How much pedaling do you do?

[Nanonevol]

So I'm a newbie and have a kit in a box and deciding on the bike. The cruise style looks the coolest and that matters to me. I see a lot of cruiser builds without the whole derailleur gearing setup and wonder what it's like to pedal these single speed bikes.
I guess my question is really how much pedaling do people find themselves doing with all this chunky hardware attached? Just on hills? When out of gas? Never?

 

[2old2learn]

I'm sure every rider has a different story. I pedal quite a lot as I am a cyclist. I pedal more often when I am riding fast. Perhaps I'm cooler when I pedal hard while going fast, versus pedalling hard at slower speeds. I do it for the exercise.

 

[bikejock]

On my Grubee 4G bike I only used pedals for emergencies like if my bike broke down while using the motor. I usually make sure I'm topped off on fuel so I'm usually not worried about running out. These engines are usually pretty efficient. Pedaling was a bit of a drag (literally) when I had to and the transmission would make this annoying clicking sound like a torque wrench in reverse.

After my second breakdown on my Grubee bike I've decided I'm done with cheap kits and converted my cruiser back to a normal bike. For my next build I plan on getting a rear mount friction drive kit on my mountain bike so I can lift up the rear mount to make pedaling easier so I can do more of both pedaling and motoring. Motor I'm using doesn't seem add much weight and my mountain bike is over all pretty light weight so pedaling on my next build should be a breeze compared to my last build.

 

[crassius]

I'm old & can't pedal - out of gas, I walk it home. Most cruisers with derailers come with real brakes too.

 

[2old2learn]

John Muir was still hiking in Yosemite into his 80's. We are limited by our imaginations. I have learned that the body is the slave and the mind is the master, many people get that backwards. Two summers ago I was doing a 15 story vertical granite wall, 75 miles south of the arctic circle. My Choice is to leave this world via an adventure, not via a nursing home bed!

 

[Timbone]

Pedalling is important but, primarily, I use my motorbike as a powered motor vehicle. The pedal function comes to be important especailly in the case of breakdowns on the motor side. Of course, a huge advantage of a motorbike is the ability to pedal through and around jammed traffic and come out clean on the other side dump the clutch and zoom on! Motorcycles can't do that.

I pedal on a long pedestrian bridge, bike paths, and through parking lots to the front door.

My pedal gear is super low, so I can't go fast. But I can do a long climb. A lower gear helps with pedal assisted starts, too - something I always do.

 

[Nanonevol]

Never having ridden (ridden?) one of these, this is all useful advice. Of course the bike looks a lot cleaner without a gear cluster and is simpler so I'm wondering if I really need it. If I go with one speed I'm sure I'll gear it low. Maybe look for an internal gear hub.

 

[troyg]

My take, if (without engine power) you wouldn't want to pedal it more than five miles, you have a moped, not a motor assisted bicycle.I consider most of the frame mount builds mopeds, the owners use the pedals like a motorcycles kickstart, and then not again until the first hard turn.Friction drives, GEBE's, have so little friction when the motor is not running, that the bike still feels like the bike without anything added.Friction drives in particular, you can raise the spindle, and your bike is a bike again in seconds, NO DRAG.
To the question, I use all 21 gears (I shift more than a semi driver) with a GEBE, so there are no jackrabbits, the only time I don't pedal is to rest a little, reposition my feet.That said I rarely have to pedal with much force once I start rolling.

 

[Purple Haze]

Pick the correct gear, and it's no big deal. You'll probably only pedal from a dead stop for starting. One thing to consider, these things DO quit running, usually due to electrical problems. Upgrading your plug and plug wire goes a long way toward solving this. Waterproof your magneto. If your chain drive is in good working order, these changes will make your bike quite reliable.

 

[2old2learn]

Your GEBE setup appears to work similar to my Staton pedal axle drive, in that when I pedal my bike, the drive chain from my motor that powers my pedal axle, never moves. So my power system has almost zero parasitic drag on my self powered mode. In addition, I don't have to do anything to put it in that mode as it is automatic and inherent in the design. So I can pedal or power, or pedal and power, or just pedal at any point without doing anything to engage it or disengage it. So when pedalling it power off, Im just pedalling a heavier bike.