6 ms·

Electric bikes might just be the healthiest thing to ever happen to teenagers

35 points by harambae 1y ago

wbly 1y ago
E-bikes might be the first tech in decades that actually gets teens off screens and into the real world without feeling like a chore. That’s a win.
- y-curious 1y ago
  I think this tune will change once more reliable data comes out about injury statistics, especially serious injuries. Where I live (suburbs in the Bay Area), I see gangs of teens doing extremely reckless things on busy roadways. I can't imagine giving children motorcycles before they know the rules of the road is going to go unnoticed
  - harambae 1y ago
    I know parents who start their children racing motocross dirtbikes around age 6. (Meanwhile, my brother is making sure his dinner table corners are padded for his 7 year old to not run into... different parenting styles, I guess)
    - ryandrake 1y ago
      Yea, I don't think we ought to let (real OR imagined) fears of injury suffocate new inventions that might help get kids out of the house and active. Growing up in the 80s, we roamed freely and got injured all the time, sometimes seriously (broken bones, torn ligaments, probably concussions--I don't remember because my brain doesn't work anymore), and most of us turned out fine!
      - y-curious 1y ago
        This anecdote is survivorship bias quite literally. There are many people that are dead from lack of regulation during the 80s that cannot comment. I agree that we shouldn't let fear rule us, but I think the risk of fatal and disfiguring accidents is high on roadways in the US. It's kind of like letting your cat be an outdoor cat, but instead of a sad nextdoor post we are going to be seeing teen funerals
    - y-curious 1y ago
      Racing bikes on a closed course is many magnitudes safer than riding an electric motorcycle on a roadway in the US. I think people don't consider how distracted drivers of multi-ton vehicles are
VeejayRampay 1y ago
so the healthiest thing to ever happen to teenagers is transportation devices that allow them to pretend they're exercising... we've really given up
- amelius 1y ago
  If the lack of exercise becomes problematic we can always give them Ozempic, I suppose.
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Yep, train them early to think that there's a pill for everything. Big Pharma approved this message.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  No, the kids running around in golf carts in my neighborhood have really given up.
- ploynog 1y ago
  No, you are just oversimplifying the issue. Of course, if you were regularly riding before and very fit and change to an e-bike out of laziness, the net effect might be negative, tho even that part is not conclusively proven. But if you found biking way too exhausting, maybe living in a hilly area, riding an e-bike is ten times better than doing nothing. Would it be even better to ride a non-e-bike? Maybe. Would it happen? Probably not.
  - VeejayRampay 1y ago
    your reply is oversimplistic as well we're now in a world where the youth of developed countries are way more overweight than they were before, because of a radical shift in diet and exercise upon reading that using electric bikes (that are basically mopeds disguised as bikes, i.e. which do not induce "real" physical activity due to assistance from the motor) are the healthiest thing to ever happen to teenagers, I have the feeling that the title is being a bit over the top I'm not even talking about being fit or anything, just that actual bike riding (normal bikes) or just walking maybe would be actual good news. I understand that people in hilly areas benefit from ebikes, but is this the majority of the people mentioned here? or is it just that we're all like "well, I guess it's better than staying inside all the time eating doritos"? That's why I'm saying that this is a sign that we've given up, we're counting this as some sort of win, which I don't think it is
JSR_FDED 1y ago
It’s all relative I guess. In the Netherlands which has a strong cycling culture, the e-bikes are seen by many as a negative - reducing the amount of exercise kids would otherwise get. It also emphasizes a rich/poor divide (which the Dutch are extra allergic to) where well-off kids have e-bikes and the others regular bikes.
- bell-cot 1y ago
  The Netherlands is a rather dense, flat country. Generally not too hot, either. All of which reduce the downsides of pedal-pumping on a regular bike.
- Freak_NL 1y ago
  From what I can tell looking at teenagers in the Netherlands: healthy kids have normal bicycles; kids who actually have to cycle 20km from some village to get to school often get e-bikes (somewhat sensible); those with upper middle class parents living in the suburbs get regular e-bikes too (pointless); lower socio-economic classes get their kid a Chinese fatbike. Mopeds are becoming increasingly rare.
  - arp242 1y ago
