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First 100 miles on my E-Bike

yilunzh.com

201–210 of 248 posts

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#201

Here in India I see a few people cycling to work. A "few" (we have a LOT of people). I can't see adoption increase. I myself won't ride a cycle, because 1. There's way too much pollution on the roads. I'll die breathing that air 2. If I don't die breathing that air, some car or bus driver who doesn't give a shit about other people's lives and is on their phone while driving will hit me and perhaps kill me (or worse,…

Are there fines in India for driving while using a phone? If so, is it policed?

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#202

I also completed my first 100 miles on an ebike this past week, on a bike I bought two weeks ago. I splurged and bought a top of the line pre-built[0]. Call it a mid life crisis. It is a class three bike. The electric motor will only activate under 28mph. There is no throttle, the motor multiplies your pedal force by 55-200% depending on the setting (eco-turbo). I can beat the bus on a few bus routes. I use to take t…

I also bought a top of the line pre-built (https://www.stromerbike.com/en_US/e-bikes/st2.html) almost 2 years and 7500 miles later, I have zero regrets. My goal is to break even for car cost for the price ($0.55 cents per mile). It hasn't happened yet, but I would already call it worth it due to the peace of mind of not having to sit in traffic every day.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#203
post #179

Question to e-bike owners - did you have to handle any sort of negativity from non e-bike riders? Stuff like "oh you are lazy", "this is unhealthy" etc?

I would show up to a group ride with cyclists. For the commute though, most single riders appreciate drafting at 25mph.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#204

e-Bike prices are a scam. An e-bike can't possibly cost thousands of dollars, when components only add about $100-$120 to the total cost. Until prices go down significantly, I am refusing to buy one.

Not sure why this is getting downvoted when TFA says that e-bikes here typically cost 6-10 times what they do in China.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#205

> If the ride is so great and economics so favorable, why haven’t I seen more adoption here in US and Canada? 1. What's an E-Bike?

I can't believe the number of downvotes this has gotten. It's a very large contributing factor that was overlooked by the author. Get over yourselves.

You could have been less snarky about it.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#206
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Switzerland where 45km/h speedbikes are fairly popular (since for once our laws are more lax than in most European countries). I don't really see how they're more dangerous than scooters in the same vehicle category.

The big difference is that many people drive e-bikes on bike paths or even pedestrian paths, while scooters tend to stick to roads.

No one with half a brain / common sense rides their ebikes at such speeds on pedestrian paths.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#207
post #201

Here in India I see a few people cycling to work. A "few" (we have a LOT of people). I can't see adoption increase. I myself won't ride a cycle, because 1. There's way too much pollution on the roads. I'll die breathing that air 2. If I don't die breathing that air, some car or bus driver who doesn't give a shit about other people's lives and is on their phone while driving will hit me and perhaps kill me (or worse,…

Are there fines in India for driving while using a phone? If so, is it policed?

Ha ha ha.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Yes there's probably a fine on car drivers, but typically you pay a smaller bribe and get out.

Bus drivers are difficult to punish due to unions, etc

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#208
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it would, if you really care about the planet and climate change you and I need to sacrifice something. Getting fit while helping doesn't hurt.

It's worth keeping in mind that riding a bike isn't necessarily better for climate change. Presuming that you aren't actively losing weight, you're eating extra calories in the form of food to power your bike. And the ecological impact of that food can easily be greater than that of biking. For example, buying 1kg of beef has the same ecological impact as driving 63 miles in a car[0]. However, that 1kg supplies you w…

>It's worth keeping in mind that riding a bike isn't necessarily better for climate change.

Don't be absurd. Nobody should worry that they're hurting the planet by riding a bike. Your calculation omitted the impact of creating and disposing of the car. Your calorie projections assume riding at a strenuous pace, most bike commuters don't. You assume a nearly all beef diet which is ridiculous. There is no reasonable calculation that would show biking worse than driving for the environment.

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#209
post #27

I don't grok e-bikes. I like them and I'd like to get one but I just don't know how I will manage the charging. I am livinig in a big city and have no garage and no wall socket in front of my street door. And 100% of all destinations I ride to don't have wall sockets for charging neither. So, I would need to carry every time the heavy battery upstairs (3 floors)? I am anyway always full-loaded with bags or whatever a…

> Edit: Why the downvote? Maybe it's because you've said you don't understand e-bikes for the ridiculous reason that they don't fit your very specific living situation like what kind of housing you have, which floor you live on and how many bags you're prepared to carry. Other people have different living situations, and e-bikes suit them. It's not a mystery.

[deleted]

Re: First 100 miles on my E-Bike

#210

For the author, I'm really curious about the section "Economics of owning an E-Bike relative to car". Would you mind sharing your rough math on how you came to those numbers? The IRS rate for expensing milage is $0.54/mile which (in theory) is supposed to cover standard maintenance and fuel. However mostly it just seems really high for the bike to be $0.14/mile. My back of the envelope calculation for electricity cos…

I think he gets to that $0.14/mile by including the cost of the complete bike (assuming 500 charge cycles of the battery, which at 30 miles/charge should last him about 4 years with a 15 mile commute).

Over those 4 years, he'll ride 15 miles/day * 253 working days/year, or 4000 miles/year, or 16000 miles.

So.... $1400 / 16000 = $.09/mile

He also included maintenance, so if he spends $200/year in maintenance (not unreasonable if he takes it to a bike shop for maintenance), that gets him up to $0.14/mile.

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