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Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

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211–220 of 234 posts

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#211
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just get some smooth tread tires that will be better for pavement travel. 2.2 miles takes about 40 minutes to walk. On a bike and mostly flat terrain, 10-15 minutes max. Unless the commute is a steeply graded 2.2 mile slope the motor seems overkill and providing little if any benefit to travel time or enjoyment. Wouldn't you rather get to work with a little endorphin rush? Maybe ride the route first after work or on…

Indeed knobbly tyres and MTB-style frames are one of the worst things to have happened to non-leisure cycling in the UK. People buy a cheap MTB from Halfords, use it casually a few times out with the kids and then try commuting on it perhaps as part of a Cycling Week. After a couple of attempts it goes back into the garage. Outside Oxford and Cambridge, traditional road-going non-racing frames are quite rare.

So-called hybrid bikes seem like the most commonly sold bike in north america. Flat bars, 700c wheels, mid-thin tires (32-40 mm), geometry either can be somewhat sporty or more laid back.

Just wish more would come with accesories useful to most utilitarian cyclists. Fenders, lights, racks/baskets, and chain guard. Man, chain guards are so hard to come upon in NA, I really envy european bikes for that. I suspect for most peopl it's #1 reason for not cycling in regular/work/office clothes

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#212
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three people in my household. Between us, we drink 30-40 (depending on the week) 2L bottles of soda a week, as well as a couple of 12-packs of soda cans, maybe an 8-pack of gatorade/powerade, and 15-20 half liter bottles of water. Food is not the largest part of what we bring back from the store. There are a lot of opportunities lost when you can't carry more than, well, you can personally carry. The "white…

What you are describing is 100% the contrary of my daily life and of what I aspire to become in the future. No wonder that I am more than happy with a good bicycle and a yearly ticket for all public transportation in my country. Of course, I don't own a car. I drink tap water, no "white cheddar mac & cheese" but as many fresh vegetables / meet / cheese as possible (ok, and lot of pasta). If I want to go to Paris, Fra…

And if you have kids or caring responsibilities in the future?

What may be tenable for a single person doesn't fit everyone's needs,

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#214
post #26

What's holding me back is what I read about batteries, how fragile they are and how they self destruct if you don't keep them plugged in all the time. Is this still true?

Sort of. Individual cells are usually fragile (as in, you can dent or puncture easily). However, they are usually protected by their enclosure. If you are talking about lithium cells, then you should not drain them completely. Which means that they should be kept with some charge. But, unless you intend to keep them stored away for months at a time (and maybe even then) you should be fine. There's also that fact that…

I'm not worried about safety, I'm worried about having to buy a new battery every year (at a cost of >$500) because I would use an electric bike only 6 month a year at the most, and it would destroy itself during the time I'm not using it, or if I forget to charge it for a week or two, etc.

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I would still need a car for commuting to work. And that sums up why the typical US mentality will continue to impede transportation progress. I can easily carry over a week's worth of groceries to cook three meals per day for two people in one trip on my motorcycle. I ride to work every day of the year in Seattle . It's kind of like, you know, living in pretty much any other country in the world where cars are…

You've highlighted Seattle as if it's an example of a terrible place to rely on a motorcycle, but I'd take the rain over snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures. I'd be fine with my commute for most of the year. Having to get to work in the winter makes a pretty good case for a car though. And unless there's a bike/motorcycle that will turn into a car for three months of the year, I'm sticking to the one that works year…

This past winter I actually rode several times in below freezing temperatures. I definitely wasn't comfortable, but I wasn't particularly prepared for it. Single digit and below... yeah, I'll forgive you if you can't take a bus. Short term leases would be on my mind if that were the case for me.

Like I said, though, snow on the road is a good stopping point for the average driver – car or motorcycle.

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#216
post #6

Pretty serious MTB/cyclocross racer here that's done a lot of trailbuilding and trail advocacy: a lot of dudes are scared that offroad ebikes are going to kill access to hard-won trails. It's a not-unfounded fear as motorized bikes are pretty dang close to motorcycles in most people's eyes. That said, I'd love to have an ebike! I have a 26 mile one-way commute (that's a 30 minute train ride) but every once in a while…

A co-worker of mine is an e-bike fanatic who builds his own hardware. He has street bikes that will go up to 40 mph. (He also does a massive trail ride on his regular MTB almost every morning, and road bikes on the weekends). Once or twice, he did the commute into work using Strava as his speedo ... needless to say, he got some fairly negative feedback when he accidentally claimed the KOM (king of the mountain) on a…

No need to go private, Strava has an 'ebike' option in you can choose. I use strava when I commute on my ebike and it's nice to track overall/combined miles without dirtying non-assisted results.

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's if he uses a saddle.

What's the alternative? Standing on the pedals? Or are there other styles of seat, not covered by the word "saddle"?

There are "noseless" saddles and saddles with a channel down the middle that may help protect the sensitive bits. http://www.thebirdwheel.com/noseless-saddles-tested-updated

But my biased opinion is buy a recumbent! Fewer back, neck, and nether region issues, plus, they have comfy seats! http://www.bacchettabikes.com/recumbent-bikes/

VERY comfy seats! http://www.hpvelotechnik.com/produkte/scorpion_plus20/index_...

