131–140 of 244 posts
It's fantastic, since buying it I've never ran a < 4 mile errand in my car. The scooter is easy to park / lock up, it gets down the road well, and I like that I'm so high up I can see everything.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're commuting with cars, there is no sense in which the air you are breathing is "fresh"
In some sense this is true—I like to believe the benefits of exercise outweigh the increased exposure to air pollution. However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that bicyclists are often breathing deeply next to traffic that can, in some cases, be putting out a lot of bad stuff. I knew some researchers who were specifically looking at the question of bicyclist exposure to air pollution by pedaling around town wit…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971...
I've been commuting using a class-1 (limited to 20 mph) e-bike around Santa Barbara, CA for the last year and it is a dream. Far better experience than I expected. It won't work in all cities but if you have reasonable bike lanes switching over from a car can have many benefits. 1. Cost. Sure it's a high initial outlay (3k) but I'm not paying for insurance, gas, parking, and auto loan payments. 2. Faster. I can hop o…
If only he’d thought of electrifying available people-powered systems and miniaturizing as well adding capacity rather than re-inventing things. Of course hindsight... but what if he’d seen things differently.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would help your case (with regards to downvotes, and for your words to have greater impact) is to convey additional information instead of just repeating the same thing. For example, you could state that "Market share reflects sales of an item over a fiscal period -- which is different from installed base, which reflects the percentage of units that are in current usage". You can even include a pointer to a refe…
Yeah but it's 2020 and I decided that just because people are displaying their own ignorance on the Internet doesn't impute upon me the duty to adjust their attitudes. If two fuckwits on HN want to hang around and tell me that I am using the term "market share" in a wrong or unusual way, when they themselves are the ones who obviously don't know what it means, then let them do it. Eventually the accumulated mass of s…
I ebike 20 miles for work every day and live it. I don’t use my ebike for small errands because it’s too easy to just rip expensive stuff off of it while locked up. Also, the picture shows a rider with no helmet which is insane. I wear a motorcycle helmet and leathers. The speed limit for ebikes on roads in CA is 28, which is deadly with even a normal bike helmet. Finally the article says that the new models are ligh…
I built myself an ebike with a Bafang BBS02 18 months ago, and use it constantly. The main problems are: - No safe parking anywhere. So far so good but it's only a matter of time before my bike gets stolen. - Range. Much too short (less than 40km in my experience). Yet, it's fantastic. It changed my life. It almost totally replaced my motorbike for every trip except the longest ones (I live in Paris so most trips are…
I will say that I don't especially recommend it unless you want to pedal a lot (or live in a very hilly area). If you're lazy like me I'd recommend a hub motor - having to change gears constantly and every time I come to a stop gets really old really fast.
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Link for those interested (as was I): https://www.bafangusadirect.com
Em3ev and Luna are the name brands if you’re buying it with a battery (nice since it will be wired up for you). Chargers are a pain since you want an 80-20 charge cycle. The name brands have options for this and you know what battery cells you’re getting. I used the meanwell hlg 54a to make my own chargers. They are the best value and ul listed if you don’t mind doing your own connections and have a voltage meter
Thinking of converting an old trek. Anyone have thoughts on front / rear wheel drive?
Don’t. Disc breaks are highly recommended and a front suspension as well. I converted an old trek steel frame touring bike and moved the conversion kit to a modern hardtail after a month of commuting. It didn’t feel safe. That said what you want is a mid drive bafang bbshd. Dead simple conversion for any bike.
We have waaaay too many overweight/obese people. And, as other comments point out, there would have to be a sacrifice in terms of automobiles for this to truly work. I find it highly doubtful that Americans would be willing to make that trade. Also, I think that if it came up there would be significant push back from groups you wouldn’t expect, like the disabled or union trade workers. This “bicycles will fill the gap” is a fantasy of Boujie urbanites and the aristocracy. We talk about how the middle/lower class feels a sense of generational wealth loss, a major push to move people to bicycles from cars would really drive(no pun intended) that message home.
And this is coming from someone who enjoys taking a bike instead of driving.
Hmm. What about a regular bike which one moves with muscle power? Had a nice ~85 km afternoon loop today. =)
I've been commuting using a class-1 (limited to 20 mph) e-bike around Santa Barbara, CA for the last year and it is a dream. Far better experience than I expected. It won't work in all cities but if you have reasonable bike lanes switching over from a car can have many benefits. 1. Cost. Sure it's a high initial outlay (3k) but I'm not paying for insurance, gas, parking, and auto loan payments. 2. Faster. I can hop o…
Its just a much nicer platform, all-electric. I see it getting much, much wider adoption ..