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Electric bike, stupid love of my life

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Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#61

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

blamazon wrote: post #7
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

Social researchers have dubbed this phenomenon "motonormativity"[1] and it is remarkably powerful. [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/17/motonormativit...

Also disparagingly known as car-brain.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#62

Post by blisterpeanuts »

blamazon wrote: post #20
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)

Cars once upon a time required a secure storage space for security. Technology improved, comprehensive insurance became a social norm, etc, and now you can just snug it against a curb, hop out of your car and press a button and generally not worry about theft, but if it does happen you're covered. Why can't e-bikes be this way? My answer: they can and are, just not all of them yet.

Car theft, at this point, is mostly a law enforcement issue. A very active, motivated anti-theft team can shut down theft rings and at least keep it down to a dull roar, versus almost total negligence in cities like San Francisco.

I'm particularly fond of theft magnets, very attractive stealable cars equipped with cameras and remote shutdown and a team watching from a distance. Park it at a mall or on some side street, wait for the trap to be sprung, and poof! One less thief on the loose.

Bikes, not so sure. A good U-lock and a plastic-coated cable are a start, but these can be defeated within a minute by a professional.

I just heard on one of the YT China channels that people are indeed taking their batteries with them when they park their bikes, not so much out of fear of common theft, but because the police are empowered to confiscate e-bikes for a variety of infractions and it's almost impossible to get them back.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#63

Post by swader999 »

DaveExeter wrote: post #41
swader999 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solved it by buying crappy police auction bikes, defective power tool battery packs off eBay and cheap hub motors from China. Make the bike look ugly take your home made soldiered pack with you when you park. $1500-4000 depending on how fast and how far you need to go. I can rearrange the packs and there isn't a bike that is faster, but 48 volts at about 50km/hr is the sweet spot for safety and practical commuting. N…

>defective power tool battery packs off eBay They have some good cells and some bad ones?

Yes, I did this 15 years ago with the Dewalt A123 cells. Usually only one cell had failed. Betty you could still do the same.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#64

Post by Renaud »

treprinum wrote: post #46
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)

What prevents anyone from using e.g. embedded Apple tags to monitor their bike whereabouts?

I recently found these tiny Invoxia GPS trackers that use the LORA network to send their whereabouts.

It’s really tiny, like half a stick of gum but lasts weeks between charges. Sends a notification whenever the bike is moved and tracks location when it’s on the move.

Also hidden an Air Tag and added a rear-light that doubles as an alarm when the bike is moved.

Still won’t leave the bike out for the night but feeling a bit better when I’m not around during the day.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#65

Post by acover »

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…

Another solution: use an age limit rather than ban. Motorcycles are dangerous but I'm still allowed to use them.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#66

Post by lostNFound »

js2 wrote: post #50
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…

> E bikes really are the best form of travel Whether an E bike is the best form of travel is going to depend on a lot of factors. It's certainly less flexible than a car. For one person who doesn't need to carry a lot and who lives somewhere that has dedicated bike lanes or can at least safely share the road with cars and where the weather is neither much too cold nor much too hot and there aren't daily thunderstorms…

Surprised no comment in this thread mentioned speed actually, apart from cargo space of course.

In my area traffic is completely quiet. In a car you can go 120km/h in the highways fine, and even almost that in some specific non highway streets.

I always want to get one until I remember:

1. I WFH and “university FH”. Both are >100km from my house for when I rarely need to go.

2. My gym is 15km away and I barely get there in time in my car at the aforementioned speeds. There are no closer ones.

3. My non-e-bike is just my weekend workout (which I love) but if using for workout, e-bike doesn’t make much sense.

4. The only other use case for my car is getting groceries for my entire family or other cargo heavy things.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#67

Post by alsuren »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

> tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes

Cycle to work schemes let you buy a bike before income tax. I'm not sure how that compares to e-car tax breaks though.

All your employer if they have such a scheme.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#68

Post by jeffbee »

acover wrote: post #65
jeffbee wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Another solution: use an age limit rather than ban. Motorcycles are dangerous but I'm still allowed to use them.

The person I saw crash the ebike was a full grown adult woman. She needed training, not more years of life.

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#69

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

alsuren wrote: post #67
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #3

It amazes me how little attention e-bikes are given in terms of reducing traffic, pollution, CO2 etc. The BBC is especially bad at this - they promote lots of articles singing the praises of electric vehicles (i.e. cars) and almost never mention e-bikes as being far better for a lot of use cases. It also grinds my gears that there's tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes. It's almost as if poli…

> tax breaks for getting e-cars and nothing for getting e-bikes Cycle to work schemes let you buy a bike before income tax. I'm not sure how that compares to e-car tax breaks though. All your employer if they have such a scheme.

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 last time that I checked, the tax break was on only the first £1000.

(I'm not looking to buy an e-bike as I'm more of an acoustic cyclist)

Re: Electric bike, stupid love of my life

#70

Post by zimpenfish »

js2 wrote: post #50
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…

> E bikes really are the best form of travel Whether an E bike is the best form of travel is going to depend on a lot of factors. It's certainly less flexible than a car. For one person who doesn't need to carry a lot and who lives somewhere that has dedicated bike lanes or can at least safely share the road with cars and where the weather is neither much too cold nor much too hot and there aren't daily thunderstorms…

I know someone who carries a lot, lives in London (some dedicated bike lanes, not many), the weather is, uh, random at best, and he does the shopping, commutes from SW London to Farringdon, etc. All using an e-bike with detachable cargo trailer.

If I didn't live on the 3rd floor[1], or had bike storage downstairs, I'd get one ASAP.

[1] I need an e-bike for the same reason I can't carry 20kg up 4 flights - my right knee is functionally useless.

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