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Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#461

Post by vineyardmike »

mikesabbagh wrote: post #413
twodave wrote: post #38

Awesome project Jacques! I saw a comment of yours on an article a day or two ago and was hoping to see this pop up soon. I've found the most difficult thing about riding an e-bike is the other motorists have no idea how to react to you. You're not really a regular bicycle anymore due to your speed, but you're also not a motorcycle that deserves its own lane. I have at least one car turn in front of me almost every tr…

I just discovered electric bikes lately, and started going to the office on an ebike instead of subway!! I then discovered how dangerous this can get especially at the end of the day when my brain is tired! I thought of stop riding bikes, but then chose to have a life insurance instead

> I thought of stop riding bikes, but then chose to have a life insurance instead

This is how i treated cars, but it feels backwards. You're made right after the accident, but you're already dead.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#462

Post by gpm »

m0zg wrote: post #459
rjbwork wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an e-bike and I disagree with your assertions. I'm a fat asthmatic and I have absolutely no problem maintaining 40kph for long stretches of time on my bike. The fastest I've done on it (on a large hill but still) is 42.7MPH (~68Kph). Average cruising speed on flat land can easily be 30-33mph(48-53kph). Not all e-bikes are capable of this, but they are certainly not some kind of rare expensive impossibility - m…

I hope you realize you're one pebble or pavement imperfection away from breaking every bone in your body at those speeds.

At those speeds bikes are incredibly stable. The only way a pebble of pavement imperfection will harm you is if the bicycle fails mechanically (e.g. a wheel folding in on itself).

I'm pretty sure that the risk of being hit by or hitting a vehicle is multiple orders of magnitudes higher. Which isn't exactly better, but let's at least worry about the correct sources of danger.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#463

Post by welder »

licensekey wrote: post #449

What's HN favorite fancy-ish ebike from the likes of VanMoof or Cowboy or something else? I saw one of the bikes sell for as high as $5k which, provided how many very nice-looking alternatives at 50% the cost there are seams unreasonable.

Van Moof is my favorite, because bikes are stolen a lot where I live and Van Moof comes with an alarm and GPS.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#464

Post by tommoor »

mikesabbagh wrote: post #413
twodave wrote: post #38

Awesome project Jacques! I saw a comment of yours on an article a day or two ago and was hoping to see this pop up soon. I've found the most difficult thing about riding an e-bike is the other motorists have no idea how to react to you. You're not really a regular bicycle anymore due to your speed, but you're also not a motorcycle that deserves its own lane. I have at least one car turn in front of me almost every tr…

I just discovered electric bikes lately, and started going to the office on an ebike instead of subway!! I then discovered how dangerous this can get especially at the end of the day when my brain is tired! I thought of stop riding bikes, but then chose to have a life insurance instead

> I then discovered how dangerous this can get

Presumably this has nothing to do with biking and everything to do with other motor vehicles?

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#466

Post by markandrewj »

For anyone interested in e-bikes, that has a do it yourself attitude, I recommend looking at Grin Technologies in Vancouver. I met someone who built their own e-bike this summer while out riding, and he suggested them to me. The founder has a bunch of videos online about e-bike technology that I learned quite a bit from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhuoUrwhIw

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#467

Post by mardifoufs »

jacquesm wrote: post #173
Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've been hacking and building an e-bike without knowing about the largest online forum for exactly that?

Apparently :)

In any case they'll love it there! I'm more onto other energy storage forums, and it's sometimes a bit less active than I'd wish it was but you can get some very good insights from some of the users there. I've avoided quite a few headaches and lesser documented problems with energy management w.r.t liion batteries thanks to those forums.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#468

Post by vineyardmike »

I love the idea of e-bikes and would love to be able to use them and not need a car (which i don't own), but i just don't feel safe using them in US cities... NYC has too much traffic, SF has too many hills, Seattle is too wet.

I wish there was more alt-transit for commuter scale transportation to get around without a car, but the autonomy of not using a bus. Scooters seem promising but they're a pain on the roads (with laws banning use on sidewalks), and i've heard horror stories of how unsafe they were.

I feel like the ideal form factor is a pallet dolly: You have a handle, its wide so its comfortable to stand without balancing, and you can ride in the road confident a car can see you and not run you off.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#469

Post by paulcole »

vineyardmike wrote: post #468

I love the idea of e-bikes and would love to be able to use them and not need a car (which i don't own), but i just don't feel safe using them in US cities... NYC has too much traffic, SF has too many hills, Seattle is too wet. I wish there was more alt-transit for commuter scale transportation to get around without a car, but the autonomy of not using a bus. Scooters seem promising but they're a pain on the roads (w…

You can always come up with a million reasons not to do something. Plenty of people bike safely in NYC, SF, and Seattle.

You don’t have to wish for an alt-transit solution that’s not a bus. Bikes exist. The more people who ride them the safer and more normalized they get.

I’ve bicycled (conservatively) 7,5000 or so urban/downtown miles over the past decade or so in Portland, OR. I get wet, I get sweaty, I get tired, I get into the occasional close call with cars, I get scared.

My biggest tips are: don’t buy a bunch of gear at once. Buy 1 thing at a time once you figure out what you might like. Ride slower, it’s not a race. If you get too scared, pull of the road, walk your bike, and take a break — I still do it even after a decade of riding.

Re: Show HN: Long Range E-Bike

#470

Post by cheeze »

vineyardmike wrote: post #468

I love the idea of e-bikes and would love to be able to use them and not need a car (which i don't own), but i just don't feel safe using them in US cities... NYC has too much traffic, SF has too many hills, Seattle is too wet. I wish there was more alt-transit for commuter scale transportation to get around without a car, but the autonomy of not using a bus. Scooters seem promising but they're a pain on the roads (w…

I used to live in Seattle and a personal scooter is where it's at. Plus, it's impossible to look like more of a dweeb than the tech people riding electric unicycles.

It's great for 8 months of the year at least.

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