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Electric bike, stupid love of my life

craigmod.com

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Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#11

Post by blamazon »

paganel wrote: post #8

There is no way for me to let a ~2000 euros object of mine unattended and out in the open. I barely leave my current bike like that, and that "only" costs ~300 euros. More generally, I feel like this is a subject that doesn't get discussed often enough. Yes, most probably the writer of this article can eat the 2000 euros loss if his e-bike gets stolen, but the majority of the population cannot. It also sucks that the…

The first problem you outline has a very simple solution: insurance. Just like cars.

E-bikes can also be leased, to lower the barrier to entry. As an alternative to providing costly downtown parking, many employers in USA subsidize month-to-month e-bike leases with a final cost of like 30 bucks a month.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#13

Post by dota_fanatic »

paganel wrote: post #8

There is no way for me to let a ~2000 euros object of mine unattended and out in the open. I barely leave my current bike like that, and that "only" costs ~300 euros. More generally, I feel like this is a subject that doesn't get discussed often enough. Yes, most probably the writer of this article can eat the 2000 euros loss if his e-bike gets stolen, but the majority of the population cannot. It also sucks that the…

The author lives in Japan. The probability of it getting stolen is approximately zero.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#14

Post by wildekek »

paganel wrote: post #8

There is no way for me to let a ~2000 euros object of mine unattended and out in the open. I barely leave my current bike like that, and that "only" costs ~300 euros. More generally, I feel like this is a subject that doesn't get discussed often enough. Yes, most probably the writer of this article can eat the 2000 euros loss if his e-bike gets stolen, but the majority of the population cannot. It also sucks that the…

I have one with a detachable battery. Apart from the charging convenience this brings, it also makes the bike way less attractive to steal.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#15

Post by bluescrn »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

Unless bike theft is solved, an e-bike will remain a toy for the weekends for most people. An expensive e-bike is a prime target to thieves.

They require a secure indoor storage space at both ends of the any journey, and many potential users lack that, either at their workplace or their home (e.g living in an apartment only accessible via stairs)

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#16

Post by Filligree »

blamazon wrote: post #11
paganel wrote: post #8

There is no way for me to let a ~2000 euros object of mine unattended and out in the open. I barely leave my current bike like that, and that "only" costs ~300 euros. More generally, I feel like this is a subject that doesn't get discussed often enough. Yes, most probably the writer of this article can eat the 2000 euros loss if his e-bike gets stolen, but the majority of the population cannot. It also sucks that the…

The first problem you outline has a very simple solution: insurance. Just like cars. E-bikes can also be leased, to lower the barrier to entry. As an alternative to providing costly downtown parking, many employers in USA subsidize month-to-month e-bike leases with a final cost of like 30 bucks a month.

Bicycle theft insurance costs approximately ten percent the cost of the bicycle, per month.

Which should tell you how good an idea it is to leave one unattended.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#17

Post by [deleted] »

bluescrn wrote: post #15
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

Unless bike theft is solved, an e-bike will remain a toy for the weekends for most people. An expensive e-bike is a prime target to thieves. They require a secure indoor storage space at both ends of the any journey, and many potential users lack that, either at their workplace or their home (e.g living in an apartment only accessible via stairs)

[deleted]

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#18

Post by planb »

paulhart wrote: post #12

Pity about Van Moof though - and the owners if the cloud service disappears and they can’t ride their bikes any more. https://electrek.co/2023/07/12/dutch-e-bike-company-vanmoof-... [German]: https://zug.network/@moritzkraehe/110716829137328870

This is not true, even if it’s repeated a zillion times everywhere. As long as you don’t change your phone, smart unlock works without internet connection. And there is already third party software (which needs to connect to the Vanmoof servers once to save the key though). But you can always unlock by entering your code using the button. The real problem is that these bikes break every 20 km and there will be no parts or service anymore.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#19

Post by mongol »

paganel wrote: post #8

There is no way for me to let a ~2000 euros object of mine unattended and out in the open. I barely leave my current bike like that, and that "only" costs ~300 euros. More generally, I feel like this is a subject that doesn't get discussed often enough. Yes, most probably the writer of this article can eat the 2000 euros loss if his e-bike gets stolen, but the majority of the population cannot. It also sucks that the…

This is probably the biggest problem associated wkth e-bikes. Every time you leave it locked outside, you have a nagging feeling it may be the last time you see it. The freedom it brings is a little curtailed by the need to choose a safe spot to park it. Perhaps the best is just to learn to live with the risk.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#20

Post by blamazon »

bluescrn wrote: post #15
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

Unless bike theft is solved, an e-bike will remain a toy for the weekends for most people. An expensive e-bike is a prime target to thieves. They require a secure indoor storage space at both ends of the any journey, and many potential users lack that, either at their workplace or their home (e.g living in an apartment only accessible via stairs)

Cars once upon a time required a secure storage space for security. Technology improved, comprehensive insurance became a social norm, etc, and now you can just snug it against a curb, hop out of your car and press a button and generally not worry about theft, but if it does happen you're covered.

Why can't e-bikes be this way? My answer: they can and are, just not all of them yet.

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