--- title: "Touring on an E-Bike: How Do You Charge It? Harriet B Answers Your Questions" url: https://bikefriday.com/touring-on-an-e-bike-how-do-you-charge-it-harriet-b-answers-your-questions/ type: post date: 2026-11-06 modified: 2026-11-06 markdown_url: https://bikefriday.com/touring-on-an-e-bike-how-do-you-charge-it-harriet-b-answers-your-questions.md author: "Oscar Hearnden" --- # Touring on an E-Bike: How Do You Charge It? Harriet B Answers Your Questions When the first All-Days left our factory last year, the trip reports were not far behind. Electric assist brings new questions to a pastime many riders know by heart: how far will the battery take you, where do you charge, and what is it really like out there? After Manfred's account of touring Oregon on his ["Tangerine Dream"](https://bikefriday.com/tangerine-dream-my-bike-friday-all-day-e-bike-tour-across-oregon/) All-Day, those questions came flooding in. Harriet Behm and her partner John, who picked up their All-Days this spring, have kindly answered them. This fall they took their bikes through Utah, Arizona, California, and Oregon. They are not touring in the loaded sense. They drive to the paths and ride them for the day, one pannier each with what they need, and the bikes go in the back of their minivan at night. Here is what Harriet had to say, in her own words. - **What did your charging routine look like on the road? Where did you charge, and how long did a full charge usually take?** > We charged in the places where we were staying. We disconnected the batteries and brought them in at night. We would go two days, sometimes three, before charging, depending on the hills and distance. Only once have we had the batteries below 30% and that was after 3 days of riding maybe 30 miles a day. - **Beyond fitting the bikes in the minivan, where else did the fold come in handy on the trip, at hotels, restaurants, or shuttle stops?** > *We don’t fold the bikes totally. All we do is remove the handlebars from the bike and attach with straps to the frame, and then John folds his seat forward (mine is not tall enough to be a problem). Then we roll them into the car. We do not fold them anywhere near completely. We do not fold them otherwise as they are in the car mostly if we are not riding. If we take them into a lodging place, we roll them in.* - **How did you carry gear for your rides on the All-Day?** > We aren’t really loaded, we have one pannier each with what we need for the day, and a bike lock, etc. We are not touring with the All-Day. We are riding bike paths after we drive to get to those paths. - **What was your favorite stretch of the trip, and what made it stand out?** > The favorite ride of the trip was the Hermit’s Rest along the rim of the Grand Canyon, which was beautiful of course with constant views into the Grand Canyon. Only an occasional shuttle bus went by and a few other bikers and some pedestrians. Most of it was on the road, but there was a designated bike path for part of it too, which they called a Greenway. In our previous trip, our favorite ride was the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park, before it was opened to cars. - **Was there anything that surprised you about touring with an e-assist bike, good or otherwise?** > We had ridden e-assist before on bike tours on our international travels, so we are pretty familiar with them. When going to unfamiliar places we have never been before, it is terrific having the confidence that hills and even gentle upward slopes will not hamper an enjoyable ride, and give us the ability to seek out paths we might not have gladly attempted before. - **Is there anything you would do differently next time or have changed about the bike from its original specs?** > We put new pedals on, we changed the seats, and we are glad we ordered Schwalbe Marathon E-plus tires which have certainly given us more confidence we will make it without flatting. The bike racks have been great for day touring. - **What would you tell someone who is thinking about an All-Day for touring?** > I would say that there are bikes with maybe more powerful assist, but we have found the All-Day to provide what we need. The low weight is exceptional and we love being able to put our bikes into the back of our mini-van without really folding them. They ride very well, and are very high quality and we are very pleased. In our retirement years, we are able to travel and ride paths that we would not be able to do without Bike Friday. Thank you, Harriet and John, for sharing your trip with us. If you are curious about touring on an e-bike, see the [All-Day](https://bikefriday.com/product/all-day-the-worlds-lightest-bosch-e-bike/) on our website, and [get in touch](https://bikefriday.com/contact/). We would love to talk through the right setup for the riding you have in mind.