    > Mopeds are becoming increasingly rare. How will we demonstrate the Doppler effect to kids now?! I haven't lived in NL for about ten years, but I still have PTST from these 100dB mopeds at 4am. Whatever else can be said about e-bikes: mopeds will not be missed.
  - graemep 1y ago
    Ebikes are mopeds with less regulation so there is no real reason to get a moped.
    - windexh8er 1y ago
      In the US this allows kids who are not of age to drive to be able to use their bike like someone would use a moped. But since these kids don't have licenses or any oversight they're flying at 25+ mpg down sidewalks and other areas they shouldn't be. Saw a hilarious exchange of some cops vs teens on ebikes in a relatively affluent restaurant area a few months ago. The teens were taunting the cops as they had their normal vehicle and obviously couldn't go where the teens were. The teens just ignored the cops as they feverishly got nowhere.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
rychco 1y ago
This is cute, but the real reason our teens are inactive & unsocial is because of awful zoning laws + exurban sprawl. It’s not realistically possible to meet your friends anywhere, their homes are too far away & there aren’t any third-spaces to spend time at.
- JKCalhoun 1y ago
  That never stopped this 70's kid who grew up riding a bike in the suburbs. (There was a brief moped craze though. I couldn't afford one.)
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Yeah my hometown in the 70s was entirely suburban in style. We rode bikes all over the place.
- hombre_fatal 1y ago
  In Houston, my girlfriend and I share a car since I work from home and she doesn't which is sufficient for 95% of our needs. Yesterday I went to a meetup.com board game night by myself while she was at work and the only option was to take a $17 Uber there even though I live as central as you can get (central means very little in a place like Houston). It's especially ridiculous after living in Mexico City which has world class mass transit and the liberation to go where you want with nothing but 5 pesos. Houston's mayor calls cyclists "activists" and routinely rips out or rejects bus and bike lanes. Huge lifestyle downgrade, but I love her and this is where she got a job.
- poemxo 1y ago
  Won't anyone think of those exurbanite children who live in such uncramped areas?
MarkusWandel 1y ago
Hmmm. Back in the day it was normal bikes that did all that. Young people can attain the necessary fitness easily. I fear that once started on an e-bike, with all the benefits the article lists, the one thing that may never happen is changing to a conventional bike later. For example, some serious mountain biking Youtube channels I watch point out that electric mountain bikes are just as good at the cool stuff (berms, jumps etc) but simply take the drudgery out of getting to the top of the hill in the first place. If a less fit teenager on an e-MTB is seen as cooler than a more fit one on a conventional MTB... you know what will happen. The conventional crowd, though fitter, will be seen like the poor Android cousins to the "right coulour texting bubble" iPhone crowd.
Apfel 1y ago
Sidepoint but they're also a complete gamechanger for the elderly and infirm. My 70 year old, double-ankle replacement mother who I don't remember ever walking very comfortably bought an ebike a couple of years back. The sheer joy on her face watching her whizz up a hill made me realise just how transformational these things can be.
- rychco 1y ago
  Agreed. E-bikes have gotten my elderly relatives moving too. From essentially sedentary to active on a daily basis. Teens + other able bodied people are inactive for reasons unrelated to ease of pedaling.
- AaronAPU 1y ago
  It’s a weird experience having a grandma in front of me on the trail, and at my normal pace I’m not passing her. That’s on my slow mountain bike, which I ride for comfort some days. But it’s still a weird experience.
- _DeadFred_ 1y ago
  I had a 67 year old lady shoot in front of my jeep last week on one of these while listening to iPods, obviously flying into a crosswalk full speed. She ended up flipping over her handle bars when she saw me, had road rash from head to ankles and her calf separated from her leg bone. She's never fully recovering from that spill. Lucky she wasn't on blood thinner or she might not have made it. Our local bike trails allow them in certain sections and it's wild to see old people just zipping around. Our paths are single track but traffic both directions. Not sure what's going on, they have zero awareness, especially for someone that's made it to 70.
  - cadamsdotcom 1y ago
    Glad she’s alive - sad she got hurt. Now for the unserious part: She learned at 70 a lesson she never got to learn as a teenager! She probably has some badass scars.
- tim333 1y ago
j_w 1y ago
