EBIKE VLOG #2 - 5,000 Miles in 30 Days, Guinness World Record Attempt on an Electric Bike

I drove up to Estes Park Colorado to meet Ravi Kempaiah for his Guinness World Record attempt at riding an electric bike 5,000 miles in just 30 days. He was about half way through his trip at the time and we were riding just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park in the rain.
Some of the Gear Ravi used for this trip includes the Stromer ST2 S, A Garmin 520 cycle computer GPS, Carbon fiber handle bar, an Aluminum Body Float suspension seat post, a bell, a Topeak disc brake compatible rear rack with a Topeak trunk bag as well as three extra batteries and parts in a chase van.
Ravi said he has been riding 150 to 200 miles per day and that he targets the morning and late afternoon / evening hours because it’s cooler. He said that so far flat tires have been the only major issue (having had three at the 2,100 mile mark) and he was using the Schwalbe Marathon Plus with Smart Guard puncture protection.
Ravi’s Blog: www.crazylennys...
Vimeo Interview with Ravi: vimeo.com/1751... EBR was paid to perform this review #Sponsored We try to be honest, thorough, and fun! Comparison tools, shop directory, and forums at: ElectricBikeReview.com

[@RyanBorger]

They need to have 2 categories for the records, with and without support vehicle. Two entirely different kind of journeys. My trip I'm planning will be over 7500 miles either this summer nor next spring. I'll be doing it 110 to 150 miles per day minimum. Building a long range monster so I will only have to charge when I stop to sleep. I won't have a support vehicle. Troy Rank broke the record with 4500 + miles without a support vehicle. Having a van hauling gear chargers, and extra batteries makes it a lot easier. Great stuff, but for the record it should really be 2 categories.

[@westcoastadventurers8504]

I say WITH a support vehicle it's merely practice, it's NOT actual "game time", so it does not count.

[@MiniTrail50]

A bit over 6 months ago when I first saw an ebr video on a haibike. Typing and english language is not my forte so ill make it short on what ive got for watching this channel. The cons first then the pros. cons. 1. Made us buy 3 haibikes. 2. Made us buy an old pickup truck to haul our eb's to local trails. So cal. 3. Made us buy an RV to go inter-state. So far weve gone to some trails in utah, colorado, s. dakota, yellow stone and idaho. ( moab slickrock the best!, s.d G.Mikelson scenic but the least we liked.) pros. 1. we were able to leap-out from a boring life and my shocking triglycirides level has gone down to almost normal. More power to this EBR channel/ Thanks Cort! ( We owe you a frappuccino)

[@dshieh4vids]

Your best video yet, Court. Ravi is an inspiration. Like he said, if he can do 5k miles, commuting 10 miles a day to work for everyone else is nothing.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Thanks! He inspires me, we were able to bang out 20 miles in just over an hour (with stops) and that's at high altitude with lots of climbing. Speed pedelec (Class 3) is an awesome platform for commuting as long as your riding is on road where they are allowed :)

[@idromarco]

Awesome vlogs! Ravi Kempaiah is very inspiring. Great to see those e-bikers in action with the beauty of the Rocky Mountain in the background. I'm a commuter who, six months ago, has left the car for commuting to work. I started with my first e-bike "Batribike Dash" (folding) to switch to my second e-bike "KTM sports CX5 10". I live in England where the weather is often adverse, but with some appropriate gears I enjoy a lot my commuting. Thank you so much for what you have done and are doing for the e-bikes community! ;^)

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Thanks Marco! Glad to hear you've made the switch... hope it works out great over the long run. I like the convenience and social aspects of cycling even if it takes a bit longer. I just feel happier than driving and more spontaneous, it's great :)

[@adgeebike9173]

Would love to ride my e bike in the US one day. Shame that with all the space in the US that the roads there don't have bike lanes. Great long vlog.

[@Crashmeister1]

talked to this guy in Coos Bay, OR after he had had a close call with a truck. I hope you're alright buddy. be safe.

