4 ms·

Spend 5K on a really nice commuter electric bicycle. You'll be doing a solid for the Environment and you'll have an EV that makes you fitter.

carlmr 5y ago
My problem with dropping 5K on a bike is that they get stolen
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- dont__panic 5y ago
  In the US city that I live in, cars get stolen an awful lot too. And not just puffers (cars left with the keys in the ignition to warm up on a cold day) -- I've heard of plenty of locked recent-year cars stolen from private locked garages with no keys at all. I believe car theft is up at least 500% from pre-covid. And that's to say nothing of the opportunistic catalytic converter thefts if you park your car on the street overnight.
  - carlmr 5y ago
    Where I live I'd guess the rate is 100 bikes stolen for every car. With a bike you don't expect it to be there after locking it in the street for more than 15 minutes. I don't know anybody personally whose car was stolen.
  - paunchy 5y ago
    Most of these thefts utilize "relay attacks" that simulate the key being in close proximity to the car, using directional antennas to interrogate the key that's sitting in the house and then relay it back to the car. The solution is to disable the proximity feature, but that's inconvenient.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
  In France, all bikes must now be marked to prevent theft https://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/2021/01/france-makes-bike-marking-mandatory-to-protect-against-theft-10139561 https://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/2021/01/fran... Is there similar plans in the US or at least some states?
bongoman37 5y ago
If you have a kid that's not a workable solution, moreover, safety is a huge issue on 2 wheelers.
- acdha 5y ago
  I’ve taken my son on an e-bike daily since he was 11 months old - he loves it compared to being in the car. There are a range of products on the market handling up to 4 kids and with creature comforts like rain shields. I use one of these: https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/electric-boda-boda/ https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/electric-boda-boda/ A relative uses one of these in the Boston area, year round: https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/gsd https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/gsd A friend loves this for their family: https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/packster-70/ https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/packster-70/ Not cheap, but an order of magnitude less than a car ($10k/year by AAA’s numbers) over the lifetime of the bike.
  - steve_adams_86 5y ago
    For anyone with a small commute I’d recommend this too. Our Yuba (spicy curry) has around 3000km on it over 2.5 years, is going strong, and I’ll still be commuting ~30km per week over the next year with it taking my 4 year old to daycare then going to work. I’ll likely continue commuting with him on it to kindergarten and perhaps early grade school. It wasn’t cheap initially ($7000 CAD), but the cost per km drops enormously every year while the bike still rides as well as ever. The kids have all loved it, too. My youngest is disappointed when we drive places - he wants to walk or ride all year. We do have a temperate climate which helps. Our cold days in winter are typically around 5 degrees outside of cold snaps, but even then we rarely dip below 0. It’s a major quality of life improvement for us. They’re amazing grocery getters, you don’t get all sweaty on them, kids tend to love it, and they’re quite a bit easier to buy, maintain, and park than a car. We went with the spicy curry because of its insane cargo capacity (we’ve used it for its full capacity many times, especially while bike camping), but you can spend far less if you don’t need to carry that weight.
    - acdha 5y ago
fires10 5y ago
My problem with 5K on an electric bike is the 50 mile commute one way to work in inclement weather.
- neon_electro 5y ago
  Fair enough - doesn’t sound like you were ever the target audience for a commuter bike to begin with.
  - dijit 5y ago
    The three most cycle heavy cities in Europe all get more rainfall than London. (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Malmö) Something else is the problem. Maybe infrastructure or terrain.
- dshoemaker 5y ago
  I think the 50 mile one-way commute may be more of the problem here. I can't imagine traveling that far for work daily.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lordgroff 5y ago
I live 50km from work now (thankfully looks like mostly remote forever, the COVID silver lining), but I used to bike to work before I had kids. I don't know that I'd do it again. The number of avoided-death-by-split-second close calls that I racked up in about five years is just too high... Now that I'm a bit older and have children, seems irresponsible. This is in a city with relatively developed bike infrastructure, including separated lanes in some places. (Some) drivers just don't give a damn, and while I wish it was different, I don't see it changing any time soon either.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
  This is so sad. We did not build cities for humans but for machines that, we thought, would serve humans well. We got it so wrong.
wonderwonder 5y ago
This is great in theory but not so great when you are food shopping for a family or you need take the kids to get new shoes.
yourusername 5y ago
High end bike parts are also in short supply. Popular electric bikes also have months long waiting lists.
- alistairSH 5y ago
  FWIW, my local bike shop has a pile of electric-assist commuter/townie bikes ready for riders. Supply chain for bikes is definitely broken right now, but they're out there - you just have to look and wait and look some more.

