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for the non bikers, to help us understand, whats wrong with it?
by user- 2mo ago
for the non bikers, to help us understand, whats wrong with it?
- UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2mo agoThey aren’t reliable or efficient.
- NegativeLatency 2mo agoLimited power delivery, horrible in the rain, prevents using fenders
- lostlogin 2mo agoWould you need a fender with it there?
- tokioyoyo 2mo agoRain is an interesting thing, because the number of bikers in Tokyo goes down maybe by 60% or more the second it rains. I kinda avoid as well.
- decimalenough 2mo agoNothing Tokyo specific about that, biking in the rain is dangerous and generally sucky. I have good all weather gear, but I still end up with wet shoes/socks and muddy spray up my back and legs (yes, I have a mudguard, but it's not 100% effective).
- loeg 2mo agoDestroys tires, very limited range/power due to poor power delivery from motor to tire. Parasitic drag when coasting or battery is dead.
- ctidd 2mo agoThis is an inherently inefficient design, where that inefficiency means increased 1) battery use and 2) tire wear. From a cyclist’s perspective, this is fundamentally a stopgap product for “curious” customers dipping their toes into e-bikes. I don’t say that necessarily to criticize it. There’s a place for a product that someone can put on any old bike and see if they want to buy a more expensive long-term solution. But that doesn’t make it a product I’d recommend. The tire wear problem is significant enough that there are heat resistant tires specifically for this type of drum application (designed for old-style indoor trainers, not for use on the road), because use on a drum will cause premature wear for normal road tires.
- mswphd 2mo agoit's also likely mildly more dangerous than a standard ebike, as ebikes typically overprovision their brakes. A customer putting this on a standard bike (especially a disc brake bike) might have less stopping power than they want on an ebike.
- loeg 2mo agoI wouldn't worry about it in this application, because the added weight and power is so minimal. Also: many of the cheap ebikes ($1000-1500 range) have absolutely terrible, underprovisioned brakes.
- mswphd 2mo agoonly real worry I'd have is a scenario like 1. someone has a cheap disc brake bike for pleasure rides (mostly in the sun) 2. they get something like this for commuting or whatever 3. now they're on their disc brake bike most days (including when it rains), going faster than they're used to it's not the end of the world, but it also doesn't seem great
- prmoustache 2mo agoThe requirement for better brakes is more a myth. Yes an e-bike is heavier but the rider + bike pair is not significantly heavier so e-bikes don't really need better brakes as most of them aren't going significantly faster than regular "muscular bikes", especially the legal ones that have an assistance speed limit. Rider weight makes a much bigger difference yet bike brands don't insist on speccing more powerful brakes on bigger riders.