4 ms·

I'm going to say something slightly vulgar, because as someone who did their own ebike conversion and is moderately interested in this space: fuck 'em. E-bikes,

I'm going to say something slightly vulgar, because as someone who did their own ebike conversion and is moderately interested in this space: fuck 'em. E-bikes, and by extension bikes in general, are amazing forms of transportation specifically because they're so incredibly repairable using simple-to-acquire tools and skills. Any impingement on the right to repair in the bike space is a pure cash grab from suits that don't understand the space. Bike people have _never_ liked proprietary or unrepairable parts, and this seems like just another case of silicon valley "entrepreneurs" hopping into a space they know nothing about, thinking they can "innovate" their way into dominance with this kind of nonsense. Fuck. You. You don't deserve to be operating in this space if you don't understand the consumer you're targeting.

vr46 3y ago
Ditto. Power gives up nothing without a fight.
pierat 3y ago
DRM, proprietary components, "signed hardware" (ala Apple), app bullshit - is all forms of enshittification. And damn near every silly-con valley company engages in one or more of those. And I hope they die eating their own crap they put out. I support the 4, not 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, REPAIR, Recycle. And enshittification is completely opposite of reversing pollution and climate devastation, by forced generation of more enshittified trash :(
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - cwillu 3y ago
    FWIW, a /s buried in between two sentences and surrounded on both sides by punctuation is remarkably easy to miss.
    - voakbasda 3y ago
      A perfect example of Poe’s law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law I completely missed the /s and thought it was a serious comment, since there are plenty of people that actually believe that line of reasoning.
  - networkchad 3y ago
    [dead]
  - rchaud 3y ago
    This is the long shadow of the Mac v PC ads of the mid 2000s, plus Jobs' own diminishing of the open web as a hotbed of viruses and spam. Anyway, here's 1000 Bible apps that need access to your contacts.
- lm28469 3y ago
  "b-bu-but it's the green economy, the only way to continue our infinite growth and save the planet !"
  - nameless912 3y ago
    >continue our infinite growth >save the planet Choose one. Or choose neither if you don't choose.
    - Etrnl_President 3y ago
      > The planet is fine, it's humans that are fucked! —George Carlin
    - BizarroLand 3y ago
      "You can choose a ready guide In some celestial voice If you choose not to decide You still have made a choice" Of course, logically speaking, if you don't have a planet any more then your growth would stop or possibly even reverse, but that's just me thinking out loud, what do I know?
kats 3y ago
You didn't read the article, the title is just sensationalist that is completely wrong. Nothing you reacted to is actually real. All that the chinese ebike companies said is that users shouldn't try to repair a bad battery. The article says every other bike repair they are fine with.
- olyjohn 3y ago
  That's because the battery is the most expensive part of the e-bike. All the rest of the hardware is cheap, and they don't care. They want you to have to buy their new batteries when the original ones shit out, or buy a whole new bike and restrict your ability to replace it yourself. They're treating the batteries as consumable, just throw them away and buy new ones. They know they're not going to make money on the other parts.
  - Turskarama 3y ago
    Well that, but also if you don't know what you're doing with a battery you can easily start a fire. An e-bike battery fire is easily big enough to burn your house down, in fact it would be hard to stop it.
    - eliaspro 3y ago
      Exactly this. I've been repairing my own bikes for as long as I can think, but I wouldn't touch a bike's battery with an (insulated) 3m pole.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- fxtentacle 3y ago
  "The bill was ultimately amended to remove e-bikes from the list of right-to-repair products" says the article. So they are excluding ALL repairs, not just battery repairs.
toss1 3y ago
>>suits that don't understand the space Yup, but more than that. Those suits are deliberately MIS-understanding the bicycle market, and working to enshittify it for their own profit. And NO, it is not a liability issue — legal departments are extremely well-practiced at forcing strongly worded warnings to be stuck on products. "Break this seal, warranty is void, fire and death may result; you're on your ow, do not charge indoors" etc., etc., etc... Fuck. Them. Indeed. Do not buy or recommend locked-down crap. If it requires a connection (optional extra services are fine), or has any DRM nonsense, BOYCOTT IT, hard. It just is not that hard to build your own if you have any technological skill or interest at all, and there's plenty of help.
blooalien 3y ago
^^^ So very much exactly this! Yes! ^^^ Not only bikes, either. Cars, computers, phones, anything that I paid money for I now own and will do as I please with it. If I wanna repair it because it's broken and I happen to have to tools and / or knowledge, or improve it simply because I can, or freakin' break it just because I felt like it that's entirely my prerogative. Once it's mine ... it's mine, end of story.

