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!
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Ya, 1000 watts is well over 1 HP. Meat motors are for the most part good for 200 watts or so unless gifted or prodded.
I took a long look a some electric MTN bikes at a local bike shop. I am now in the “Oh, Hell no” category now. Too many people spent too much time getting other people to change their minds and let MTN bikes into the woods and then going into the woods and hand building trails.
I’m failing to see something wrong with a Multi Use Trail user being able to put out nearly the same wattage as a finishing sprinter at the Tour de France.
Once a year or so on the CCT, the MoCo Park Police set up a radar trap on the trail. They tag you going above 15, they wave you over and ticket you. I suspect they have a motorcycle with them, but for all their scofflaw reputation cyclists will obey an officer’s command.
Most e-bikes a)don’t weigh dramatically more than normal bikes; b)aren’t traveling dramatically faster than normal bikes, and; c)can’t go up a hill at a “constant speed.”
An e-bike will get you up a hill with less effort than a regular bike, but not dramatically faster and not at a constant speed as you say.
So the times when I’ve been passed going up the Custis Trail from Rosslyn by an e-bike going considerably faster was my imagination? Note, that this is one of the larger e-bikes (and they don’t call their passes).
Why are we focused on making sure e-bike riders take all this extra care when e-bikes are almost-without-exception within the existing range of rider mass and speeds already on the trail?
I guess we can look at this question from the other perspective of why are e-bike divers so focused on not taking extra care?
One might say the same of road speed limits for automobiles, but it’s not a great argument for doing away with them.
The difference is fairly clear science that higher vehicle speed limits result in more fatalities. I don’t think there’s any science to suggest that a speed limit of 15 (i.e., 25) on a trail does anything to affect fatality rates–the speeds involved are all so low (the difference between typical minimum and maximum speeds is within the legal margin of error) that the limit is utterly pointless. If the intended purpose of the limit is to make people “feel better” I’d submit that an a-hole going 15 through a fun run on a crowded Saturday morning, though within the legal limit, isn’t making anyone else feel anything but rage.
Ya, 1000 watts is well over 1 HP. Meat motors are for the most part good for 200 watts or so unless gifted or prodded.
I took a long look a some electric MTN bikes at a local bike shop. I am now in the “Oh, Hell no” category now. Too many people spent too much time getting other people to change their minds and let MTN bikes into the woods and then going into the woods and hand building trails.
This has basically been my problem with e-bikes all along. The advocates insist that it’s only assistive, and the speeds aren’t that high, and the batteries won’t allow extended high speed use–but this is just tech, and tech improves. I’m not particularly troubled with current e-bikes, but it’s a dead certainty that within a few years it’ll be easy to get a little electric motorcycle that can easily do 20-30MPH for a typical commute–and that’s something that the current infrastructure is entirely unable to support. It’s also dead certain that LE is entirely unable to enforce any fine distinctions between types of ebikes (wattage, max speed, etc) in any systematic fashion. So, while I wish there were a better solution that makes it easier for people to use assistive ebikes, I don’t see a more practicable solution than to just ban everything with a motor and hope that people riding responsibly can fly under the radar/rely on enforcement discretion. (But realistically, I know that as the 30MPH emotorcycles become common, the idiotic reactive enforcement is going to sweep up the responsible, slow, easy to catch riders rather than the asshats. I really don’t know what a good solution is.)
Personally, if I had to remain under 15 mph no matter what the trail/traffic conditions, I’d ride on the roads instead.
For longer commutes in Fairfax I think you’d just see a decline in riders. There are long stretches of the W&OD which are mostly empty in the morning where 20MPH is in no way unsafe (unless you’re not watching for deer) and where there aren’t any safe on-road alternatives.
, but it’s a dead certainty that within a few years it’ll be easy to get a little electric motorcycle that can easily do 20-30MPH for a typical commute
30 mph ebikes with long range have been around for years now.
We shouldn’t forget that speed and fun have a linear relationship.
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