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Comment by twobitshifter | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand the last sentence about avoiding the inevitable e-bike. The inevitable part I agree with, but the dislike from others has never made sense to me.

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Where I live (San Diego), they're big, heavy, mini-motorcycles zooming past others at top speed in narrow bike lanes. Is the hate for that so hard to understand?

Yes, because we have the ability to differentiate reasonable vehicles from unreasonable vehicles regardless of their designation. E-bikes with pedal assist seem ok. E-bikes which are basically just electric dirt bikes don't seem ok (for bike lanes).

The pedal bit seems unimportant, I feel like the only relevant distinction is the actual top speed.

I agree logically, but an important point is that pretty much any pedal assist on the market will have a top speed only marginally faster than a biker's actual top speed - compared with the pure e-dirt-bikes which are exceptionally faster than most biker's top speed.

The author longs for an environment that doesn’t force her to be more like a car in order to justify living.

Ebikes are much more like bikes than cars. Biggest difference is you don’t need to shower when you get to work.

You don't need a shower when you get to work on a regular bike, either. You just need to slow down and budget more time for your commute.

That's it.

Slow down.

I have given this advice to multiple people who were new to bike commuting and every single one looked at me like I was a Martian. A week later they said "You were right!"

I've biked in one hundred degree weather and arrived in barely a light sweat. Yes, I put on hiking shorts which were passable, and the lightest athletic shirt I owned, but I didn't need a shower.

I just budgeted a bunch of extra time that morning, and barely pressed the pedals, whereas usually I'd be pedaling decently hard the entire way, even down hills. Because I was expending virtually no effort - biking is more efficient than walking - and had a ~10mph breeze - I was comfortable.

It helps that I eat a decently varied diet so I don't have horrific BO, use soaps that aren't loaded with shitty artificial scents and chemicals, and wash my clothing with no softener and "free" detergent that lacks any sort of perfume.

Ok, if you are going to use that strategy then the trade-off is that on e-bikes you can go much faster than a normal bike

> I've biked in one hundred degree weather...

Most people sweat just standing in 100 degree weather, so maybe you are unusual?

My experience using an ebike to commute with children is way nicer than when I was doing it with my unassisted bike. There is only so much slower you can go with an additional 100lbs.

Even so, you really made the argument for ebikes. With the e-bike, you’d get there at a normal pace, carry cargo, wear ordinary clothing, and not need a diet change.

two avid cyclists I know, (off road) say that the ebike has revolutionised "cycling together" for people of different abilities and pedal cadence. She can now keep up with him, for a 60km ride, compared to 20km before. Same amount of physical effort, more companionable, better outcome overall.

As a non-ebike rider I admit my lack of peripheral vision (age) is making the zoom! of an ebike or scooter past me increasingly scary, but the fact is, my declining vision is more of the issue than the ebike is.

I think the author is just being wistful about ageing, which is inevitable.

E-bikes should take over in most cities. All but the most disabled can ride them. Cities like Taipei and Barcelona that already move on scooters would get much cleaner air and have the same low-cost mobility. New York makes no damn sense for cars. Even large spread-out cities are easily traversed on e-bikes. Assholes on e-bikes can be annoying but rarely deadly. Drivers who kill cyclists should be imprisoned until too old to drive again. Cars should all be required to have passive braking that won't come within 6 feet of a cyclist or pedestrian. regarding pedestrians, we could start by recognizing that "jaywalking" isn't a thing.

Bikes are not ride-able for lots of people with disabilities, but trikes reduce that number dramatically, yes. Rehab hospitals often have fleets of recumbent or regular trikes because nearly everyone can use them, and they can be hand-pedaled.

e-bikes are an albatross if you have to carry them up stairs.

But the problem there is not the bike itself, but theft right? There are many types of bike lo-jack that can be integrated into an e-bike.

Problem is cops don't care. I find this to be an interesting opportunity: Brutal cops are currently a large liability on municipalities who have to pay out for their misbehavior. Instead, make these cops the bike thief patrol and organize a public cryptocurrency tontine that pays out to the cops when they beat the snot out of a bike thief.

There is a ton of e-bike hate in the mountain bike world. And e-mountain bikes are pedal assist, no throttles.

For those who feel there’s a big divergence between mountain bikers and dirt bikers (the second group having motors) the ebike is a frightening combination.

It's a real shame this happens, e-bikes are such a fantastic way to lower the bar to entry and get more people on bikes, outdoors, and exercising.

Yes, like all things, there are jerks who will ruin it for everyone else, which is unfortunate when it seems to be a net benefit.

We have a dirt rail trail nearby. There was this guy running one of those big wheel power skateboards. With a big cloud of dust behind him.

If all you want to do is exercise, why use an electric motor in the first place and not only your legs?

Because no one wants to solely exercise. They want to have some fun while doing it. This is like saying that if you only want to exercise when skiing, then you shouldn't take a chair lift - just use your legs!

If all you want is exercise, you might as well just go to the gym and ride the elliptical. But most bikers like the experience of seeing the outdoors and covering distances. With pedal assist, you still get exercise but also are able to ride faster and for longer.

There's a subset of MTB riders who only bomb downhills and take a shuttle back to the top. An e-bike cuts out that middle man.

I read a great article that I can’t find right more showing why e-bikes are a boon for accessibility in national parks. We don’t want to close off the natural world to only those in peak physical shape.

Pretty sure this entire thread could be summed up by:

There is a ton of <X> hate in the <Y> world. Cars, bikes, iPhones, Androids, dogs, cats, you name it, everything is a team sport you have to win.

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