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This is just people complaining loudly and vebosely about something they don't like and trying to make it into a vague moral failing. Electric bikes exist. Bi

This is just people complaining loudly and vebosely about something they don't like and trying to make it into a vague moral failing. Electric bikes exist. Bike advocates for years have railed against cars and said the world would be so much better if people biked. Now the electric bike is expanding the world of biking and all of the social benefits of biking still exist with electric bikes and these people don't like it. It's just classic policing of a sub-culture. According to him, you aren't a real cyclist if you aren't pedaling as hard as he is. What he needs to do is get over himself and realize that progress doesn't look like what you want it to look like; that you should learn to accept the world rather than just like a child expect the world to conform to your purist expectations.

antonvs 9y ago
I doubt you read the full article. It's quite a bit more reasoned than you suggest. The author acknowledges his bias, its source, and even that it's not entirely rational. But he's also exploring how e-bikes change the dynamic of pedestrian vs. bike vs. car traffic in a city, what kinds of pros and cons exist, and whether there are any rational sources of objection to the way e-bikes are currently being used. He acknowledges that e-bikes are fun and useful: "I found the effect narcotic and delightful: on a flat road, I moved faster than I did on a normal bike, with less exertion. [...] Assisted living was so pleasant!" Commiserating with a friend, they conclude that despite their objections, "for all our shared sense that something was wrong with electric bikes, we agreed that, by any rational measure, they are a force for good. [...] The engines are efficient, they reduce congestion [...] Fewer cars, more bikes." However, they did identify at least one issue worth considering: > "if you are not human-powered, you should not be using human-powered infrastructure. You should be in the street. E-bikes being licensed as motorized vehicles is good. E-bikes being in human-powered infrastructure is no good..." Of course it's not quite that simple - e-bikes mingling with cars seems more dangerous than them mingling with human-powered traffic - but it's a point worth considering, for sure. For example, it's much easier to get up to 20 mph on an e-bike than an ordinary bike, and they tend to be quieter, too, so for pedestrians they can be quite terrifying. As the number of e-bikes increases, it's likely to become necessary to address this kind of thing. He also notes the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between human-powered and assisted activity in an increasingly machine-assisted world, acknowledging that the distinction in the quote above is becoming less easy to make. Even if you disagree with his perspective, it ought to be possible to read an article like this and recognize its value, unless you're even more ideologically fixed on a particular perspective than the author is.
- webnrrd2k 9y ago
  As far as the danger of mixing e-bikes and regular automotive traffic, I think a similar experiment has already been done.. Any one remember mopeds? The top speed was about 35mph, if I remember correctly, which made them more-or-less the gas-powered equivalent of e-bikes.
  - webnrrd2k 9y ago
    Further down there are comments about how any gas/electric powered bike that can go over 20 w/power is technically a moped. So I think I'm mistaken about the 35mph top speed of my friends bikes.
    - antonvs 9y ago
      Many e-bikes are restricted to 20 mph for that reason: http://www.evelo.com/blog/why-is-there-a-20mph-speed-limit-on-electric-bikes/ http://www.evelo.com/blog/why-is-there-a-20mph-speed-limit-o... However, it's easy enough to convert an ordinary bike to an e-bike - the necessary motors and other parts are readily available, in fact that's pretty much how the industry started. Many of the bike messengers in NYC etc. have much higher top speeds than 20.
- Kalium 9y ago
  I disagree with the author's idea that bikes should not be in the street. If you're moving significantly above pedestrian speeds, you shouldn't be using pedestrian infrastructure. His classification of "human-powered" and "not human-powered" strikes me as self-serving.
- euos 9y ago
  Ebikes are not faster then the regular bikes. I am biking on a trail that has a 15mph speed limit. Even when I am allowing myself to go at 20 mph, I am constantly taken over by those elitist cyclists who feel like they are doing so much good by mere cycling that the rules don't apply to them. Assist is "optimized" for 20mph and is capped at like 28 - I believe this is due to European laws. I have yet to breach 24 mph even with a full assist on a straight road.

antonvs 9y ago

I doubt you read the full article. It's quite a bit more reasoned than you suggest. The author acknowledges his bias, its source, and even that it's not entirely rational. But he's also exploring how e-bikes change the dynamic of pedestrian vs. bike vs. car traffic in a city, what kinds of pros and cons exist, and whether there are any rational sources of objection to the way e-bikes are currently being used. He acknowledges that e-bikes are fun and useful: "I found the effect narcotic and delightful: on a flat road, I moved faster than I did on a normal bike, with less exertion. [...] Assisted living was so pleasant!" Commiserating with a friend, they conclude that despite their objections, "for all our shared sense that something was wrong with electric bikes, we agreed that, by any rational measure, they are a force for good. [...] The engines are efficient, they reduce congestion [...] Fewer cars, more bikes." However, they did identify at least one issue worth considering: > "if you are not human-powered, you should not be using human-powered infrastructure. You should be in the street. E-bikes being licensed as motorized vehicles is good. E-bikes being in human-powered infrastructure is no good..." Of course it's not quite that simple - e-bikes mingling with cars seems more dangerous than them mingling with human-powered traffic - but it's a point worth considering, for sure. For example, it's much easier to get up to 20 mph on an e-bike than an ordinary bike, and they tend to be quieter, too, so for pedestrians they can be quite terrifying. As the number of e-bikes increases, it's likely to become necessary to address this kind of thing. He also notes the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between human-powered and assisted activity in an increasingly machine-assisted world, acknowledging that the distinction in the quote above is becoming less easy to make. Even if you disagree with his perspective, it ought to be possible to read an article like this and recognize its value, unless you're even more ideologically fixed on a particular perspective than the author is.

webnrrd2k 9y ago
As far as the danger of mixing e-bikes and regular automotive traffic, I think a similar experiment has already been done.. Any one remember mopeds? The top speed was about 35mph, if I remember correctly, which made them more-or-less the gas-powered equivalent of e-bikes.
- webnrrd2k 9y ago
  Further down there are comments about how any gas/electric powered bike that can go over 20 w/power is technically a moped. So I think I'm mistaken about the 35mph top speed of my friends bikes.
  - antonvs 9y ago
    Many e-bikes are restricted to 20 mph for that reason: http://www.evelo.com/blog/why-is-there-a-20mph-speed-limit-on-electric-bikes/ http://www.evelo.com/blog/why-is-there-a-20mph-speed-limit-o... However, it's easy enough to convert an ordinary bike to an e-bike - the necessary motors and other parts are readily available, in fact that's pretty much how the industry started. Many of the bike messengers in NYC etc. have much higher top speeds than 20.
Kalium 9y ago
I disagree with the author's idea that bikes should not be in the street. If you're moving significantly above pedestrian speeds, you shouldn't be using pedestrian infrastructure. His classification of "human-powered" and "not human-powered" strikes me as self-serving.
euos 9y ago
Ebikes are not faster then the regular bikes. I am biking on a trail that has a 15mph speed limit. Even when I am allowing myself to go at 20 mph, I am constantly taken over by those elitist cyclists who feel like they are doing so much good by mere cycling that the rules don't apply to them. Assist is "optimized" for 20mph and is capped at like 28 - I believe this is due to European laws. I have yet to breach 24 mph even with a full assist on a straight road.