What do you think about e-bikes?

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Replies

  • MrsDangermouse
    MrsDangermouse Posts: 6 Member
    thechiopodist wrote: »
    They are great for the elderly or infirm, so they can get out and excersizing, or people who don't have motorised transport who for whatever reason do not use public to get to work. In the UK they are treated as pedal cycles in a legal sense. For young/healthy people they are not necessarily a good thing, as you dont get the benefit of true cycling.
    As a young(ish) healthy person who has a car and access to public transport I totally disagree. Which is better? Easy cycling or no cycling? Any exercise is better than no exercise. To be clear, I'm talking about pedal-assist bikes where any effort you put in is magnified by the motor, not "twist & go" throttle ones which you don't have to pedal.


    I think too many people have a limited view of cycling and see it either as a sport you do for exercise, or as a poor-person's transport because they don't have any other option. I suppose I'm closer to the Dutch and Belgian way of thinking about it....its just another transport option, walk, cycle, bus, tram, drive: all are equally good and have their pros and cons.
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
    I have hjkijovssl19.png
    a scooter. I love it.

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    A lot of people in here are saying these are the answer to hills. It's actually a lot of fun to ride hills on your own power. :smile:
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    A lot of people in here are saying these are the answer to hills. It's actually a lot of fun to ride hills on your own power. :smile:

    I love riding hills on my own power (and I'm actually kind of strong at it)--as long as I get the reward of riding down them afterwards!
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    I'm a bit of a traditionalist and i don't like them. I try to convince myself to be ok with them in my lane, they are better than cars, i mumble under my breath, but...it's not really taking. I mean, clearly, those who ride them not cyclists, so it's a completely different breed of bike riding crowd, not a fan though. And while wee are at this subject of them being in my lane, what's up with runners in my lane? I can understand if there is nothing else, like no sidewalk. But it there's a beautiful sidewalk on both sides of the road and runner takes a bike lane and won't even move to allow me to stay there too, therefore forcing me out into the traffic with impatient and intolerable and often distracted car drivers? What am i missing here?
    *I think my patients is the smallest and thinnest muscle in my body*
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    icemom011 wrote: »
    I'm a bit of a traditionalist and i don't like them. I try to convince myself to be ok with them in my lane, they are better than cars, i mumble under my breath, but...it's not really taking. I mean, clearly, those who ride them not cyclists, so it's a completely different breed of bike riding crowd, not a fan though. And while wee are at this subject of them being in my lane, what's up with runners in my lane? I can understand if there is nothing else, like no sidewalk. But it there's a beautiful sidewalk on both sides of the road and runner takes a bike lane and won't even move to allow me to stay there too, therefore forcing me out into the traffic with impatient and intolerable and often distracted car drivers? What am i missing here?
    *I think my patients is the smallest and thinnest muscle in my body*

    I would disagree with idea that all those riding electric bikes aren't cyclists. I agree that anyone who is riding the motor without putting much work into the peddling is essentially riding a moped and shouldn't be riding in the bike lane, but many riders are only using the motor to boost them up hills they wouldn't be able to ride without the help, and if behaving in an appropriate manner in terms of speed and curtesy I don't have any problem sharing the bike lane with them, personally.

    When it comes to runners, you're not missing anything, in my opinion! I think many prefer the softer landing of the asphalt over the more unforgiving concrete sidewalks, but yeah, they don't belong in the street when they're forcing cyclests to go around them. I'll run in the street through our empty housing tract, but the minute I get to a busy area it's up on the sidewalk - I've had to go around too many oblivious runners on my bike to inflict that on anyone else. It's especially annoying when cycling on an expressway with "no pedestrians" signage, when there's a parallel path or road to use. Having to duck out of the bike lane on an expressway is plain dangerous and leads to savagely negative thoughts :o
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2018
    mph323 wrote: »
    icemom011 wrote: »
    I'm a bit of a traditionalist and i don't like them. I try to convince myself to be ok with them in my lane, they are better than cars, i mumble under my breath, but...it's not really taking. I mean, clearly, those who ride them not cyclists, so it's a completely different breed of bike riding crowd, not a fan though. And while wee are at this subject of them being in my lane, what's up with runners in my lane? I can understand if there is nothing else, like no sidewalk. But it there's a beautiful sidewalk on both sides of the road and runner takes a bike lane and won't even move to allow me to stay there too, therefore forcing me out into the traffic with impatient and intolerable and often distracted car drivers? What am i missing here?
    *I think my patients is the smallest and thinnest muscle in my body*

