4 ms·
In the Bay Area, with traffic, an e-bike can be just as fast as driving. I used a Specialized for about a week, the level of effort was the same as walking, an
by jpollock 10y ago
In the Bay Area, with traffic, an e-bike can be just as fast as driving.
I used a Specialized for about a week, the level of effort was the same as walking, and almost as fast as driving (rush hour).
Due to the rate limiter, it was <10% faster than I could achieve myself on a bike.
I would wholeheartedly recommend it to _anyone_ currently driving to work, it's a LOT cheaper than a car.
Personally, I went back to a regular bike, I wanted the exercise and found the rate limiter (19mph without a motorcycle license) to be too frustrating.
- burger_moon 10y agoIt's interesting that ebikes are rate limited to 19mph but electric skateboards are sold which exceed this and I haven't heard of people having issues regarding traveling too fast on a skateboard.
- Johnny555 10y agoIt's not something the police are going to typically enforce, but it's something that will increase your liability in an accident (not to mention that the faster you go the more serious your injuries are likely to be). If you're riding a 30mph eBike on a bike trail that doesn't permit it and you have an accident with someone, you can expect to shoulder most of the liability, even if the other person did something like step in front of you. The same holds true with a skateboard, if you run your 20mph skateboard into the side of a car, you can expect to pay for the damages to the car (after you get out of the hospital) -- even if the car driver pulled out in front of you because he wasn't expecting a 20mph skateboard on the sidewalk.
- marme 10y agothis is a federal law passed a couple years back. As long as the bike is 750 watts or less and cant go faster than 20 mph it is not classified as a motor vehicle but just like any other bike