Ebike commute from Reston to DC

[Anonymous]

@Judd 148221 wrote:

What’s your initial thoughts on feasibility of doing regularly?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s my goal and I haven’t run into any downsides yet. I’m not really losing time as opposed to metro, I’m not having to pay 5.90 per trip. I feel pretty relaxed and energized when getting into the office without feeling wiped out. I’m sure I’ll run into some weather this winter where I’ll switch back to the train here and there, but this is looking like a good idea so far.

And Lol at the Peewee Herman reference, I imagined I’d feel like him at some point if this bike gets stolen.

[americancyclo]

@MikeS 148096 wrote:

Yeah that last bit to the mall is slower.

The bike is a Trek XM700, Bosch motor, 400w I think.

That’s a nice looking bike. I’ve ridden behind a few of the Trek Conduits and like the integrated blinking rear lights.

Enjoy the ride, and let us know how the battery does on the round trip!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately this bike doesn’t have integrated rear lights. Been a good week of commuting otherwise; I think I’m typically left over with 40-50% charge each way, and just charge up at work. It could do the round trip pretty easily but I lean on the assist more during the last 1/3 of my ride. There’s still plenty of people faster than me, but I’m able to maintain a more consistent speed for the duration. Lots of people like to draft off me it seems.

I’ve noticed that during pass/no-pass situations that might cut it a little on the close side with a normal bike, it’s just as easy for me to stop and wait the extra time for the trail to completely clear with an assist.

[dasgeh]

@MikeS 148309 wrote:

I’ve noticed that during pass/no-pass situations that might cut it a little on the close side with a normal bike, it’s just as easy for me to stop and wait the extra time for the trail to completely clear with an assist.

Yep. It’s all about the behavior, not the bike, and ebikes probably encourage better behavior.

[sjclaeys]

@dasgeh 148317 wrote:

Yep. It’s all about the behavior, not the bike, and ebikes probably encourage better behavior.

If only that were true.

[dasgeh]

@sjclaeys 148324 wrote:

If only that were true.

I other day I realized I was behind 2 other, and front of 1 other, ebiker on the Custis. All 4 of us stopped at the light at Nash. Literally the first time I’ve ever seen someone in front of me stop at that light (I always do, I rarely see anyone else stop, never if they’re not behind me).

[sjclaeys]

@dasgeh 148347 wrote:

I other day I realized I was behind 2 other, and front of 1 other, ebiker on the Custis. All 4 of us stopped at the light at Nash. Literally the first time I’ve ever seen someone in front of me stop at that light (I always do, I rarely see anyone else stop, never if they’re not behind me).

And I have been dangerously passed many times on the Custis and MVT by e-bikes riders going much faster than the rest of the MUP traffic and not announcing passes. Also, others on the forum have noted e-bike riders going through stop lights, etc., so there is that.

[jnva]

@sjclaeys 148355 wrote:

And I have been dangerously passed many times on the Custis and MVT by e-bikes riders going much faster than the rest of the MUP traffic and not announcing passes. Also, others on the forum have noted e-bike riders going through stop lights, etc., so there is that.

This argument will never end… it’s the rider not the bike. Lol.

[EasyRider]

LOL. Thanks for the opening, I’ll bite!

At lunch I posted a reminiscience about the Puch Maxi moped, and the similarities with modern e-bikes: Puchs were no bigger, no faster, had operable pedals, etc. If “it’s the rider not the bike,” should responsibly, courteously-ridden gas mopeds be allowed on multi-use paths? I think most of us would say, “of course not!”

The MUPs here were built in the Puch’s heyday, and I’d bet the “no motorized vehicles” rule was adopted with them in mind. Back then, the distinction between a moped and a bicycle was one of kind, not degree. It was easy to see (and hear) that mopeds were different from bicycles — heavier, noisier, faster, ran on gas. The vehicle mattered, not the rider. Today’s e-bikes are still heavier and faster than bicycles, but the noisy, polluting two-stroke engine is gone, so it’s much easier to see the difference between them and bicycles as one of degree.

I think there’s still some difference in kind, though. E-bikes go really fast without any effort from the user, and that, plus their weight, means they require more responsibility from the user than does a conventional bicycle. At least in my book. If an e-bike user doesn’t call a pass or take care, the consequences of hitting another trail user on a 50lb bike at a speed rarely reached by pedal cyclists is not just unfortunate, it’s potentially grave. (Yes, I’m aware of the tragic accident on the 4MR run trail.) I’d hate to hear a noisy old Puch coming up from behind me at 25 mph on a quiet morning commute. But at least I’d hear it coming, responsible rider or not.

I’m not for banning e-bikes from MUPs, but I sure do think they have more responsibility than other trail users.