[@RavindraKempaiah]

Thanks, John. I do remember you.

[@jessaphillips2846]

This might be less efficient but with such a daunting task I would think swapping those air inner tubes for foam ones that can't go flat would help a lot, although I don't know if they make them for the skinny road tires. It would take one major risk out of the equation though.

[@simonaylett6976]

Beautiful scenery, great stuff! I will be doing 2000 miles from Rye UK to Syracuse Sicily during September this year, towing my home, an 90kg aluminium teardrop caravan with an electric wheel!! All to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. Come to Europe to cover it! Love EBR - great work

[@FancyaBevMate]

Watching while I work (taxi driver in the uk) and really enjoying it court well done mate!

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Hey George! Glad you enjoyed it... the weather reminded me a bit of the UK, it was cool and a bit wet but very beautiful

[@J-S2014]

2000 hundred miles will never be beat

[@JustmeJoy7]

That was a really good interview! I enjoyed watching the ride and experiencing the peace you experience while riding. Also, to see the speed e-bikes can go in the rain . . . THAT was a bit scary for me! I would have slowed down; but the bikes handled very well in the rain. Thanks for the work you put into your videos and thanks for choosing this topic, I enjoy watching! I decided to make a trip myself through 3 states next year. Your videos are educating me on e-bikes. I never considered doing it with an e-bike until I saw your videos.

[@greensavant2573]

Drs. Ravi and Rich are the best. Ravi installed the carbon bar on my ST2S, and Rich fitted the springs on my BodyFloat (wish it could've been the 2 black ones!)

[@paulvandreumel3287]

BEAUTIFUL !!!!! Thank you. Greetings from The Netherlands . 👍🏻👍🏻🚲🚲🇳🇱🇳🇱👋🏻👋🏻

[@monylujan79]

Good luck Ravi! I really love the scenery!

[@kamilk]

Great interview & beautiful landscapes (despite bad weather - 22:50 ). Thanks for this one!

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Yeah! We had fun... it did get a little wet but the landscapes are so beautiful and green, worth it XD

[@cresshead]

weather is typical "SUMMER's DAY" in great britain!...we're used to it!

[@richardingraham6353]

Cool , the best of luck to him .

[@kobbetop]

This was so cool to see the scenery. I don't mind light rain, it's better than extreme heat ;-)

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Yeah, it's actually kind of neat riding with mist and clouds like that :D

[@cresshead]

that was brilliant, love the scenery you rode thru...good bikes too

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@UDX-340]

Excellent footage,thats alot of miles to ride.i ride 60 miles and im kaput!

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Thanks! I've been messing around with gimbals and helmet cams... also microphones... I want to film more rides eventually :)

[@ElectricBikeReview]

I agree, still working on perfecting the camera setup... trying my best to get that excellent audio + smooth camera with tracking ;)

[@amiller6489]

Mit einem surporter kein problem

[@FancyaBevMate]

You know what court when e biking becomes really popular in the uk I can see a lot of ppl grouping up like we still do on our motorcycles and I hope we will get more ppl doing these vlogs!

[@ElectricBikeReview]

That would be cool! I'd love to come out and participate in a ride or ebike rally someday :D

[@FancyaBevMate]

Just had a thought court at those speeds you really should look in something I wear when I was riding my motorcycle it's called Hein gerike Master Suit I've had mine over twenty years it's really light to wear over normal clothes or on its own it has arm and leg armour pads and a back protector and is totally water proof!

