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Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#571

Post by jonpurdy »

kmtrowbr wrote: post #373
NikolaNovak wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If something has that average speed capability, why is not licensed, registered, insured and held accountable as any vehicle would be? My 50cc scooter appears to have comparable speeds (maybe 10kph higher), and I wear proper armour & helmet, took the classes passed the test, am registered, licenses & insured. That's my massive pet peeve & safety concern: I WANT to love e-Bikes, and all those sorts of things; and like…

I drive, walk, and bike often in San Francisco. I rode a 650cc motorcycle for 10 years when I was in my 20s. In the Panhandle, for example, there is a mixed use bike / walking path. It is very dangerous for the walkers even with normal bikes, as the bikes are whizzing by the walkers at 20mph. However one day I was walking, and a HUGE mutant E-bike with massive fat tires & very heavy frame, flew by me at what seemed l…

One of the problems with SF streets (especially in Sunset where I live) is street width. With residential streets wide enough for six cars side by side, drivers feel like they can go faster without danger to themselves.

The solution is to make streets feel more dangerous to them: narrow streets, or at least obstacles like concrete planters that force drivers to go around them.

I’d love to see half of the width of Sunset’s streets reclaimed with wider sidewalks, planters with trees, and bike lanes. But I don’t see it happening to anywhere near the extent of Netherlands efforts, and simply narrowing the roads to Japanese or Korean neighbourhood width wouldn’t be realistic since they are already built.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#572

Post by mkl »

qwertox wrote: post #552
themacguffinman wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be literally sued for this kind of thing to be a liability. Companies don't like this because even if they don't get sued, it becomes a PR liability when they get a reputation. When the average buyer sees that a product gets a lot of accidents, they're not going to put on their detective hat and spend much time getting to the bottom of "is this reputation truly deserved? was it the customer's fault?…

> it becomes a PR liability when they get a reputation This would rather be positive for PR. The news will talk about it, about how dangerous this is, then they come out with the real story, where the customer did some modifications, that the product is 100% safe if it is left the way they sell it.

That "real story" update often doesn't seem to happen, or is far less visible than the original not-the-whole-story story.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#573

Post by jakecodes »

Hi Jacques! A little late here. It's cool to see someone else spot welding! For the DC area, it's totally faster to commute and I took my daughter everywhere! Now we're in Philly and I use it for long ranges. I've built a bunch of these in various forms, my favorite is a big wheel scooter. It's my main commuter. Look up rivet nuts for securing to the frame! Was a big life saver.

One thing: After years of riding various bikes I've built, please for the love of everything, be careful at high speeds because I've discovered the weakest point of the bike is the C shaped thing at the end of the fork for the wheels. At super high speeds the bumps are rougher on the bike and will eventually pull it apart, even with mid motor power. It may not even come apart all the way, but spread open slightly. Maybe millimeters.

I've tried several bikes, offroad and everything. It won't happen now, but like at odometer 6000 or something. Every single time it fails there. I've had 3 bikes, various scooters, all fail that way. It means your wheel may eventually, suddenly come off at a high speed. I think the answer is a custom fork, but haven't gone there yet.

I'm jakecodes on twitter if you want to trade knowledge.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#574

Post by effingwewt »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
fsflover wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it seems to have sunk without a trace Now, it's the top of this page: https://news.ycombinator.com/show

Yes, that's thanks to your comment. Was looking forward to some more tips on pack construction and safety, but fine.

Well thanks to both of you then! I browse by active when I have the time, and likely would have lost this article had it not still been at #1 when I woke up.

I love Jacques' posts, his lego sorting was legendary and I still share it often. As with another commenter, I had seen Jaques mention he was in the process of another article, and was waiting patiently.

The last few years have been really heavy, with some great creators dying of covid or just disappearing online one day.

Makes me extra grateful for the small rays of sunshine.

Joyner Lucas has a line in 'Will' that goes 'Ain’t nothing worse than losing your hero and couldn’t say bye, and we never know just when it’s our time, the legends are gone and we don’t know why, so before they go, look here go a toast so give ’em a rose while they still alive'

Thanks Jacques!

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#575

Post by tda »

jacquesm wrote: post #564
tda wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not the weight that is the problem (though the bike is heavy), it is that the fancy hub drive will not let the rear wheel spin freely when powered off. I have had to cycle home up to 20km with at about 18kmh, so slower than a lot of normal cyclists, while sweating, wearing my ugly helmet and illegally riding on the cycle path. The last time that happened I decided to sell the bike.

Probably electromagnetic drag. I can totally see how you decided to sell it, transportation should first of all be reliable. Funny bit: the bike may be slower than the car but with the car the variance is a lot larger due to traffic variability. I've taken three hours to do a 45 minute trip and with the bike it is the exact same time every time.

