I'm not deeply disturbed by ebikes at all: I think they can be a fantastic choice in the post single occupant vehicle commute landscape

I also don't need to feel Superior to someone that can't or doesn't feel like doing the fire road climb unassisted. Who cares. Ride your bike however you want to

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//Noob triathlete//bike commuter//ex-swimmer//slower than you

Disturbing?

They're everywhere in DE, and are replacing cars and public transport for the daily commute for many. Got to be a good thing!

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

E-bikes are a mockery of cycling. Before you know it, everybody will be riding an E-Bike at 30 km/h up mountain passes without breaking a sweat. Just look at what is being sold for e-bikes now with integrated electric drivetrains and all day batteries that don't look any different from a regular bike. They will be the death of the sport. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done.



https://cyclingtips.com/...017-extras-part-one/

It is disturbing for cycling and triathlon. Who would want to buy a regular road or Tri bike with electric ones available?

Are you mad?

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

Yes and no.

The wide spread addition of electric bikes is a much more fundamental shift in the cycling industry than disc brakes or wider rims are. The vast majority of the market are people who will take the easy way and just buy electric bikes instead of normal bikes since they don't care about sanctioned racing. It will condition the next generation of people to expect that power assist is normal on a pedal bike even when they look into racing. No longer will the rides of pros be anywhere as impressive when any Yahoo can ride faster than them on an E-Bike.

Obvious troll is obvious.

But there is a storm brewing on the mtb e bike issue. Access groups and anti-bike advocates are going to use e-bikes as a weapon to begin to push for bike closures on trails and natural areas of all types. The fight is coming as more e-bikes start using trails.

On balance I'd say the e-bike development is immensely positive, for society as a whole and for biking specifically.

But it does raise some thorny issues as the line between human-powered bikes and motorcycles blurs. Mountain biking access is one of those issues. Urban bike lanes is another; on the one hand, e-bikes might spur more bike-lane development, on the other hand, e-bikes zipping along at high speeds may not mix well with slower human-powered bikes and, on mixed-use trails, pedestrians.

The ideas that people won't want to buy or race or be impressed by human-powered bikes anymore seem kinda silly to me.

I agree, I think E-bikes are a good development. Good for the industry, manufacturers,
lbs' s, and consumers. Good to get more people out of cars and on to bikes, even power assisted ones.

But, I hope the bike industry, in their rush to market, is willing to educate people on access issues. They are not human powered vehicles and as such do not belong on non motorized pathways. This includes most MUP's and trails. Note I said most and not all.

I don't have faith they will do this, and it's going to create problems for the many people who will want to remain on human powered bikes. Which I think will be a lot of people
cheating racers excluded ;)

Should be interesting

If ebikes replace cars or motorcycles? Great! If drivers keep driving their cars, and ebikes replace regular bikes, then that's not good. Edit: not thinking of bike advocacy, but rather the obesity epidemic.

Anywhere there is winter or rain, people are not going to be replacing their cars, or if they need it for work or groceries, to to carry things. Bikes, whether electric or human powered just are not dependable transport that you can use in all weather conditions and to carry enough things to replace a car. The electric bikes will instead just replace regular bikes.

I like on a spectacular section of California coastline. I'm seeing a lot of tourists on e-bikes. What I'd infer so far is:

- e-bikes get people out biking who might not otherwise be biking

- e-bikes also replace human-powered bikes to some extent, but either allow the e-bikers to keep up with more serious human-powered bikers or they cruise along at low speeds not pedaling, and still get passed by human-powered bikers

- e-bikers ride on bike paths as though they were bikes, not on roads as though they were motorcycles, but given how they seem to be ridden, that actually seems appropriate

- surprisingly, I don't think I've encountered one yet on mountain biking terrain, including tons of fantastic local fire road terrain.

So empirically, so far I'd say e-bikes are an overwhelmingly positive development, at least where I live.

I've had the pleasure of mountain biking in a group where one of the riders was on an eBike. The one thing I learnt was to not follow their wheel too closely; it seems like on an eBike you don't need to worry about the line you pick or the terrain you plough over because the bike will just power you over it; it felt like they were on a motorcross bike and I was on beach cruiser. I crashed twice trying to follow their wheel!

All these new e-bikes have more in common with motorbikes than pedal bikes. It's a sad state of affairs and signals the beginning of the end for pedal bikes being the standard things people ride:

Could help boost sales of bikes in general which puts more money back into the industry thus allowing for more research and design of bikes, not a bad thing.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

I 100% support the big jump in e-bike sales!

