That’s not really an argument against e-bikes though, it’s an argument for lowering the maximum speed they’re allowed to reach using assistance from the motor.
The problem here is if you live in a place with hills and want bike paths to be major transportation pathways that serve double-digit percentages of the population, you need to.
Grandma is not cycling unpowered for 10 min up a 10 degree incline to get to the shops, even if she can in principle do that. As long as speed limits are enforced, it’s fine to have a motor.
Learning that Bush is a pretty good mountain biker and would drop his secret service agents in technical sections was the only part of the W Image Rehabilitation Tour that came even close to working on me.
these speed limits are easily circumvented and some bikes are designed to make that possible
the acceleration of an e-bike is way higher, which means that riders can get going at very high speeds in tight spaces where regular bikers couldn’t.
A better solution might be capping the power output of the rider and motor combined at something like 300W (ie a good sustained effort for a strong cyclist), and disabling power assist if the rider breaks that threshold.
A better solution might be capping the power output of the rider and motor combined at something like 300W (ie a good sustained effort for a strong cyclist), and disabling power assist if the rider breaks that threshold.
This is almost exactly what is done in the country I live in and it seems to work, the only difference being that it’s capped at 250w rather than 300w
So that’s what I was trying to say, but I should have been clearer lol
That’s not really an argument against e-bikes though, it’s an argument for lowering the maximum speed they’re allowed to reach using assistance from the motor.
I’m pretty strongly against motorized vehicles on bike paths unless necessitated for accessibility.
The problem here is if you live in a place with hills and want bike paths to be major transportation pathways that serve double-digit percentages of the population, you need to.
Grandma is not cycling unpowered for 10 min up a 10 degree incline to get to the shops, even if she can in principle do that. As long as speed limits are enforced, it’s fine to have a motor.
You know who is, though? Joe Biden.
You know who else is?
Learning that Bush is a pretty good mountain biker and would drop his secret service agents in technical sections was the only part of the W Image Rehabilitation Tour that came even close to working on me.
I’m willing to flex the bounds of accessibility, and I’m far more in favor of e-bikes on roads, but I don’t want electric mopeds on my bike paths
What difference does it make if e-bikes are restricted to a speed that the average “analog” bike can easily do though?
A better solution might be capping the power output of the rider and motor combined at something like 300W (ie a good sustained effort for a strong cyclist), and disabling power assist if the rider breaks that threshold.
This is almost exactly what is done in the country I live in and it seems to work, the only difference being that it’s capped at 250w rather than 300w
So that’s what I was trying to say, but I should have been clearer lol