Four comments and only one seems to be related to the article. The article is about "touching on independence, mental health, social behavior, and even environmental awareness" just as much as not sitting on your butt inside. It talks about car culture and social challenges. It recommends class 1 e-bikes so you still have to pedal (no throttle). Yes e-bikes are "cheating" the exercise of cycling, but teens aren't getting e-bikes to go cycling they are getting them to travel without asking somebody to drive them. Throttle e-bikes are a bit of a menace in my area, but that's whatever. If more people can get outside and enjoy life that's a huge win.
- Aurornis 1y ago
  > It recommends class 1 e-bikes so you still have to pedal (no throttle). Where I live, the trend is either to buy an electric motorcycle and ride it around as if it was a bike (on sidewalks, bike trails, crosswalks) or to buy a hackable e-bike and unlock the power limit and add a throttle. The interest in real class 1 e-bikes seems minimal. The hacked e-bike and electric motorcycle people are making bike paths and trails much more dangerous for everyone. Even the normal e-bike people have seemingly forgotten that there are rules. I had to jump out of the way of a middle aged woman who blew through a stop sign on her e-bike and turned right straight into us pedestrians. It’s common to see e-bike riders jumping between the sidewalk, road, and crosswalks as convenient and blowing through the four way stop by my house.
- BlackFly 1y ago
  > This type of group riding brings back real-world socialization, which is especially crucial right now. > many teens haven’t yet learned the road rules, There are few nations in the world that respect cycling as a mode of transportation enough to legislate that cyclists are permitted to ride two abreast (I am only aware of the Netherlands). Instead, in most nations two cyclists out for a "convivial" trip together are forced to ride single file while two seat wide vehicles operated typically by a single driver in a vehicle wider than two bicycles riding abreast speed merrily by. Let the teens ride side by side.
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
world2vec 1y ago
Here in London, stolen Lime e-bikes sure seem popular with teenagers. That beep beep beep and click click click sound everywhere I go.
- philipwhiuk 1y ago
  Free as in beer.
- pfych 1y ago
  Whenever I go for a run in the afternoon there's always a big group of teens down fishing at the river with a bunch of lime bikes next too them. Glad it's made it easier for them to all meet up and hang out outdoors. It's funny when they wrap up though and you watch all of them kickstart the bikes. Riding off down the trail as they beep and click. Haha.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
While we have people weighing in on e-bikes in this thread: any recommendations on a decent one? I want something that's not a cheap Chinese thing, but something of some measure of quality. I kinda hate the fat-tire thing and I'm not a real fan of hub motors (they add so much weight to the wheel that trying to ease a bike down off a curb results in slamming the wheel for me). I prefer mid-drive.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  People who don't care about cycling or appealing to the morals of any demographic go out and buy fat tire throttle controlled e-bikes. What that tells me is that those are the best experience for someone who doesn't care about the details. Without personal experience in the details of a subject I would err toward not deviating too far from that. Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
- mgraupner 1y ago
  Get one with a Bosch CX motor (at least Gen4 or newer with the smart system). They are market leaders here in Europe and they usually ride really well. Canyon (German brand) sells bikes in the US with this system: https://www.canyon.com/en-us/electric-bikes/electric-touring-bikes/pathlite-on/ https://www.canyon.com/en-us/electric-bikes/electric-touring...
gibagger 1y ago
For the teenagers of which country, exactly?. I live in the Netherlands, where the average teenager used to ride a regular Dutch city bike. Internal hub, no-frills bicycles. Nowadays, however, fat e-bikes are all the rage among that age group. They are quickly becoming extremely popular, and are essentially electric scooters without plates or registration. Many of them require little or no effort to pedal, and can carry up to two riders in them. These are also designed to meet regulations, while also being able to easily be modified to circumvent them, such as removing speed restrictions, and removing the need to pedal itself. This is also reflected in the shape of these things, which generally does not account for ergonomics. Their seat and handlebars are usually fixed in place. They appear to be designed without pedaling in mind, as exerting effort without proper ergonomics would quickly become uncomfortable and painful. You can actually see some such bikes in the linked article. Time will tell whether this is truly healthy to them, but I have a hard time believing this to be the case. I think the fat bike demographic might start putting on weight.
