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The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

nytimes.com

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Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#551

Post by cptskippy »

mulmen wrote: post #440
cptskippy wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Super73 as an example is like complaining about how fast cars are and citing the Tesla Plaid or a Lamborghini Aventador as an everyday example. Super73 bikes are premium bikes that start at $1500 and can easily top $5000 with accessories. The highend RX cost $3500 base, has 750w motor that boost up to 1200w with an almost 1000 watt hour battery. Compare that to something reasonable like the RadPower Radmission…

I don’t see any Lamborghinis on the bike path. I do see Super73s every day though.

I'm equating a Super73 on the bike path to a Lamborghini on the road. They aren't the norm and you don't sink the whole field because you don't like one bad actor.

Many ebikes are completely unassuming and you don't even realize they are battery powered.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#552

Post by motioncuty »

mcny wrote: post #434
richiebful1 wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't generalize to most cities though. In my Rust Belt city, the government has put a lot of effort into making cycling safer on the road. The people cycling from one neighborhood to the next are a diverse bunch. Kids are using cheap hand-me-down bikes to go to school. College kids are commuting to campus. Adults of all ages are riding to work at a service job or downtown office. What it took was a focus on g…

» What it took was a focus on good quality bike lanes outside the affluent white neighborhoods, bike accessibility at transit stations/on busses, and expansion of bikeshare to poorer neighborhoods. I've never been to Chattanooga, TN but once I realized I can work from home I've been curious about owning a home somewhere with gigabit fiber but without ridiculously expensive real estate within commuting distance to a C…

Longmonts costco is in superior, not too far. Its pretty nice.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#553

Post by rahen »

Maarten88 wrote: post #235
nradov wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a nice ideal but it's just not realistic in most existing built up areas. There's literally not enough space for three separate networks without knocking down existing buildings and buying a lot of land through eminent domain. Let's focus on what can actually be achieved with realistic levels of funding.

A bike lane can carry more people than a car lane. Especially in the US there is plenty of space you can take away from cars, both lanes and parking. The Netherlands did not knock down and rebuild Amsterdam to build bike paths. They took space back from cars.

This also scales well with size, so you will see that with NYC, Paris, Tokyo and most large "world cities".

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#554

Post by Johnny555 »

joshuaissac wrote: post #490
tomcooks wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fail to find the connection between speed and safety, especially from a completely unshielded pilot point of view. It's not a bike's job to maintain safety and traffic speed, but the opposite.

> It's not a bike's job to maintain safety and traffic speed, but the opposite. It does not matter whose job it is. If increasing speed improves safety for the cyclist, in this case by reducing the incentive for car drivers to overtake, then a good number of cyclists will do it.

I'd like to see the proof that increasing speed improves safety for the cyclist.

There's no road I commute on (including 25 mph city streets) where a 30mph bike would keep up with traffic, riding a skinny tire 40 lb bike at 30mph in the road shoulder that passes for bike lanes around here sounds hazardous.

If I wanted to keep up with car traffic so I can ride in the road, I'd get an e-scooter or e-motorcycle that's designed for higher speed. But then I couldn't ride in bike lanes.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#555

Post by Johnny555 »

jdavis703 wrote: post #361
jay_kyburz wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen it in the comments yet, but it will only be a matter of time before these ebikes will need to be registered, have a number plate, and can receive speeding tickets. Right now there is no way to identify a speeding bicycle, no matter how fast its going. You could be doing 50 in a 40 zone and there is no way to issue a fine.

Bikes are frequently pulled over for speeding. I don’t know where you live, but cops like to set up bicycle stings at the bottom of hills in the Bay Area. Not to mention giving out tickets for things like missing bike bells. Oh, and if you don’t register your bike with the police good luck having them help with recovery.

I have a friend that got a speeding ticket on the back side of the Marin Headlands - it was a moving violation, he went to driving school to keep it off his record.

Where in the Bay Area are bells required? I've never heard of police there ever enforcing equipment requirements, not even lights at night.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#556

Post by mint2 »

blunte wrote: post #268

Not a criticism of e-bikes, but I discovered an unexpected danger related to e-bikes which was much less an issue with traditional bikes: when driving a car, it's now much more difficult to judge how much time you need to pass a bike. I would say without hyperbole that it's much more dangerous now, to the cars and the bikes. I currently live in a Dutch village, so bikes and cars share rather narrow roads. The roads a…

Do you mean it only takes the Tesla a very short time to close the gap between it and the car upfront? If so, won’t passing make one stuck behind the next car? What’s the point? To leave less of a gap between the car than the Tesla was doing or to continually pass all the cars?

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#557

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Symbiote wrote: post #504
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TN is a tax haven state. You're not going to get polished municipal services and infrastructure. Western New York has cheap housing and older, 150+ year old urbanization that doesn't suffer as much from 20th century shortsightedness.

How are sidewalks "polish"? In most of the world, they're the default thing - before a roadway suitable for cars, before piped water, before sewers, before electricity.

They are not a default thing anywhere in America that developed after WW2. Most car centric places dispense with them as an "unnecessary" cost or, where they do exist, they're disconnected decoration with limited utility.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#558

Post by pmontra »

namdnay wrote: post #522
pmontra wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Italy. It means that a ciclyst on an ebike can outperform a group of friends with normal bikes on an slope but can't stay with them on the way back home and they'll have to wait. I experienced that and it's not nice. The two types of bikes mix well only in low intensity sightseeing rides.

well, only if the friends are keen cyclists with road bikes. no commuter in shirt and trousers with saddlebags for the laptop etc is going to be running at more than 25kmh

Of course. We were slowly pedaling uphill with road bikes and our friend was speeding in front of us. But we had to wait on the way back home because we could do easily 30 km/h on the last 20 km (completely flat) and his engine cut off at 25.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#559

Post by burkaman »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #375
burkaman wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you think people under the age of 16 should get around? For some examples, if they want to go to a friend's house a mile or two away, or from their home to a train station, or to the supermarket.

They should ride on dedicated bike paths or the sidewalk.

I mean I agree with you in that I kind of hate cars and wish I could use bike paths and public transit to get everywhere, but quite a substantial portion of the world has either no sidewalks where they live, or sidewalks like NYC or Tokyo that are so busy they are impossible to bike on.

Re: The popularity of e-bikes isn’t slowing down

#560

Post by atleta »

Steltek wrote: post #160
UnFleshedOne wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speed limits is how it is usually done -- cars can all go much faster than most roads allow for and we are mostly fine. Set speed limits and mercilessly fine serious violations, and the problem goes away as far as it will ever be.

Speed limits are effective? Serious enforcement? Surely you must be kidding. Speed limits are a joke everywhere, even school zones during drop off times. Any reasonable speed limit for a shared use bike path (IMO, <15mph) will be routinely ignored by both e-bikes and roadies.

Actually there should be speed limits for shared paths even without ebikes. Here (Hungary, EU), I think it's 20kph (12.5mph). Even that is too fast to hit someone, but of course, the point is that you'll have more time to slow down and react.

I'd say they are somewhat effective. I don't ride much on shared paths, but when I do, I usually see people not going full speed. After all, unlike with a car, it's also dangerous for the biker. The only concern might be that you may experience speed differently on an ebike/pedelec since you have to put in less effort. I've never tried those so I have no idea.

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