e-Bikes – Let’s talk

[Judd]

@dasgeh 166201 wrote:

I actually don’t think this is what will happen. It could turn out that more crowded trails means that overall people will ride slower and not make stupid passes, just expecting no one to be there. So more crowded may actually be safer.

I’m an early advocate for trail diets. The Custis needs to be narrowed and have more blind curves added to help slow trail traffic down.

[bentbike33]

@Judd 166220 wrote:

I’m an early advocate for trail diets. The Custis needs to be narrowed and have more blind curves added to help slow trail traffic down.

Or, instead of fixing the moguls, install them along the rest of the trail.

[lordofthemark]

@bentbike33 166221 wrote:

Or, instead of fixing the moguls, install them along the rest of the trail.

You jest. At a meeting on the bike ped master plan update in Alexandria, one Dino Drudi, proud defier of the evil bike lobby, suggested that bike lanes be made narrower, for “traffic calming”. Sadly I did not have the presence of mind to explain that the applicable speed limit on them was the same as that on the street, nowhere less than 25MPH in Alexandria, and that few riders exceeded that speed on flats.

[bentbike33]

@lordofthemark 166223 wrote:

You jest.

Yes, but you forgot you call me Shirley.

[huskerdont]

Since the technology is way ahead of legislation on this, people will just do what they want until the legislation catches up. They’ll do what they want anyway. There’s this one guy who rides his solarmotorcyclecar on the trail now and no one stops him. If you can do that, you can get away with pretty much anything.

[Judd]

@bentbike33 166225 wrote:

Yes, but you forgot you call me Shirley.

Shirley, you can’t be serious.

[lordofthemark]

Thanks to Bobco, I know that Shirley Highway, and by extension, Shirlington, ,are named for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_G._Shirley and not for the Shirley’s of Shirley plantation. But surely, you knew that already.

[bentbike33]

judd;166228 wrote:

shirley, you can’t be serious.

ftfy

[dasgeh]

@lordofthemark 166206 wrote:

Failing to yield to oncoming traffic is not illegal? Would striping a no passing line where the pass is blind address that? Shouldn’t we have that anyway, if people are getting away without liability for blind passes (because even if a human powered biker or ped hit by someone doing a blind pass is doing nothing illegal, they still would need to show the passer is legally at fault to get anything right?) ?

Where is there a law about failure to yield on a trail? Certainly on a road, but I’ve never seen one on a trail.

If you had a collision where both people were actually legally, but one was being unreasonable (like a pass on a blind curve), then liability would be clear. It’s the fact that one party is acting illegally that changes the analysis.

To the suggestion that we codified the rules of the trail (i.e. change them from “rules” to “laws”) I am strongly against that. Criminalizing behavior leaves room for abuse in enforcement, so we should be selective in what we criminalize. With cars, the risk of serious injury and death are quite well documented, so I’m fine with laws (and think they should be more strictly enforced universally). But on the trails, I’m ok with influencing behavior through well-crafted and -communicated rules and education efforts. (Though I agree that we need more of both).

[Harry Meatmotor]

Awww Yissss!!

Finally, normal people are riding e-bikes! Just yesterday I saw a nice fellow riding an Icon e-Flyer on the MVT!!!

http://iconelectricbike.com/

3500w Race Mode, FTW! That’ll easily make all of our bike/ped infrastructure headaches disappear!

Let’s see if we can get him signed up for some WABA safe 3500w-cycling classes.

edit: I actually chatted with the guy while riding, because i’m a gear head and icon makes some sweet, lust-worthy FJ40 replicas. he wasn’t wearing a helmet, but i didn’t want to get into that ball of wax. nice guy, and he was out on his first actual ride on the motorcycle.

[Dewey]

@Harry Meatmotor 166260 wrote:

I saw a nice fellow riding an Icon e-Flyer on the MVT!!!http://iconelectricbike.com/

Electric motorcycles with similar styling are Vintage. Not my cup of tea. I’m unsure where electric motorcycles are legal unless they are built to confirm with NHTSA federal motor vehicle safety standards and have a VIN number stamped on the frame. They’re not ebikes because those are defined federally as 750W and locally as 1,000W VA, 500W MD.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Dewey 166278 wrote:

Electric motorcycles with similar styling are Vintage. Not my cup of tea. I’m unsure where electric motorcycles are legal unless they are built to confirm with NHTSA federal motor vehicle safety standards and have a VIN number stamped on the frame. They’re not ebikes because those are defined federally as 750W and locally as 1,000W VA, 500W MD.

This would be a motorcycle as far as I can tell, which would require registration, insurance, and a motorcycle endorsement on one’s drivers license. 3500 watts is well above the moped threshold in VA, which is max 1500W. In DC the moped max power is 1.5 horsepower….3500 watts is nearly 5hp.

[sjclaeys]

@Harry Meatmotor 166260 wrote:

Awww Yissss!!

Finally, normal people are riding e-bikes! Just yesterday I saw a nice fellow riding an Icon e-Flyer on the MVT!!!

http://iconelectricbike.com/

3500w Race Mode, FTW! That’ll easily make all of our bike/ped infrastructure headaches disappear!

Let’s see if we can get him signed up for some WABA safe 3500w-cycling classes.

edit: I actually chatted with the guy while riding, because i’m a gear head and icon makes some sweet, lust-worthy FJ40 replicas. he wasn’t wearing a helmet, but i didn’t want to get into that ball of wax. nice guy, and he was out on his first actual ride on the motorcycle.

Wait, based on this thread I thought that parents with children and the physically challenged would be the only ones on e-bikes.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Dewey 166278 wrote:

Electric motorcycles with similar styling are Vintage. Not my cup of tea. I’m unsure where electric motorcycles are legal unless they are built to confirm with NHTSA federal motor vehicle safety standards and have a VIN number stamped on the frame. They’re not ebikes because those are defined federally as 750W and locally as 1,000W VA, 500W MD.

I’m pretty sure most companies importing the 3kW motorcycles require the buyer to sign a waiver; somethingsomethingoffroaduseonlysomethingsomething. The good news, tho, is you can grab the 72v/84v hub/wheel kits on eBay for less than $500.

Me personally? I’m waiting for 5kW and $200; maybe by 2019?

[bentbike33]

@Harry Meatmotor 166260 wrote:

Awww Yissss!!

Finally, normal people are riding e-bikes! Just yesterday I saw a nice fellow riding an Icon e-Flyer on the MVT!!!
… nice guy, and he was out on his first actual ride on the motorcycle.

Then he’s not the only one riding one of these. I saw one a couple weeks ago coming up the ramp from MVT to the 14th Street Bridge as I was going down. I did not get a really good look because trail traffic, but the picture on the web page sure looked like the same old-time motorcycle I saw coming up the trail.

[Author]

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