e-Bikes – Let’s talk

[eBikeDude]

I see a number of pros and cons to e-bikes, and I’d like to get a conversation going on that topic. Any other e-Bike users out there? What do you like about it? Anyone with concerns about e-Bikes? Let’s hear from you too! Please be nice, though!

Topic

[sjclaeys]

@AFHokie 161753 wrote:

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I hope that guy isn’t asking the woman in the water if she needs any help. Whoops, wrong thread!

[rcannon100]

@sjclaeys 161776 wrote:

I hope that guy isn’t asking the woman in the water if she needs any help. Whoops, wrong thread!

[dbb]

@sjclaeys 161776 wrote:

I hope that guy isn’t asking the woman in the water if she needs any help. Whoops, wrong thread!

As long as it isn’t Bob Cannon.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I think the term used here to which some aspire is to be agnostic on ebikes. I try to be agnostic too. But it’s hard when you walk into Revolution in Clarendon for a quick bike part and you see that all the bikes for sale on the first floor have motors. It’s like a 100 year time warp and Indian Motorcycles are all the rage again.

Sigh.

[baiskeli]

There is no safe way for cyclists to cross the Potomac bridges except on sidewalks/paths.

@AFHokie 161753 wrote:

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This isn’t safe either – he’s not wearing a helmet.

[consularrider]

eBikes are much more common around here (Germany). I’m routinely passed by senior riders making little effort on heavy city style bikes. Oh wait, that’s just ’cause I’m getting old and slow.

Then there is this Renault, about the same size as the ELF.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15060[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]15061[/ATTACH]

[AFHokie]

@baiskeli 162230 wrote:

This isn’t safe either – he’s not wearing a helmet.

Or a personal flotation device

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[Brett L.]

@consularrider 162236 wrote:

eBikes are much more common around here (Germany). I’m routinely passed by senior riders making little effort on heavy city style bikes. Oh wait, that’s just ’cause I’m getting old and slow.

Then there is this Renault, about the same size as the ELF.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15060[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]15061[/ATTACH]

Would that vehicle fall into the NEV category (neighbourhood electric vehicle)?

[Judd]

consularrider;162236 wrote:

ebikes are much more common around here (germany). I’m routinely passed by my fellow senior riders making little effort on heavy city style bikes.

ftfy

[Dewey]

Sigh…

[sjclaeys]

@Dewey 163423 wrote:

Sigh…

It is an odd op-ed. The writer clearly doesn’t like e-bikes on MUPs, but doesn’t give any solid reasons other than an oblique reference to safety. He seems more concerned about an unholy alliance of bike and auto manufacturers (who would’ve thought) and there not being a sufficient effort to find out what non-ebilke cyclists think about e-bikes on MUPs.

[EasyRider]

Thought experiment: if federal law required e-bikes to emit the sound of a two-stroke Puch Maxi moped, would you support allowing their use on multi-use paths?

[dasgeh]

@EasyRider 163432 wrote:

Thought experiment: if federal law required e-bikes to emit the sound of a two-stroke Puch Maxi moped, would you support allowing their use on multi-use paths?

If federal law required non-e-bikes to emit the sound of a two-stroke Puch Maxi moped, would you support allowing their use on multi-use paths?

[dasgeh]

@Dewey 163423 wrote:

Sigh…

There’s been a spirited love-fest of ebikes on the Women & Bikes listserve. Many, if not most, of the women there are in the coveted “interested but concerned” category. And they universally support allowing ebikes on trails, while focusing on policing behavior of everyone.

[cvcalhoun]

@Dewey 163423 wrote:

Sigh…

But advocates offer no data demonstrating the demand or explaining why there isn’t enough paved roadway where motorized vehicles already are legal.

Seriously, dude? Let’s see who uses e-bikes?

* Pregnant women.
* People using box bikes to carry small children.
* 80-year-olds who can’t make it up those steep hills.

None of these people would be safe on the roads.

We have MUPs in the first place because:

* Bikes can’t keep up with traffic.
* In a crash involving a car and a bike, the bike loses.
* People on quiet vehicles that don’t pollute want to escape the noise and pollution of auto traffic.
* We want to encourage use of vehicles that don’t pollute the way cars do.

Every one of these things is equally true of e-bikes.

The author seems to have confused an e-bike with a moped. But federal law already distinguishes between a vehicle that is mostly foot-powered, is no more noisy than a bike, and can only go about 20 miles per hour (which many can exceed without e-assist) and a moped. I wouldn’t have an issue with also banning enclosed vehicles (e.g., the Elf) from the MUPs, because they do create more problems than regular bikes. I see no reason at all to ban other e-bikes.

[Author]

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