One the one hand, fuck the NYT’s smear campaign against e-bikes, but on the other hand, fuck e-bikes.
The ease of pedaling is great, they get people riding bikes, and the acceleration capacity feels a lot safer in stop and go traffic, which is nice. Obviously in the presence of cagers I will defend e-bikes, because they’re better than cars, but I have a lot of issues with them if I’m talking with other cyclists. To do 20 on a real bike, you’re at least going to have the experience to to handle the bike at those speeds. Additionally, a road bike takes some space to get up to 20- you won’t be doing that on a sidewalk or an urban bike lane, which I have seen with e-bikes.
Look up something like a Sur Ron and tell me you’d want to share a bike path (or god forbid a MUP) with a 12 year old on that 50 kilo electric motorcycle. They’re heavier, less maneuverable, and objectively more dangerous than a real bike.
That’s not really an argument against e-bikes though, it’s an argument for lowering the maximum speed they’re allowed to reach using assistance from the motor.
these speed limits are easily circumvented and some bikes are designed to make that possible
the acceleration of an e-bike is way higher, which means that riders can get going at very high speeds in tight spaces where regular bikers couldn’t.
A better solution might be capping the power output of the rider and motor combined at something like 300W (ie a good sustained effort for a strong cyclist), and disabling power assist if the rider breaks that threshold.
One the one hand, fuck the NYT’s smear campaign against e-bikes, but on the other hand, fuck e-bikes.
The ease of pedaling is great, they get people riding bikes, and the acceleration capacity feels a lot safer in stop and go traffic, which is nice. Obviously in the presence of cagers I will defend e-bikes, because they’re better than cars, but I have a lot of issues with them if I’m talking with other cyclists. To do 20 on a real bike, you’re at least going to have the experience to to handle the bike at those speeds. Additionally, a road bike takes some space to get up to 20- you won’t be doing that on a sidewalk or an urban bike lane, which I have seen with e-bikes.
Look up something like a Sur Ron and tell me you’d want to share a bike path (or god forbid a MUP) with a 12 year old on that 50 kilo electric motorcycle. They’re heavier, less maneuverable, and objectively more dangerous than a real bike.
That’s not really an argument against e-bikes though, it’s an argument for lowering the maximum speed they’re allowed to reach using assistance from the motor.
I’m pretty strongly against motorized vehicles on bike paths unless necessitated for accessibility.
What difference does it make if e-bikes are restricted to a speed that the average “analog” bike can easily do though?
A better solution might be capping the power output of the rider and motor combined at something like 300W (ie a good sustained effort for a strong cyclist), and disabling power assist if the rider breaks that threshold.