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Electric bike, stupid love of my life

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Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#311

Post by starkparker »

globular-toast wrote: post #163
rcpt wrote: post #126

Greatest thing about bikes, and this still applies to ebikes, is that you actually experience and participate in the city you live in. You learn the small roads, you see other people and they see you, you spot tiny businesses and interesting parks. I lived in Los Angeles without a car for a few years. I often met people who lived here much longer but knew almost nothing about the local area despite having intimate kn…

I know people who can't get around without a car with GPS navigation. They do not know the way to the shops or their friends' houses. It's interesting to me that road rage is non-existent between cyclists and pedestrians. It seems to be a manifestation of the frustration of being reduced to a metal box with a monotone horn, a couple of lights and the ability to go forwards and backwards. On a bike you're still a pers…

As a novice cyclist I've been the target of angry exchanges with other cyclists on urban bikeways where pedestrians and cars are prohibited, because I go too slow, or get spooked by someone passing too close, or because someone cuts me off. It's not utopia, humans are still involved.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#312

Post by desas »

sandworm101 wrote: post #259
swader999 wrote: post #6

E bikes really are the best form of travel. The only issue is how do you get rid of that ridiculous looking grin on your face. You just had a huge rush, got a bit of exercise, paid nothing for parking, eight pennies for 'gas', and beat all your co-workers who were stuck in traffic. The grin is real and not a good look professionally at the office when commuting. Thanks ebikes.ca, endless sphere forums and Sheldon Bro…

The smile of a totally able-bodied person living in a temperate climate heading to a job that doesnt require them to haul much more than thier own bodyweight to work. Not everyone can physically ride a bike. Not everyone lives in sunny california. Not everyone has the luxury of a single-location office job a few miles from home. Workmen drive pickup trucks for reasons. There was so much smoke at my work on thursday (…

Not everyone can drive a car either. No-one is making the point that there has to be one method of transport to rule them all.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#313

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

pmg102 wrote: post #184
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an interesting problem here in Bristol where a couple had improvised an e-cargo bike locking solution on the side of the road using a couple of planters. Unfortunately, the council aren't happy about it and are threatening to remove them. Seems like parking spaces are unfairly prioritising cars or at least aren't flexible in providing locking points for e-bikes. Bristol City Council do have a scheme for bike…

I'm generally pro-cycling but I found this story curious. No-one can reserve spots outside their house, for a car or any other purpose. So it seemed they were arguing not for parity with car users, which I would unquestionably support, but for special treatment? Although I don't really understand why you can't reserve/pay for the spot outside your own house, for a vehicle OR a bike, which would seem to me a solution…

Yeah, it's a tricky one as people shouldn't be able to reserve spaces outside their house on a public road, but they're only wanting to do that because there aren't any facilities to lock a cargo bike to. I think a series of simple metal hoops installed on the pavement (sidewalk?) next to the road would provide a decent solution and would also prevent drivers parking cars on the pavements which is very common with our narrow roads. It's in our interest to make it easier and more convenient to get people to replace car journeys with bike journeys and cargo bikes fill a very useful niche for transporting kids and other stuff around.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#314

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

chriswarbo wrote: post #220
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Cycle-to-Work scheme as I remember it is problematic in that you're not buying the bike, but virtually leasing it from your employer for a period of time (1 year?) and you hope that your employer will give the bike to you at the end of that period. The problems are that your employer might not want the extra hassle involved of potentially owning unwanted bikes (my employer has no interest in the scheme) and also…

> The Cycle-to-Work scheme as I remember it is problematic in that you're not buying the bike, but virtually leasing it from your employer for a period of time (1 year?) That's just a technicality, I assume to make it comply with other laws about using company money to buy personal items. Payments are deducted from your pre-tax earnings each month, so the saving come from paying less income tax; you can't give the co…

> It varies per employer, e.g. I got one up to £1500. More annoying is that it must cover the full price: e.g. you can't pay £100 cash to get a £1600 ebike (although some sellers may fiddle the price tag to get around this!)

The only time I used cycle-to-work was many years ago, so I might have misremembered. However, I've heard that current schemes tend to just give out vouchers that can be used in certain bike shops (e.g. Halfords) on bikes and bike accessories and can be used in part payment for bikes. To be honest, increasing the price limit only really helps people who already committed cyclists, so maybe it's at a fair level.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#316

Post by wildekek »

sleepybrett wrote: post #190
wildekek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The problem being now you are lugging around a 10lbs battery, I guess if you are just locking up at the office that's ok. But I wouldn't want to lock up on a market street and then lug an extra 10lbs around with me while I shop.

Very true, this can be a nuisance. Most of the times I plop it in my backpack (which I always carry). When at a bar or restaurant this is fine, but walking with it is certainly not ideal.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#317

Post by DANmode »

mulmen wrote: post #130
Rnonymous wrote: post #5

Coincidentally, this past week, VanMoof, the X3 discussed in the article, closed all stores and are on the edge of bankruptcy, with a lot of media attention in the Netherlands. Beautiful smart bikes, but the quality of components is horrible.

Yeah very disappointing. I'm e-bike curious but they're all so _ugly_. Something with VanMoof style and a "dumb" drive system would be perfect. Give me a conventional derailleur-and-cassette in the back and an electric drive up front without screaming "this is an e-bike!" in my face and I would be the first in line.

I've already commented about it in the past, so I guess I won't worry about outing myself again: Aventure.2 looks sexy enough for me!

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#318

Post by hoerensagen »

rpozarickij wrote: post #256
readingistuff wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric bicycles are actually more efficient than bicycles (which are themselves more efficient than walking). The combination of human power and electric assist uses less total energy than human power alone!

I wonder how is it possible to use less total energy? If you need to apply an amount of energy to travel a given distance, the amount can't be that different whether the energy comes from muscles or from an electric motor (or a combination of both). These are different sources of energy, but it's still energy. I'd imagine the movement of the legs while pedalling would affect the aerodynamics, but is there something e…

I would imagine that the efficiency of a human peddling depends on the speed. So maybe it's more efficient if the motor does most of the work to get you up to speed?

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#319

Post by dharma1 »

carabiner wrote: post #207

What are people's experiences with folding e-bikes? I'm most interested in the Gocycle, but it costs as much as a used car. This Siggi https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/siggi-unfold-everyday-lif... looks great and only weighs 13 kg but has all the risks of a crowdfunding project (massive delays and initial quality issues). It's the first I've seen with regenerative braking, and you can pedal backwards to charge it.

I test rode a folding Brompton e-bike in London and am tempted. I heard they are working on a version with slightly larger wheels which would be great, but no word on launch date - could be a while.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#320

Post by xutopia »

namdnay wrote: post #151
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…

Now that Decathlon are flooding the market with reliable sub 1k ebikes, second hand prices have also lowered and it’s not hard to pick up a reasonable one for 700-800 eur Having a motor also means saddlebags and hence the possibility of using a motorbike chain

I haven't seen any at the Decathlons in Canada. Can't wait for them to be available here as well.
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