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Electric bike, stupid love of my life

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Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#331

Post by shrimpx »

acdha wrote: post #297
shrimpx wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks!

One other thought: if you’ve ever been annoyed by cargo capacity, flats, etc. e-assist is a great leveler. I stopped worrying about the weight of my lock, heavy duty tires, etc. because I have an e-cargo bike with a kid on it, which is liberating compared to sweating grams on a road bike. (Not that a good road bike isn’t fun but it’s way less practical)

Thanks that is useful. Indeed I worry about cargo weight and sometimes avoid to take things I'd otherwise rather have with me.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#332

Post by type0 »

hoerensagen wrote: post #318
rpozarickij wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

There are different technologies. Cadence Sensors are cheap but only good for long commutes an a bike lane, they don't kick in immediately (less efficient). Torque Sensor is only sensible thing to use in urban settings.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#333

Post by nerdbert »

DonHopkins wrote: post #294
CalRobert wrote: post #110

The single most exciting thing about moving to the Netherlands next month is getting to ride an electric bakfiets with my kids every single day.

You won't be disappointed, and that feeling will not fade. I grew up in the US but live in the Netherlands, and when I see parents riding around with their kids and pets in an electric bakfiets, on bike paths along city and country roads, and on paths through the parks, I am so benevolently jealous of them. The kids always look so delighted, having the time of their lives, and the parents are so healthy and fit! I ca…

I've ridden the Citibikes with the gearless hubs, and I assume they wouldn't install something that breaks down easily, but it's so hard for me to imagine that something like that isn't a maintenance headache waiting to happen.

I do love the experience of using it though.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#334

Post by type0 »

rsynnott wrote: post #310
qwytw wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do e-bikes generally have regenerative breaking? I assumed that given their weight the amount of energy captured would be very low also bikes have very different braking patterns compared to cars (unless maybe if you're going downhill and don't want to go too fast).

Most don't. I can't see how the claim (ebikes are more energy efficient than normal bikes) could possibly be true in any other circumstance, tho.

Some electric skateboard do. I think what's stopping many to use it more generally is that you would need to disengage the system if you want to use your bike without the battery.

More complex braking system might introduce a lot of problems to a bike where that should be a simple thing, probably easier to have extra set of hydraulic brakes in case the battery is dead.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#335

Post by type0 »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #239
0wis wrote: post #56

Remember that bicycle are the most efficient way to move a human, that’s where the Steve Job’s quote « Computers are bicycles for the mind » comes from [1]. This efficiency never stops to amaze me. And an electric bicycle makes it way more convenient while still being quite efficient. I share the love of electric bikes with the author and I am sure that huge progresses in UX and efficiency are it to come in the field…

I'm pretty sure an EUC is way more efficient than any e-bike.

Not by much, unicycles are incredibly unpractical though

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#336

Post by DANmode »

jeffbee wrote: post #44
itsagavin wrote: post #21

Anecdotally it seems like these things are causing a crazy amount of head injuries. I get all the tales from the ICU at the dinner table and if I had kids I don't know if I would even let them hang out with another kid if they had an ebike. They seem super cool and I always stop to watch someone zoom buy but I can't help but notice that a lot of the people on ebikes shouldn't be going that fast and aren't built to ta…

I don’t think this can be ignored. The bulk of ebike injuries to children are coming from throttle-having class 2 bikes and in my view these should simply be outlawed. I’ve seen people crash then who clearly thought they were stopping, but who were holding the throttle. They were riding a motorcycle without motorcycle training. Torque-assist pedal systems are perfectly intuitive to anyone who knows how to ride a regu…

You want to take away people's e-bikes because...there exists a class of people so poorly coordinated that they presumably can't operate any vehicle safely 100% of the time?

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#337

Post by nerdbert »

constantcrying wrote: post #278
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…

There is nothing worse than using a bike in a dense city. I love cycling, but the moment you are confronted with high concentrations of pedestrians and cars it quickly gets unbearable and unreasonably dangerous. Not to mention that it is impossible for some people, 1:30 with a train, 45 minutes with a car and about 3 hours with a bike, makes thr choice rather obvious.

There are few things in the world that I love more than riding a bike in a seriously dense megacity. Zipping past everyone is such an exhilarating feeling. Everywhere I go I rent a bike.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#338

Post by DANmode »

jeffbee wrote: post #143
dghlsakjg wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike a motorcycle, if you engage the brake on an ebike, the motor is completely disabled in every model I’ve ever seen. You can hold the throttle wide open, and it won’t matter if any amount of brake is applied. E-bikes just aren’t that dangerous, especially compared to a full power motor vehicle. I suspect that the bulk of injuries to children on e-bikes are happening in throttle models because those are cheaper m…

Rad brand bikes with hydraulic brakes do not integrate the brake lever with the motor controller. Even on the ones you mention, that integrate the brake and motor controller, it’s still possible to come to a stop, release the brake lever, and then take off unintentionally into cross traffic because you were holding the throttle open the entire time. It’s a bad interface. Total agreement on the other part but the inju…

> you were holding the throttle open the entire time

Imagine the equivalent argument for cars.

Are you, and this argument, the reason so many newer and/or electric vehicles don't have "idle creep"?

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#339

Post by nerdbert »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #149
kjkjadksj wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bike theft is solved the same way car theft is solved. You merely insure the bike.

That works if bike theft is a rare condition that strikes a few unlucky people. But if bike theft is really a chronic problem, insurance can't possibly cost less than buying a new bike every time it's stolen. Otherwise the insurance company would lose money.

Bike theft is a fairly big thing here in Amsterdam but insurance is easy to get and affordable. For more expensive bikes they insist on certain types of locks, etc., and it's possible that simply following those requirements is enough to make insured bikes less of a target than uninsured, on average.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#340

Post by type0 »

wpietri wrote: post #91
bluescrn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

A big reason cars don't require secure storage is better policing. Here in San Francisco there's been a lot of talk about how the SFPD these days isn't taking theft from cars and theft of catalytic converters very seriously. They aren't wrong; the SFPD seems pretty slack to me. But what they're missing is that the SFPD has always been like this for bicycles . A while back I had only locked my front wheel and my frame…

> theft of catalytic converters very seriously

Cops don't care about it, virtually nowhere in the World

The same goes for bikes in most cities. Strangely enough they seem to care about theft of jewellery more, even if a bike is more expensive.

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