carlmr 5y ago

My problem with dropping 5K on a bike is that they get stolen

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dont__panic 5y ago
In the US city that I live in, cars get stolen an awful lot too. And not just puffers (cars left with the keys in the ignition to warm up on a cold day) -- I've heard of plenty of locked recent-year cars stolen from private locked garages with no keys at all. I believe car theft is up at least 500% from pre-covid. And that's to say nothing of the opportunistic catalytic converter thefts if you park your car on the street overnight.
- carlmr 5y ago
  Where I live I'd guess the rate is 100 bikes stolen for every car. With a bike you don't expect it to be there after locking it in the street for more than 15 minutes. I don't know anybody personally whose car was stolen.
- paunchy 5y ago
  Most of these thefts utilize "relay attacks" that simulate the key being in close proximity to the car, using directional antennas to interrogate the key that's sitting in the house and then relay it back to the car. The solution is to disable the proximity feature, but that's inconvenient.
rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
In France, all bikes must now be marked to prevent theft https://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/2021/01/france-makes-bike-marking-mandatory-to-protect-against-theft-10139561 https://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/2021/01/fran... Is there similar plans in the US or at least some states?

bongoman37 5y ago

If you have a kid that's not a workable solution, moreover, safety is a huge issue on 2 wheelers.

acdha 5y ago
I’ve taken my son on an e-bike daily since he was 11 months old - he loves it compared to being in the car. There are a range of products on the market handling up to 4 kids and with creature comforts like rain shields. I use one of these: https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/electric-boda-boda/ https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/electric-boda-boda/ A relative uses one of these in the Boston area, year round: https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/gsd https://www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/472/gsd A friend loves this for their family: https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/packster-70/ https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/packster-70/ Not cheap, but an order of magnitude less than a car ($10k/year by AAA’s numbers) over the lifetime of the bike.
- steve_adams_86 5y ago
  For anyone with a small commute I’d recommend this too. Our Yuba (spicy curry) has around 3000km on it over 2.5 years, is going strong, and I’ll still be commuting ~30km per week over the next year with it taking my 4 year old to daycare then going to work. I’ll likely continue commuting with him on it to kindergarten and perhaps early grade school. It wasn’t cheap initially ($7000 CAD), but the cost per km drops enormously every year while the bike still rides as well as ever. The kids have all loved it, too. My youngest is disappointed when we drive places - he wants to walk or ride all year. We do have a temperate climate which helps. Our cold days in winter are typically around 5 degrees outside of cold snaps, but even then we rarely dip below 0. It’s a major quality of life improvement for us. They’re amazing grocery getters, you don’t get all sweaty on them, kids tend to love it, and they’re quite a bit easier to buy, maintain, and park than a car. We went with the spicy curry because of its insane cargo capacity (we’ve used it for its full capacity many times, especially while bike camping), but you can spend far less if you don’t need to carry that weight.
  - acdha 5y ago

fires10 5y ago

My problem with 5K on an electric bike is the 50 mile commute one way to work in inclement weather.

neon_electro 5y ago
Fair enough - doesn’t sound like you were ever the target audience for a commuter bike to begin with.
- dijit 5y ago
  The three most cycle heavy cities in Europe all get more rainfall than London. (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Malmö) Something else is the problem. Maybe infrastructure or terrain.
dshoemaker 5y ago
I think the 50 mile one-way commute may be more of the problem here. I can't imagine traveling that far for work daily.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lordgroff 5y ago

I live 50km from work now (thankfully looks like mostly remote forever, the COVID silver lining), but I used to bike to work before I had kids. I don't know that I'd do it again. The number of avoided-death-by-split-second close calls that I racked up in about five years is just too high... Now that I'm a bit older and have children, seems irresponsible. This is in a city with relatively developed bike infrastructure, including separated lanes in some places. (Some) drivers just don't give a damn, and while I wish it was different, I don't see it changing any time soon either.

rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
This is so sad. We did not build cities for humans but for machines that, we thought, would serve humans well. We got it so wrong.

wonderwonder 5y ago

This is great in theory but not so great when you are food shopping for a family or you need take the kids to get new shoes.

yourusername 5y ago

High end bike parts are also in short supply. Popular electric bikes also have months long waiting lists.

alistairSH 5y ago
FWIW, my local bike shop has a pile of electric-assist commuter/townie bikes ready for riders. Supply chain for bikes is definitely broken right now, but they're out there - you just have to look and wait and look some more.