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Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

lemond.com

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Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#81
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps there’s a market for people who want an ebike that’s a little easier to get up apartment stairs? A detachable battery might also help with this.

In Europe a lot of the Bosch/Yamaha bikes have the so-called 'walk mode', where you hold down a button and the bike powers itself up whatever slope at walking pace. For some reason I understand this mode is illegal in the US, but it makes all the difference over here - especially when going up stairs (or other 45 degree slopes).

My specialized has a walk mode. Not illegal in the states

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#82

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I commute on a specialized turbo vado sl, a similar lightweight e-bike. An electric bicycle this light will handle more like a conventional bicycle, and it’s easier to lift up steps or load onto bike racks.

This bicycle looks less cartoonish than my specialized, weighs less, and costs about the same.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#83
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lights are built in, so the handlebars are irrelevant.

So? The lights are also integrated on a VanMoof, but they're integrated in the right place. They used to put them in the right place on the Specialized Turbo but in the latest models they moved it up the the bar again, can't imagine why.

So complaining that they don’t have the right mount point for a light when one doesn’t need to be mounted shows that the product either isn’t a good fit for you, or that you are grasping at straws.

I think it is unlikely that a carefully designed bike like this missed something simple like that. Much more likely you are kissing something.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#84

I get wanting light weight, my current aluminum ebike is 80 lbs, but my current ebike is a Juiced Ripcurrent S fat tire with 1kWh battery and I completely out speed and out range my friend who has a Turbo Vado SL while being much more comfortable and spending 1k less. The main downside with the weight is getting up on a bike rack to drive it somewhere, but they have rack with ramps now designed for heavy ebikes. I kn…

I saw someone riding a cargo ebike with a kid on it and went home excited to get one. Then I discovered it weighs over 70 pounds, which I can’t imagine working since to get it to my basement storage area requires carrying up several steps then down several more through the cramped bulkhead door. Maybe some people are strong enough for that not to be a significant annoyance, but I’m not one of them.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#85

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I had read a long time ago that a typical 3x9 arrangement has fewer "real" gears than 27. One reason is that you're not supposed to heavily use the gears that are the most opposed because it causes additional chain wear. Another is that some of the gears calculate to the same gear/inch.

https://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cran... has a nice summary, including a picture from Sheldon Brown's website. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/home.html

Basically, there are 21 or 15 usable gears depending on how you want to calculate things. Then add to the equation that this is an electric bike and a single ring with 9 cassette gears seems reasonable.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#86

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

E-bikes are perhaps the most misunderstood category of bike products right now. Traditional bikers have underestimated demand for e-bikes at every step of the way for one reason: Traditional biking has a massive selection bias effect that excludes anyone who isn’t in great physical shape. The deeper you are into cycling, the more homogenous your perception of what constitutes a biker. You’re not going to see average…

Reminds me of when drones took off. Regulations took a while to catch up. At one point it was a huge nuisance with people flying little drones in every park. Fortunately now it’s died down with regulations and general knowledge of what’s acceptable, and I agree the same will happen with ebikes.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#87

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

E-bikes are perhaps the most misunderstood category of bike products right now. Traditional bikers have underestimated demand for e-bikes at every step of the way for one reason: Traditional biking has a massive selection bias effect that excludes anyone who isn’t in great physical shape. The deeper you are into cycling, the more homogenous your perception of what constitutes a biker. You’re not going to see average…

I think you’re missing his point. He wasn’t saying e-bikes were bad or pointless, he was saying that the design decisions made around this bike don’t make sense for an e-bike commuter or a performance racer or basically anyone. I’m similarly confused.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

E-bikes are perhaps the most misunderstood category of bike products right now. Traditional bikers have underestimated demand for e-bikes at every step of the way for one reason: Traditional biking has a massive selection bias effect that excludes anyone who isn’t in great physical shape. The deeper you are into cycling, the more homogenous your perception of what constitutes a biker. You’re not going to see average…

Reminds me of when drones took off. Regulations took a while to catch up. At one point it was a huge nuisance with people flying little drones in every park. Fortunately now it’s died down with regulations and general knowledge of what’s acceptable, and I agree the same will happen with ebikes.

Did regulation reduce drone usage? Or just lack of interest?

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#89
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps there’s a market for people who want an ebike that’s a little easier to get up apartment stairs? A detachable battery might also help with this.

In Europe a lot of the Bosch/Yamaha bikes have the so-called 'walk mode', where you hold down a button and the bike powers itself up whatever slope at walking pace. For some reason I understand this mode is illegal in the US, but it makes all the difference over here - especially when going up stairs (or other 45 degree slopes).

If anything USA ebike laws are the most lenient in the world

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#90

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

> whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves I'm a fluid dynamics researcher, and I'll tell you the money these people spend on "aero" and "weight saving" and "higher drivetrain efficiency" stuff is 99.9% snake oil. Unless you are among the top 1000 road bike racers in the world. Increasing your exercise load by half an hour per week, or spending a little time understanding and implem…

> I'm a fluid dynamics researcher, and I'll tell you the money these people spend on "aero" and "weight saving" and "higher drivetrain efficiency" stuff is 99.9% snake oil. Unless you are among the top 1000 road bike racers in the world.

So, biking audiophilia.

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