You know, if those trips were going to be taken on bikes without motors, they already would. #eBikes are the bikes that don't gather dust in the back of the garage, that actually replace car trips. Some people don't need them, but the people still in cars clearly aren't those ones.
It's not going to get someone into shape to feel defeated on the way home from the grocery store, trudging up the last hill with a laden acoustic bike. Many people are not going to go ride it just for exercise. An easy car replacement, even if you barely pedal, is going to get you more active than sitting in a car. I've heard plenty of these stories from people who were able to gradually get in shape thanks to the assisted moderate effort of regular e-bike use. It just removes barriers.
Once I'm on the e-bike it's easier for me to convince myself to turn off the assist and get my heart-rate up than it would be for me to convince myself to commit to a whole round trip on the acoustic (?) bike.
I invite anyone who argues that #EBikes are overkill to come live my life for a week. And I'll go live your life, in your superfit body that never sweats, on your awesome infrastructure that accommodates you and your kids, hauling around your weightless groceries.
You can live in my wonky middle-aged body still inflamed from #COVID19, at the bottom of the hill my city is famous for, in heat and humidity, on roads that will get your kids killed if they're not strapped to you.
actually you know what? I don't care. I know exactly what my #EBike has done for me. It's helped me live an almost car-free life. It's helped my child learn to navigate her community while bringing us closer together. It's helped me make friends. It's brought me joy and freedom.
You ride your regular bike if you want to. But stop trying to convince the rest of us that we don't need our ebikes. It's ableist, elitist, snooty, and none of your business.
In the last five years, #eBikes caused only 3.8% as many injuries as bathrooms. Wear your bathroom #helmets, and shame your friends and family until they stop taking baths
@enobacon I have no skin in any e-bike safety debate, but my skin crawls when I see nonsense statistics.
Only about 7% of Americans use an e-bike at least once a month (according to YouGov), and they likely use them a lot less often than they use the bathroom. Also, bathroom injuries happen disproportionately to people with disabilities or the elderly, because it can be wet and slippery, have sharp corners and edges, and is often visited during the night when balance isn't at its best).
@thedorismith@enobacon I know people use bromptons for their kids - like, when they're preteens the 20" wheels and very adjustable seat height works great instead of a kid bike. Would something like cargo bikes from folding bike manufacturers work? Bike Friday's Haul-a-day, Tern's HSD & GSD, etc?
@Andres4NY@thedorismith you mean 16in wheels, though other folders are typ. 20. Some from Lectric seem to have a closer reach, as I mentioned a handlebar swap can help that. Here's my 12yo ~5'4" on the supercargo, swept bars not stock. I'm 5'10".
I guess I'm somewhat of an expert on #eBikes at this point, but I'm kinda surprised they don't already have some resources they could ask about this. 😏
the CHP e-bike safety training at least seems straightforward about actual hazards of #eBikes (such as unexpected motor activation while stopped) and not dripping with moral panic and ignorance.
Riddle me this, Batman: I have rear wheel hub motor from the original Swytch bike indigogo campaign. 36v,22a controller. It was on a 700c wheel and I could regularly get up to 26-28mph on max PAS on a flat. I had the motor re-laced into a 20" wheel and can barely get above 16-17mph. After looking closely at the motor, it seems likes it's a Shengyi DGW22, which is nearly identical to the sx2 from GRIN, standard wind. 1/2
@Karstan@driusan whatpressureyourunning, rolling resistance etc? You could dial all of those parameters into the motor simulator to match, but I would expect wind resistance between 20-28mph to be significant vs at 18-20mph, tuck and lycra or not. All other things being unchanged (hard to match the tire performance when the rim size is different though), you should get 20/28ths of the prior speed. Sounds like 10% higher losses though?
@enobacon Yeah, too high for tire variation and riding position to account for. I'm essentially trying to dial in exactly what this motor's specs are so I can decide what to do with it going forward.
So my dilemma: I bought my eBike to help me get around the city, because I don’t have a car and our transit has been going downhill since the pandemic....
"As #ebikes age, they are quickly turning to electronic waste destined for the scrap yard along with old laptops, tube monitors, and old cell phones. That is something the industry needs to be prepared for. I hope there is regulation that will require companies to support these products for a reasonable period of time."
"A step #ebike manufacturers need to take is to make their bike sustainable for the long term. An (insert sigh here) analog bike could last indefinitely with regular maintenance."
@seachanger
For some reason goverments just can't take the obvious step of requiring the manufacturers and vendors to provide the reverse logistics for every product they sell.
If they can build a logistics supply chain that brings raw materials together as a product and puts it in the buyers hands, they could take it back from the buyer at end of life, and end up with raw materials again.
@xiann Well, our downstairs renovation will finally be complete soon (or Janine will divorce or kill me), so there is a free place for you to stay while you are here!
This trip reduction seems to be about the 10 largest cities, so the numbers are out of scale with the US, but the bigger factor might be the factor of ~3x car miles per #eBikes mile, in my experience, due to changing which trips you take, taking even shorter ones because you couldn't park a car there but it was too far to walk. There's also a couple more factors (exponents?) in the bigger picture with the impacts on future housing density and trip generation.
@enobacon A huge factor for many folks is that they have no place to park and charge an EV overnight at home. But pretty much anyone can carry an ebike battery inside and charge it. Ebikes will be crucial to electrificaton.
