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Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#341

Post by megablast »

bcherry wrote: post #251
user_7832 wrote: post #190

I have a question for the author - what safety precautions do you take against theft for such an e-bike, especially when going to public places like supermarkets? I recently came to the Netherlands and have heard that bike theft is common, especially for expensive bikes. I would guess that such an e-bike would be an attractive target, so do you take additional precautions when parking in public places (like 2/3/4 loc…

I park a similar ebike in San Francisco fairly often. I have a good U-Lock and only lock to secure bike rings on main streets but haven't had any trouble. I've left it for hours at a time, but never later than about 9pm. You can mitigate the overall risk with an insurance plan, which is only a few hundred bucks a year.

Get two different locks, one cable lock as well.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#342

Post by tshaddox »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #133
davidw wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not cool at all with basically motorbikes getting a free pass because they're disguised as bicycles. As long as they'r not causing problems for other cyclists, they're still a big win in terms of transportation: way less carbon usage and occupies less space.

> As long as they'r not causing problems for other cyclists, They cause problems. Maybe not every e-motorcycle rider, but most of them take full advantage of the power to out-accelerate other bikers and double the top speed of everyone around them. Bike paths were design with typical cyclist speeds in mind. It's not uncommon to see a young kid flying down our local bike paths at 40mph or more on a modded e-bike, forc…

> They cause problems.

Okay, but if they cause problems then that's already...a problem.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#343

Post by dylan604 »

whimsicalism wrote: post #285
dylan604 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize it is not hard for a cyclist to hit 25-30mph without motor assist, right?

In short bursts or downhill sure? Consistently in a commute? No, that is definitely atypical. Do you ride bikes or mostly just e-bike?

I don't have a wardrobe in spandex. I ride bicycles for fun and commuting, not sport. Only time I rode a bike for any kind of fitness was long long ago in offseason for running sports. My pedal bike is a beach cruiser and has 3 gears on it. Not getting competitive with that, and have actually been told to get out of the bike lane in spandex wearing asshats.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#344

Post by tshaddox »

mikestew wrote: post #107
davidw wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not cool at all with basically motorbikes getting a free pass because they're disguised as bicycles. As long as they'r not causing problems for other cyclists, they're still a big win in terms of transportation: way less carbon usage and occupies less space.

As long as they'r not causing problems for other cyclists And if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its ass when it hops. "Other cyclists"? They're not cyclists, they're motorcycle riders, for starters. Now any jackass can zoom down the bike path at 25-30mph, but yeah, as long as that doesn't cause problems...

What's the difference between that claim and the claim "if cars which can go 120mph are legally considered cars then every jackass can zoom down the highway at 120mph"? The difference, of course, is that highways have speed limits.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#345

Post by stef25 »

analog31 wrote: post #332
twodave wrote: post #38

Awesome project Jacques! I saw a comment of yours on an article a day or two ago and was hoping to see this pop up soon. I've found the most difficult thing about riding an e-bike is the other motorists have no idea how to react to you. You're not really a regular bicycle anymore due to your speed, but you're also not a motorcycle that deserves its own lane. I have at least one car turn in front of me almost every tr…

You deserve your own lane, although the rules vary from state to state. Some states have FRAP (as far right as practicable), others (such as mine) say that a cyclist should take the lane. As a motorist, and cyclist, I cringe when I see a cyclist half-in and half-out of traffic. As a cyclist, I avoid streets with fast, congested car traffic altogether. Fortunately, my locale has a lot of alternatives for bikes, includ…

When getting your motorcycle license here in Belgium they teach you to always take the lane. Ride 3/4 of the way in. If you give the car some space, they'll drive closer to you, try to pass and then get impatient & aggressive when they can't. If you take up all the space they'll usually just accept it.

Obviously rules for bicycles may be slightly different but more and more inner city roads here in EU are now clearly marked as bicycle friendly.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#346

Post by unethical_ban »

TrevorJ wrote: post #240
fragmede wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And scooters, electric-scooters, and sit-down electric scooters. And electric wheelchairs, and non-electric wheelchairs and mobility assist carts with handlebars. We also have to delineate between a daydreaming cyclist who's top speed is slow, and a hard-core cyclist with a $3000+ bike that can hit 40 mph in the right conditions. Those cyclists should be banned from using the same paths as the first kind of bicyclist…

Eh, this is just extending the argument into absurdity I feel.

That's the point, I read the post as satire making fun of the top level comment.