- arp242 1y ago
  > For the teenagers of which country, exactly? United States, obviously. Article makes zero pretence being about anything other than that and it's stated right there in the opening paragraph: "among America’s youth".
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    What was wrong with regular bikes that American youth had to wait for electric bikes to discover cycling?
    - j_w 1y ago
      American drivers tend to be extremely aggressive towards cyclists. Long distances mean you will get tired and/or sweat. Lot of 2 lane roads without shoulders or sidewalks makes cycling on them scary. I do cycle (normal bike). These are some of the things that I told myself that kept me from getting into it when I was younger.
muststopmyths 1y ago
That's just, like, your opinion man. (i.e., it's not some scientific study) Although I do agree that if it encourages the yutes to get outside and socialize that seems like a win. [insert obligatory old man grumble about sidewalkriding and rulesignoring kidsthesedays]
- IneffablePigeon 1y ago
  There’s a lot of research that for the average person, getting an e-bike will result in more exercise than a normal bike. Not because you work harder on one but because you’ll use it more. My knee jerk reaction was the same as yours but I’ve changed my mind on it.
  - muststopmyths 1y ago
    I think you are misreading my reaction. All I'm saying is that TFA's not a study but some guy's opinion. But, as I said if it encourages healthy behavior, that's great.
stuaxo 1y ago
Unpaid Lime bike use might be the healthiest thing to happen to teenagers in the UK. As a paid Lime bike user, I don't mind this. Unpaid, they are terrible heavy bikes - but that is clearly better than no-bike. Lime already somewhat violates social contracts by having their bikes everywhere.
- _lvbh 1y ago
  They've been removing those bikes around Cardiff since a year back. Can't find them anywhere anymore
Spagbol 1y ago
I'm pro e-bike for reasons other people have mentioned: -It's a big win for the elderly and out of shape who otherwise would not be getting that exercise and fresh air at all. I have a friend who's Aunt has a heart problem and apperently otherwise wouldn't be unable to bike without an e-bike. -It brings many new people into the orbit of biking that otherwise wouldn't. The more bikers the more demand for good bike infrastructure, and the fewer cars on the road, and the more attractive biking becomes as a means of transport in a virtuous cycle. This could be huge. Though I do worry about a few things: -I think with its battery an e-bike is significantly more of an issue when people do stupid things like throw bikes in rivers/lakes/ponds. Even if this weren't common in places it still needs a good end of life for recycling. -I do think maybe some people will be so used to an e-bike smoothing out the ride that they will never go to a full bike, but this may be a relatively low number (e.g. many people choose to bike over driving because they want to exercise) -Many people on e-bikes in my area are a bit of a menace. Because it takes no effort to use, people fly around at max speed (well above the limit posted on our bike paths) and e-bikes are heavy; if someone gets hit it might seriously injure them. I think it may end up giving them a bad reputation if they aren't managed well. Edited for formatting
- AaronAPU 1y ago
  yeah on the one hand there are clearly good things about them. But just solely from my own actual personal lived experience, they are making my rides less enjoyable on a daily basis. I’m hoping much of it will be ironed out over time as etiquette catches up. But I dunno, once the masses flood any given environment it tends to become permanently worse.
daemonologist 1y ago
Ebikes are great, but here in the suburban US I only see teenagers on electric scooters (standing/kick scooters), presumably because they're slightly cheaper, or non-electric bikes. The ebikes I do see are used exclusively by adults. There might be some coolness gradient at play in addition to the cost, not sure.
- harambae 1y ago
  The teenagers in San Jose ride Surron-style ebikes all over the place and it's pretty suburban where I am. (Might have to do with the weather and/or affluence? In a lot of places you can't bike year-round and an ebike is a bigger investment for only 6 months.)
amelius 1y ago
Just a note that: exercise : e-bikes == real thinking : AI use
tartoran 1y ago
Nobody seems to be mentioning electric unicycles which are great for training ballance and the core. Once one gets over the steepish learning phase (a couple of hours or training) they are extremely versatile on all kids of terrain.