@neverbeaten also on-street parking hangars or oonee-like pod/sheds can have charging available. If we ever take bikeshare and shared scooters seriously, a standard lock+charge port could be made available for personal bikes too, so you could charge while at work, etc.
A big advantage of bikes over e cars, is that they can slot into existing space and budget for many households, just leave the gas car at home and only drive it for longer trips or with multiple passengers.
Now that's what I call a Cargo Bike - this CaGo from Denmark is now available here - if #ebikes are the future for #urban travel, then this must make a strong showing for the #delivery part of that idea.
@ChrisMayLA6 In my youngest preschool they had a kind of ebike buss. They went for 5 km trips into the library in the centre of town for example in that.
Similar to this.
@Krux_22@ChrisMayLA6 In Manchester we have actual cargo bikes for hire on street corners. The bikes, painted bright yellow, are unlocked for hire with an app and the bin portion includes kiddie seats. I often pass them with two or three children seated whilst Mum pedals them to the local shops.
@enobacon They should ask couriers who deliver food, how best to carry a cake. There is no guarantee that a cake will arrive intact, if carried in a car. It's all about the container and the care taken.
@Tooden also many people could very soon live much closer to a cake shop and grocery and piano teachers and whatever, besides having more frequent transit options and that associated reach.
In the last 6 days the NY Times has run 4 articles about e-bikes -- all of them negative.
A few other stories the paper might consider:
🔹 E-bikes pollute far less than even electric cars
🔹 Compared to autos, e-bikes pose minimal risk to other people
🔹 Unlike cars, e-bikes provide exercise
@davidzipper An e-bike can be as fast as a car in city traffic, while using less gas and being far easier to park. And allowing for more vehicles in traffic. Cities would be nuts to not consider them.
My oldest will be commuting to community college next year so she'll be taking my car (a plug-in Prius). My wife has been concerned about us possibly getting a third car BUT I think I might have a better solution: an e-bike.
My current job has me a few miles from the house, and I'm currently exploring remote/hybrid possibilities. Anyone with e-bike experience, what should I be looking for in an e-bike? Anything bikes I should consider or stay away from? I'm in the US if that matters.
@chmod777
If you already have a mountain bike, one thing you can consider is an ebike conversion kit. I have put over 2,000 miles on my BBS02 and it has been fantastic.
It's really pouring now. 🌧️ Not riding my #bike today. It's fine. I love rain. Can't have everything, right? 🤪
I'm thinking I'll use Big Bike ⚪🚲 for the out of town ride on Monday -- ±40km each way. Battery power can do about 60km in ideal-ish conditions. I intend to ride on #PAS zero as much as possible.
If I take Grey ⚫🚲 it can supposedly do 100km but... I dunno. Should be enough. But it's no good for me on PAS zero.
Me thinks ⚪🚲 is still a better ride for long trips. 🤔 #eBikes#bikes
@mk30@benfulton@Aranjedeath most of the chargers are 100-200W, so if you're living off-grid, it's definitely going to charge much faster than a car would. That's roughly 2ft x 4ft x 2 panels to make 200W in good sun, modulo efficiency losses. I've run an AC power brick off of a small ~$140 solar battery that could only take in 60W solar ($100 panel), obviously you'll need more battery to support that load shifting &/or sunny time to charge with more panels. DC charging may void warranties
@mk30 Direct DC charging an open tech battery can be done, directly from the panel, even integrated to a trike/cargo bike, but proprietary batteries like shimano and bosch have secret protocols to ensure you only use the official charger, beyond just proprietary plugs. 🙄 Maybe one day long after the corps figure out regen braking monetization, they'll sell you a regulated DC input device that could directly plug a... no, capitalism says it will be a proprietary panel.
how do you waterproof an xt60 connector without making it too much pain to take apart? I'm thinking 1.5-2 wraps of cut rubber innertube with tape and zip ties on each end, like a 2in bandage over the connector. #eBikes
@jpanhans I've got the two tiny shrink wraps around the soldered point, but there's still a gap. See recent pic, there's an unglued overlap on the underside of the front part, that would hopefully allow it to drain (not planning to submerge it.)
People who say they need a car because it rains sometimes, have you tried just carrying an umbrella or dressing your #eBike as one? I just rode a 1.5 miles round trip to pickup the kid from school, and my shoes were completely dry the whole time. Keep the DOTs' filthy road water off of you and getting slightly sprinkled with rain is fine. #Portland#pdxBikes#bikeTooter#pdxtst
Charging the #eBikes battery by pedaling down the hill after taking kid to school. (sorry about volume) you can hear where my brake switch bounces (I'm trying not to engage the mechanical brake but have to squeeze the lever just slightly for #regenBraking.) You can also hear where I had to stop pedaling because the hill got steeper than 300W (why isn't it 700, GRIN, because I'm the only person on earth with this problem? IDK, give me the source code.)
@cdamian as range extension, particularly for a loaded touring bike, you would get up to 20% iff there is some place where you're just burning through brake pads. Some lighter and smaller motors might make sense, whether hub drive like a modified EZ motor, or some kind of gearbox with a fixed gearing to the wheel. I'm going up and down hills in a city with cargo & kids, so until now, have been regularly making tiny expensive brake pads into dust with about 500-1000W for 1-2 minutes per hill.
