6 ms·

I don't really understand electric bikes, on a flat surface, riding a bike is effortless for me (I don't really try to go fast, 20km/h is good enough), if it go

I don't really understand electric bikes, on a flat surface, riding a bike is effortless for me (I don't really try to go fast, 20km/h is good enough), if it goes slightly uphill then it's a good opportunity to do a bit of exercise, but really, you can ride bikes with very little (own) energy, and that's super healthy, no engines, thanks I think bicyles will become a primary transport in the next decades, electric or not

psgibbs 5y ago
Range goes way up – electrification can turn a 10+ mile commute from something intense (where you need a shower when you arrive) into something manageable. It allows bikes to be a substitute for far more things that you'd otherwise use a different mode of transportation for.
- plorg 5y ago
  Put slightly differently, electric bikes (and scooters for that matter) make those transportation forms accessible to a much larger number of people.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
samatman 5y ago
If I were inclined to use the modern 'gotchas' rhetorically, I would call this comment ableist. Instead I'll just point out that being young(ish), (reasonably) healthy, and having only slightly uphill to worry about, are all luxuries. Electric bikes make bicycling accessible to many more people, and their embodied and operating energies are quite modest. Best of all, they don't take away your ability to ride a pushbike! Or brag about it on the Internet.
- 11235813213455 5y ago
  I understand, but honestly I'm 36, commuted for many years (South-East of France, not really flat except sea-side), I've currently a re-broken clavicle since 10 days, and yet I still use my (modest) bike (sort of partially-temporarily disabled, that's annoying for the rest of life though). My energy is modest at least I'm maybe shaped for hills, it's just that as I explained, I ride slowly. You can spend as much energy as someone on his electric bike, it's just that you need to go slower, and not be stressed by time. I just wanted to say there are some mental barriers and false opinions on the difficulty of bike, or societal (like the fact to sweat ..) which can be overriden
mikestew 5y ago
Former Cat 2 bicycle racer here, "Cat 2" meaning I was in damned good shape, and I still am even if old age has slowed me a bit. That climb up next to highway 520 from downtown Redmond to the Microsoft campus? Yeah, if I had a hankering to do so, I'd drop most folks going up that hill. And yet I own an electric bike, and love the thing. Because I can go up that hill in my work clothes, and not show up a dripping, sweating, stinking mess. I can go down the hill from the house and get supper without having to don the clown outfit and the special shoes. Just wheel the bike out the garage and go with whatever I have on. Back up the hill to get home, give that electric motor an extra kick if I'm feeling lazy, sorted. And that's for an old ex-racer who is in probably better shape than 90% of his peers. Imagine the worlds that open for the elderly, overweight, or other "differently abled". Bicycles have had over 100 years to "become primary transport" and unless one lives in the Netherlands, it obviously isn't going to happen. Stick a battery and electric motor on one, though, and suddenly one's practical range and power band is extended enough to make it a viable transportation alternative for not just the fully-abled and in-shape, but for nearly everyone.
- swader999 5y ago
  Not to mention the silly grin you get when you ride them. Only thing I miss about living in the city
- thehappypm 5y ago
  OMG, that 520 hill, absolutely brutal.
  - mikestew 5y ago
    Not if you have an electric bike. :-)
acdha 5y ago
e-bikes dramatically increase the number of people who can bike commute: you go faster for the same effort so the range is _much_ better, especially if you have hills; more people can avoid needing to take a shower when they arrive, which is great since so many employers do not provide facilities; and it means that people who need to carry kids and/or cargo can do so without sweating it. It also opens up quality of life improvements: you can trade a little extra weight for durable tires, more comfortable rides, BIG lights for night safety, etc. According to my logs, I go about the same speed and heart rate on my cargo e-bike with my son and our gear commuting. The difference is that it saves enough time and helps with one notorious hill enough that I do it every day year round except for the worst weather whereas before I used to skip a few days a week — and I say that as a fairly fit cyclist who has ridden centuries at gun-timed speeds in the low 20s, so we're leaving out a LOT of bike commuters if we're saying that's inadequate. I see e-bikes as a transformative technology for cities. If we want to stop the death, pollution, and quality-of-life impact of cars we should be rolling out bike infrastructure as quickly as possible — it's the cheapest, most flexible option we have. (Buses are second: more accessible, all-weather capable, but less flexible) Since we got ebikes, we've averaged 2,000-2,500 miles per year on bike and sometimes go a couple months without using our car, which we are likely not going to replace when it dies.
globular-toast 5y ago
I've been a cyclist almost my entire life. It's been my main method of transport for several years and I do it as a sport. I don't plan to own an electric bike because I take pride in being able to move my own weight around but I'll take anything that gets more people on bikes. Cars are a scourge and need to be severely limited. Electric bikes lower the barriers to entry for many people and I'd much rather be overtaken by an electric bike than a monstrous car.
aidenn0 5y ago
I own a road bike and an e-bike. On level ground I'm much faster on my road bike (there's a 20mph(32km/h) governor on the e-bike, and it's heavier and has much more wind resistance. However, I can haul over 100lbs of cargo and/or kids on the back of my e-bike, and can show up to work ready to go. Given that the ride to work includes climbs, and I would need to shower, the e-bike gets me there substantially faster. If I need to pick up a kid from an afternoon activity that is downtown, I can do so on my e-bike (I live about 13km from downtown, which my teenagers can do, but is a rather long ride for my younger kids to do).

