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The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

nytimes.com

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Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#181

Post by electriclove »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #156
asdff wrote: post #122

The biggest hurdles with ebikes are their high cost relative to a cheap used bike (nicer ebikes are in used car territory) and likelyhood of theft in an urban area. It would probably help a lot of commutes if people had a safe place to park their bike or ebike at a train station or business or school where it won't be stripped down for parts. Rental scooters and ebikes also suffer from this problem but it doesn't mat…

I'm blown away by how expensive they are and then how many I see. $5k-$7k for an e-bicycle? Yes yes yes, I realize enthusiasts pay up to $10-15K for high-end frames and wheels, with full Campy gruppos[1], but eBike buyer's aren't CAT-2 qualifiers. On a side rant, the price of bikes in general has skyrockted. With so much of the manufacturing happening in China, I would have assumed that the overall costs of bikes wou…

You can get decent e-bikes for under $1k. It is still a lot but not ridiculous

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#182

Post by neutronicus »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #22
multjoy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remove the speed limiter you are riding an electric motorcycle, which needs to be somewhere other than with pedestrians and cyclists.

>with pedestrians Do some cities actually let cyclists bike on sidewalks? I bike 24/7 but this seems crazy. Bicycles needs their own, separate, protected paths, at the road level. Period.

Sidewalks let you fill in gaps in the protected path network by riding slowly.

In my city at least you can't really go fast on the sidewalks even if they're empty (lots of uneven brick, chunky curbs, trees, buildings have stoops, etc) so it's not a big issue. If someone has to go a couple blocks on the sidewalk they'll generally get back on the path / road as soon as able

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#183

Post by [deleted] »

Rapzid wrote: post #108
bch wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people who think that cycling is a niche hobby of rich lycra-clad yuppies I don’t know who “those people” are, or what regional politics are at play, but that doesn’t pass my “smell test”. How about deploying “think about the children” here for something that increases exercise and happiness, mobility, fosters growth… it’s not even contentious with respect to (e.g.) civil liberties. I suspect the answer is people j…

Where I'm at there is a major project to overhaul a road, let's call it "Broadway", with conservation drainage, walkability(like 10ft wide sidewalks), medians, trees, and bike paths. The project kept getting derailed due to bicycle special interests having a literal fit because a section of the road was too narrow to have the walkable sidewalks(priority number 1), the cycle lanes with adequate safety, and not congest…

[deleted]

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#184

Post by bagacrap »

notatoad wrote: post #52
zwieback wrote: post #26

I'm a year-round non-e-bike commuter in Oregon. I love e-bikes but until you can ride without getting soaked it'll be successful only part of the year in most of the US. We need something between the e-bike and golf-cart style EVs to fill the gap, some kind of sophisticated fairing or a 3 wheel format that isn't super dorky.

i live in a place that's not quite as rainy as oregon, but the combination of proper full-coverage fenders and bike paths where i'm not getting splashed by cars means there's only a couple days a year where i'm going to get "soaked" and am going to choose not to ride. biking in the rain mostly sucks because of splashback from the road. once you've eliminated that, it's no worse than walking in the rain.

I don't think ebikes are replacing walking trips though, but car trips. The requirement to anticipate, prepare for, and endure the weather (including cold, snow, rain) makes bikes much less appealing to people who already own cars, which is almost everyone in the US.

I think the main reasons bikes aren't popular are: safety (perceived) weather cargo capacity effort requirement

Enthusiasts don't mind the latter and reluctant cyclists will still find sufficient deterrents even if it's eliminated. So I don't think ebikes are really going to move the needle in terms of ridership, regardless of what their buyers tell themselves at time of purchase.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#185

Post by jdavis703 »

dan-robertson wrote: post #113
clairity wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'd personally like to see two policy changes (especially in a city like LA that's perfect year-round for biking): 1. convert curbside parking into dedicated and protected bike lanes (not everywhere, but extensively) 2. require bike parking (preferably covered and right next to entrances/foot traffic) and liability requirements anywhere that has a (car) parking lot this would put biking on par with cars and would enc…

Isn’t LA extremely sparse to the extent that cycling is a lot of effort because of long distances? I suppose e-bikes help but don’t you still lose a lot of the advantages—less time at the start and end of journeys and less distance from parking areas—to the increased travel time from large distances?

