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Reflections on E-Bikes

ebikes.neighbor-ryan.org

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131–140 of 188 posts

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#131

Post by yomly »

LeonidasXIV wrote: post #89

I appreciate the fact that e-bikes are bringing biking to the masses. I really do. But from this post I also read a lot of coping, because your cycling infrastructure is bad. Like the speed argument is completely bogus if you wouldn't need to cycle next to cars that are going that fast. If you had separated bike lanes, maybe not even attached to streets. Proper bike infrastructure is what gets people to bike, e-bikes…

I will ebike for over an hour. I will not cycle for over an hour to get somewhere (as I will be completely soaked and fairly tired).

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#132

Post by Ichthypresbyter »

kumarsw wrote: post #129

Something I've been wondering is in what region(s) Ebikes are becoming popular - it seems to be mostly the UK, East Asia, and maybe some larger coastal US cities. Hopefully this will (in the US) lead to cities taking the idea of low-speed vehicles more seriously, which are a good fit for medium-density US cities with room for putting in grade-separated paths. For a bonkers example of how it isn't all that hard in mod…

They've become very popular in the Netherlands- IIRC more than half of new bike sales there are of ebikes.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#133

Post by dreamcompiler »

RegW wrote: post #117
nicoburns wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are e-bikes bringing biking to the masses? At least here in the UK it seems that standard cycling is very common among ordinary people (and a basic bike can be bought for £50-£100). Whereas e-bikes are mainly owned by the relatively wealthy as they sell for upwards of £1000.

Conversion kits start at around £150 and can be fitted to that £50 bike. The biggest issue I see for higher priced bikes is secure parking (as mentioned in the article). No one provides secure/supervised parking and its tricky to get insurance. You can't really lock any nice bike outside the supermarket and always expect it to be there when you get back.

If you want 250 watts or less for a bit of assistance with pedaling and ~20 miles of range, a conversion kit is fine.

But if you have to deal with serious hills or want to use throttle-only, 250W won't be enough. IMO 750W is the bare minimum for that, and it requires a bigger motor, bigger battery, and disc brakes.* That costs a lot more and it's easier (and probably cheaper) to just buy the whole bike than convert what you have.

*Disc brakes are essential for higher-powered e-bikes because such bikes move faster and are much heavier than regular bikes. They need more serious stopping power than rim brakes can provide.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#134

Post by notacoward »

mrfusion wrote: post #102

Bike paths would have been a great thing to put in the infrastructure bill instead of all the special interests and pork. What a missed opportunity.

More funding for bike paths would have been great, but what would you have cut to get it? I kind of like things like water I can drink and bridges that don't fall down. This bill was hard enough to pass as it is. Trying to add funding for bike paths would have been difficult because (a) right-of-way issues tend to make them hideously expensive relative to the constituencies they serve and (b) that constituency tends to be more liberal than the fence-sitters were. Even those who aren't in the pocket of the fossil-fuel industry like Manchin still had to satisfy their own constituents who are more oriented toward giant pickups and SUVs than bikes. Proponents needed to attract votes, not drive them away.

Yes, it's a missed opportunity, but no bill at all would have been an even bigger one.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#135

Post by notacoward »

SamWhited wrote: post #128
MivLives wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legally in the Boston area nothing with a motor is supposed to go on bike paths. It was a law put in place in the 80s to prevent people on mopeds from using bike paths. The end result is rarely enforced from my own experience and from what I've heard from the local electric skateboard group there.

I don't know about Boston in particular, but in a lot of places these laws only apply to class 2 ebikes (ones with a throttle). Pedal assist often doesn't count, even though it's got a motor too.

I've read the laws, and that's the case in Massachusetts too.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#138

Post by Ichthypresbyter »

d0gsg0w00f wrote: post #112
mrfusion wrote: post #102

Bike paths would have been a great thing to put in the infrastructure bill instead of all the special interests and pork. What a missed opportunity.

I'm going to make a wild guess that there are more pork eaters than cyclists in America. Bike lanes are compicated issues but everyone has to eat. Politicians are always going to make these calculated decisions. I have also observed that the quickest way to fire up an angry mob is to say something perceived to be critical of cyclists.

Pork doesn't mean literal pork- in fact, as far as I know the infrastructure bill doesn't spend a cent on subsidies to pig, or any other, farming, though it does include improvements to rural roads, water supplies and broadband which will help farmers.

Pork, short for "pork-barrel politics", is a US term originating in the 19th century which refers to the practice of spending money in a legislator's district to get their support.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#139

Post by pjmlp »

mft_ wrote: post #109
nicoburns wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are e-bikes bringing biking to the masses? At least here in the UK it seems that standard cycling is very common among ordinary people (and a basic bike can be bought for £50-£100). Whereas e-bikes are mainly owned by the relatively wealthy as they sell for upwards of £1000.

My observation is that ebikes broaden the group of cyclists to people who (for example) might otherwise consider themselves too unfit or elderly, or who would be put off cycling due to living in a hilly area, etc. They also broaden the times a bike is used vs. some other mode of transport - for example commuting for people who would not want to arrive at work wringing in sweat and in need of a shower, or carrying hea…

They don't do anything against rain and snow.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#140

Post by dreamcompiler »

fulafel wrote: post #54
Gigachad wrote: post #2

IMO, the number one hurdle for ebikes is theft. The things cost a decent chunk of money and there is basically no way to secure them properly. I have owned an ebike and it's such a fun way to get around, but I quickly sold it because I was in constant fear of it being stolen. And shortly after, one of my cheap non ebikes was stolen while locked inside my apartments bike storage area. I think electric scooters might h…

An ebike costs usually less to replace as a car catalytic converter which are stolen more. I wonder if there will be similar solutions. Around my part of the world, bikes are usually insured against theft, for one.

But doesn't insurance usually pay for the catalytic converter?
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