4 ms·

I was using an e-bike on a road with some ripples (I guess they messed up during paving). I was thrown off of the bike, and my helmet prevented any serious inju

• jeffbee 4y ago
  What about this experience is specific to electric bikes?
  • kube-system 4y ago
    Smaller tires and rotating assemblies with less mass are more susceptible to uneven pavement. For example, a vehicle like a motorcycle or even a motor scooter will be able to handle imperfections on city streets more easily. If you got a bigger gyroscope under your butt, you're harder to knock over. Bicycles tend to go with smaller and less massive wheels, because it decreases rider effort required to spin them up, and it's generally a reasonable compromise for vehicles that operate at slower speeds and on smoother surfaces. Of course, if we start adding more power beyond human effort, more speed, and put those vehicles on surfaces designed for larger vehicles, it may make sense to reevaluate that compromise.
    • jeffbee 4y ago
      Just to make sure we're on the same page: the answer to my question is "nothing", right?
      • kube-system 4y ago
        The opposite. The answer to your question is that electric bikes have unique handling characteristics compared to everything that isn't an electric bike. If your comparison is human powered bikes, the answer is that you have more energy at your disposal than a human powered bike, and so you may be on a different surface and at a different speed than you otherwise would be, with equipment designed for different conditions.
      • ars 4y ago
        I suspect a regular bike would also have a hard time (my car shakes like crazy going over that spot), but the e-bike has much smaller wheels (about half the size of a bike), and that made it much much worse. In my city they rent out these scooters with tiny wheels and people are only allowed to use them on the road. Those ripples are at the bottom of a nice downhill, and if anyone were to hit them on the scooter they'd probably go flying. I just fell hard.
    • sleepybrett 4y ago
      A lot of ebikes go with pretty chunky tires (for a bicycle). Mine are like 3.3 inches wide. (Rad Power Bikes) I'm mostly just a pedal assist guy though, I only go for the throttle on big hills or coming off a light with a car behind me.
      • kube-system 4y ago
        Yeah, they do it for exactly that reason -- but not all do. Some even go with smaller tires to be convenient in a folding form factor, etc. And then you're got things like e-scooters which will launch a person at the mere thought of uneven pavement. I don't understand how people will ride those things and then call a motorcycle dangerous.
        • jeffbee 4y ago
          There’s a guy in my neighborhood who rides an electric stand-up scooter, who wears an aerostitch and a full-face motorcycle helmet while doing so.
          • kube-system 4y ago
            He’s smart. It is not very common that people fall off of a two wheeled vehicle and hit the direct top of their head. You’re most likely to hit your face and extremities.
• recursive 4y ago
  Riding position and weighting distribution. If you're sitting straight up with 90% of your weight on the saddle, this can happen easily. If your weight is evenly split between saddle, pedal and bars, and your elbows are bent, you can absorb some pretty rough roads.
• mint2 4y ago
  Did you bike much before? My impression of road biking and really any biking is that one eye has to be constantly glued to the road surface while the other eye watches for non-surface obstacles
  • ars 4y ago
    The ripples are invisible - even knowing they are there I can't see them at night. I just know from memory to avoid that spot.