e-bike story opening in Clarendon

[NicDiesel]

@jabberwocky 62179 wrote:

I agree that I’d much rather see people on e-bikes than in cars. I think a lot of the pushback is from purists, who feel if you aren’t doing all the work yourself you shouldn’t be doing it at all, but that seems silly given that we want people to see bikes as vehicles and transportation devices as well as recreation. If riding an e-bike is what gets you out of a car and onto a bike, I think thats awesome.

Dude, if riding mutant bears or being pulled by a fleet of mega cats gets people out of their rolling coffins and us away from the current clog highway and road system I’m all for it. My comments before aren’t about in the “but dude, it’s not TRUE effortz. Pedal pounding or you’re a poseur” vein – I just don’t see something with a (current) high price tag catching on outside of a small cult of converts. I’m also of the mind of anything motorized having a high probability of turning the rider into a two wheeled needledick instead of the usual four wheeled intro level luxury vehicle four wheeled version.

[jabberwocky]

@NicDiesel 62191 wrote:

Dude, if riding mutant bears or being pulled by a fleet of mega cats gets people out of their rolling coffins and us away from the current clog highway and road system I’m all for it. My comments before aren’t about in the “but dude, it’s not TRUE effortz. Pedal pounding or you’re a poseur” vein – I just don’t see something with a (current) high price tag catching on outside of a small cult of converts. I’m also of the mind of anything motorized having a high probability of turning the rider into a two wheeled needledick instead of the usual four wheeled intro level luxury vehicle four wheeled version.

Heh. Fair enough. The thing is, the prices are not that unreasonable already (a decent e-bike can be had for about what a mid-range carbon road bike costs, and plenty of people have those things on the trails) and the price of the tech is dropping steadily. Hell, Walmart sells a couple e-bikes for under a grand at this point.

[NicDiesel]

@jabberwocky 62195 wrote:

Heh. Fair enough. The thing is, the prices are not that unreasonable already (a decent e-bike can be had for about what a mid-range carbon road bike costs, and plenty of people have those things on the trails) and the price of the tech is dropping steadily. Hell, Walmart sells a couple e-bikes for under a grand at this point.

I think you’re getting the cult confused with the common. People rolling around on Cervelo R3s aren’t the same people that would get into cycling if not for the, understandable, high intro fee.

[vvill]

@NicDiesel 62182 wrote:

Folding bikes I could definitely see getting people out of cars and away from four wheeled transportation; eBikes I just can’t see having a serious impact. A lot of that has to do with price.

This seems odd to me. Folding bikes?! Harsher ride, heavier, more proprietary/less common parts, and generally not as well suited to larger or heavier riders.

[DismalScientist]

Well, I don’t see the “need” for bikes made of aluminum, crabon and a those other fancy materials. And multiple gears? Overkill! Coasting? Overrated.

Rule #5!:rolleyes:

[jnva]

@NicDiesel 62182 wrote:

I don’t see me ever wanting one but I could definitely see some folks finding them useful. Having said that, I don’t really see it as a way to get people out of cars the way that some of you do, though I can see why you would think that. Folding bikes I could definitely see getting people out of cars and away from four wheeled transportation; eBikes I just can’t see having a serious impact. A lot of that has to do with price.

I went from bike commuting twice a week to 5 days a week because of the ebike. I never get stuck in traffic, so I really don’t care if people honk at me, what I don’t understand is why the hate from other cyclists? I consider myself one of you! Don’t hate on me!

[mstone]

@vvill 62199 wrote:

This seems odd to me. Folding bikes?! Harsher ride, heavier, more proprietary/less common parts, and generally not as well suited to larger or heavier riders.

I’d love to have a folding bike, it would be useful in a lot of circumstances (much more practical to toss in the back of a car, take on vacation, bring inside, bring on train, etc). Not quite enough to justify the current price tag, but that’s something that’s a solvable problem. (Also, s-1)

[NicDiesel]

@vvill 62199 wrote:

This seems odd to me. Folding bikes?! Harsher ride, heavier, more proprietary/less common parts, and generally not as well suited to larger or heavier riders.

You can take a folding bike on the VRE.

[NicDiesel]

@jnva 62201 wrote:

I went from bike commuting twice a week to 5 days a week because of the ebike. I never get stuck in traffic, so I really don’t care if people honk at me, what I don’t understand is why the hate from other cyclists? I consider myself one of you! Don’t hate on me!