Would I much prefer it was a similar big jump in nonmotorized bikes - heck yes! But any jump in cycling raises driver awareness of bikes on the road and thus overall bike safety for everyone. Until these ebikes are average 30+mph routinely, I'm ok sharing the bike lane with them, and I welcome any e-bikes who want to test their machines against me on the local climbs - has happened a few times and is always a total hoot!

Not sure about the rules in the states, but in Canada eBikes can only be assist (no-twist-the-throttle-and-go). And the assist cuts out at 32km/h, then its all you. Even on a heavy eBike, on a level or even slightly inclined grade you can keep it above 32 and out of assist mode without too much trouble. In other words, you're not zipping along MUPs at car speeds.

For my wife and I the eBikes did in fact replace a car. Our access to car share ended, so instead of a car for me to commute we bought eBikes.

My wife has MS and gets tired easy. Her on her eBike and me on a regular bike makes for a good time - she's actually excited about going out and biking with me. Mostly she likes passing me going up hills :)

I use mine for commuting to work, though I ride my regular bike more often than the eBike. The eBike is great for days where you're bagged from other work outs (to be honest I'm surprised they're not more popular with Triathletes), or just need to get to work a little faster.

People can hate on eBikes and turn their nose up at them (I used to), but I would challenge people to take one out for 10 minute test ride. If you can make it 10 minutes with out smiling, you better be a fighter jet pilot to take advantage of all that ice in your veins.

Here in Germany ebikes are only allowed 25 km/h. Faster ones do not count as bicycles. I heard that accident rates have increased, especially with elder people.
Even Andreas Raelert seems to go to the pool with an ebike.

I personally do not have problems with ebikes, people can by what they like! (I'm more annoyed with the majority of cyclists who point their headlamps to high.)

I'm in UK, the limit here and in Europe is 25kph, and the assistance declines as you approach the limit. If all the bikes stuck to that I'd have no issue with them on trails and MUPs.

Unfortunately it seems it's extremely easy to hack them and disable the limiter so you get max power at all speeds. I've seen a number of commuters who have done this and are flying along at speeds of 40kph/25mph or higher with minimal effort. That's a problem for me, partly because the speed differential to other cyclists and pedestrians is so high it's dangerous, and partly because reaching those speeds with little effort seems to make the riders more reckless than a normal cyclist who is putting out 300+ watts to hit those speeds.

I think e-bikes are awesome and know a number of older people who are happily using them exactly as intended. Sadly I fear that a small number of idiots is going to ruin their reputation for the rest of us.

Deeply disturbing? How absurd.
There are many things one might legitimately find deeply disturbing. It's hard to fathom how you might consider this to be one of them.

+1. I bike commute about 62km round trip a day and sometimes need a break. I tested a Copenhagen wheel a couple of weeks ago on my regular commute and it allowed me to shave off about 10 min each way for the equivalent effort. I ended up ordering one and expect to use it 2 or 3 times a week.

The Copenhagen wheel has a max assisted speed of 40kph. Not sure whether it's legal in Canada but I ride on the highway and roads so don't expect it to be an issue.

There's a guy I see regularly on my commute that must have one of these hacked bikes. It's a big heavy mountain bike with loaded racks and 3" wide tires, and this grey haired guy flies down the pedestrian/bike path weaving in and out of runners at 25 mph.

The other day, I felt a rider latch on behind me riding way too close for the "bike path bubble." Whatever, I kept going and figured I'd give this dude a free ride. A couple miles later he passes me at a light, and lo and behold it was e-bike dude--effing drafting off me just a couple feet off my wheel. I cringe to think of the first time he has to make an emergency stop on that beast.

That's my one and only bad e-bike story, mostly it's old ladies and people hauling their kids. Unfortunately, it only takes a few bad apples.

Good on you for keeping open minded and getting the ebike even though you can ride totally fine without it.

Now that you bring it up, I'm sure I'd use my bike for errands and commuting a LOT more if it were an e-bike - even small hills cause me to sweat a lot, and is a climbs with highway entry ramps near my house which is annoying to do unless I'm putting up 300 watts to clear the ramp ASAP. With an e-bike, I could even bring a grocery trailer and haul it with me up that hill if I wanted to. I'm going to keep open minded and see if there's a use situation for me.

Most of the people I know with e-bikes are not cyclists, and would not otherwise own a bike. While the e-bike doesn't completely replace the car, they do get used for short trips and errands, and some use them for commuting. And I don't think you can really say that they have replaced regular bikes, because most of these people otherwise wouldn't be on a bike at all. But there's always the possibility that some may buy a bike down the road...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"