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Even in cities that are pretty hostile to bikes, electric bikes/scooters are an amazing middle point between walking and all the expense of a car (purchase, loa
by xnx 2y ago
Even in cities that are pretty hostile to bikes, electric bikes/scooters are an amazing middle point between walking and all the expense of a car (purchase, loans, fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration, tickets, etc.).
- idontwantthis 2y agoI want an electric bike but I want to go places with it and I’m worried about it getting stolen when I lock it up outside a shop. Do you have one?
- j-bos 2y agoI'm lookimg at a folding e scooter
- dmoy 2y agoI wish they were half as heavy with 1/4 the range. Lightest ones are still like 10kg+?
- Toutouxc 2y agoYes, but 10-15 kg is still comparable to a regular bike or a heavy bag of groceries. I rode a 19 kg one (50 km range, street legal), carrying it up to the third floor at work wasn't a problem.
- dmoy 2y agoTrue if it's just point to point commuting to a place with safe storage. But then I can't take it by strapping it on my backpack and going to shops, etc where a bike would get stolen.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- j7ake 2y agoIf it’s a short stop a “cafe lock” for back wheel is super convenient
- doctoboggan 2y agoI got a cargo e-bike (Aventon Abound) and I have a cafe lock and a chain lock. Luckily the bike doesn't look "cool" so I am less worried about thieves. It's also quite heavy so the cafe lock is almost always enough. If I am leaving it downtown for hours then I also use the heavy duty chain.
- tabarnacle 2y agoI have the same model, it’s so much fun to ride. Love the abound.
- clutchdude 2y agoLean to buying/doing a conversion vs "polished" ebike. Buy the best lock you can afford - it should be a grinder resistant one such as hiplok or litelok. Note that while the lock may be resistant, the thing it's locked to may be easier to cut if the thief gets frustrated and has time to steal it. Nothing will stop someone who has the time and batteries/discs from stealing your bike.
- xnx 2y agoI don't. Theft risk and storage is definitely a challenge. A lot of commuters find somewhere to stash them at work. The problem might get better as ebikes become more common and lower in price.
- vladvasiliu 2y agoUnfortunately, I doubt that. Where in live, bike theft has been rampant for ages, even before electric models were a thing.
- energy123 2y agoInsurance
- analog31 2y agoI get around on an acoustic bike, but have a lot of friends with e-bikes. I believe this is extremely locale-dependent. For instance there's relatively little bike theft in my locale, except around the university where it's just really easy pickings. I think you can learn a lot by looking at how bikes -- acoustic and electric -- are already being parked and locked in your district. For instance my daughter is attending grad school in a big city, and while we were walking around, I noticed that the most decrepit old bikes were secured with giant U-locks plus chains. Hmmm. So my daughter rides a bike of similar ilk, and secures it in a similar fashion. And I noticed the most beastly of chains and locks in New York City. Plus, people generally seem to prefer e-bikes where they can take the battery pack with them.
- kaonwarb 2y agoTIL "acoustic bike" is a phrase
- imtringued 2y agoIt's not. It's an unfunny insider joke.
- tim333 2y agoI got and old rusty one and put some paint on it so it's not very nickable. I leave it out at night but remove the battery. I use normal D locks but are tempted to get an angle grinder resistant one although they are expensive - £150+.
- randunel 2y agoI typically use a heavy cargo bike. I only use its built in front wheel lock, it's so heavy, it can't be easily stolen, so I never lock it against posts and such. I always lock and secure my road bike against street furniture, though.
- banannaise 2y agoYeah, a lot of the cargo e-bikes are closer in size to a moped than to an acoustic bike, which makes them much more difficult to steal. A heavy-duty chain and a keyed ignition are typically an effective deterrent.
- devnullbrain 2y agoThis is also a big problem for multi-modal commuting. Do I really want to lock up my bike in a location that screams 'the owner won't be back for 9 hours', knowing police won't investigate bike theft?
- moffkalast 2y agoIf all those e-scooter rental startups can have remote GPS tracking and theft alarms then it really shouldn't take much to implement that into personal ones too. I mean people leave those things absolutely everywhere and they never get rightfully stolen. A 4G modem would probably be overkill, but one might be able to do it for free with lorawan. Or alternatively a big label saying "this bike is GPS tracked" with absolutely no extra hardware at all and hope that bike thieves are dumb fucks.
