201–210 of 234 posts
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Stromer ST2
Do these really sell for $6K+? I'd love to have an electric assist option for my 30 mi round trip, but the cost is a tough pill to swallow... $3K I'd do in a minute.
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There are three people in my household. Between us, we drink 30-40 (depending on the week) 2L bottles of soda a week, as well as a couple of 12-packs of soda cans, maybe an 8-pack of gatorade/powerade, and 15-20 half liter bottles of water. Food is not the largest part of what we bring back from the store. There are a lot of opportunities lost when you can't carry more than, well, you can personally carry. The "white…
Just counting the bottles, soda intake in your household works out to 3350cc/day*person, on average. If you're not exaggerating, you have a very unhealthy habit.
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>> And how many combustion engined cars crank at -40c without pre-heating? Plenty of them. In the last couple decades cold starts have really progressed. I think it's the developments in oil/lubricants that cling to metal surfaces. And the tighter tolerances that mean oils don't drain out of idle engines.
Plenty is not all - and interestingly, the nordic countries in Europe do have commonly electrical outlets at parking places. To preheat the engines. Luckily, this comes handy for the electrical cars too, as they can charge/preheat at those outlets.
Daily (manual) biker here (~70 miles per week). These ebikes are a clever hack. In China they skirt motorcycle laws. In the US they can make use of bike paths. You can make good time and your commute is generally the same duration regardless of traffic. At least, that's true in Silicon Valley. Last I checked (a few years ago) pedaling the ebikes is like pedaling a tank. Batteries and motors a heavy bike make. So you'…
A: No. Why? 1. Hardcore cyclists are elitists in the US and will hate it and make life miserable for the e-bikers. 2. Non-cyclists will do dumb things in them like ride on the sidewalk. 3. Many state laws require registration and plates for these things.
How will they make our lives miserable? They are the minority. Most cyclists are not "hardcore."
> 2. Non-cyclists will do dumb things in them like ride on the sidewalk.
Cyclists already do that with regular bikes.
> 3. Many state laws require registration and plates for these things.
Really? Which ones?
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Stromer ST2
Do these really sell for $6K+? I'd love to have an electric assist option for my 30 mi round trip, but the cost is a tough pill to swallow... $3K I'd do in a minute.
Also, FWIW, I was debating a second car (married w/kids) or the bike, and am 100% satisfied with my bike and the price I paid for it
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Exactly, e-bikes are an odd tweener. They don't mix well on bike paths if you're bombing along at 20 mph, and in a lot of places people still just don't feel safe riding anything with two wheels on public roads. I don't see a lot of people who aren't already comfortable cycling to work (though maybe preferring to get there faster and with less sweat), going out and buying an e-bike.
e-bikes in the EU are limited to 17 mph, and quite low wattage, so it's not really an issue being in bike lanes, as long as you're decent about it. In the US a lot of them seem to be basically motorbikes.
Here's an interesting e-bike that recently launched on IndieGoGo and raised $1.6M mostly in the US. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flux-electric-bikes-with-...
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> He has street bikes that will go up to 40 mph. In my state that's a motorcycle, and illegal to ride on the street without a license plate and insurance. It'll be the same way most everywhere soon, I expect.
Federally in Canada, the upper limit seems to be 500W and 32km/h in Canada.
Note that I used the term electric scooters. I have nothing against regular bicycles with electric assist. That is, a vehicle with a reasonable weight (40-50 lb) allowing people to got at reasonable bicycle speeds (20 km/h is the max on most city bikepaths here) without exerting themselves. But people doing 30 km/h on a busy narrow bikepath on a 200lb vehicle is just unreasonable.
If the bike infrastructure made sense for these vehicles, it'd be another story. But at the moement and for the foreseeable future, the infrastructure is barely adequate for regular bicycles. The roads would be a way better alternative. I'm all for seeing more cars replaced by electric scooters in urban cores. Of course, winter is a big problem in montreal.