Sorry but the e-bike can't go on the highway. No dice.
this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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Here's the thing: it substitutes for a lot of trips of a several miles or less. That's enough for a lot of people to replace much of their driving.
In the U.S. most places outside of urban centers are pretty inhospitable for bikes. Even if I did have the range to replace most of my trips (I don't), I wouldn't feel safe doing so. That aspect gets a brief nod in the article but it doesn't even begin to cover situations like winter weather, or any adverse weather in general. This is the same nonsense over and over, placing the impetus for change on the individual where systematic change is required instead.
it doesn't even begin to cover situations like winter weather, or any adverse weather in general
Like we say in the Netherlands: you aren’t made of sugar, are you?
Winter is something you deal with by switching to metal-studded tires and dressing appropriately. For men, that often means stuffing a wind-blocking layer between your underpants and pants to keep your genitals from getting cold.
Yes, it helps to have the systematic change...but that doesn't happen until at least some people start riding and agitating for it.
This is the same nonsense over and over, placing the impetus for change on the individual where systematic change is required instead.
Ain't nobody gonna pay to build bike stuff if nobody rides. Quit whining and show up so we can make the systematic changes necessary.
I was more thinking about light rail
I'll take it
Buy me an e-bike.
Be the change you want to see
Quit whining and buy me a bike
get a job ya bum
Be the change you want to see and buy me a bike. The government and fossil fuels industry won't make changes to the infrastructure that enables and protects their investments until they see a critical mass of unarmed cyclists, at which point they'll throw their hands up in the air with a wimpy utterance, "Aww man! Shucks!", press a button, and poof! Bike lanes everywhere and SUVs 2/3rds their current size. People will magically work within 5 miles of their home and no need or service will be further than that either.
So quit your winning, quit being a bum, be the change you want to see and buy me an e-bike!
I understand the reluctance from people in the US. Much of the cost of car ownership happens no matter how much you drive, so switching to an ebike for some trips may not save money for a very long time if you have to keep the car. Also, riding a bike (even a class 4 ebike) in many places can be really scary. I live in Denver, and there are parts of the city that I wouldn't go with an ebike, and Denver is one of the better cities in the US for biking infrastructure.
If you can get to a point where you can rely on rentals and ride share for your car needs, getting an ebike makes sense. Otherwise, it's going to be a hard sell for a lot of people.
Most people live in some form of family/marriage situation (they may not be legally family/married, but they have lived with the same person/people for years and plan to continue that). Such situations can generally get rid of one car for a bike, sharing the other car(s) for the trips that they cannot bike for. It is more work to share a car instead of each person having a car. I know a lot of two driver families that have 3 cars just because if one car breaks they want a backup, they can get rid of the backup if they would bike for more.
Most already have a bike (not ebike, but a regular bike is good enough), it just doesn't occur to them they could ride it for errands instead of just trail rides on a nice saturday.
I totally agree. If you can replace a car with a bike or ebike, that's going to be financially worth it. Then the only questions become about safety and infrastructure.
I'd love to be able to bike to work, or the grocery store or anything else, really, but the infrastructure here really doesn't permit that. There are a few shops within walking distance and I make a point to buy things there, even if they're a little more expensive and while I may be able to speed up those trips with an e-bike, it's probably far less environmental impact for me to just use my two legs.
Even if I COULD bike for these trips... I'd just get a dang bicycle. No need to make further waste and use rare earth minerals by getting an e-bike. Plus, far cheaper to buy and maintain.
The thing about eBikes is that their slightly higher speed sharply increases the number of people for whom they are an option as compared with pedal-it-yourself. That's why people are recommending them.
I'd be willing to bet that for most Americans the main barrier to commuting by bike is the threat of cars and lack of bicycle infrastructure as a whole.
I ride my bike to class often, and when I do it's great. Well-maintained trails and frequent bike racks make it very convenient. My college is good with bicycle infrastructure, and I happen to be lucky that there are good trails between my apartment and campus. A faster ride would be nice, but I don't see it making me bike more often. It wouldn't affect the things that prevent me from biking on the days that I don't: weather, time of day, or how I feel physically.
Despite how much I bike to class, I've never biked to the grocery store, restaurants, or any other place that's not on campus. This is because I'd have to ride on busy roads without bike lanes. Once you get closer to the center of the city, there are bike lanes, but they're just painted. Actual separated bike lanes basically don't exist in the US, which means that cyclists are still at risk of getting hit by cars even when bike lanes are present. A faster bike wouldn't fix this. Investment in infrastructure would.
I do understand the appeal of eBikes and I recognize them as a viable alternative to cars. But I only think people will make the switch if they live somewhere that's already got the necessary infrastructure to make their commute safe and efficient. This is not even close to the majority of Americans. If we want people to move away from cars and toward bikes, we need to think of infrastructure first and the bikes themselves second.
The perception of threat is a big deal. Actual risk while riding is shockingly low, even in places with limited dedicated infrastructure. I've lived in several of them.
I'd love an e-bike but 1. I couldn't afford one without selling my car and 2. I'd only get the use out of it on a few mile commute. Once it's the weekend I've 3 kids to run around to clubs and such
If you think about motorcycles I can already tell you without proper infrastructure you're one accident away from permenant disability.
In our family we have two e-bikes - one smaller one larger, also many normal bikes, no more car.
They are especially useful to get up the steep hills to the side of our valley, and also to pull shopping or dog in a trailer - up to 50kilos ok.
Both e-bikes fold so they can easily go on the train.
Both e-bikes were bought directly from china online, as we are not rich.
The smaller one is slower but manageable by low-teen-kids too.
The larger one will go about 80km, pedalling, with small hills.
We find e-bikes don't make us lazy, rather they encourage us to make more trips, and pedal faster - still get fit.
So the european law that enforces pedalling rather than cruising is good, however the low european limit on e-bike power is unfortunate, maybe designed by people in flat countries, you need more power for hills or heavy loads.
We'd like two more to enable family trips, but those are too rare to justify the cost, and also no e-bike can last a whole day - for that we'd need solar panels on a trailer - project for later ...
[p.s. note - overlap with !solarpunktravel@slrpnk.net ]