden a lot of electric bikes. I feel like even 250-watt full-throttle feels fast to me and 500 watt feels fast. It's more than you need, especially for recreational riding. If you're not commuting, you don't have a timeline to be somewhere, things like that. So the other recommendation I would say is a choice. You do have the choice between the pedal assist and the full throttle. For seniors, I would say I'd recommend getting the full-throttle options. You can have both the pedal assist and the full throttle. It's a nice feature to have if your legs just get too tired and you just want the bike to do all the work, you just literally push the thumb throttle down. Now again, that's something that I don't think in all states is completely legal. California it is, up to a certain output. So please check your state laws, make sure everything's legal where you are, but it's a nice feature.

Let's say that you worked hard and you rode 5, 10 miles and you get to your destination. On the way back you're like, "Oh gosh, I just don't want to do any pedaling." Great feature. Hit the full throttle, let the bike do all the work for you. So it kind of makes the bike more versatile. It also ensures that if your body just gets too tired, you can really let the bike do all the work and it makes it so you can go farther, see more, do more on any given ride and you don't have to worry about whether or not you have to provide any power or not. So it kind of takes away the stress of, "Oh, but I'll still have to pedal even if I have the pedal assist," things like that.

So my three major tips right there, number one step-through frame, number two was the 250-watt motor, and also on the motor size, I would say a rear-drive motor is just fine. You don't need the torque of the mid-drive motor. I think it's unnecessary. The cost and the expense of it, for what you get, for recreational around-town riding is fine with the rear-drive, 250-watt motor. Then thirdly, sorry I lost my train of thought. Thirdly is the throttle I'd recommend.

The fourth thing I would say I'd recommend, in addition to the step-through frame, is an ergonomic frame. So again, just like our Every Journey and our Around the Block, they're both ergonomic riding positions. Our 500 watt and 250 watts, your back is upright, your shoulders are relaxed, your writs are relaxed, everything's relaxed. I think this is key for seniors. We want to make sure when you get off that bike, your body's not sore. Muscles aren't tense, joints aren't hurting. So you want to stay in an ergonomic position and very relaxed. So our Every Journey's, if you want, check those out. Those have an ergonomic riding position. But whatever bike you go with, find something that has that nice upright riding position so you're not going to be in pain when you get off.

So that's what I think are the best electric bikes for seniors. What I told you was the best features on electric bikes for seniors. So you can go out, find some other bikes that have those features. If you still have some questions, please reach out to us. The team@sixthreezero.com or call us (310) 982-2877. You can also make the body fit quiz on our website. It's on the top nav. If you're not there, top nav underneath the navigation. Take the quiz. We're going to recommend a bike for your riding habits and your needs.

Also, check out our electric bikes. Like I said, the Every Journey, it's my recommendation from our bikes for seniors' electric bikes. The 250-watt version's perfect. You can go to our electric bikes in the top nav. You can go there, check it out. Don't forget, we have a 365-day return policy. If at any point within 365 days, you don't love your bike, you can send it back, no questions asked. We'll take care of you. Because at sixthreezero, we want to make sure you love your bike, enjoy the ride.

Best Electric Bike for Seniors Recap: Why Senior Citizens Should Ride Electric Bicycles

Recommend an electric bike with a swooping frame
Low step-through height for safety
Don't opt for the most powerful motor (check and see what is legal to ride without registration in your state)
250w allows you to go up to 15 miles an hour on full throttle (with pedal assist, up to 20-25 mph)
500w allows you to go up to 20 miles an hour on full throttle (with pedal assist, up to 28 mph)
For seniors, 250-watt motor is recommended – it will give you good pedal assist and allow you to ride longer without being too powerful
Rear-drive motor is recommended
Pedal assist & full-throttle options available
Full-throttle options are recommended which allow you to have both pedal assist & full throttle
Full-throttle allows the bike to do the work for you if your legs get too tired
Choose a bike with an ergonomic frame to keep your body relaxed and avoid any soreness
If you are interested in a non-electric bike for seniors, check out our Every Journey's, which also have low-step through height & ergonomic frames