Ebikes

[MadyTehWolfie]

I’m surprised LTT hasn’t talked about ebikes before. Just got mine last month and it’s pretty fun. Think ebikes are really going to take off in the states soon.

[Fl0yd-]

here in dubai we have Talabat (our uber eats) drivers catching 20gs of metal everyday on bridges and crossroads because of ebikes and regular motorcycles. they're fun. on the curb.

[ToboRobot]

I'm waiting for an open E-Bike standard, most systems are overly proprietary and expensive. 

Regular bikes work for me for now, but in a few decades my knees will need the help. 

[Needfuldoer]

My biggest problem with e-bikes is the cost. The things cost as much as a 50cc scooter, if not more. Two or three grand is "used beginner motorcycle" territory, and those won't be limited to 25 MPH.

 

Then there's the inherent danger of something as small and underpowered as a 500w bicycle trying to mix with traffic...

 

 

[danomicar]

2 hours ago, 8tg said:

As an American the furthest I’m willing to move away from sub 20mpg land boats are hybrid full size pickup trucks, you don’t catch anyone dead on an ebike here and anyone I see on an ebike will be mocked from the driver seat of my sub 20mpg land boat.

You'd be surprised how many e bikes are in cities. A few cities even have e bikes in their bike share networks

[danomicar]

19 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Cities don’t count, most of America looks like this:

People question why we don’t all have bikes, why there aren’t trains and busses everywhere, pedestrian paths, whatever

 

Every major city has all those things 

But every major city is a relatively small part of the overall scale of the US

Most people live in suburban areas, let alone more rural areas. It’s why the commute to work in cities is a bunch of expressways, because nobody who works in downtown Chicago actually lives anywhere near there, they live in Indiana or the far suburbs. 
this is a whole other rant

Your whole stance is a little misguided if you believe cities "don't count", don't you think? I'm comfortable saying ~80M+ people do count, and I do believe the market is growing lately. 

 

I'm unsure where you got your information on downtown commuters, but anecdotally it's very common for people to use urban and regional transit to get downtown.

[Skiiwee29]

6 hours ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

I’m surprised LTT hasn’t talked about ebikes before. Just got mine last month and it’s pretty fun. Think ebikes are really going to take off in the states soon.

LTT has talked about a few in the past and were usually hosted or involved Taran. 

[Donut417]

6 hours ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Think ebikes are really going to take off in the states soon.

With what bike infrastructure? Sure you can ride on the road with the cars, which is the law here in Michigan, but are you going to put your life in the hands of people who dont give a shit about traffic laws? 

 

I see people riding bikes here and there and Im surprised we dont have more fatalities. The only biking areas we have around me is the bike path that follows i275 and the bike paths in the Metro Parks. Outside of that some cities have "Bike" lanes on roads, but these lans are only marked off with paint, meaning someone could still run you over. 

[RollyShed]

10 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Regular bikes work for me for now, but in a few decades my knees will need the help. 

My knees might, only might be a problem when I get to 100 and not too long to get there. I'm sure to be a lot older than you and mine work perfectly, probably because I know how to ride a bike and have done the big rides and ride regularly. Before retirement, near 200 km per week.

Do you have toe clips?

Do you use a low enough gear?

OK, generally I'm only pushing a bit over 20 kph but it was over 35 kph the other day.

 

So an ebike? Why?

[ToboRobot]

19 minutes ago, RollyShed said:

My knees might, only might be a problem when I get to 100 and not too long to get there. I'm sure to be a lot older than you and mine work perfectly, probably because I know how to ride a bike and have done the big rides and ride regularly. Before retirement, near 200 km per week.

Do you have toe clips?

Do you use a low enough gear?

OK, generally I'm only pushing a bit over 20 kph but it was over 35 kph the other day.

 

So an ebike? Why?

I used to ride 60km+ to and from work everyday, and I had an unhealthy obsession with Strava for a while so I routinely ride in traffic and keep up.  

I have a hybrid and a gravel bike for fun, but because I've abused my body having fun playing sports/etc, I am not 40 and fairly broken already, so having electric assist for hills would be really nice.  I can really feel it in my knees sprinting up hills.

[Motifator]

I just want 250W of backup power on a heavy dual suspension MTB, so I don't have to bring all the weight up and down. It's hard getting my full suspension MTB up to speed, so I'm more into the backing up side of an E-Bike. Think the Scott E-Spark's or similar. Those absurd kilowatt versions are not actually doing the bicycling yourself.

[LogicalDrm]

On 7/24/2022 at 5:39 PM, Needfuldoer said:

My biggest problem with e-bikes is the cost. The things cost as much as a 50cc scooter, if not more. Two or three grand is "used beginner motorcycle" territory, and those won't be limited to 25 MPH.

 

Then there's the inherent danger of something as small and underpowered as a 500w bicycle trying to mix with traffic...

 

 

You are coming to this as clearly someone who hasn't done much biking. The "E" part is to give boost, not there to be the one and only power source. Your legs are the main part. I can average well over speed limit of ebike on normal bike, and I'm not very fit person. On ebike, when I had one for testing, I bumped that average with 5kmh easily.

 

Within car traffic, how do ebikes differ from motorcycles? The issue wouldn't (or shouldn't) come into effect within urban areas where speed limits are already low. Ebike, and in instances even normal bike, can keep up with cars when speed limits are low. So in cities, not really issue. On bigger roads sure. But even there, I think its more about cultural differences between US and the rest of the world. Just go to Amsterdam and think which one you get run over by first, car or bike.

 

As for LTT, yes, they have done several e-vehicle videos. Bikes, scooters, hoverboards and recently cars. They really only need someone who is into that niche to get it going. Same as with any other niche. Like, there really wasn't anything about Linux before Anthony got comfortable about being in front of camera.