Looking to get more active especially as the old healer and I are getting outside more. I am looking for a bicycle that has good electric assist and the capacity to hold both myself and the pup when he gets tired. Be that as a trailer or a basket either works. Prefer fatter tires for some of the trails in the state parks etc. I have been doing onlune research, but do not have any hands on experience yet. Not worried about budget, but not interested in motorcycle level costs either.
What does this all knowing board have to say?

Depends on how old and fat you are. I'm a lot of the former and a bit of the latter, and I ride a recumbent trike.

The downside is it's more of a PITA to transport, and it doesn't work on bike trails. It is too wide and not good on loose sand and such.

The good side is that it is very comfortable, and with the assist, you can ride a heck of a long ways

Maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in, but I don't think Texas state parks allow ANY electric assist on trails.

If they do, you will want to loo for a Level One bike. No throttle and limited speed and wattage.

Batteries and electric motors are expensive. And if you are heavy already, then add 39 pounds of battery and motor, you do not want to go cheap on wheels, tires, frame and suspension

Yeah I know it will be heavy to deal with supporting me plus the power elements. Appreciate the insight, I did not realize the state parks may not allow electric assist on the trails. That will change things for sure, just go old fashioned pedal and shorter until built back some endurance.

It's a bit confusing. I think the eBike lobby has been trying every session to get the rules changed. Some sources claim it's allowed on some trails, some still say complete ban.

My guess is that if you use an eBike on a trail, no one is going to give you grief unless you're going too fast or recklessly.

However, you can ride anywhere in a state park where your car is allowed. Depends on the park whether you want to do that. And city trails or rails-to-trails might have different rules.

The nice thing about any kind of ebike is that wind and hills become much less of a factor. When I was riding pedal power only, I would always pick routes based on hills and wind. With the assist, I don't care about either, as long as it's not too severe.

And the only comment on the bike being heavy, was to encourage you to buy quality, even if it's more expensive.

We have the Lectric XPeak2 step thru bikes. Bought the original XPeak and wife liked it so much I bought another one so I could ride. Have had two years with no issues. We are both nearing 65 and it's like we went back to our youth.

I ride in the pasture a lot with no issues. I throw a sack of cubes over the back rack and it never bogs down. Cows get used to it in no time.

If you don't want to pedal, just use the thumb throttle. Battery lasts a long time and charges in a few hours. They are shipped to you and it does require some assembly but it's not bad. Customer service was very good when I had a question.

Here's a link: https://lectricebikes.com/products/xpeak-step-thru-ebike

Y'all are making me want an ebike

Thanks folks this is the type of info I am looking for here. I know the more I get out there the better it will get as far as doing more of it myself and less electric assist. But I am aware enough of the mess I let myself become to know i need that boost or will never get started.

This will probably be TL;DR for most of you, but here is my sermon on riding a bike:

I tried walking for health. It bored me to tears, and my knee didn't like it.

About 8 years ago, I decided to bike, and made a good decision, and that was:

I bought a bike from a bike shop, not Walmart.

It was a Specialized Roll, cost me $600, which seemed like a lot of money. But I test rode it across the parking lot, and that was all it took to convince me. The quality was so much better, and it rode so smooth and easy, I was sold in seconds. And it was a "comfort" bike, so you ride more upright.

That bike is why I say to not cheap out on a bike, whether electric or not. I got several thousand miles of trouble-free, enjoyable riding out of that bike, and I think I would not have stayed with it, had it been cheaply built, and less fun to ride.

Any good bike is a great tool in my opinion, because you can go further and see more, and it's more interesting than walking the same 10 blocks every day.

Here's a thread about Caprock Canyons, including the old fat guy and that bike

https://texags.com/forums/39/topics/2964937

My wife was not interested in a conventional bike, too uncomfortable. I tried to talk her into a recumbent trike, and she didn't see the advantage, and thought they were too expensive. Flash forward to last spring, and I spotted a used Catrike, that had been converted to electric power. I had knee surgery coming up, the price was reasonable, and I talked her into buying it, so I could ride while recovering from the surgery.

I convinced her to ride that bike while I rode the 2-wheel, and she was hooked. She put hundreds of miles on that bike, while I was laid up from surgery. Since she had claimed that bike, I ordered a new one.



More pics and specs at:

https://www.utahtrikes.com/RECENTTRIKE-5955429_CatrikeVillagerRecumbentTrike.html

Side note: we really like Utah Trikes, great service, they ship bikes fully assembled. And the nearest Catrike dealers are 300 miles away in ABQ or OKC.

Since then, we have ridden the heck out of them. I built a carrier for the RV, and we have ridden all over, including the Vicksburg Battlefield. So far this year, I have 580 miles on mine, she has 760 on hers. Riding together is great, and a way to keep me from sloughing off (she got ahead of me when I was sick) I think it really helped my surgery recovery, and general health.

The trikes are so much more comfortable, and the electric assist means you can travel really long distances. As I said earlier, as long as the weather is moderate, the assist means I don't care about wind or hills. Makes it a lot easier to convince yourself to ride and gives you more days of riding. And you can turn the assist higher, lower, or off, depending on how much exercise you want.

The downside is they are bulkier, so won't fit in a normal bike carrier. Two of them will fit in a GMC short wide pickup bed easily. And they are not going to work well on really sandy or rocky trails, though pavement, cinders, dirt, packed sand will all work. And you are definitely not going to ride on single track or mountain bike trails.

But for someone with knee problems, balance problems, or generally an old fart, they are fantastic for day to day riding.

And yes, they are expensive, but the quality shows.

Where are you located? I suggest going to a local shop to try some dfifferent options. They can feel very different from what you might be expecting.

Hey, there's only one Fat Man around here.

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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Hey, there's only one Fat Man around here.

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there's a 100% chance that is false

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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Hey, there's only one Fat Man around here.

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Fine then I dub myself Double Ought, OO for short. Old and Obese! Lol. Defintely.dont want to steal your thunder;-)

Thanks for that, good info. Yeah the walking, even the swimming which I have always loved just has not done much and with knees and shoulders going they just arent productive. Bike is my next best shot. Do the recumbent bikes manage something like a kid trailer well? I will need something for the 10 year old blue healer when hegets tired?

JAW3336 said:

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Where are you located? I suggest going to a local shop to try some dfifferent options. They can feel very different from what you might be expecting.

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I am.in Midland there are a couple.of Nike shops I know of, but have not been in yet. Wanted to try and get an idea as to what to look for to save them and me time if they dont carry or cannot get something.

Sorry to take a while getting back.

The back half of a recumbent is just like the back half of a conventional bike. So I assume you can easily find a trailer.

The only difference is that most recumbents are going to use 20" tires all around, though some do use a 26" on the back. Usually those are the more racing styles, not the comfort types.

Looking online, there is no Catrike dealer near you. There may be other brands, but for Catrike, you're going to have to go to ABQ, the DFW area, San Antonio or Austin.

I'd probably start with a used one, anyway. So start checking Facebook Marketplace for someone local.

Thanks and no worries on responses. I have no particular timeline. I appreciate all the good input.