psgibbs 5y ago

Range goes way up – electrification can turn a 10+ mile commute from something intense (where you need a shower when you arrive) into something manageable. It allows bikes to be a substitute for far more things that you'd otherwise use a different mode of transportation for.

plorg 5y ago
Put slightly differently, electric bikes (and scooters for that matter) make those transportation forms accessible to a much larger number of people.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

samatman 5y ago

If I were inclined to use the modern 'gotchas' rhetorically, I would call this comment ableist. Instead I'll just point out that being young(ish), (reasonably) healthy, and having only slightly uphill to worry about, are all luxuries. Electric bikes make bicycling accessible to many more people, and their embodied and operating energies are quite modest. Best of all, they don't take away your ability to ride a pushbike! Or brag about it on the Internet.

11235813213455 5y ago
I understand, but honestly I'm 36, commuted for many years (South-East of France, not really flat except sea-side), I've currently a re-broken clavicle since 10 days, and yet I still use my (modest) bike (sort of partially-temporarily disabled, that's annoying for the rest of life though). My energy is modest at least I'm maybe shaped for hills, it's just that as I explained, I ride slowly. You can spend as much energy as someone on his electric bike, it's just that you need to go slower, and not be stressed by time. I just wanted to say there are some mental barriers and false opinions on the difficulty of bike, or societal (like the fact to sweat ..) which can be overriden

mikestew 5y ago

Former Cat 2 bicycle racer here, "Cat 2" meaning I was in damned good shape, and I still am even if old age has slowed me a bit. That climb up next to highway 520 from downtown Redmond to the Microsoft campus? Yeah, if I had a hankering to do so, I'd drop most folks going up that hill. And yet I own an electric bike, and love the thing. Because I can go up that hill in my work clothes, and not show up a dripping, sweating, stinking mess. I can go down the hill from the house and get supper without having to don the clown outfit and the special shoes. Just wheel the bike out the garage and go with whatever I have on. Back up the hill to get home, give that electric motor an extra kick if I'm feeling lazy, sorted. And that's for an old ex-racer who is in probably better shape than 90% of his peers. Imagine the worlds that open for the elderly, overweight, or other "differently abled". Bicycles have had over 100 years to "become primary transport" and unless one lives in the Netherlands, it obviously isn't going to happen. Stick a battery and electric motor on one, though, and suddenly one's practical range and power band is extended enough to make it a viable transportation alternative for not just the fully-abled and in-shape, but for nearly everyone.

swader999 5y ago
Not to mention the silly grin you get when you ride them. Only thing I miss about living in the city
thehappypm 5y ago
OMG, that 520 hill, absolutely brutal.
- mikestew 5y ago
  Not if you have an electric bike. :-)

acdha 5y ago

e-bikes dramatically increase the number of people who can bike commute: you go faster for the same effort so the range is _much_ better, especially if you have hills; more people can avoid needing to take a shower when they arrive, which is great since so many employers do not provide facilities; and it means that people who need to carry kids and/or cargo can do so without sweating it. It also opens up quality of life improvements: you can trade a little extra weight for durable tires, more comfortable rides, BIG lights for night safety, etc. According to my logs, I go about the same speed and heart rate on my cargo e-bike with my son and our gear commuting. The difference is that it saves enough time and helps with one notorious hill enough that I do it every day year round except for the worst weather whereas before I used to skip a few days a week — and I say that as a fairly fit cyclist who has ridden centuries at gun-timed speeds in the low 20s, so we're leaving out a LOT of bike commuters if we're saying that's inadequate. I see e-bikes as a transformative technology for cities. If we want to stop the death, pollution, and quality-of-life impact of cars we should be rolling out bike infrastructure as quickly as possible — it's the cheapest, most flexible option we have. (Buses are second: more accessible, all-weather capable, but less flexible) Since we got ebikes, we've averaged 2,000-2,500 miles per year on bike and sometimes go a couple months without using our car, which we are likely not going to replace when it dies.

globular-toast 5y ago

I've been a cyclist almost my entire life. It's been my main method of transport for several years and I do it as a sport. I don't plan to own an electric bike because I take pride in being able to move my own weight around but I'll take anything that gets more people on bikes. Cars are a scourge and need to be severely limited. Electric bikes lower the barriers to entry for many people and I'd much rather be overtaken by an electric bike than a monstrous car.

aidenn0 5y ago

I own a road bike and an e-bike. On level ground I'm much faster on my road bike (there's a 20mph(32km/h) governor on the e-bike, and it's heavier and has much more wind resistance. However, I can haul over 100lbs of cargo and/or kids on the back of my e-bike, and can show up to work ready to go. Given that the ride to work includes climbs, and I would need to shower, the e-bike gets me there substantially faster. If I need to pick up a kid from an afternoon activity that is downtown, I can do so on my e-bike (I live about 13km from downtown, which my teenagers can do, but is a rather long ride for my younger kids to do).