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The reason is because of engineering. If you are really going to fly down the road at 20 mph, you cannot use caliper brakes. They won't have the stopping power

The reason is because of engineering. If you are really going to fly down the road at 20 mph, you cannot use caliper brakes. They won't have the stopping power or "bite" you need to stop quickly. If they get wet or dusty, then for get abou tit. Ditto for suspension if you are going to be making a turn at 20 mph or even 10. At speeds above 10 you really have a motorbike. I work in san jose and saw some guy on a, as you put it, simple traditional steel roadbike with some kind of gas motor on it, going about 20. He tried to take a gentle turn along Tasman in front of Cisco building D or something and almost lost it. It was busy traffic and he could have died if he had gone down. These things aren't bicycles with electric motors. They are motorbikes. These are not the same things. The handling is all different ( you lean into and push into turns ). A serious bicylist might know what I'm talking about. I think the difference is the motor. :) The torque it makes has different characteristics than a bicycle with a fast rider on it. Executive summary: be careful out there. It's harder than it looks. As far as hating bicycling...I don't...but I'm not going to get killed for the sake of commuting since bicycles on roads meant for cars are more or less incompatible in traffic.

gamache 17y ago
Caliper brakes are old tech. V-brakes work great on tandem bikes; I'm sure that thing isn't going any faster than a tandem on a downhill, and it weighs about half as much. That said, good caliper brakes will slow a solo rider down just fine. If you can brake enough to endo, you can brake enough. I also disagree with your statement that this is not an electric bike. It is, and it is marketed as such. It has bicycle geometry and bicycle weight, and notably lacks a pair of heavy-ass gyroscopes. This is going to handle like a cargo bike.
jrockway 17y ago
All I can really say is "citation needed" on all of your points. You don't need suspension to turn a heavy bicycle. Look at all the tandems and cargo bikes without suspension. (I routinely load 35 pounds of groceries onto my bike without even thinking twice. Handling is barely affected, if at all.) Caliper brakes develop plenty of stopping power, even in the rain. I have gone down hills fairly quickly (say, 35mph) only to encounter a red light -- and caliper brakes work just fine for stopping the bike quickly. (I have also ridden bikes with disc brakes. They also work very well, but are unnecessary if you are not riding through mud.) I am sure they are not adequate for stopping a motorcycle driving on the freeway, but that is a completely different case. The forces involved are an order of magnitude apart. This is an electric bicycle with a top speed of 20 miles an hour. I am especially confounded with your statement, "At speeds above 10 you really have a motorbike." 10 what? At 10 miles an hour, you are struggling to balance a bicycle. Stopping and turning is not going to be a problem, even if you have a battery. As far as hating bicycling...I don't...but I'm not going to get killed for the sake of commuting since bicycles on roads meant for cars are more or less incompatible in traffic. This is completely false. Bicycles can use the road as well as cars can, as long as the cyclist obeys the same laws as the motorist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling (Yes, drunk drivers or psychopaths might hit you. But plenty of people die in car accidents, too, and nobody has any qualms about taking their car on a public street.) (As an aside, I am not even going to comment on your anecdote of someone "almost losing it" while turning. That could be due to anything, most likely a flat tire. Continuing along the path of making hasty generalizations from personal experiences -- I have crashed my bike. I did not die. Therefore nobody dies in cycling accidents...)

gamache 17y ago

Caliper brakes are old tech. V-brakes work great on tandem bikes; I'm sure that thing isn't going any faster than a tandem on a downhill, and it weighs about half as much. That said, good caliper brakes will slow a solo rider down just fine. If you can brake enough to endo, you can brake enough. I also disagree with your statement that this is not an electric bike. It is, and it is marketed as such. It has bicycle geometry and bicycle weight, and notably lacks a pair of heavy-ass gyroscopes. This is going to handle like a cargo bike.

jrockway 17y ago

All I can really say is "citation needed" on all of your points. You don't need suspension to turn a heavy bicycle. Look at all the tandems and cargo bikes without suspension. (I routinely load 35 pounds of groceries onto my bike without even thinking twice. Handling is barely affected, if at all.) Caliper brakes develop plenty of stopping power, even in the rain. I have gone down hills fairly quickly (say, 35mph) only to encounter a red light -- and caliper brakes work just fine for stopping the bike quickly. (I have also ridden bikes with disc brakes. They also work very well, but are unnecessary if you are not riding through mud.) I am sure they are not adequate for stopping a motorcycle driving on the freeway, but that is a completely different case. The forces involved are an order of magnitude apart. This is an electric bicycle with a top speed of 20 miles an hour. I am especially confounded with your statement, "At speeds above 10 you really have a motorbike." 10 what? At 10 miles an hour, you are struggling to balance a bicycle. Stopping and turning is not going to be a problem, even if you have a battery. As far as hating bicycling...I don't...but I'm not going to get killed for the sake of commuting since bicycles on roads meant for cars are more or less incompatible in traffic. This is completely false. Bicycles can use the road as well as cars can, as long as the cyclist obeys the same laws as the motorist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling (Yes, drunk drivers or psychopaths might hit you. But plenty of people die in car accidents, too, and nobody has any qualms about taking their car on a public street.) (As an aside, I am not even going to comment on your anecdote of someone "almost losing it" while turning. That could be due to anything, most likely a flat tire. Continuing along the path of making hasty generalizations from personal experiences -- I have crashed my bike. I did not die. Therefore nobody dies in cycling accidents...)