E-bike Touring: The Good, the Bad, and the Heavy

Differently difficult bike touring

We are amateur bike tourers really, having only done three long-distance tours — each 3 months and over 3,000 km — and a good handful in the 300–500 km range. We tour on on full suspension Moustache e-bikes, and while they have made a world of difference to what we can do and how far we can go, it hasn’t exactly made everything easy.

Touring on e-bikes is very different to manual, but it comes with its own baggage. The way we do it is best described as credit card bike packing.

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The ideal tour

W do slow adventures. No plan, except to try to avoid cities and even towns if possible. Small, less used roads our our favorites, with little or no car traffic.

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The Pros: Why We Ride Electric

Hills and Headwinds: E-bikes take the sting out — essential when you’re no longer a spring chicken. Sure, there are a few indestructible old buggers still muscling their way up mountains at 89, and good on them. We trade-off the buzz of high achievement for gratitude for actually making it up the hill.

More Distance, More Adventure: We’ve gone further and seen more because of the bikes. Routes that would have been too hard, too hilly, or just too long are now within reach.

Old legs: We’re not carrying tents or stoves anymore, and we’re not trying to prove anything. We ride for joy and discovery — not for achievement and it’s best friend,  suffering.

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The Cons: What the Brochures Don’t Mention

You’re Tied to Power: The battery needs a charge every night. That means no wild camping unless you carry a spare (which is heavy and still won’t get you more than a day or two).

Heavy Chargers: The charger’s a brick. When you add in the USB plugs, international adaptors, cables and it weighs more than 1.5 kg to be electrified, and the battery is 3 kg on top of that.  That comes out of the clothing allowance, so out goes the ball gown. We’re not hauling cooking gear, so there’s room, but the trade-offs never stop. 

No Flying with Batteries: This one’s absolute. Airlines will not carry your e-bike battery — not in checked luggage, not in the cabin, not in a box of chocolates. You can ship it separately if you’re persistent and cashed up, but even that’s dicey.

Train travel is getting tighter. Cheap ebike kits badly installed can catch fire and that makes train companies as nervous as airlines. Transport for London have recently banned all ebikes on their trains and others will likely follow.

You Need Accommodation Every Night: And not just any accommodation. You need somewhere with power and somewhere to stash the bikes. Booking.com still doesn’t have a ‘bike-friendly’ filter, and explaining “indoor, secure, preferably not up a flight of stairs” is a conversation we’ve had too many times.

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The Real Challenge: Logistics and Lifting

Weight Matters: An e-bike with panniers isn’t something you casually lift up steps or onto a train platform. We’re at the age where “just hoick it up there” isn’t a realistic option. Gates, stairs, steep ramps — they’re all obstacles now.

Planning Ahead is Non-Negotiable: But it doesn’t have to be long term.
In Europe off-season, even shoulder, we have always found a place by the night before
On NZs West Coast we booked ahead 6 days because there were few options. But we do have to book – no deciding this is a nice spot and putting up the tent. We need to know where we’re sleeping, whether there’s power, how steep the access is, and secure storage for our bikes. TBH I’ve never liked camping anyway.

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So Why Do It?

Because the alternative is not doing it.
Yes, it’s heavier, more complicated, and demands more planning, but it also means we’re still out there, rolling through towns and over mountain passes, meeting people, seeing new landscapes, and collecting stories. E-bikes haven’t made it effortless — they’ve made it possible.

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