- devnullbrain 2y agoThat advice might not travel well: until recently I lived in a city where the bike rental service pulled out because too many were thrown in canals.
- aqueueaqueue 2y agoLet me guess ... probably drunks so guess drinking culture. Maybe UK. Big city with enough canals for this to be an issue ... probably Birmingham?
- devnullbrain 2y agoClose, think more northern.
- aqueueaqueue 2y agoLiverpool was my other guess
- michaelt 2y ago
- Slava_Propanei 2y ago[dead]
- fuoqi 2y agoConsider an electric unicycle (EUC). It's much more compact, so you can easily bring it into shops and other buildings, as well as it's much less troublesome when you use public transport (most models can be easily kept between your legs). From the safety point of view it's not as bad as it seems on the first glance, especially if you don't plan riding on it faster than 20-30 km/h.
- MaKey 2y agoThose must not be used on public roads in some countries though.
- FooBarBizBazz 2y agoWhen I go down this chain of thought, I eventually end up at -- Legs. I have legs. They are built in. I can just use them. I can always bring my legs onto the subway. If they don't go fast enough, then I have two options: 1. Give myself more time. 2. Jog or run. This will make me sweaty. Maybe I will want to shower at the office. That's an option. It will make me healthier, if I do it. There is also a third choice: 3. Obtain real estate in such a way that substantial travel is not required. Clearly most people will look at these options and say, "FooBar, you are insane." It's simultaneously the easiest solution to the problem, and the most difficult.
- whiplash451 2y agoConsider a Hiplock D1000 (not affiliated) I bought one for my expensive gravel and have been happy with it so far.
- jonasdegendt 2y agoInsurance on a 2000 EUR bike runs 10 bucks a month at the most.
- carlosjobim 2y agoMotorcycle
- myroon5 2y agoYup, order of magnitude more electric micromobility vehicles than electric cars: https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-280-million-electric-bikes-and-mopeds-are-cutting-demand-for-oil-far-more-than-electric-cars-213870 https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-280-million-electric-...
- VladStanimir 2y agoThe problem with electric cars is charging infrastructure in cites. An electric bike or scooter can be brought indoors to charge.
- tim333 2y agoThat's part of it. I had a look in central London and I could sort of charge but the costs are very different too - something like £20k for a car whereas I got a used ebike for £180 and it's much quicker to get around on and you don't have the parking issues.
- conductr 2y agoIt’s not so much of a problem due to the average daily drive being a fraction of range. So long as you can charge at home, city life is fine for electric cars.
- edwcross 2y agoMost countries still do not mandate that new apartments include charging ports for parking spots. So densely-populated areas will still be plagued with non-EC compatible buildings for decades to come. That's what "city life" mean in several countries.
- eftpotrm 2y agoAgreed, but they're not that complex to retrofit to a parking space. I can foresee a future where each space has a port and an account card reader - they'd make the buildings more valuable, the supplier to that space has a basically guaranteed income stream, and the government has an easy emissions reduction. Wins all round, so why wouldn't it happen?
- whatever1 2y agoNope. Is as horrible as it gets. They silently swing by the pedestrians with over 20mph, many drive drunk or don't know/avoid traffic rules and there is 0 enforcement. And if you get hit by them good luck getting compensated for your hospital bills.
- occz 2y agoThe damages caused by small electric vehicle users is not material when put into the context of all vehicular violence, where cars overwhelmingly dominate.
- e40 2y agoExactly. They are a scourge. My best friend’s son had facial reconstructive surgery due to a scooter crash and a coworker’s son broke his arm, quite a bad break.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Toutouxc 2y agoBut.. it wasn't the scooter's fault, was it?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tim333 2y agoe-scooters seem incredibly unsafe to me and I think the figures back that up. e-bikes are much more stable.