A long wheelbase (crank behind the front wheel) and a more upright riding position is perfect in city traffic. On my commuter, my eye level is about even with drivers in crossover vehicles.

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#218
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your source on the claim that bicycling is 7x more dangerous than driving a car? Most sources put it around 2.5x more dangerous than driving, and I'd wager most of those deaths come from inexperienced riders who don't know the traffic laws as applied to bicyclists. Fatalities Per Mile Motor Vehicle Travel.................... Bicycle Travel 42,000 killed........................... 813 killed 2.56 trillion miles…

Most sources put it around 2.5x more dangerous than driving, and I'd wager most of those deaths come from inexperienced riders who don't know the traffic laws as applied to bicyclists. Unsure about deaths, but it turns out that more experienced cyclists are actually more likely to be injured, even taking into account that experienced cyclists generally ride more. I can't find the paper now, but [1] shows a similar fi…

That's interesting. Your comment jogged my memory on a study of how automobile drivers act around bicyclists based on drivers' assumptions about the appearance or perceived level of experience of the cyclist.

According to the research, overtaking vehicles drive closer to better equipped cyclists (wearing a helmet, reflective vest...) than a woman with long hair and no helmet.

Also, the bicyclist with protective gear might be more prone to engage in risky behaviour. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-h...

"The implication," Walker says, "is that any protection helmets give is canceled out by other mechanisms, such as riders possibly taking more risks and/or changes in how other road users behave towards cyclists."

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#219
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember my college theology class - we discussed how laws are often created in an effort to reflect and communicate community values. I find it interesting that someone would insist that laws are more important than the values being communicated by their "neighbors". If anything, I would think such feedback is a more valid expression of community values.

websitescenes did write that only cyclists are bothered, so the values being communicated by the community at large don't seem to conflict with the law.

Not sure what you're asking but I'm just saying that I ride on trails because it's currently allowed and fun. When and if the law changes I'll reconsider.

Re: Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the U.S. Next?

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three people in my household. Between us, we drink 30-40 (depending on the week) 2L bottles of soda a week, as well as a couple of 12-packs of soda cans, maybe an 8-pack of gatorade/powerade, and 15-20 half liter bottles of water. Food is not the largest part of what we bring back from the store. There are a lot of opportunities lost when you can't carry more than, well, you can personally carry. The "white…

> we drink 30-40 (depending on the week) 2L bottles of soda a week, as well as a couple of 12-packs of soda cans, maybe an 8-pack of gatorade/powerade, and 15-20 half liter bottles of water WTF?? That's a very unhealthy amount of sugar. Why would you buy bottled water?

There's no sugar in any of that. Or, trace amounts. It's all "zero" and "diet".

I buy bottled water for two reasons. The reason I started buying it was that I wanted to drink more water and less of everything else (I was using a ketogenic diet and there's some question about whether some artificial sweeteners cause an insulin response, and to what degree that would partially defeat the point of the keto diet).

Most of the time during most days I'm in front of some screen or another, with a glass of Diet Mountain Dew or Coke Zero nearby, and I only really pay attention to the drink when I have it in hand and notice that it's empty, whereupon I get up and refill it. This process keeps me drinking enough not to be dehydrated during the day (much more than enough, obviously), but if I don't do this, then I will at first be distracted by not finding my nearby drink, which pulls me out of whatever I'm working or playing on. This would be fine if it happened every thirty minutes, but it happens basically as soon as I stop thinking about it, which is difficult to work through. After I've adjusted to that, or if I'm in an environment in which I don't expect a drink to be nearby, I have the opposite problem, where I can sit in the same position typing and mousing for far too long. So, having a drink nearby prevents dehydration and soreness, by keeping me drinking unconsciously and prompting me to get up and walk around every thirty minutes or so.

Now, at this point you are probably thinking, "No problem! Just fill the glass with tap water and everything's the same!" In practice, however, that turned out not to be the case. For whatever reason, I was unsuccessful at training myself to drink water this way. Instead, I would find myself dehydrated and stiff with a full glass of water nearby.

At some point about five years ago, though, I found that if I had a small bottle of water (a half-liter, say) instead of an open-top glass of water, I drank that automatically and only noticed when it was empty. So, rather than fighting whatever part of me is uninterested in open glasses of water, I just bought a bunch of 0.5L bottles. Since I just put them next to my desk, I don't actually get up to refill anything, but drinking one every 45 minutes or so will force me to get up and walk in any case, so it's all good.

At first I spent some time refilling these bottles rather than buying new, but it was more trouble than it was worth: trying to train myself not to toss them, trying to be gentle (they're quite fragile), washing, filling, and drying them, keeping track of one or more containers (the plastic they come wrapped in is not a reusable container), and worst of all, keeping track of whether I need to do a refill or will run out during an upcoming stretch of work... I'm willing to pay a few bucks a week to just not have any of that.

So, I still do some of that, but have returned to drinking a lot of soda, as I mentioned, rather than 12-16 0.5L bottles every day. A 12-pack of them lasts me several days, now.

The other reason I still buy them is that sometime while I was drinking them almost exclusively I got in the habit of keeping one or two by my bedside, which solved the wake-up-with-dehydration-headache problem I had for the previous ~20 years, without any further conscious attention.

Probably too much detail. But that's why.

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