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Nice! That's a great suggestion George, I was a little concerned about the speed and terrain but had a full face helmet on with a long sleeve jacket and longer shorts. Not perfect but way better than my short sleeve button ups :P

[@ajemohaltom3560]

Nice to hear Ravi mention shoulder riding and the debris you ride through. Its great to get consideration, but in your mind you are sorry to inconvenience people (at least I am). I'm sure it eats into efficiency but if you don't have an ebike, you are less likely to want to get in the grit. Sharing the road goes both ways and should build relationships between all types of vehicles and even pedestrians. The greatest law is love.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

I feel sensitive when riding in the car lane as well, even when it's allowed and marked... These speed pedelecs make it feel better because you can go ~28 mph vs. just 20 so people don't get as impatient. Love is the answer ;)

[@H8edsinclair]

I have vascular ulcers in my feet along with nerve pain so it's very tough for me to actually pedal a bike without being in pain along with no license due to a seizure disorder needless to say I'm kind of Trapped when it comes to transportation but I just got an Uber scooter (now saving for a bike) that gets me about 10 to 12 miles to a charge. so now first time since 2009 I'm now able to get to the store and back and even up to the burger joint let me tell you the best tasting Burger I've had in 7 years freedom is a nice thing to have even if it's only 10 miles of freedom haha..very stoked on getting a bike I like the Bolt cause it looks like a vintage motorcycle that it matters much but riding a bicycle around at my age I feel like everybody thinks I lost my license from a DUI and I don't even drink haha

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Hang in there, hope your first ebike works out great! Glad to hear the Uber Scooter has been doing well so far. Definitely chime back in someday once you've used the bike for a while, I'd love to hear what you think :D

[@jessaphillips2846]

H8edsinclair in your case I would think a scooter would be the best option wouldn't it? Unless you're intent on your vehicle being electric

[@wjf213]

Great video and beautiful country. I was surprised when you said you were doing 14.5 mph, because I figured you were at 25 and when you were doing around 28 or so, man it looked like you were flying. Even in the rain that looked like a lot of fun. So you cover the 20 miles or so, but did you edit some of that out? I'm just trying to get an idea how much ground you covered and looking at the time on the video. I sure hope he makes the record books. Did he say if he had any spills or accidents? Again, very well done video. Keep up the great work.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

So far I don't think there have been any major accidents... just the flat tires. And yes, I did edit quite a bit out due to some stops and camera switching. In the future I plan on doing some uncut rides of popular trails. I could have done 20+ the whole way but we were trying to stick together and ride slower around busy areas. It's such a blast to hit those higher speeds, it does feel like you're flying and on less busy mountain roads it feels wonderful!

[@LeoInterHyenaem]

Good, a fellow vegetarian. Just dump the Brooks for an SQ Lab or an Ergon - both have truly excellent offerings. Animal-friendly, immune to water damage and supremely comfortable! I've been doing long-distance bike tours since 2007 on anything but e-bikes - on anything from a folder to a non-folding 20"-er to a Lefty fork -equipped Cannondale Caffeine F1 and a Titus FTM Carbon. Court, do bike tours as well - you'll love them. I cannot describe the nostalgia some of My tours, especially the first one, evoke. I wish, I could re-do it precisely as the first time back in 2007. That is true outdoors, as opposed to murderous chase after animals that can't shoot back, like inbred hicks do, unpunished. My procurement of and subsequent test rides on a GoCycle have left Me craving for a speed pedelec with, hopefully, a battery to last at least 150km per charge. Would love to do 5.000-10.000 km tours on one.

[@etherealblue]

what does it take to pull this off? like what kind of bike would someone recommend to someone who wanted to do this? anything under 1k$?

[@quantum12b]

Cool :0) Nice vlog ;0) Thanks for sharing :0)

[@EquusRider]

Hi Court, That was a beautiful video. Do you mind letting us know the equipment (cam, gimbal, editing SW) you used?

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Hi Phuong! I got one of the wearable three axis gimbals and built a special mount for my helmet, wrote an article about it here: electricbikereview.com/accessories/bell/super-2r-mips/

[@ivm1646]

Please can you tell me the names of the ebikes that Ravi, the old guy and you of course were riding in this video please? Nice great video by the way!!!

[@HyperMinimal]

Nice video! I want to say that I have watched several hours of your videos. I have one qualm: What is Sun powered food? EVERYTHING on this planet it Sun powered in one way or another. I am sure the physicists in this video will agree - at least back to the point in our history in which the sun was formed.