- Toutouxc 2y agoI've ridden many thousands of kilometers on all kinds of regular bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters (of the small-wheels kind), electrified kickbikes (of the big-front-wheel kind) and actual scooters (of the vespa kind) and it all feels roughly the same to me. If you're an idiot who couldn't be bothered to learn how to ride $vehicle, you will likely crash $vehicle. The issue is that e-scooters (of the small-wheels kind) are nowadays the weapon of choice of idiots who don't take riding seriously — because they're the cheapest and most portable solution that doesn't require any energy expenditure (unlike a bike) or special skill (unlike a onewheel or similar).
- aqme28 2y agoAlso an order of magnitude or two better for the climate than an electric car.
- consp 2y agoAs anecdotal example: My diy ebike will do about 80km unassisted (aka peddling for show) with .85kwh. Looking at what scooter should be able to do when not going too fast is a big order of magnitude (but not two) in kwh/100k. Though headwind is going to matter more on a bike/scooter than a car. I guess with a more efficient motor you could get up to two.
- aqme28 2y agoDon’t forget materials and manufacturing
- LoganDark 2y agoNote that electric bikes/scooters get approximately zero consideration from cars. I was traveling in a bike lane last year and a truck just turned right into me. I easily could have died if not for my helmet. (Which received a glowing 5-star review for that performance, btw.)
- forgetfreeman 2y agoThe tech itself is sound but there appears to be some unresolved issues around sound ridership practices that could be addressed. E-scooters were introduced locally a few years ago by a couple of rental ap companies and attitudes of local drivers have shifted to naked hostility in response to users flagrant disregard for both traffic laws and common sense. Understand I make no effort to excuse the behavior of motorists which varies on a spectrum from negligent to actively homicidal depending on how badly traffic is being impeded. The reality of the situation is pretty resistant to high-minded ideals however and choosing these modes of transportation in many metro areas is intentionally putting yourself at risk.
- LoganDark 2y agoIn my jurisdiction it's literally illegal to make a right turn without ensuring the bike lane is entirely clear. Not to say that legality has ever dictated driver behavior, but what happened definitely wasn't just me impeding traffic.
- forgetfreeman 2y agoAllow me to stress my total lack of support for motorist behavior. I rode a liter bike for a number of years and got so inured to motorist-induced near-death experiences that I wouldn't even comment to my coworkers on the days only a single driver tried to kill me on either my morning commute or when I left the office for lunch. I get it, but getting it doesn't change attitudes, aptitude, or attentiveness of the other folks on the road that have a weight advantage measured in tons. Full Disclosure: I loathe cyclists on the road. I find the act of intentionally putting oneself at risk for the privilege of presenting an impediment to normal traffic just insufferably self-absorbed and a troll of the first order. That said I give a full lane when passing or slow to match speed at a safe follow distance if passing isn't a safe option. Just because I find it to be nuisance behavior isn't grounds to hassle or threaten anyone, the roadway is a public resource after all.
- elric 2y agoFrom what I've seen, scooters and electric bikes aren't competition for cars, but for public transport.
- mc32 2y agoAlso light transport works great for for single people and dinks. Once people have kids they likely would want a car. By that time you don’t want to do daily shopping and you don’t want to carry four bags of groceries on a bus, plus on average a couple of times a month you need to transport bulkier items -yes you could rent a car for that each time, but people like ad hoc convenience, they don’t like planning things in advance, if they can avoid it.
- te_chris 2y agoNot at all. Transport is great for families. Get your groceries delivered. Cargo bikes exist as well.
- mc32 2y agoDelivered groceries are more expensive, not everyone can afford the prices plus the expected tip. A beater auto is affordable for most families. People with dough won’t mind the extra expense, that’s usually a given.
- techterrier 2y agonot in the UK. its an extra couple of quid for the delivery.
- amrocha 2y agoI really don’t think you can argue that buying a car for groceries is cheaper than getting them delivered every once in a while. Even just in terms of gas and taxes it’s already more expensive.
- Gasp0de 2y agoA cheap car costs around 300€ per month (including taxes, repairs, loss of value, etc.), or way more if you drive a lot or if you have a car that is new-ish. I don't think that 4-8 deliveries per month would cost more than 80€ per month in delivery cost. Also, what's keeping you from going shopping by bike? We do it all the time.