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Reflections on E-Bikes

ebikes.neighbor-ryan.org

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Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#81

Post by oliwarner »

unicornporn wrote: post #77
icameron wrote: post #18

I am an amateur e-biker. Luckily I live in a city with bikeshare so I don’t have to own one, I just rent it for my commute. 5 miles each way. It takes half the time as public transit used to. Before the bike share I would waste at least 90 minutes a day waiting for and commuting on public transit. Now it’s no more than 24 minutes door to door each way. I get mild exercise, and it’s fun! I still own a non e-bike (fat…

> Today I got cursed out by a spandexed “real biker” as I passed by with my electric whirrrr. So, a motorbike a passes a human powered vehicle? That should come as no surprise to neither of you. :) To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.…

> I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do

Sweat. I do 2km twice a day for the school run in my unassisted mtb. On anything but a cold day, I work up a mild sweat. I wouldn't want to arrive at work in the state I get back in on a warm day.

Many commuters don't want to get "proper exercise" on the way to work. Hard enough getting secure bike storage, let alone a shower.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#82

Post by dagw »

unicornporn wrote: post #77
icameron wrote: post #18

I am an amateur e-biker. Luckily I live in a city with bikeshare so I don’t have to own one, I just rent it for my commute. 5 miles each way. It takes half the time as public transit used to. Before the bike share I would waste at least 90 minutes a day waiting for and commuting on public transit. Now it’s no more than 24 minutes door to door each way. I get mild exercise, and it’s fun! I still own a non e-bike (fat…

> Today I got cursed out by a spandexed “real biker” as I passed by with my electric whirrrr. So, a motorbike a passes a human powered vehicle? That should come as no surprise to neither of you. :) To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.…

You'd add 5 minutes off your ride and get some proper exercise.

But I don't want "proper exercise" to be a part of my commute. I want to get to work or to a client quickly, efficiently and with a minimum of effort. I absolutely do not want to sweat through my shirt or arrive at a meeting in need of shower.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#83

Post by bryanlarsen »

mgraczyk wrote: post #45
chrisfosterelli wrote: post #28

> Previously, you had to be a serious cyclist to access this speed (and corresponding ability to simply exist on car-dominated roads), but now almost everyone can. Wow, interesting that they frame this as a positive. I'm a general advocate for e-bikes but this has been the absolute biggest drawback I've noticed with them: e-bike riders suddenly get all of the speed of a very fit cyclist but absolutely none of the roa…

Just meeting anecdote with anecdote, but in my experience the overwhelming majority of accidents and near accidents with bicycles happen because either a driver isn't paying attention, or the bicyclist intentionally cuts in front of traffic to get hit or fuck with people (San Francisco). E-bikes make the first case safer because, as described in the article, the faster you go the more time the driver has to notice yo…

The vast majority of accidents happen at intersections. At an intersection the faster you go the less time somebody in the cross direction has to see you, so speed makes you much less safe.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#84

Post by allo37 »

unicornporn wrote: post #77
icameron wrote: post #18

I am an amateur e-biker. Luckily I live in a city with bikeshare so I don’t have to own one, I just rent it for my commute. 5 miles each way. It takes half the time as public transit used to. Before the bike share I would waste at least 90 minutes a day waiting for and commuting on public transit. Now it’s no more than 24 minutes door to door each way. I get mild exercise, and it’s fun! I still own a non e-bike (fat…

> Today I got cursed out by a spandexed “real biker” as I passed by with my electric whirrrr. So, a motorbike a passes a human powered vehicle? That should come as no surprise to neither of you. :) To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.…

> To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do.

Snow =D I live in Canada and we have quite a bit of snow and ice on the roads in the winter. I'm currently waiting for an electric fat-tire bike (RadRover 6) which should allow me to ride to work without getting soaked in sweat.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#85

Post by dlisboa »

unicornporn wrote: post #77
icameron wrote: post #18

I am an amateur e-biker. Luckily I live in a city with bikeshare so I don’t have to own one, I just rent it for my commute. 5 miles each way. It takes half the time as public transit used to. Before the bike share I would waste at least 90 minutes a day waiting for and commuting on public transit. Now it’s no more than 24 minutes door to door each way. I get mild exercise, and it’s fun! I still own a non e-bike (fat…

> Today I got cursed out by a spandexed “real biker” as I passed by with my electric whirrrr. So, a motorbike a passes a human powered vehicle? That should come as no surprise to neither of you. :) To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.…

> To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.

I think most people in the North America and Europe live in cities that are so flat biking is just like walking faster. Maybe that's where your frame of mind comes from.