35 points by harambae 1y ago

wbly 1y ago

E-bikes might be the first tech in decades that actually gets teens off screens and into the real world without feeling like a chore. That’s a win.

y-curious 1y ago
I think this tune will change once more reliable data comes out about injury statistics, especially serious injuries. Where I live (suburbs in the Bay Area), I see gangs of teens doing extremely reckless things on busy roadways. I can't imagine giving children motorcycles before they know the rules of the road is going to go unnoticed
- harambae 1y ago
  I know parents who start their children racing motocross dirtbikes around age 6. (Meanwhile, my brother is making sure his dinner table corners are padded for his 7 year old to not run into... different parenting styles, I guess)
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    Yea, I don't think we ought to let (real OR imagined) fears of injury suffocate new inventions that might help get kids out of the house and active. Growing up in the 80s, we roamed freely and got injured all the time, sometimes seriously (broken bones, torn ligaments, probably concussions--I don't remember because my brain doesn't work anymore), and most of us turned out fine!
    - y-curious 1y ago
      This anecdote is survivorship bias quite literally. There are many people that are dead from lack of regulation during the 80s that cannot comment. I agree that we shouldn't let fear rule us, but I think the risk of fatal and disfiguring accidents is high on roadways in the US. It's kind of like letting your cat be an outdoor cat, but instead of a sad nextdoor post we are going to be seeing teen funerals
  - y-curious 1y ago
    Racing bikes on a closed course is many magnitudes safer than riding an electric motorcycle on a roadway in the US. I think people don't consider how distracted drivers of multi-ton vehicles are

VeejayRampay 1y ago

so the healthiest thing to ever happen to teenagers is transportation devices that allow them to pretend they're exercising... we've really given up

amelius 1y ago
If the lack of exercise becomes problematic we can always give them Ozempic, I suppose.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Yep, train them early to think that there's a pill for everything. Big Pharma approved this message.
JKCalhoun 1y ago
No, the kids running around in golf carts in my neighborhood have really given up.
ploynog 1y ago
No, you are just oversimplifying the issue. Of course, if you were regularly riding before and very fit and change to an e-bike out of laziness, the net effect might be negative, tho even that part is not conclusively proven. But if you found biking way too exhausting, maybe living in a hilly area, riding an e-bike is ten times better than doing nothing. Would it be even better to ride a non-e-bike? Maybe. Would it happen? Probably not.
- VeejayRampay 1y ago
  your reply is oversimplistic as well we're now in a world where the youth of developed countries are way more overweight than they were before, because of a radical shift in diet and exercise upon reading that using electric bikes (that are basically mopeds disguised as bikes, i.e. which do not induce "real" physical activity due to assistance from the motor) are the healthiest thing to ever happen to teenagers, I have the feeling that the title is being a bit over the top I'm not even talking about being fit or anything, just that actual bike riding (normal bikes) or just walking maybe would be actual good news. I understand that people in hilly areas benefit from ebikes, but is this the majority of the people mentioned here? or is it just that we're all like "well, I guess it's better than staying inside all the time eating doritos"? That's why I'm saying that this is a sign that we've given up, we're counting this as some sort of win, which I don't think it is

JSR_FDED 1y ago

It’s all relative I guess. In the Netherlands which has a strong cycling culture, the e-bikes are seen by many as a negative - reducing the amount of exercise kids would otherwise get. It also emphasizes a rich/poor divide (which the Dutch are extra allergic to) where well-off kids have e-bikes and the others regular bikes.

