Oh my god these comments.
You assholes would gatekeep oxygen if a fat person was breathing it next to you.
Shut. Up. Let people have fun.
Only semi-related but: The only people I’ve heard say e-bikes aren’t real bikes are people who don’t own bikes of either kind.
My primary mode of transportation is a bike and IMO not all e-bikes are real bikes.
Pedal-assist sure but if there is a throttle (and pedaling is optional) then I consider it a moped.
Not that I’m opposed to mopeds…
That’s true. We don’t have throttle-controlled bikes here because they are legally considered mofas, but mofas with pedals basically don’t exist here so there’s no overlap.
Most of them that say that to me are superhuman athletes.
There’s no ebike with a hundred mile range, and these guys are doing 24 hour races and cross country tours. So after a short while it just becomes a lead weight in the frame.
Could get longer ranges like that with a battery pack that can be disconnected and swapped, or connect multiple on the bike and switch the cable over when one is low.
Actually seen an electric motorcycle built like that, it can carry 2 batteries if you want a second one but it uses most of your internal storage space.
Nope. I own four real bicycles. Electric motorcycles are not real bicycles.
Can’t argue with the base premise. But here in Toronto it’s the ebike wild West. Where no law is enforced.
Folks are ripping by in the bike lanes on 100lb electric mopeds with throttles and fold away pedals. I’ve seen bikes where the chain is rusted off but the “bike” happily zips past a grandma on dutch bike at 35kph.
Recently the transit commission finally banned ebikes on the subway because they were lighting trains on fire.
All I ask is that ebikes are limited to pedal assist and have a weight limit. But I think the genie is out of the bottle.
Anyway. I’ve got opinions.
Pedal assist and max speed that pedal assist works until (I want to say 18kph, but I might be wrong) is how it works in Japan and it seems to work fairly well. Anything bigger or with a throttle must have a plate and be registered as a moped.
That is roughly the rule in the UK but few people follow it and enforcement is minimal. Plus a lot of people just don’t understand the laws on them in the first place.
It got to be such a problem in the big cities, especially with those rental scooter (as in kickboards or whatever, not actual motorbike-style vehicles), that they cracked down hard. A Chinese tourist even got arrested for using one of those powered suitcase things that exist for running afoul of the law (particularly because it was on a sidewalk).
32kph in Canada (since the post references Toronto) for pedal-assist (level 1) e-bikes.
This makes even the limited / legal ones little fast, but not beyond what a human is capable of.
Unfortunately It’s very easy to de-limit the inexpensive ones or the DIY ones and there’s no checking. :/
I think no one disputes that we need a clear separation of electric bicycles and electric motorcycles and the presence of pedals ain’t enough.
Presumably once that’s sorted out, e-bikes can and should become the norm. They’re the “all ages and abilities” equalizer.
Not sure if that’s even possible here.
It feels like every Uber Eats delivery person is on one of these things.
They are everywhere.
I imagine we could grandfather in existing vehicles somehow, maybe by distributing stickers for existing owners. I dunno.
But it would kill the gig economy here, I feel like the electric motorcycle problem might be here to stay.
I think we should just ban non-assist from the bike lanes and paths. I’m fine with them existing, just not fine with irresponsible people endangering others by cruising at car speeds in pedestrian zones.
wouldn’t it make more sense to just put a proper enforced speed limit on bike paths and pedestrian areas?
Maybe? It depends on what the speed limit is and what enforcement looks like.
I can get up to 20mph (30+ kmh) on my non-assist bite, faster when going downhill, yet most people cruise at 10-15 mph. If we set it too low, it’ll discourage use for regular transportation, like commuting, and if we set it too high, it doesn’t solve the problem.
And for enforcement, there’s no way police will be stationed there, and camera surveillance is difficult, so it’s unlikely to happen.
I just see the whole thing as problematic, so either don’t enforce anything or enforce vehicle types.
Yes, I’m sure they will hire hundreds of bike cops to enforce this, instead of just banning all ebikes.
People need to understand that the emoped crowd is actively harming this micro mobility movement by hiding behind the “ebikes” label. Anyone who gets real value out of responsible pedelec operation should be very upset about this.
All I ask is that ebikes are limited to pedal assist and have a weight limit.
Does the weight limit include the rider? If not, then it doesn’t really help/change anything. There’s no difference between a 30lb bike ridden by a 300lb person and an 80lb bike ridden by a a 250lb person. It’s still 330lbs total in a collision.
I’m personally pro-throttle, even though I rarely use it. Had to stop hard and went halfway over the bars injuring my leg; it was nice to be able to get home when I wasn’t really able to pedal.
Why are your example humans a heavyweight boxer and a sumo wrestler? Wikipedia says the average North American human adult weighs 180lbs.
Worst case scenario. Those are common Max weight ratings for bikes.
My point being, should there be a maximum gross weight restriction? Does it apply to just the bike, or to the rider too, and what about the weight of cargo strapped to the bike? How about a bicycle built for two, does the weight limit double or is it still one bike?
Where are all these ebikes setting the trains in fire. Should be lots of stories about it if it’s always happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10199944/e-bike-fire-ttc-subway-safety-concerns/
🤷
Listen it’s not endemic.
But it has happens.
These motorcycle sized bikes on the subway are pretty obnoxious. They take up a ton of room
every time i see e-bike discourse it’s some of the most inane nonsense i’ve ever read, without fail the people who complain about e-bikes are doing the exact same thing drivers do to cyclists as a whole and somehow they are incapable of self-reflection to realize this.
small electric vehicles are good, being a dick to others on the streets is bad, it’s not fucking rocket science. I don’t give a singular fuck what you’re riding in the bike path so long as it’s small enough, quiet enough, and you go a reasonable speed.
Here in sweden it’s become quite normal to have small electric moped cars (yes that’s how we define them) use the wider bike paths when convenient and like… it’s a slight annoyance at worst, because they’re work vehicles and the drivers know they’re being a bit cheeky by using the bike path and thus they try very hard to be considerate.
This is the most well balanced ebike comment I’ve ever read. You should join my community Facebook trails page, as it’s the most unhinged nonsense you’ve ever read. Ebikes have done everything from molesting and physically assaulting these poor people, to completely decimating their trails and their mental well being. Won’t somebody think of all their hard work!!? (Which PS none of them would even know what a shovel feels like in a hand)
In Europe, ebikes just make pedalling slightly easier (or much easier depending on the level of assist you pick). Assist cuts off past a certain speed, normally around 25 km/h. They’re bicycles designed for use in normal clothes so that you aren’t sweaty on arrival even if you’re going on top of a hill.
Apparently in the US, ebikes are anything with an electric motor and two wheels that doesn’t go too fast, whether you pedal or not.
So it’s two very different approaches. The US lumps what the EU separates in several categories into a single one. Here they would be ebikes, “sports ebikes” (fast, can’t be ridden on general roads) and electric mopeds which are treated more or less the same as gas powered ones. Only the first properly qualify as bicycles.