Where I live the hills are so steep that it's impossible to bike them solely human-powered unless you're an actual athlete. And even the more modest inclines will make a regular person give up on the thought of biking since it'd be a workout.

E-bikes are awesome for this, as they make tough inclines much easier.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#86

Post by chapium »

blowski wrote: post #73
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ride around in the gutter then you will get cars squeezing you all day long. Taking your position in the road is absolutely the right thing to do.

This sense of self-righteousness helps nobody. It creates a phoney war between different types of road user, as opposed to looking for ways we can coexist peacefully.

Forcing a full lane pass is necessary when many drivers will not change their lane position when riding on the side. I wouldn’t do this on all streets, but when I’m on a problematic one I self righteously decide I’m not dying that day.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#87

Post by masklinn »

unicornporn wrote: post #77
icameron wrote: post #18

I am an amateur e-biker. Luckily I live in a city with bikeshare so I don’t have to own one, I just rent it for my commute. 5 miles each way. It takes half the time as public transit used to. Before the bike share I would waste at least 90 minutes a day waiting for and commuting on public transit. Now it’s no more than 24 minutes door to door each way. I get mild exercise, and it’s fun! I still own a non e-bike (fat…

> Today I got cursed out by a spandexed “real biker” as I passed by with my electric whirrrr. So, a motorbike a passes a human powered vehicle? That should come as no surprise to neither of you. :) To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike.…

> To be honest, I don't get the appeal of e-bikes for the type of riding you do. Getting up to 15 MPH when you're riding for 8 km in a city when stopping for lights should be no problem without disabilities on a decent bike. An 8 km ride takes 20 minutes at 15 MPH. At 20 MPH it's 15 minutes. You'd add 5 minutes off your ride and get some proper exercise.

Morning commute is not a moment where I have any interest in exercise, arriving sweaty at work, needing to always carry multiple sets of clothes, ...

I'd rather see it like the dutch, the bike is a tool for moving from A to B. If you want to do this while exercising more power to you, that's not my jam.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#88

Post by masklinn »

Gigachad wrote: post #2

IMO, the number one hurdle for ebikes is theft. The things cost a decent chunk of money and there is basically no way to secure them properly. I have owned an ebike and it's such a fun way to get around, but I quickly sold it because I was in constant fear of it being stolen. And shortly after, one of my cheap non ebikes was stolen while locked inside my apartments bike storage area. I think electric scooters might h…

> I have owned an ebike and it's such a fun way to get around, but I quickly sold it because I was in constant fear of it being stolen.

A foldable / small form factor bike seems like a good mitigation factor, and also helps when moving the bike around (e.g. on public transports).

With regular bikes it's way more of a tradeoff because the smaller wheels tend to lower top speed or increase effort a lot, but an ebike compensates for that.

The big issue is an SFF/foldable bike is way more expensive than a regular, and when you add ebike on top it gets into pretty ridiculous ranges.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#89

Post by LeonidasXIV »

I appreciate the fact that e-bikes are bringing biking to the masses. I really do. But from this post I also read a lot of coping, because your cycling infrastructure is bad. Like the speed argument is completely bogus if you wouldn't need to cycle next to cars that are going that fast. If you had separated bike lanes, maybe not even attached to streets. Proper bike infrastructure is what gets people to bike, e-bikes get more people to bike.

So yes, it is absolutely great that more people are on the road on an e-bike, now more people can demand their taxes to be invested in proper bike infrastructure helping both e-bike and regular bike riders.

Re: Reflections on E-Bikes

#90

Post by masklinn »

blowski wrote: post #73
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ride around in the gutter then you will get cars squeezing you all day long. Taking your position in the road is absolutely the right thing to do.

This sense of self-righteousness helps nobody. It creates a phoney war between different types of road user, as opposed to looking for ways we can coexist peacefully.

> This sense of self-righteousness

It's not a sense of self-righteousness, what they're describing is the recommendation of most cycling groups and association and is entirely about safety.

The sense of self-righteousness is entirely on your side of the network.

> as opposed to looking for ways we can coexist peacefully.

Being squeezed into the gutter with cars zooming by at twice your speed a hand's breadth away is not peaceful coexistence. What you're doing is tantamount to suicide suggestions.

The actual way for "peaceful coexistence" is well-known: grade-separated independent infrastructure (which, to nobody's surprise, is how the netherlands do it all over). Any interaction is a risk except in very low-speed areas (20mph and below). There's a reason why intersections are where most accidents happen.

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