[dasgeh]

@sjclaeys 148355 wrote:

And I have been dangerously passed many times on the Custis and MVT by e-bikes riders going much faster than the rest of the MUP traffic and not announcing passes. Also, others on the forum have noted e-bike riders going through stop lights, etc., so there is that.

The vast majority of the complaints about behavior on this forum involve non-ebikes. Dangerous passes, riders going faster than most on the trail, riders not announcing passes, riders going through stop lights.

Ebikes don’t make a person less of a jerk, but they take away the “I don’t want to have to work really hard to get back to speed” incentive that regular bikes have.

@EasyRider 148369 wrote:

E-bikes go really fast without any effort from the user

This is not generally true. They are most helpful to get from 0-12mph.

[EasyRider]

@dasgeh 148372 wrote:

This is not generally true. They are most helpful to get from 0-12mph.

The OP of this thread says his bike is a Trek XM700. Here’s the marketing copy from Trek’s website:

This bike is fast! XM700+ is the commuting tool for bicycle commuters
who are looking for an electric bike that supports up to a whopping 45 km/h.

What do think of my larger point, that a heavy self-propelled bicycle requires more responsbility on the part of the rider than does a conventional bicycle?

Edit: forgot to mention Trek’s own site describes the bike as a quote “The Commuting Weapon.” http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/urban-commuter-bikes/xm700/xm700/p/1982140-2017/

[Tim Kelley]

@dasgeh 148372 wrote:

This is not generally true. They are most helpful to get from 0-12mph.

They are also really helpful to get from 12-20mph too. That’s an impressive QOM list you have on Strava…

[jnva]

@EasyRider 148369 wrote:

LOL. Thanks for the opening, I’ll bite!

At lunch I posted a reminiscience about the Puch Maxi moped, and the similarities with modern e-bikes: Puchs were no bigger, no faster, had operable pedals, etc. If “it’s the rider not the bike,” should responsibly, courteously-ridden gas mopeds be allowed on multi-use paths? I think most of us would say, “of course not!”

I used to have one of those Puch mopeds! Yeah, the peddles were only used to start the motor. And I agree that’s what the signs were intended for…

[sjclaeys]

@dasgeh 148372 wrote:

The vast majority of the complaints about behavior on this forum involve non-ebikes. Dangerous passes, riders going faster than most on the trail, riders not announcing passes, riders going through stop lights.

Ebikes don’t make a person less of a jerk, but they take away the “I don’t want to have to work really hard to get back to speed” incentive that regular bikes have.

This is not generally true. They are most helpful to get from 0-12mph.

Most of the complaints on the forum are about regular bikes because the vast majority of wheeled MUP users are regular bikes, not e-bikes. You could have 10% of regular bike users be jerks and 75% of e-bike users be jerks, and still have the absolute number of regular bike users who are jerks be much greater than the absolute number of e-bike users who are jerks. I strongly agree that it is the user, not the vehicle, that is the jerk, but I am responding to the suggestion that e-bikes somehow make riders more courteous MUP users. As far as the assistance of the electric motors of e-bikes to their speeds, high speed passes by e-bikes with the riders not peddling shows that is often not the case.

[Anonymous]

@EasyRider 148376 wrote:

The OP of this thread says his bike is a Trek XM700. Here’s the marketing copy from Trek’s website:

This bike is fast! XM700+ is the commuting tool for bicycle commuters
who are looking for an electric bike that supports up to a whopping 45 km/h.

What do think of my larger point, that a heavy self-propelled bicycle requires more responsbility on the part of the rider than does a conventional bicycle?

Edit: forgot to mention Trek’s own site describes the bike as a quote “The Commuting Weapon.” http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/urban-commuter-bikes/xm700/xm700/p/1982140-2017/

This bike does have a top speed of 28 mph (that includes downhill). You can put it in the highest assist mode and get up to that speed on a flat or downhill section of road. That speed isn’t sustainable for a significant amount of time under normal conditions. For all practical purposes I’ve found the commute on W&OD/Custis allows me to keep pace with some of the better cyclists without growing too tired over 22 miles. I see plenty of people exceeding 28 mph on normal bikes, so I’m not sure why ebikes in particular are being singled out for speeding.

I suppose the throttle operated ebikes require no effort. And, if a person’s commute was short enough (to the point that they wouldn’t even benefit from an ebike anyway), you could dial up the assist so high that it would be close to effortless. I wouldn’t say it’s effortless for what I’m using it for.

My bike may weigh 45 pounds, but I’m 215 pounds. In the case of an accident, most of the force is coming from me, regardless of what bike I happen to be on.

I can’t be responsible for other ebikers, but otherwise I’m trying to be good trail user.

[Author]

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