I have a yuba mundo cargo bike with a BBSHD 750W motor and Panasonic 52V battery. The whole setup costs around 2.5K, as I did the electric setup myself. It has been great as I can carry 2 kids on it, and as I live in a urban environment I never worry about parking. The BBSHD is a powerful motor and has been trouble free.
My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
51–60 of 103 posts
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#52Reminds me of this great video I just saw about the new Motochimp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEiJHq1Izwg
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for mentioning the stigma around motorcycles and scooters in the U.S. They are seen as grown up toys, yet all over the world motorcycles serve as a primary means of transportation for millions of people. Careless drivers obviously aren't targeting motorcycles, but I think there's a collective lack of mindfulness to their presence on the road. Anecdotally, I became a better car driver after just a few weeks of…
What did you learn from riding a motorcycle?
I'm not OP but I do ride and experienced the same.
If you're taking it seriously and respect the danger, you learn how to drive as if you are invisible. You learn to pay attention to and anticipate the movements of other drivers, to look at their wheels and not their eyes. Eyes lie, wheels do not.
You learn just how careless a shocking majority of people are behind the wheel of a two ton vehicle. You peek into every window for the glimpse of a hand reaching for a turn signal stalk, and all too often see a horrifying lack of attention paid to the road and a surplus of attention paid to a phone, eating, putting makeup on, putting contact lenses in, and smoking pot.
You learn to never hang out in a bind spot. Never!
You avoid situations where a car turning left in front of you (USA) has poor visibility. Usually due to a left turn lane and tight conditions. This exact scenario is responsible for a large percentage of moto accidents and anecdotally I have had two close calls myself, and I'm a highly cautious rider.
You avoid positions on the road which are statistically dangerous for riders.
Obviously these are things you can learn in a car, but it's just different. The stakes are higher for small accidents and you really are invisible to many people, even with hi-vis gear, motorcycles are just smaller at the end of the day and Americans are not used to them nor trained to keep them in mind on the road.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#54I have a yuba mundo cargo bike with a BBSHD 750W motor and Panasonic 52V battery. The whole setup costs around 2.5K, as I did the electric setup myself. It has been great as I can carry 2 kids on it, and as I live in a urban environment I never worry about parking. The BBSHD is a powerful motor and has been trouble free.
> I can carry 2 kids on it
Are you nuts? Do you want them to die?
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for mentioning the stigma around motorcycles and scooters in the U.S. They are seen as grown up toys, yet all over the world motorcycles serve as a primary means of transportation for millions of people. Careless drivers obviously aren't targeting motorcycles, but I think there's a collective lack of mindfulness to their presence on the road. Anecdotally, I became a better car driver after just a few weeks of…
What did you learn from riding a motorcycle?
Not the parent, but a fellow motorcyclist. The biggest thing for me was learning to better anticipate the actions of other motorists. A couple of other things you quickly learn are to always leave yourself an out and always be watching/scanning your surroundings.
Car drivers should be doing the same, but it's entirely too easy to get complacent.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nasty car-to-car crashes happen all the time, and it isn't because the drivers involved don't consider cars a valid means of transport. The difference is that you can walk away from most car-to-car crashes because you're ensconced in 3000 pounds of steel. Perhaps it will make more sense when self-driving cars, or even just lane keeping and auto-braking cruise control become mainstream.
I agree that car accidents still happen. But honestly most my near misses with cars were outright insane. One in particular gives me chills. I was driving along an empty road and a car wanted to make a right-hand turn onto the road. The car driver came to a stop at the side road, we were close and it was clear enough that I made eye contact with the middle-aged woman driver. I swear she looked me right in the eyes, t…
I think many people are incredibly bad at judging the speed of unfamiliar moving objects. They get lots of training judging car (large object) speed, but their brains just cant properly guesstimate bike speed or something (little practice) -- like a non-baseball-player person trying to hit a fastball or something.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#57How expensive is an electric bike? How do you keep it from getting stolen?
Mine costs about $1,000: https://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/pas/lineup/city-c/ But I'm in Tokyo so I'm not worried about theft at all. It has an integrated lock on the back wheel and this blocks the handle too.
Tokyo is the best.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#58I commute on an electric bike in the Bay Area. Electric bikes are awesome to ride, but here are a summary of the main issues I've experienced so far: - LIES, LIES, LIES ABOUT RANGE -- I have a Gigabyke (gigabyke.com) which ships with an SLA battery (a horrible design desicion) and claims a range of 35 miles and a maximum rider weight of 250 pounds. Good luck. I weigh half that and when I got it new, I clocked in exac…
> In California at least, it's technically a motorcycle if it goes past 20 mph No longer true! New laws [0] went into effect at the beginning of this year. There is now such a thing as a Class 3 e-bike that can provide assistance up to 28mph. (I find that's about as fast as I want to go anyway.) When I have to mix it up with cars, the extra speed is a big help. As for weight, it's really a matter of how much money yo…
There's probably somebody building e-bikes that are also good bicycles; if not, do your own conversion.
A friend told me to look into Currie-powered bikes: http://www.currietech.com/brands.html. Many of those look promising, though I can't speak directly to riding them.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#59Electric bikes are very popular in Tokyo. Many nurseries and schools forbid car drop offs of children. So parents speed around on e-bikes. Ive seen some parents with three kids on their bike. Child seat on front, child seat on back and baby in chest carrier.
They don't do car accidents in Japan? Astonishing.
Re: My Electric Bike Is Not ‘Cheating.’ It Could Replace Cars for Millions of People
#60I have a yuba mundo cargo bike with a BBSHD 750W motor and Panasonic 52V battery. The whole setup costs around 2.5K, as I did the electric setup myself. It has been great as I can carry 2 kids on it, and as I live in a urban environment I never worry about parking. The BBSHD is a powerful motor and has been trouble free.
> I can carry 2 kids on it Are you nuts? Do you want them to die?
They are in child seats, the Yuba is a great bike that is rated for over 700 pounds and has lots of child friendly adapters.
You can see more examples of parents pushing their kids in cargo bikes here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yy3kXIaKp8
Without electric it can be a real workout, but with electric assist its so much more fun. The kids cry these days if we tell them they need to go into the car.
You can buy a Yuba with Electric from the company, but its 5K which seemed way too much when you can do it yourself for 1/2 the price.