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Comment by Spooky23 | Hacker News Reader

You have a point, but the Lance Armstrong wannabes make everyone miserable. In my area, they “took over” a popular bike trail and now kids and more casual people are pushed aside.

It’s like dealing with serious lap swimmers.

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If you think fast cycling "Lance Armstrong wannabes" are bad, wait until the trail is taken over by 30mph eBike riders that not only aren't experienced enough to ride safely at that speed, but they bolted on the eBike drive to a bike that was not intended for that speed.

Unless you’re on a major downhill, there’s no street legal e-bike doing 30 MPH.

That depends on the jurisdiction. In MA, it’s a point of ambiguity, but I think that’s resolved in favor of e-bikes being treated as mopeds today (with a max of 30mph): https://www.massbike.org/ebikes

I didn't say they were street legal, but it's not hard to find a 30mph capable kit:

https://www.electricbike.com/cheap-electric-bike/ http://myelectricbikemotor.com/category/30mph/ https://www.amazon.com/Folding-Electric-Bike-Adults-Enduranc...

I haven't seen it in the comments yet, but it will only be a matter of time before these ebikes will need to be registered, have a number plate, and can receive speeding tickets.

Right now there is no way to identify a speeding bicycle, no matter how fast its going. You could be doing 50 in a 40 zone and there is no way to issue a fine.

Bikes are frequently pulled over for speeding. I don’t know where you live, but cops like to set up bicycle stings at the bottom of hills in the Bay Area. Not to mention giving out tickets for things like missing bike bells. Oh, and if you don’t register your bike with the police good luck having them help with recovery.

I have a friend that got a speeding ticket on the back side of the Marin Headlands - it was a moving violation, he went to driving school to keep it off his record.

Where in the Bay Area are bells required? I've never heard of police there ever enforcing equipment requirements, not even lights at night.

Wait until you live in NYC and they go this speed in the wrong direction on a one way street and want you to brave the traffic so as to let them by.

30mph is often needed to keep up with cars in areas where the bike infrastructure is poor or nonexistent. If you can't maintain the speed of traffic, cars will try to pass creating a more dangerous situation for the ebike rider.

I fail to find the connection between speed and safety, especially from a completely unshielded pilot point of view. It's not a bike's job to maintain safety and traffic speed, but the opposite.

> It's not a bike's job to maintain safety and traffic speed, but the opposite.

It does not matter whose job it is. If increasing speed improves safety for the cyclist, in this case by reducing the incentive for car drivers to overtake, then a good number of cyclists will do it.

I'd like to see the proof that increasing speed improves safety for the cyclist.

There's no road I commute on (including 25 mph city streets) where a 30mph bike would keep up with traffic, riding a skinny tire 40 lb bike at 30mph in the road shoulder that passes for bike lanes around here sounds hazardous.

If I wanted to keep up with car traffic so I can ride in the road, I'd get an e-scooter or e-motorcycle that's designed for higher speed. But then I couldn't ride in bike lanes.

> in the road shoulder that passes for bike lanes

Bike lanes do not exist in most places. The poster had said that their comment was about:

> areas where the bike infrastructure is poor or nonexistent

If there are bike lanes, then being overtaken by cars is not as much of a problem. But in most places, cyclists have to use the same lanes as motorised traffic, so it is more important to be able to keep up.

When you're hit by a car, or passed by a bus, you realise quickly that it's your job. Because someone has to do the job, or you die.

They should, but OMG cars don't

I built a 35mph capable ebike from a lot on a MTB with dual disc brakes and the best s-pedelec tires I could find and I'm pretty stressed out already at 35kph. I can't imagine doing 50kph much less on a bike that isn't intended for it. You really would have to be almost suicidal.

I have to say though being able to keep up with cars when I can't have a bike lane is pretty nice.

This one time a guy did like 35mph on a road for like 2 miles. I was ready to be annoyed when I saw him turning and accelerating, but that’s the speed I usually do, so they just kept up. Guy hit 40 at a couple points and legit could have gotten a speeding ticket. However, in general, a lot of cyclists in my area are extra aggressive and it creates conflict and the general sentiment is one of annoyance at them hijacking this one relatively busy road. But it’s also motorists not knowing how to pass them properly and share the road. We just need bike lanes on this road. Everyone just wants to get where they are going and the perception is cyclists are out there doing it for fun (most of them are just doing it for exercise on this road, not commuting).

That's fair, but (in my area at least) they're a lot more rare than asshole cars parking in bike lanes or driving too fast. I'd take over-aggressive bikes over thoughtless and negligent drivers any day of the week.

Absolutely agreed!

Overall it’s hard for different physical capabilities to share a resource. If the pandemic taught me anything, it’s that peoples perceptions and ability to act in the common good are wildly inconsistent.

Runners took over a popular route that has roads with a low speed limit and bike lanes on either side. They run with lien 4-5 people next to each other and will never yield. I’m forced to slow down to a stop if a car is near or swerve into the road. They have plenty of signs telling bikes to ride single file but the runners could care less.

Time for a Critical Mass of casual cyclists. ;-)

I don’t know where you live, but in the SF Bay Area the SF Critical Mass and East Bay Bike Party are both pretty casual events… To the point they attract the odd skateboarder or roller skater.

I think you meant a Casual Mass of critical cyclists. :)

Responsible bike riders should publicly condemn Critical Mass. They are the type of people that make drivers and pedestrians hate people on bikes, and go out of their way to escalate confrontations due to some bike rider victim complex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflicts_involving_Critical_M...

I cycle to work on fairly rare occasions. My kids ride on city streets every so often. There is nothing that I’ve seen Critical Mass (or events like it) do that I think is positive.

I’m not sure why responsible riders wouldn’t want to see huge groups of riders asserting their equal right to public space?

Critical Mass helped spur NYC’s bike lane growth. If you’re against direct action that’s fine, but it’s hard for me to see what works better in initiating long term transformation than direct action protests like Critical Mass.

No doubt violence and intimidation is an effective way to get what you want, but isn't what is best for a civil society.

Stand your ground or lose it to idiots, no need to let rude people take over something as universal as cycling

I think this is the same with every sport, in my experience, Seen in with swimmers cycelists. But also if you go cross country skiing during the winter here in Norway you meet the same kind of people.

The Atlanta Beltline is like this and it is crazy. I had some jerks tell me to "keep those kids on a leash" while they raced past us at 20 mph. I hope they fell down later.

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