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Comment by timst4 | Hacker News Reader

This is such a myopic take from The Atlantic. The ebike is a monstrosity IN AMERICA where there is little infrastructure for bikes. In Europe, it is changing the face of mobility for many for whom car ownership is out of reach.

Americans live in a world of subsidized petrol - a world that will come crashing down sooner or later. If gas is $10/gal maybe you won’t be so concerned about how cool you look with a battery on your bike frame.

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My homemade e-bike is so fast I can keep up in traffic with cars and enjoy the huge wide roads in the US. It looks like something out of mad max though. The author of the article would have a stroke if they saw it. It can out accelerate a Ferrari to 30 mph. I'm running a 52 volt pack with Panasonic cells. It's crazy.

Have you done a write up on the build? I'd love to read about that.

watch johnny nerd out on youtube. he does tons of conversions.

> where there is little infrastructure for bikes.

I've seen people ride these in bike lanes here in chicago even though law explicitly prohibits class 2 -3 bikes ( assist without pedaling). I've developed a real dislike for e-bikes based on how people have been riding those here.

I still don't see a value over a electric scooter, it reminds me of the old bycicles with a 50cc motor that were everywhere during the 70's and then faded away.

Scooters are annoying to go more than a few miles on. Bikes can carry more cargo. Bikes can ride on surfaces that would toss a scooter rider off.

Since when bikes carry more cargo than a scooter?

All have a box under the seat and then boxes are usually bigger than what most bycicles have available.

I wonder which surfaces are we talking about when taking into consideration proper driving regulations.

Ha, there's probably a terminology misunderstanding.

I think GP was talking about "kick scooters", the ones on which you stand, whereas you're talking about "motorcycle scooters", the ones on which you sit.

I agree, the latter kind usually have much space, and can maybe even be modified to add a top case, etc.

The first ones, though, are an atrocity as far as I'm concerned. Very unstable, the small wheels need perfect pavement (I live in Paris, our streets haven't seen any maintenance since Roman times).

Ok, I thought you were talking about the kind of scooters where you stand on them. If you google "electric scooter", you'll see what I mean.

I don't think there is really much difference between an electric sit-down scooter and an e-bike except for ergonomics, except where you might get some weird looks - riding an ebike on a 35+mph road, vs riding a scooter on a dirt trail.

But still, google "radwagon 4" as an example of an e-cargo bike(this is what I have). It has way more capacity than a sit-down scooter. I put two (small) kids on it, and about 50 lbs of groceries, which I don't think one could do with a sit-down scooter.

Nope, I was talking about classical scooters,

https://www.piaggio.com/en_EN/piaggio-world/news-piaggio/pia...

From my point of view cargo bikes are the two wheel version of trucks/bus, and only suitable for transport inside of city traffic, whereas with the other ones they are as usable as any motorbike.

Why? I ride it even when I have no cargo needs. It is just like a regular bike really. I guess it's harder to drag it up 5 flights of stairs.

Harder to drag, doesn't do motorway, takes lot of parking space (in some German towns now we have specific cargo bike slots because of it)…..

IMO The biggest value add is that if the battery dies you can still get where you're going. That alone is pretty nice.

I can't help by think of someones description of people in rural Africa using bicycles for transporting goods. By hanging 100-200lbs of goods off it and then walking it. An e-bike seems like it'd be a big step up for them.

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