3 ms·

I have never riden an e-bike and like you I add an additional 55kg to my bicycle with two kids school round, having said that you are being pedantic in your ide

I have never riden an e-bike and like you I add an additional 55kg to my bicycle with two kids school round, having said that you are being pedantic in your idea of 'proper' cycling. Here are a few examples where e-bikes make a lot of sense: - Terrain, try a cycling commute in San Francisco US or Granada Spain. E-bikes bring the Netherlands to everywhere else that is not pancake flat. - Range increase, a lot of people will not leap into a cycling commute because it may not be a reasonable cycling distance for an everyday commute. E-bikes extend what is reasonable. - Sweat free commute, cyclist love their gear but most people can't be assed to put on spandex to get to work. An e-bike means that you can be wearing office clothes because you are not going to be breaking a sweat.

Tijdreiziger 3y ago
I have never ever heard of someone cycling to work in spandex (as a Dutch person). Spandex and fancy bikes are the territory of wielrenners (lit. ‘wheel-runners’), the rest of us use simple city bikes, and you’re not really going to break a sweat on those.
- dharmab 3y ago
  American cycling culture is very different from Dutch cycling culture. To the point where me and many of my friends do not consider ourselves cyclists, despite: - Owning bicycles - Using bicycles for recreation and practical uses - Repairing our own bicycles Because we do not wear spandex or own racing/mountain bikes. See Casually Explained's video about this: https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    It’s unfortunate that English only has the one word meaning ‘cyclist’. It sounds like over here you would be an average fietser (as opposed to a wielrenner).
- aidenn0 3y ago
  End up sharing a lane with a car that wants to go 48kph and you'll break a sweat on a city bike really fast.
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    Problem exists in road design, not in bicycle.
    - aidenn0 3y ago
      I can change my bicycle, I can't change the road design
      - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
        Well, sure, but then it becomes more like a sociopolitical problem... I respect cycling in those conditions, but personally I would feel unsafe.
        aidenn0 3y ago
        The US system for development is adversarial, which makes any change that even a small number of people don't want very hard to make. Recently my city was going to put in separated bike lanes, which would have involved removing some on-street parking. The residents of the area that would have lost parking threatened to sue the government (which would have delayed building for up to a decade), so the city council had to change their plans. My understanding is that this could not have happened in Europe. The (ostensible) reason for the suits were on access for disabled people[1], which (if I understand correctly) is typically not solved through adversarial means in Europe. 1: Another favorite is for environmental reasons. The government's environmental review board can approve a project, but then a concerned citizen can sue claiming they didn't do it correctly. This can delay a construction project for years.
j0057 3y ago
> Sweat free commute I always wonder if people aren't confusing racing with bicycling. Granted I live in moderate climate but we have our hot days too, generally it's not that hot yet early in the morning, but in that case I could dress appropriately with shorts for the bike ride and change into work clothing after. According to my phone I generally do a pretty leisurely 12-13 km/h (7.5-8 mph) on my upright (ie. normal) bike and could keep that up for hours without breaking a sweat. Bicycling is really very efficient. Looking at the way bicycling is experienced in London, and I think many US cities too, I see people dressed in full racing gear and doing 25+ km/h (15 mph+) on race bikes, which makes no sense to me for a city like that: you're sharing the street with dense car traffic, meaning any miscommunication easily turns into a nasty accident at those speeds; on race bikes you're hunched over and have less information about what's happening around you, just due to being lower and the anatomy of how your body turns to look around; and yes your body has to actually work to keep those speeds up.
- Glome495 3y ago
  In the US South for multiple months it can be too hot to bike or e-bike due to heatstroke regardless of how much effort it put in. You'd need a lot of water and end up drenched in sweat if you try.

Tijdreiziger 3y ago

I have never ever heard of someone cycling to work in spandex (as a Dutch person). Spandex and fancy bikes are the territory of wielrenners (lit. ‘wheel-runners’), the rest of us use simple city bikes, and you’re not really going to break a sweat on those.

dharmab 3y ago
American cycling culture is very different from Dutch cycling culture. To the point where me and many of my friends do not consider ourselves cyclists, despite: - Owning bicycles - Using bicycles for recreation and practical uses - Repairing our own bicycles Because we do not wear spandex or own racing/mountain bikes. See Casually Explained's video about this: https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago
  It’s unfortunate that English only has the one word meaning ‘cyclist’. It sounds like over here you would be an average fietser (as opposed to a wielrenner).
aidenn0 3y ago
End up sharing a lane with a car that wants to go 48kph and you'll break a sweat on a city bike really fast.
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago
  Problem exists in road design, not in bicycle.
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    I can change my bicycle, I can't change the road design
    - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
      Well, sure, but then it becomes more like a sociopolitical problem... I respect cycling in those conditions, but personally I would feel unsafe.
      - aidenn0 3y ago
        The US system for development is adversarial, which makes any change that even a small number of people don't want very hard to make. Recently my city was going to put in separated bike lanes, which would have involved removing some on-street parking. The residents of the area that would have lost parking threatened to sue the government (which would have delayed building for up to a decade), so the city council had to change their plans. My understanding is that this could not have happened in Europe. The (ostensible) reason for the suits were on access for disabled people[1], which (if I understand correctly) is typically not solved through adversarial means in Europe. 1: Another favorite is for environmental reasons. The government's environmental review board can approve a project, but then a concerned citizen can sue claiming they didn't do it correctly. This can delay a construction project for years.

j0057 3y ago

> Sweat free commute I always wonder if people aren't confusing racing with bicycling. Granted I live in moderate climate but we have our hot days too, generally it's not that hot yet early in the morning, but in that case I could dress appropriately with shorts for the bike ride and change into work clothing after. According to my phone I generally do a pretty leisurely 12-13 km/h (7.5-8 mph) on my upright (ie. normal) bike and could keep that up for hours without breaking a sweat. Bicycling is really very efficient. Looking at the way bicycling is experienced in London, and I think many US cities too, I see people dressed in full racing gear and doing 25+ km/h (15 mph+) on race bikes, which makes no sense to me for a city like that: you're sharing the street with dense car traffic, meaning any miscommunication easily turns into a nasty accident at those speeds; on race bikes you're hunched over and have less information about what's happening around you, just due to being lower and the anatomy of how your body turns to look around; and yes your body has to actually work to keep those speeds up.

Glome495 3y ago
In the US South for multiple months it can be too hot to bike or e-bike due to heatstroke regardless of how much effort it put in. You'd need a lot of water and end up drenched in sweat if you try.