LA is surprisingly dense for an American city. I’m too lazy to look up LA numbers, but in the US as whole most car trips are under 5 miles. This is perfect e-bike distances, and after accounting for finding parking, walking across a massive surface lot or riding elevators down a parking deck, the e-bike might be just the same amount of time.

Source: https://nhts.ornl.gov/tables09/fatcat/2009/vt_TRPMILES.html

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#186

Post by jackorange »

kevincrane wrote: post #18
paulgb wrote: post #4

The thing that excites me most about e-bikes is that they change the politics around cycling. Proponents of efforts to make roads safer for cyclists have always gotten pushback from people who think that cycling is a niche hobby of rich lycra-clad yuppies. With e-bikes becoming more common, I know a number of people who would not have touched a bike share but are using it as a replacement for Uber/Lyft rides. People…

> Proponents of efforts to make roads safer for cyclists have always gotten pushback from people who think that cycling is a niche hobby of rich lycra-clad yuppies. Which I think is misguided pushback btw (which I think you agree with based on the context). I see it as a chicken and egg thing. The roads are unsafe for bikers, so the only people who bike are those who are super dedicated to it. Then when people ask fo…

I think the issue goes further than that into being a societal problem.

Majority of America is overweight, staring down at their phones day and night, and dread physical activity. They also like to flex their position and wealth to others, one of the reasons why pickup trucks and big SUVs sell in great numbers. These people are in no hurry to transition to riding bikes.

The only way biking might work is if some popular celebrities on social media or otherwise started doing it, since many Americans just like to imitate what's popular.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#187

Post by bagacrap »

gnarcoregrizz wrote: post #28

Not surprised. They are a lot cheaper, easier to own than a car in cities, and are a lot of fun to ride. A loud contingent view them as a scourge, calling for ebikes to be banned, or otherwise licensed, registered, and insured, which would eliminate them as a common mode of transport. Most of the people I see riding them around here are high-school aged who probably don't care enough to deal with that. The next step…

I mean, they do have a motor, so I don't see why they should be less regulated than other motorized vehicles. They're just as dangerous to the user as a moped.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#188

Post by jdavis703 »

TrevorJ wrote: post #88
multjoy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remove the speed limiter you are riding an electric motorcycle, which needs to be somewhere other than with pedestrians and cyclists.

More specifically, you have and electric motorcycle with no traction, no safety features and an untrained rider.

Riding a motorcycle is easier than a bike. In a motorcycle there’s three evasive actions: brake, accelerate or swerve. On a bicycle there’s only two, and that lack of speed is exactly what causes some of the riskiest behaviors from motorists (e.g. close passing.)

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#189

Post by Retric »

Mengkudulangsat wrote: post #178

I'm sorry, but I absolutely hate e-bikes. We in Asia have figured the urban transit riddle long ago: Motorbikes or the more sustainable option; electric scooters [1]. If we are going to share the road, might as well everyone becomes capable of reaching similar speeds. E-bikes necessitate a cyclist lane for no good reason. [1] https://www.gogoro.com/

E-bikes allow a wider range of people to exercise and travel quickly. That’s their advantage over both electric scooters and traditional bicycles. As such they are really worth incorporating into the urban landscape.

Also, it’s not obvious but the highest throughput per unit area at street level is sidewalks, bike lanes, and then the least efficient traffic lanes. Sidewalks need skyscrapers and a massive subway system to really scale, but bike lanes are mostly limited by adoption which again makes E-Bikes really useful.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#190

Post by chrisseaton »

jackorange wrote: post #186
kevincrane wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Proponents of efforts to make roads safer for cyclists have always gotten pushback from people who think that cycling is a niche hobby of rich lycra-clad yuppies. Which I think is misguided pushback btw (which I think you agree with based on the context). I see it as a chicken and egg thing. The roads are unsafe for bikers, so the only people who bike are those who are super dedicated to it. Then when people ask fo…

I think the issue goes further than that into being a societal problem. Majority of America is overweight, staring down at their phones day and night, and dread physical activity. They also like to flex their position and wealth to others, one of the reasons why pickup trucks and big SUVs sell in great numbers. These people are in no hurry to transition to riding bikes. The only way biking might work is if some popul…

Popular celebrities on social media already work out - why do you think Americans aren't already imitating it and why would they imitate bicycling?
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