3 ms·

I've an experienced bicyclist, commuted most days of my adult life, did bicycle delivery for a year, and have raced (and won) on road and off. Normally inexper

by sliken 5y ago

I've an experienced bicyclist, commuted most days of my adult life, did bicycle delivery for a year, and have raced (and won) on road and off. Normally inexperienced riders go slow, wobble, don't hold their lane, don't understand traction (like wet = slippery), but are very easy to avoid. However put they same rider on an ebike and they are dangerous. Suddenly they have to make fast decisions, predict the movements of things around them, hold their lane, compensate for road conditions (potholes, sewer grates, painted lines, sand, slab edges, etc). They go at car speeds (in the city), but have nowhere near the skills to manage it. Seen plenty of accidents. With that said you put those same people in a EV with crazy top speed and acceleration, and I'd expect them to honor the local speed limits (or close), drive just like the rest of traffic, and not be a hazard just because their car is fast.

gnicholas 5y ago
It would be interesting if ebikes came with a speed limiter that gradually increased over time. First you have to do 10 miles going at 12 MPH, then you move up to 14 MPH. Of course, no bike maker would want this to be mandatory, but they could make it the default and refer to it as "ebike training wheels" to help people understand how important it is to learn this new style of bike.
- sliken 5y ago
  Hrm, interesting idea. Maybe not a speed limiter, but a force multiplication factor, say 1.25x the pedal force on day 1, 1.5x after a week/10 rides, and 2x after 2 weeks/20 rides. Or even better, gamify it and upgrades would be released after getting a sufficiently good score on various tests. Working up to thinks like threshold braking (shifting your weight behind the seat and using enough front brake to lift or nearly lift the rear wheel), ability to hold your line for 50 feet within 6", proficiency in counter steering (you have to turn left to be able to turn right) as measured by response time and turning g's, unweighting wheels (like a bunny hop or even close). Part of the problem is bikes are a secondary consideration for most roads. So you end up dealing with sewer grates, debris, parked (or double parked) cars, gravel, street car/subway/trolley rails that eat tires, disappearing bike lanes that turn into right turn only lanes, etc. So what would be normally pretty exotic bike handling skills (bunny hops and threshold braking) end up being survival skills I use nearly daily. Unless of course this changes, there are designs in I think Norway and/or Denmark that treat bicyclist as first class citizens.

by sliken 5y ago

gnicholas 5y ago

It would be interesting if ebikes came with a speed limiter that gradually increased over time. First you have to do 10 miles going at 12 MPH, then you move up to 14 MPH. Of course, no bike maker would want this to be mandatory, but they could make it the default and refer to it as "ebike training wheels" to help people understand how important it is to learn this new style of bike.

sliken 5y ago
Hrm, interesting idea. Maybe not a speed limiter, but a force multiplication factor, say 1.25x the pedal force on day 1, 1.5x after a week/10 rides, and 2x after 2 weeks/20 rides. Or even better, gamify it and upgrades would be released after getting a sufficiently good score on various tests. Working up to thinks like threshold braking (shifting your weight behind the seat and using enough front brake to lift or nearly lift the rear wheel), ability to hold your line for 50 feet within 6", proficiency in counter steering (you have to turn left to be able to turn right) as measured by response time and turning g's, unweighting wheels (like a bunny hop or even close). Part of the problem is bikes are a secondary consideration for most roads. So you end up dealing with sewer grates, debris, parked (or double parked) cars, gravel, street car/subway/trolley rails that eat tires, disappearing bike lanes that turn into right turn only lanes, etc. So what would be normally pretty exotic bike handling skills (bunny hops and threshold braking) end up being survival skills I use nearly daily. Unless of course this changes, there are designs in I think Norway and/or Denmark that treat bicyclist as first class citizens.