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> Riding a sustained 20mph with a bicycle helmet without first developing the requisite skill to go that fast on a regular basis exposes you to much higher risk

> Riding a sustained 20mph with a bicycle helmet without first developing the requisite skill to go that fast on a regular basis exposes you to much higher risk. It's not really that "sustained" in reality. Sure you need to be careful, but it's not like you are going to risk flying off your bike if you hit a pebble. There is a hell of a lot of bike snobbery coming from the roady groups when it comes to ebikes and they act like if you don't put in the physical conditioning necessary to ride that fast you have no business on a ebike. The whole thing is pretty silly. Grandmas and mothers and kids have been riding 50cc scooters all over the planet for decades in public roads in speeds in excess of 30mph without having their faces explode. > - $3300 + $1000 for upgrades/maintenance to cover 4k km works out to $1/km which is fairly expensive. If you a DIY sort, which you should if you are considering using bicycles as viable transportaation, then a reasonable ebike that will handle 20-40 thousand miles can be put together for under 2 grand. Much less if you don't mind replacing throttles that wear out or having ugly wiring. The expensive part is the battery. That is the heart of the bike. Everything else is almost incidental. If you are worried about theft a used mountain bike and a 200 dollar kit will get you were you are going just as well as a 4000 dollar bicycle. The expensive part, the battery, you take with you.

Zigurd 4y ago
I'm one of those lycra clad roadies and even a carefully planned load of groceries in a messenger bag, nevermind loaded panniers, weighs you down a lot. OK on flat terrain, but the hills in my town would make it pretty miserable. If I were to use a bike for regular errands for groceries, taking trash to the transfer station, shirts to the cleaners, etc. an e-bike would be perfect. The thing about calculating per mile costs is: 1. e-bikes are on a downward cost track, interrupted by COVID supply chain issues. But, recently, you can get a Giant e-bike for under $2000, which is very reasonable. Lightness is expensive. As long as you do not need to lift your e-bike, costs can continue to come down. 2. They are for local journeys. I would not commute from the exurbs on an e-bike. Up to 10 miles is a reasonable distance.
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  E-bikes eliminate two factors that inexperienced bikers struggle with: wind and hills, two things that a couple hundred extra watts really help with even when limited to 20-25mph. Especially if you are towing a burley or have panniers or aren't in full spandex. The wind resistance really adds up. Ebikes are such an effective and useful form of urban transportation that very efficiently leverages what battery supply we have for cheap and FUN travel. To the point that the government should make this the "summer of the ebike" and offer a $500 rebate on e-bikes this summer. When I lived in a downtown, I could not wait for bikeable weather to come (midwestern winters). A city shrinks by a factor of ten over walking, and when you consider you often can park right by your destination for free, while cars almost always have a 10-15 minute penalty for finding parking and walking from the parking spot. The convenience range of an e-bike that can do 250-300 watts over a regular bike is probably 20-30 miles further, especially when often bike routes can be more direct. And an ebike gives the horsepower to cart around rain gear. For things like watching marathons, parades, and festivals (as long as you aren't THAT GUY trying to walk his bike through shoulder to shoulder crowds), they are unmatched. You get so much more of the experience. Of course so much of this is because people don't bike, maybe things would change if a lot more people did. If you are ever doing the tourist thing in Washington DC, their city is perfect for their bike share service. It was AWESOME. Being able to go monument to monument, smithsonian to smithsonian, to the zoo, to the hotel, to restaurants, was amazing on a bike with no hassles with car parking, the roundabouts in cars, or dealing with the metro schedules and line transfers. Bonus: you can go to Georgetown easily which doesn't have a metro. Manhattan/NYC SHOULD be like this, but it wasn't in the same league as DC last I did it. Brooklyn was still not well served. Manhattan/NYC would be much better with an ebike. It would shrink Manhattan neighborhoods by a huge amount.

Zigurd 4y ago

I'm one of those lycra clad roadies and even a carefully planned load of groceries in a messenger bag, nevermind loaded panniers, weighs you down a lot. OK on flat terrain, but the hills in my town would make it pretty miserable. If I were to use a bike for regular errands for groceries, taking trash to the transfer station, shirts to the cleaners, etc. an e-bike would be perfect. The thing about calculating per mile costs is: 1. e-bikes are on a downward cost track, interrupted by COVID supply chain issues. But, recently, you can get a Giant e-bike for under $2000, which is very reasonable. Lightness is expensive. As long as you do not need to lift your e-bike, costs can continue to come down. 2. They are for local journeys. I would not commute from the exurbs on an e-bike. Up to 10 miles is a reasonable distance.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago
E-bikes eliminate two factors that inexperienced bikers struggle with: wind and hills, two things that a couple hundred extra watts really help with even when limited to 20-25mph. Especially if you are towing a burley or have panniers or aren't in full spandex. The wind resistance really adds up. Ebikes are such an effective and useful form of urban transportation that very efficiently leverages what battery supply we have for cheap and FUN travel. To the point that the government should make this the "summer of the ebike" and offer a $500 rebate on e-bikes this summer. When I lived in a downtown, I could not wait for bikeable weather to come (midwestern winters). A city shrinks by a factor of ten over walking, and when you consider you often can park right by your destination for free, while cars almost always have a 10-15 minute penalty for finding parking and walking from the parking spot. The convenience range of an e-bike that can do 250-300 watts over a regular bike is probably 20-30 miles further, especially when often bike routes can be more direct. And an ebike gives the horsepower to cart around rain gear. For things like watching marathons, parades, and festivals (as long as you aren't THAT GUY trying to walk his bike through shoulder to shoulder crowds), they are unmatched. You get so much more of the experience. Of course so much of this is because people don't bike, maybe things would change if a lot more people did. If you are ever doing the tourist thing in Washington DC, their city is perfect for their bike share service. It was AWESOME. Being able to go monument to monument, smithsonian to smithsonian, to the zoo, to the hotel, to restaurants, was amazing on a bike with no hassles with car parking, the roundabouts in cars, or dealing with the metro schedules and line transfers. Bonus: you can go to Georgetown easily which doesn't have a metro. Manhattan/NYC SHOULD be like this, but it wasn't in the same league as DC last I did it. Brooklyn was still not well served. Manhattan/NYC would be much better with an ebike. It would shrink Manhattan neighborhoods by a huge amount.