[@beyondfossil]

Great video! I watched it all and its very different than anything you've done before. I'd like to see more. This will be controversial but I assume this endeavor is meant to draw attention to the e-bike market and get people to notice these e-bikes are serious transportation vehicles. That is commendable if it is. However, I fear the choice of using the most expensive street legal e-bike available (by a wide margin) may blunt the impact of the message trying to be delivered after people find out the cost of the Stromer ST2s. Even you yourself could not resist making mention of it at 4:10 in the video! :-)

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Yeah, I brought an ST1 Limited to show that you can still keep up and commute at high speed using a $3,500 bike... or even something like the Juiced CrossCurrent. These bikes don't have as large of battery packs but they get the job done... Stromer sponsored Ravi so they featured their newest nicest model :)

[@mysurlytrucker7510]

have you done a review on the cube touring 400

[@s2k442]

Where did you get that bike mirror? Link

[@thebiblethumperdevine6]

wish I could tour like that.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

It's pretty amazing to see and think about... He's literally out there riding probably right now. Every day ~180 miles for the next five or six days from what I've been told :O

[@ibmfreight4150]

I would love a e bike I'm 14 year old so it is so hard to get cash for one but two more years and I can get a real job

[@beyondfossil]

If you have time and some fortitude, I recommend building your own e-bike that costs a fraction the price of pre-packaged commercial electric bike. Well under $1000. Buy a 24" or 26" wheel size Walmart or mid-range plain old bike that fits you well. Then get the matching 24" or 26" sized rear 50V direct drive brushless motor bicycle upgrade kit for $200 - $300 on eBay. Get two 6-cell LIPO packs (at least 5000mAh capacity) from HobbyKing and wire them up in series for 12-cell 50.4V output. You can get a $100 Lithium charger from HobbyKing as well. If you want to be a bit safer, you can get LiFePO4 packs that have a slightly different voltage and cost more but is worth it for additional safety. You need a battery array that outputs around 50V. Another option are regular Lithium Ion packs that are lightest of all three major Lithium types but their power output and charge rate is significantly less. A direct drive motor needs stronger power output batteries so they favor LIPO and LiFePO4 batteries. You must read up on proper battery handling procedures regardless of battery type. You may want to get smaller battery packs to start with for some extra margin of safety while you're in your "learning phase" -- everyone goes through it no matter what age. Then get larger packs later when you're more experienced with battery charging, maintenance and operation. An additional benefit of building your own e-bike is you're not tied to one manufacturer's bike's model battery shape and size -- that's a significant risk of owning a commercial e-bike if the manufacturer goes out of business or discontinues a model line of bike altogether. The most important thing is you *will* learn about bicycle mechanics along with fundamental electrical concepts and electrical wiring. Those are useful skills & knowledge to take with you the rest of your life in this increasingly electrically driven society we live in. With all the online resources available, you can do it and take pride in knowing how your e-bike really works. I own my own home outright and make over six figures yet I still wouldn't buy a pre-packaged commercial electric bike. That said, I will add that not everyone can or wants to do what I described above. I'm glad there is an e-bike economy as I'm sure some of the technology comes back out to the DIY crowd.

[@catfromtrigun]

troll Freight i'm rooting for you man! :) it might be a longshot because i don't know what your life is like, but maybe you could convince your parents to help buy you an e-bike instead of a car when you turn 16. i wish you luck. i'm 21, saving up cash of my own for an e-bike. stay safe out there.

[@izzzzzz6]

$9,000 e-bike and the best thing he likes about it is the light....

[@sakthiv87]

Proud of you Tamila

[@ksingleton101]

These Bikes are considered Mopeds in Ohio. I guess that's a good thing because a bicycle is limited to 20 mph. The bad thing is you need a license to ride a moped in Ohio. It would really be nice if Ohio would rethink it's rules with all the open country-side we have.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Interesting... I got my motorcycle license recently so I could test more stuff, it took a weekend and my teacher was pretty boring and kind of strict but I feel like it was worth it. Would be nice if more states saw ebikes as just bicycles (especially class 1)

[@G0DofRock]

Well Im applying for financing to get an ebike capable of 70km+/charge travel. No way I can afford one but I'd love to start a trip across B.C. Can these be charged from solar power at all or not practical yet? Also, anyone wanna donate an awesome ebike to my efforts?