    I would disagree with idea that all those riding electric bikes aren't cyclists. I agree that anyone who is riding the motor without putting much work into the peddling is essentially riding a moped and shouldn't be riding in the bike lane, but many riders are only using the motor to boost them up hills they wouldn't be able to ride without the help, and if behaving in an appropriate manner in terms of speed and curtesy I don't have any problem sharing the bike lane with them, personally.

    Agree with this.

    On runners (and I'm more a runner than a cyclist, but do both), I really haven't seen it around here -- not when cycling or when driving. We have good sidewalks, though, so I wonder if maybe it's where the sidewalks are not consistent? Like where my parents live there's one on both sides of the road for a while and then one side ends for a while and then it's on the other side, so you'd be crossing back and forth, potentially (which I did when running around there, since the option was running in the road).

    One other possibility, I suppose, is if you are talking about winter. Often I find the biggest impediment to running in the winter is icy sidewalks, NOT the cold. If the bike lanes are cleaned off (as ours often are) and the sidewalks are dangerous, maybe that's why? That said, I wouldn't run in the bike lanes, because I perceive that as dangerous and just not where you are supposed to be. When the sidewalks are icy I go to the path (if it's cleared off) or run indoors.
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    mph323 wrote: »
    icemom011 wrote: »
    I'm a bit of a traditionalist and i don't like them. I try to convince myself to be ok with them in my lane, they are better than cars, i mumble under my breath, but...it's not really taking. I mean, clearly, those who ride them not cyclists, so it's a completely different breed of bike riding crowd, not a fan though. And while wee are at this subject of them being in my lane, what's up with runners in my lane? I can understand if there is nothing else, like no sidewalk. But it there's a beautiful sidewalk on both sides of the road and runner takes a bike lane and won't even move to allow me to stay there too, therefore forcing me out into the traffic with impatient and intolerable and often distracted car drivers? What am i missing here?
    *I think my patients is the smallest and thinnest muscle in my body*

    I would disagree with idea that all those riding electric bikes aren't cyclists. I agree that anyone who is riding the motor without putting much work into the peddling is essentially riding a moped and shouldn't be riding in the bike lane, but many riders are only using the motor to boost them up hills they wouldn't be able to ride without the help, and if behaving in an appropriate manner in terms of speed and curtesy I don't have any problem sharing the bike lane with them, personally.

    Agree with this.

    On runners (and I'm more a runner than a cyclist, but do both), I really haven't seen it around here -- not when cycling or when driving. We have good sidewalks, though, so I wonder if maybe it's where the sidewalks are not consistent? Like where my parents live there's one on both sides of the road for a while and then one side ends for a while and then it's on the other side, so you'd be crossing back and forth, potentially (which I did when running around there, since the option was running in the road).

    One other possibility, I suppose, is if you are talking about winter. Often I find the biggest impediment to running in the winter is icy sidewalks, NOT the cold. If the bike lanes are cleaned off (as ours often are) and the sidewalks are dangerous, maybe that's why? That said, I wouldn't run in the bike lanes, because I perceive that as dangerous and just not where you are supposed to be. When the sidewalks are icy I go to the path (if it's cleared off) or run indoors.