bell-cot 1y ago
The Netherlands is a rather dense, flat country. Generally not too hot, either. All of which reduce the downsides of pedal-pumping on a regular bike.
Freak_NL 1y ago
From what I can tell looking at teenagers in the Netherlands: healthy kids have normal bicycles; kids who actually have to cycle 20km from some village to get to school often get e-bikes (somewhat sensible); those with upper middle class parents living in the suburbs get regular e-bikes too (pointless); lower socio-economic classes get their kid a Chinese fatbike. Mopeds are becoming increasingly rare.
- arp242 1y ago
  > Mopeds are becoming increasingly rare. How will we demonstrate the Doppler effect to kids now?! I haven't lived in NL for about ten years, but I still have PTST from these 100dB mopeds at 4am. Whatever else can be said about e-bikes: mopeds will not be missed.
- graemep 1y ago
  Ebikes are mopeds with less regulation so there is no real reason to get a moped.
  - windexh8er 1y ago
    In the US this allows kids who are not of age to drive to be able to use their bike like someone would use a moped. But since these kids don't have licenses or any oversight they're flying at 25+ mpg down sidewalks and other areas they shouldn't be. Saw a hilarious exchange of some cops vs teens on ebikes in a relatively affluent restaurant area a few months ago. The teens were taunting the cops as they had their normal vehicle and obviously couldn't go where the teens were. The teens just ignored the cops as they feverishly got nowhere.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

rychco 1y ago

This is cute, but the real reason our teens are inactive & unsocial is because of awful zoning laws + exurban sprawl. It’s not realistically possible to meet your friends anywhere, their homes are too far away & there aren’t any third-spaces to spend time at.

JKCalhoun 1y ago
That never stopped this 70's kid who grew up riding a bike in the suburbs. (There was a brief moped craze though. I couldn't afford one.)
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Yeah my hometown in the 70s was entirely suburban in style. We rode bikes all over the place.
hombre_fatal 1y ago
In Houston, my girlfriend and I share a car since I work from home and she doesn't which is sufficient for 95% of our needs. Yesterday I went to a meetup.com board game night by myself while she was at work and the only option was to take a $17 Uber there even though I live as central as you can get (central means very little in a place like Houston). It's especially ridiculous after living in Mexico City which has world class mass transit and the liberation to go where you want with nothing but 5 pesos. Houston's mayor calls cyclists "activists" and routinely rips out or rejects bus and bike lanes. Huge lifestyle downgrade, but I love her and this is where she got a job.
poemxo 1y ago
Won't anyone think of those exurbanite children who live in such uncramped areas?

MarkusWandel 1y ago

Hmmm. Back in the day it was normal bikes that did all that. Young people can attain the necessary fitness easily. I fear that once started on an e-bike, with all the benefits the article lists, the one thing that may never happen is changing to a conventional bike later. For example, some serious mountain biking Youtube channels I watch point out that electric mountain bikes are just as good at the cool stuff (berms, jumps etc) but simply take the drudgery out of getting to the top of the hill in the first place. If a less fit teenager on an e-MTB is seen as cooler than a more fit one on a conventional MTB... you know what will happen. The conventional crowd, though fitter, will be seen like the poor Android cousins to the "right coulour texting bubble" iPhone crowd.

Apfel 1y ago

Sidepoint but they're also a complete gamechanger for the elderly and infirm. My 70 year old, double-ankle replacement mother who I don't remember ever walking very comfortably bought an ebike a couple of years back. The sheer joy on her face watching her whizz up a hill made me realise just how transformational these things can be.

rychco 1y ago
Agreed. E-bikes have gotten my elderly relatives moving too. From essentially sedentary to active on a daily basis. Teens + other able bodied people are inactive for reasons unrelated to ease of pedaling.
AaronAPU 1y ago
It’s a weird experience having a grandma in front of me on the trail, and at my normal pace I’m not passing her. That’s on my slow mountain bike, which I ride for comfort some days. But it’s still a weird experience.
_DeadFred_ 1y ago
I had a 67 year old lady shoot in front of my jeep last week on one of these while listening to iPods, obviously flying into a crosswalk full speed. She ended up flipping over her handle bars when she saw me, had road rash from head to ankles and her calf separated from her leg bone. She's never fully recovering from that spill. Lucky she wasn't on blood thinner or she might not have made it. Our local bike trails allow them in certain sections and it's wild to see old people just zipping around. Our paths are single track but traffic both directions. Not sure what's going on, they have zero awareness, especially for someone that's made it to 70.
- cadamsdotcom 1y ago
  Glad she’s alive - sad she got hurt. Now for the unserious part: She learned at 70 a lesson she never got to learn as a teenager! She probably has some badass scars.
tim333 1y ago

j_w 1y ago

Four comments and only one seems to be related to the article. The article is about "touching on independence, mental health, social behavior, and even environmental awareness" just as much as not sitting on your butt inside. It talks about car culture and social challenges. It recommends class 1 e-bikes so you still have to pedal (no throttle). Yes e-bikes are "cheating" the exercise of cycling, but teens aren't getting e-bikes to go cycling they are getting them to travel without asking somebody to drive them. Throttle e-bikes are a bit of a menace in my area, but that's whatever. If more people can get outside and enjoy life that's a huge win.