[@Cody196]

have you been to or through michigan before?

[@ElectricBikeReview]

My friend lives in Ann Arbor and I went to his wedding years ago but we didn't ride bikes much. Is there a trail you recommend checking out?!

[@Cody196]

Genesee County Parks has trails that stretch from Genesee all the way to Flint, as far as i know. Several cool views such as a dam and lake.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Sweet! I may go someday... right now I'm in Colorado but planning to visit California for a bit and looking to do trails along the way. Doing lots of work with my camera setup to get it just right with smooth video, great audio and some cool overlays :D

[@Cody196]

have fun and really enjoy the videos, by the way quick question, i am buying a 48v 1000w ebike kit, front wheel hub. how efficient is it? i can only do front wheel cause my forks can fit as high as 26 inch wheels or 700c wheels.

[@LAHover]

"support vehicle"... oh that is so disappointing.

[@mysurlytrucker7510]

well done all 3

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Thanks David!

[@mysurlytrucker7510]

No problem I love your tests , I have just gotten a cube touring 400 with the bosh system so if you fancy doing a test on it cool .

[@angelopiccinelli7455]

Almost everybody can do 5'000 or even 6'000 miles in 30 days with S-pedelecs, enough batteries, spare parts, a van that drives along, food, hotels and so on. This is nothing special. To do 5'000 miles with an electric motor is nothing special. Only to do it with human power would be special. RAAM - Race Across America, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, in 9 days, 300 miles and more per day is for example special. Also 5'000 miles per year on a normal bicycle is a good performance. Only with normal bicycle we could really save the world. Not with batteries, not with petrol gas. With all that we are just generating a lot of problems for the environment - and us. Think about it.

[@J-S2014]

2500 to 3000 dollars I wouldn't call reasonable for the average person

[@ron_nor_]

"If I can do it, anyone can do it" Yes sure, everyone can ride an e-bike as long as his butt supports him...

[@productstastereviews1281]

i have heard that bikers are facing difficulty having baby boy ?

[@Jstroman221]

Drop the motor lol.

[@ElectricBikeReview]

Hi Jason, this channel is mostly about electric bikes but I do stuff with regular bicycles too. I got into ebikes a few years back due to a knee injury (still wanted to commute to work in Austin). There are lots of people with different needs or just preferences for riding, maybe it's about getting to work without sweating or climbing without knee pain or replacing a car? I'd rather see more motorized bicycles than mopeds and cars given the traffic where I live... ebikes are quieter, more efficient and promote exercise, even if it's a bit less than unpowered cycles. Here's some more about the different types, not all are allowed on paths and trails (which helps to reduce excessive speed and wear): electricbikereview.com/guides/electric-bike-classes/

[@Jstroman221]

ElectricBikeReview.com I know I was joking. I'm subed and watch lots of your vids.

[@jimmcewan417]

9k lol never will i have that kinda money! Thats me out

[@Drag0ncl0ud]

All this ebike stuff seems silly to me when you consider the 30 day distance record for a normal bicycle is 8583 miles. You can't even beat a human and the bikes cost more than a motorcycle.

[@OliverWolter]

Yes, I`ve seen it. Across America and even though I admire the feat I must say it looked neither safe nor healthy. So there is really no comparison here. E-Bike is fun.

[@OliverWolter]

You are right, the investment is considerable. But it is so much more rewarding .... You save on money for gas and burn fat. In some cases you are even faster than a car.

[@greggorragnarsson8701]

$1,499 for a radcity.... you were saying?!

[@jacobclement7707]

Where can I buy one of the motorcycles you're talking about?

[@greggorragnarsson8701]

www.radpowerbikes.com/ .... tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!