Dude, nobody is hating on you. One can have a dissenting opinion (informed or otherwise) on something that you’re involved in and not have an opinion on you. Like I said, if you managed to train a six pack of Maine Coons to transport you around and that made you happy and kept you from getting behind the wheel of a rolling steel coffin I’m all for it. I mean, I don’t get the appeal of fat bikes but they’ve certainly got their fans.

[dasgeh]

I see a lot of misconceptions in the above posts. Mass produced eBikes aren’t faster than carbon. The motor really helps at the low end.

The data from Europe and SF is showing that ebikes are getting new riders out on bikes and others to bike more.

You can get an ebike from Woot for $350 every so often.

Liability can happen at the manufacturer level. All mass-producing manufacturers are producing to the federal standards. So while it’s possible that 50mph+ ebikes become mass produced, the fact is they aren’t. And ebikes aren’t new.

On speed: ebikes don’t offer any more protection for the rider, so, just as with regular bikes, the ebike rider has every incentive not to crash. That (and the price tag) are probably why super fast ebikes won’t become popular — who would want to speed along at 30mph without protection? I’m not the only one who brakes on steep downhills. So the physics (and price) are against the threat of the SUPER FAST ELECTRIC BIKES TAKING OVER THE TRAILS. The reality is that ebikes (that meet the federal statute), which are really quite slow, will start to be more common and will put more butts on bikes more often.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jnva 62201 wrote:

I went from bike commuting twice a week to 5 days a week because of the ebike. I never get stuck in traffic, so I really don’t care if people honk at me, what I don’t understand is why the hate from other cyclists? I consider myself one of you! Don’t hate on me!

No gas engine, no care, as far as I’m concerned. If it travels the same general speed as an unpowered bike and takes up the same space, I really couldn’t care less.

[NicDiesel]

@dasgeh 62214 wrote:

So the physics (and price) are against the threat of the SUPER FAST ELECTRIC BIKES TAKING OVER THE TRAILS.

I don’t think anyone was suggesting eBikes were faster than mid-grade carbon, just that they are currently at similar price points. The trails are already taken over by iZombies, Crazy Ivans, ninja ELITEs, and distracted CaBiers I say let the eBikes take over!

[lordofthemark]

I’m confused. Personally my biggest issues are on hills – I would love something that gave me a power boost on the hills but was so light it didn’t effect the rest of my ride (lets not discuss gearing right now). Sounds though like due to weight, these don’t help on hills – but mainly make it easier to keep going at moderate speeds on flats for longer than some folks would otherwise be capable of?

That could get more folks on bikes, and that would be a GOOD THING, I guess. But it seems like the number of places it would really work well would be limited. (note I’m not even considering getting one because of A. Cost and B. don’t want to be tempted to not keep improving my endurance

[hozn]

Anecdotally, at my ~100-person company I have 3 coworkers that commute by ebike (2 of them do so essentially every day). They used to commute by cars and they have no intent (for various reasons) to commute w/o e-assist. This is more people than commute with regularity on “regular” bikes. This is pure anecdote, I realize, and ebikes are easy here due to in-office bike storage/charging options, but out here in the Reston suburbs where people tend to live even further out west (e.g. Ashburn, Leesburg) it makes a great transportation alternative (ignoring potential trail issues). So in my experience there’s no question that it’s putting more people on bicycles.

[runbike]

@lordofthemark 62220 wrote:

I’m confused. Personally my biggest issues are on hills – I would love something that gave me a power boost on the hills but was so light it didn’t effect the rest of my ride (lets not discuss gearing right now). Sounds though like due to weight, these don’t help on hills – but mainly make it easier to keep going at moderate speeds on flats for longer than some folks would otherwise be capable of?

I think you need to test ride one; they definitely help on the hills. The best way I can describe my e-bikes’ hill climbing ability is that it flattens them. I don’t know about other e-bike users, but hills are where I pretty much do all of my passing. On the flats and downhills I’m only average in terms of speed on the trails. So I do sympathize with those who have been “buzzed” by e-bikes going uphill. From experience, I can easily maintain 13-15 mph up the Rosslyn hill vs. 7-10mph for purely pedal-powered bikes. Personally I always slow down before passing on the uphills, since I know most aren’t expecting to be passed by a bike at greater than 5mph speed difference.

In the past few weeks I’ve actually stopped riding the Custis altogether (except for a short section between W&L HS and Abingdon). Even though it might be a minute or two slower, I prefer to take Key Blvd where my e-bike is more at home and where, on the downhill section at least, I’m able to maintain a pretty constant 25mph. Thanks gravity!

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