Aurornis 1y ago
> It recommends class 1 e-bikes so you still have to pedal (no throttle). Where I live, the trend is either to buy an electric motorcycle and ride it around as if it was a bike (on sidewalks, bike trails, crosswalks) or to buy a hackable e-bike and unlock the power limit and add a throttle. The interest in real class 1 e-bikes seems minimal. The hacked e-bike and electric motorcycle people are making bike paths and trails much more dangerous for everyone. Even the normal e-bike people have seemingly forgotten that there are rules. I had to jump out of the way of a middle aged woman who blew through a stop sign on her e-bike and turned right straight into us pedestrians. It’s common to see e-bike riders jumping between the sidewalk, road, and crosswalks as convenient and blowing through the four way stop by my house.
BlackFly 1y ago
> This type of group riding brings back real-world socialization, which is especially crucial right now. > many teens haven’t yet learned the road rules, There are few nations in the world that respect cycling as a mode of transportation enough to legislate that cyclists are permitted to ride two abreast (I am only aware of the Netherlands). Instead, in most nations two cyclists out for a "convivial" trip together are forced to ride single file while two seat wide vehicles operated typically by a single driver in a vehicle wider than two bicycles riding abreast speed merrily by. Let the teens ride side by side.
- SoftTalker 1y ago

world2vec 1y ago

Here in London, stolen Lime e-bikes sure seem popular with teenagers. That beep beep beep and click click click sound everywhere I go.

philipwhiuk 1y ago
Free as in beer.
pfych 1y ago
Whenever I go for a run in the afternoon there's always a big group of teens down fishing at the river with a bunch of lime bikes next too them. Glad it's made it easier for them to all meet up and hang out outdoors. It's funny when they wrap up though and you watch all of them kickstart the bikes. Riding off down the trail as they beep and click. Haha.

JKCalhoun 1y ago

While we have people weighing in on e-bikes in this thread: any recommendations on a decent one? I want something that's not a cheap Chinese thing, but something of some measure of quality. I kinda hate the fat-tire thing and I'm not a real fan of hub motors (they add so much weight to the wheel that trying to ease a bike down off a curb results in slamming the wheel for me). I prefer mid-drive.

potato3732842 1y ago
People who don't care about cycling or appealing to the morals of any demographic go out and buy fat tire throttle controlled e-bikes. What that tells me is that those are the best experience for someone who doesn't care about the details. Without personal experience in the details of a subject I would err toward not deviating too far from that. Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
mgraupner 1y ago
Get one with a Bosch CX motor (at least Gen4 or newer with the smart system). They are market leaders here in Europe and they usually ride really well. Canyon (German brand) sells bikes in the US with this system: https://www.canyon.com/en-us/electric-bikes/electric-touring-bikes/pathlite-on/ https://www.canyon.com/en-us/electric-bikes/electric-touring...

gibagger 1y ago

For the teenagers of which country, exactly?. I live in the Netherlands, where the average teenager used to ride a regular Dutch city bike. Internal hub, no-frills bicycles. Nowadays, however, fat e-bikes are all the rage among that age group. They are quickly becoming extremely popular, and are essentially electric scooters without plates or registration. Many of them require little or no effort to pedal, and can carry up to two riders in them. These are also designed to meet regulations, while also being able to easily be modified to circumvent them, such as removing speed restrictions, and removing the need to pedal itself. This is also reflected in the shape of these things, which generally does not account for ergonomics. Their seat and handlebars are usually fixed in place. They appear to be designed without pedaling in mind, as exerting effort without proper ergonomics would quickly become uncomfortable and painful. You can actually see some such bikes in the linked article. Time will tell whether this is truly healthy to them, but I have a hard time believing this to be the case. I think the fat bike demographic might start putting on weight.