vr46 3y ago

Ditto. Power gives up nothing without a fight.

pierat 3y ago

DRM, proprietary components, "signed hardware" (ala Apple), app bullshit - is all forms of enshittification. And damn near every silly-con valley company engages in one or more of those. And I hope they die eating their own crap they put out. I support the 4, not 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, REPAIR, Recycle. And enshittification is completely opposite of reversing pollution and climate devastation, by forced generation of more enshittified trash :(

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
[flagged]
- cwillu 3y ago
  FWIW, a /s buried in between two sentences and surrounded on both sides by punctuation is remarkably easy to miss.
  - voakbasda 3y ago
    A perfect example of Poe’s law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law I completely missed the /s and thought it was a serious comment, since there are plenty of people that actually believe that line of reasoning.
- networkchad 3y ago
  [dead]
- rchaud 3y ago
  This is the long shadow of the Mac v PC ads of the mid 2000s, plus Jobs' own diminishing of the open web as a hotbed of viruses and spam. Anyway, here's 1000 Bible apps that need access to your contacts.
lm28469 3y ago
"b-bu-but it's the green economy, the only way to continue our infinite growth and save the planet !"
- nameless912 3y ago
  >continue our infinite growth >save the planet Choose one. Or choose neither if you don't choose.
  - Etrnl_President 3y ago
    > The planet is fine, it's humans that are fucked! —George Carlin
  - BizarroLand 3y ago
    "You can choose a ready guide In some celestial voice If you choose not to decide You still have made a choice" Of course, logically speaking, if you don't have a planet any more then your growth would stop or possibly even reverse, but that's just me thinking out loud, what do I know?

kats 3y ago

You didn't read the article, the title is just sensationalist that is completely wrong. Nothing you reacted to is actually real. All that the chinese ebike companies said is that users shouldn't try to repair a bad battery. The article says every other bike repair they are fine with.

olyjohn 3y ago
That's because the battery is the most expensive part of the e-bike. All the rest of the hardware is cheap, and they don't care. They want you to have to buy their new batteries when the original ones shit out, or buy a whole new bike and restrict your ability to replace it yourself. They're treating the batteries as consumable, just throw them away and buy new ones. They know they're not going to make money on the other parts.
- Turskarama 3y ago
  Well that, but also if you don't know what you're doing with a battery you can easily start a fire. An e-bike battery fire is easily big enough to burn your house down, in fact it would be hard to stop it.
  - eliaspro 3y ago
    Exactly this. I've been repairing my own bikes for as long as I can think, but I wouldn't touch a bike's battery with an (insulated) 3m pole.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
fxtentacle 3y ago
"The bill was ultimately amended to remove e-bikes from the list of right-to-repair products" says the article. So they are excluding ALL repairs, not just battery repairs.

toss1 3y ago

>>suits that don't understand the space Yup, but more than that. Those suits are deliberately MIS-understanding the bicycle market, and working to enshittify it for their own profit. And NO, it is not a liability issue — legal departments are extremely well-practiced at forcing strongly worded warnings to be stuck on products. "Break this seal, warranty is void, fire and death may result; you're on your ow, do not charge indoors" etc., etc., etc... Fuck. Them. Indeed. Do not buy or recommend locked-down crap. If it requires a connection (optional extra services are fine), or has any DRM nonsense, BOYCOTT IT, hard. It just is not that hard to build your own if you have any technological skill or interest at all, and there's plenty of help.

blooalien 3y ago

^^^ So very much exactly this! Yes! ^^^ Not only bikes, either. Cars, computers, phones, anything that I paid money for I now own and will do as I please with it. If I wanna repair it because it's broken and I happen to have to tools and / or knowledge, or improve it simply because I can, or freakin' break it just because I felt like it that's entirely my prerogative. Once it's mine ... it's mine, end of story.