Yeah, same for me. I know my commute by bike will be 60-70 minutes, regardless of conditions. By car it is 25-90 minutes, depending on predictable and very unpredictable circumstances. If speed pedelecs work depends hugely on where you live, if there are proper "bromfietspaden" or if you have to go through an inner city. Also in some cities (e.g. Rotterdam) you can take the bicycle path and local law enforcement doesn't care. In others the police is much more vigilant. Being the slowest vehicle on the road is not fun. That's why for my situation a normal 25kmh e-bike works best, especially because mine is accidentally set to the US speed limit of 20mph/32kmh, oops

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#576

Post by jacquesm »

jakecodes wrote: post #573

Hi Jacques! A little late here. It's cool to see someone else spot welding! For the DC area, it's totally faster to commute and I took my daughter everywhere! Now we're in Philly and I use it for long ranges. I've built a bunch of these in various forms, my favorite is a big wheel scooter. It's my main commuter. Look up rivet nuts for securing to the frame! Was a big life saver. One thing: After years of riding vario…

Hi Jake, I love this kind of response, all the armchair lawyering and other bs is just a huge distraction, there are exactly four comments in this whole thread including yours that are constructive. You mean the metal part joining the two sides of the fork? That's a great warning, I never thought of monitoring that bit in particular but now that you mention it that makes perfect sense, there is quite a bit of force on that joint.

I'll go and have a look at my bike right away and I'll keep a sharp eye on this as well.

And you've got one more follower in Twitter :)

Do you have any pictures of those failures? I'd love to see what they look like to get an idea of where an early warning might manifest itself.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#578

Post by jacquesm »

effingwewt wrote: post #574
jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's thanks to your comment. Was looking forward to some more tips on pack construction and safety, but fine.

Well thanks to both of you then! I browse by active when I have the time, and likely would have lost this article had it not still been at #1 when I woke up. I love Jacques' posts, his lego sorting was legendary and I still share it often. As with another commenter, I had seen Jaques mention he was in the process of another article, and was waiting patiently. The last few years have been really heavy, with some great…

Wow, that means a lot. My silly projects usually just serve as me scratching some itch, the last couple have been out of the ball-park successful in the kind of response they generated and how people started using them as jump off point for their own stuff.

HN seems to be more for lawyers than for makers these days judging by the bulk of this thread (or fantasy cycling sports fans ;) ), I like to stick to the practical parts and I'm happy to see a couple of responses that don't do a deep dive into traffic rules and what I can or can not do legally to my bike.

So thank you for this.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#579

Post by jacquesm »

tda wrote: post #575
jacquesm wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably electromagnetic drag. I can totally see how you decided to sell it, transportation should first of all be reliable. Funny bit: the bike may be slower than the car but with the car the variance is a lot larger due to traffic variability. I've taken three hours to do a 45 minute trip and with the bike it is the exact same time every time.

Yeah, same for me. I know my commute by bike will be 60-70 minutes, regardless of conditions. By car it is 25-90 minutes, depending on predictable and very unpredictable circumstances. If speed pedelecs work depends hugely on where you live, if there are proper "bromfietspaden" or if you have to go through an inner city. Also in some cities (e.g. Rotterdam) you can take the bicycle path and local law enforcement does…

I cycle Baarn->Arnhem and back twice weekly, that's 65 km one way. A bit much to do on a regular bike. The hard part of that trip is passing through Amersfoort, there is no really good way to bypass it so I just have to deal with it. It is a much more dangerous part than the rest of the trip and I always time it so that I'm never out there during rush hour.

Hehe, what a funny coincidence that your bike has that glitch :)

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#580

Post by Retric »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #366
rjbwork wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an e-bike and I disagree with your assertions. I'm a fat asthmatic and I have absolutely no problem maintaining 40kph for long stretches of time on my bike. The fastest I've done on it (on a large hill but still) is 42.7MPH (~68Kph). Average cruising speed on flat land can easily be 30-33mph(48-53kph). Not all e-bikes are capable of this, but they are certainly not some kind of rare expensive impossibility - m…

If something has that average speed capability, why is not licensed, registered, insured and held accountable as any vehicle would be? My 50cc scooter appears to have comparable speeds (maybe 10kph higher), and I wear proper armour & helmet, took the classes passed the test, am registered, licenses & insured. That's my massive pet peeve & safety concern: I WANT to love e-Bikes, and all those sorts of things; and like…

In part because regular bikes can go that fast with top athletes. The world record 1h speed is over 55kph on level ground, people can go significantly faster over shorter periods especially in sprints or down hill.
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