arp242 1y ago
> For the teenagers of which country, exactly? United States, obviously. Article makes zero pretence being about anything other than that and it's stated right there in the opening paragraph: "among America’s youth".
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  What was wrong with regular bikes that American youth had to wait for electric bikes to discover cycling?
  - j_w 1y ago
    American drivers tend to be extremely aggressive towards cyclists. Long distances mean you will get tired and/or sweat. Lot of 2 lane roads without shoulders or sidewalks makes cycling on them scary. I do cycle (normal bike). These are some of the things that I told myself that kept me from getting into it when I was younger.

muststopmyths 1y ago

That's just, like, your opinion man. (i.e., it's not some scientific study) Although I do agree that if it encourages the yutes to get outside and socialize that seems like a win. [insert obligatory old man grumble about sidewalkriding and rulesignoring kidsthesedays]

IneffablePigeon 1y ago
There’s a lot of research that for the average person, getting an e-bike will result in more exercise than a normal bike. Not because you work harder on one but because you’ll use it more. My knee jerk reaction was the same as yours but I’ve changed my mind on it.
- muststopmyths 1y ago
  I think you are misreading my reaction. All I'm saying is that TFA's not a study but some guy's opinion. But, as I said if it encourages healthy behavior, that's great.

stuaxo 1y ago

Unpaid Lime bike use might be the healthiest thing to happen to teenagers in the UK. As a paid Lime bike user, I don't mind this. Unpaid, they are terrible heavy bikes - but that is clearly better than no-bike. Lime already somewhat violates social contracts by having their bikes everywhere.

_lvbh 1y ago
They've been removing those bikes around Cardiff since a year back. Can't find them anywhere anymore

Spagbol 1y ago

I'm pro e-bike for reasons other people have mentioned: -It's a big win for the elderly and out of shape who otherwise would not be getting that exercise and fresh air at all. I have a friend who's Aunt has a heart problem and apperently otherwise wouldn't be unable to bike without an e-bike. -It brings many new people into the orbit of biking that otherwise wouldn't. The more bikers the more demand for good bike infrastructure, and the fewer cars on the road, and the more attractive biking becomes as a means of transport in a virtuous cycle. This could be huge. Though I do worry about a few things: -I think with its battery an e-bike is significantly more of an issue when people do stupid things like throw bikes in rivers/lakes/ponds. Even if this weren't common in places it still needs a good end of life for recycling. -I do think maybe some people will be so used to an e-bike smoothing out the ride that they will never go to a full bike, but this may be a relatively low number (e.g. many people choose to bike over driving because they want to exercise) -Many people on e-bikes in my area are a bit of a menace. Because it takes no effort to use, people fly around at max speed (well above the limit posted on our bike paths) and e-bikes are heavy; if someone gets hit it might seriously injure them. I think it may end up giving them a bad reputation if they aren't managed well. Edited for formatting

AaronAPU 1y ago
yeah on the one hand there are clearly good things about them. But just solely from my own actual personal lived experience, they are making my rides less enjoyable on a daily basis. I’m hoping much of it will be ironed out over time as etiquette catches up. But I dunno, once the masses flood any given environment it tends to become permanently worse.

daemonologist 1y ago

Ebikes are great, but here in the suburban US I only see teenagers on electric scooters (standing/kick scooters), presumably because they're slightly cheaper, or non-electric bikes. The ebikes I do see are used exclusively by adults. There might be some coolness gradient at play in addition to the cost, not sure.

harambae 1y ago
The teenagers in San Jose ride Surron-style ebikes all over the place and it's pretty suburban where I am. (Might have to do with the weather and/or affluence? In a lot of places you can't bike year-round and an ebike is a bigger investment for only 6 months.)

amelius 1y ago

Just a note that: exercise : e-bikes == real thinking : AI use

tartoran 1y ago

Nobody seems to be mentioning electric unicycles which are great for training ballance and the core. Once one gets over the steepish learning phase (a couple of hours or training) they are extremely versatile on all kids of terrain.