"Free pass" for electric motorbikes? What is that person on about? Why have meaningless distinctions between pedaling or not, when the overriding goal should be "promote bike use over vehicle use"?

What societal good, what good to the citizen, is it to place burdens on e-bikes that are not pedal assist?

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#347

Post by red369 »

leetcrew wrote: post #253
pharmakom wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A really important factor you didn’t mention is weight. KE = 0.5 * v * v * m

that equation shows velocity is more important though? a small car at 10 mph has about the same KE as a 200 lb person going 40 mph. of course KE doesn't tell the whole story. of the two, I'd much rather be hit by the car. I could run into a brick wall at 10 mph and probably be okay.

I suppose if you absorbed all of the energy from the car, rather than just being pushed back by it, then the damage might be more comparable. For example, I think if someone was standing against a wall and a car rolled into them at 10mpg it might be as terrible as being hit by a 200lb cyclist at 40 mph. Of course, I agree that 10 mph seems a lot less dangerous - it gives many more options to move out of the way, or to spread the impact over time (by walking backwards and pushing against the car). Just throwing out some thoughts on why the same energy from each seems to have such a different destructive force.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#348

Post by Tostino »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #339
Tostino wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that argument for forcing pedaling to me seems like a way of gatekeeping to keep something a little more "pure" without any actual reason.

Speaking of gatekeeping... A lot of people, adults in particular, appear to have an aversion to riding bicycles due to their inability to place both feet on the ground while seated (and I'm speaking here about the standard bicycle geometry, not recumbents, etc.). It's too bad too because you would love to get more people out of large steel cars and into efficient e-bikes/scooters. I wish we could lighten up a bit wit…

Absolutely agree, harping on the specific form of the vehicle rather than just enforcing reasonable safe speed limits for paths that everyone has to follow is maddening. I don't care if someone is more comfortable on a standup scooter, a pedal bike, a recumbent, or even a segway. Just lower the barrier of entry and get more people out and not in their cars.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#349

Post by krrrh »

smashah wrote: post #334
TacticalCoder wrote: post #27

We really need a terminology to differentiate better between pedal-assist only e-bikes ("pedelec") and electric motorbikes. A "bicycle" that can accelerate without the need to pedal at all is an electric motorcycle, no matter if you put pedal on it or not. I see the two as totally different things: I've tried pedal-assist e-bike and they're great. But... Although I have nothing against motorbikes I'm not cool at all…

Differentiating between pedal assist & throttled e-bike serves no great purpose. There should be no distinction, legally, between a normal bicycle and an electric bike of any kind (throttle or otherwise). Personal Electric (micro) Mobility is the answer to many problems, let's not add any roadblocks to adoption. Other than keeping powers-that-be comfortable and sparing the feelings of cycling puritans, the distinctio…

The recent explosion of high speed scooters has been a menace since my city recently allowed them and e-bikes on bike paths and the local bike rental places purchased whole fleets.

The problem is that tourists and knaves are constantly riding them on paths that are marked pedestrian-only (sometimes due to unfamiliarity with the path system, though often intentionally). Even when they stick to the adjacent bike lanes the scooters accelerate and go so much faster than bikes they are constantly putting pedestrians and slower cyclists in danger. If they stuck to bike lanes on streets it wouldn’t be so bad, but I worry there will soon be a raft of Bernie Goetz style vigilante clotheslining of irresponsible riders.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#350

Post by unethical_ban »

jacquesm wrote: post #28
TacticalCoder wrote: post #27

We really need a terminology to differentiate better between pedal-assist only e-bikes ("pedelec") and electric motorbikes. A "bicycle" that can accelerate without the need to pedal at all is an electric motorcycle, no matter if you put pedal on it or not. I see the two as totally different things: I've tried pedal-assist e-bike and they're great. But... Although I have nothing against motorbikes I'm not cool at all…

This is a pedal assist e-bike. There are people that cheat and that install throttles so they can move without pedaling but that's a great way to get your vehicle confiscated. A typical ride has me providing 40 to 60% of the Joules and the remainder comes out of the battery. If there is a very heavy wind up (not rare here) that might drop to 30/70 and if I have a tailwind it is the reverse. The bike has a nice stats…

I object to the pejorative "cheat" as to suggest that non pedal assist is morally worse than pedalling.

Edit to say nice job on the project, this is awesome. Here in Texas, I would love to see a lot of people using these in the bike lane.

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