    I'm in the south, so it's always summer here with a few random cold days, but no ice or snow. Just rude people, I'm guessing and ignorant. As mph323 pointed out, it could be that they are seeking asphalt instead of concrete, idk. Also, everything is pretty flat, where i live. So whoever rides ebikes here doesn't have to deal with a lot of hills, and ebike is no different than a moped. Therefore they shouldn't be in the bike lane
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    icemom011 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    mph323 wrote: »
    icemom011 wrote: »
    I'm a bit of a traditionalist and i don't like them. I try to convince myself to be ok with them in my lane, they are better than cars, i mumble under my breath, but...it's not really taking. I mean, clearly, those who ride them not cyclists, so it's a completely different breed of bike riding crowd, not a fan though. And while wee are at this subject of them being in my lane, what's up with runners in my lane? I can understand if there is nothing else, like no sidewalk. But it there's a beautiful sidewalk on both sides of the road and runner takes a bike lane and won't even move to allow me to stay there too, therefore forcing me out into the traffic with impatient and intolerable and often distracted car drivers? What am i missing here?
    *I think my patients is the smallest and thinnest muscle in my body*

    I would disagree with idea that all those riding electric bikes aren't cyclists. I agree that anyone who is riding the motor without putting much work into the peddling is essentially riding a moped and shouldn't be riding in the bike lane, but many riders are only using the motor to boost them up hills they wouldn't be able to ride without the help, and if behaving in an appropriate manner in terms of speed and curtesy I don't have any problem sharing the bike lane with them, personally.

    Agree with this.

    On runners (and I'm more a runner than a cyclist, but do both), I really haven't seen it around here -- not when cycling or when driving. We have good sidewalks, though, so I wonder if maybe it's where the sidewalks are not consistent? Like where my parents live there's one on both sides of the road for a while and then one side ends for a while and then it's on the other side, so you'd be crossing back and forth, potentially (which I did when running around there, since the option was running in the road).

    One other possibility, I suppose, is if you are talking about winter. Often I find the biggest impediment to running in the winter is icy sidewalks, NOT the cold. If the bike lanes are cleaned off (as ours often are) and the sidewalks are dangerous, maybe that's why? That said, I wouldn't run in the bike lanes, because I perceive that as dangerous and just not where you are supposed to be. When the sidewalks are icy I go to the path (if it's cleared off) or run indoors.

    I'm in the south, so it's always summer here with a few random cold days, but no ice or snow. Just rude people, I'm guessing and ignorant. As mph323 pointed out, it could be that they are seeking asphalt instead of concrete, idk. Also, everything is pretty flat, where i live. So whoever rides ebikes here doesn't have to deal with a lot of hills, and ebike is no different than a moped. Therefore they shouldn't be in the bike lane

    I live in New England. Not spending a lot of time outside doing anything right now, but I am a runner and a cyclist. The policy in our town is "share the roads"--cars, bikes, and pedestrians/runners--the speed limit on most of the roads is under 40 mph. We have limited sidewalks, but they are not well-maintained (even in the summer time) so I run on the roadside. Additionally we only have sidewalks on one side of the road, so it means making extra crossings (without crosswalks) to get there. Anyways... Runners should be running against traffic while cyclists ride with traffic--the time spent passing should just be a brief moment.
  • cryonic_273
    cryonic_273 Posts: 81 Member
    In the UK they are speed regulated to 15mph at which point the assist cuts out.

    Untill i lost weight I was struggling with my commute to work and was either going to stop cycling or buy an ebike to make the hills less of a strain on my bad knee.

    In the end hummed and hawed about the expense and lost 20kg instead.
    Im cycling every day again , but i still have niggling knee problems and at some point will buy one.
    That point will be when knee strain makes the cycling uphill parts of my route too painful.

    I regularly talk to one gentleman at work who has a worse knee issues who has rediscovered cycling after buying an ebike.

    So for the older or infirm, or for Mountainbikers who want the assist for getting uphil - it makes cycling accessible again.

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