1 - bikes are already great, really cheap, and actually good for you to cycle. We also have an obesity problem in most western countries.
2 - they let inexperienced riders go really fast on bikes that are 3 x heavier. You see so many idiots cycling though red lights at 15mph weaving in and out of pedestrians. If you want to go that speed on a regular bike you have to earn that speed by cycling for many years
2) Roughly speaking anyone without health issues can ride any bike 15mph. Also, the weight of the bike does not matter that much, as it is anyway way lighter than the rider. 25 pound normal bike vs 55 pound ebike does not make much of a difference given a 180 pound rider.
That's not good attitude - my grandma isn't gonna get any fitter.
If you are going slowly on narrow UK road you get overtaken by double-decker bus with 2 inches of clearence. It's a harrowing experience.
Or if you are going uphill and you are concious you arr holding up all trafic
Without ebikes, only fit bike enthusiasts ride on the roads
I've rode bikes for transportation in the US for over a decade now, and I can't agree. My average speed is around 12 mph. That's a bit faster than what you say your speed is in another comment. But it's still much slower than typical motorized vehicle speeds. I don't need to keep up with traffic, just make sure that they drive safely around me.
> Or if you are going uphill and you are concious you arr holding up all trafic
That's not your problem. In most jurisdictions (in the US, at least), the roads are first come, first served. Don't slow people down more than necessary, of course, but don't worry about it if it's unavoidable. I personally avoid these situations by taking longer routes that have less traffic, and not riding when traffic is heavy or waiting if there's a temporary increase in traffic.
> If you are going slowly on narrow UK road you get overtaken by double-decker bus with 2 inches of clearence. It's a harrowing experience.
If the lane's not wide enough to share, don't share. Taking the lane as appropriate has greatly improved my safety on the road. I usually ride to the right, but I'll take the lane when necessary for my safety and refuse to apologize for it.
I’m saying this as someone who has ridden a bicycle in traffic almost daily for years in Montreal and Toronto. It takes nerves of steel and that’s very wrong, but it’s the reality.
Try taking the lane when at least one asshole a day will make a point to pass you with 10cm clearance when there is one or two spare lanes they could have used. Or threaten physical harm using their car as a weapon just because you dare make them arrive 15 seconds later at the next red light.
I live in a much more civilized country now where it isn’t open season on cyclists and don’t miss it one bit.
> Try taking the lane when at least one asshole a day will make a point to pass you with 10cm clearance when there is one or two spare lanes they could have used.
This hasn't been my experience. I regularly take the lane and this seems to have significantly reduced close passes vs. riding far to the right when there isn't enough space. I get passed closely maybe once per week on my current commute, which is over 10 miles long and is mostly suburban.
Can you step back and recognize that your experience doesn't matter in discussions like this? That, if anything, it's detrimental when you use it to try to solution-engineer concerns that you don't understand?
Yep, me too.
Cycling is commonplace, there's no guns, no toxic Christian-nationalist politics, society is pretty stable, public transit is excellent, people are polite, life is good here. Moving out of America did wonders for my mental health.
"Just take a longer route" Sure I'll take a side street when possible to avoid a main street, but often there's no reasonable alternative to a street with cars going fast.
The things you're suggesting for bikes work on ebikes just as well. You're fit, and have the confidence that years of experience brought.
"Take the lane" is good advice but you must not be around other vehicles if you don't have cars making close passes. It makes you more visible and most drivers fully change lanes to pass but I still find drivers who won't. They'll take the edge of my lane and pass close. Being able to maintain speed can mean fewer overtakings.
It takes a lot of confidence to be a vehicular cyclist. Ebikes boost the rider's power and confidence.
idk where you are but it's illegal for cars to make close (defined as <1.5 metres clearance) passes here. you can get the driver fined severely if you catch them on film doing it. you shouldn't tolerate it just because drivers think they're entitled to do it.
You're suggesting it's the cyclist in the wrong if they stay close to the road edge, but a wider-than-average vehicle then passes them without leaving a decent gap? The vast majority of drivers do leave enough space and I'm happy to ensure they can pass safely by using no more of the road than is necessary. The sort of drivers that don't are going to be unpleasant/dangerous to share the road with no matter how determinedly you "hold the lane". The worst offenders are cars towing wide trailers/ caravans - they often seem to be entirely unaware of how much road they take up.
My point is that if there isn't enough space, some drivers will try to squeeze through. Taking the lane when there isn't enough space to prevent drivers from trying to squeeze through is logical, and it works in my experience. A driver will have to wait behind me or switch lanes, rather than pass me too closely. Anecdotally, I find that when I ride down the center of the lane, drivers are much more likely to completely switch lanes (giving me plenty of space) rather than straddle two lanes (passing me too closely in the process).
If there's enough space, I don't take the lane.
Also: Cyclists aren't "in the wrong" when drivers pass them dangerously. That's 100% on the drivers. My approach is about encouraging drivers to pass safely, not passing judgement.
Wait until you hear about "cars".
Maybe this is another case where things are different in other countries, but: you still have to pedal on an ebike. It's not like a mini-moped where you just twist the throttle and the machine goes forward all by itself, with no work on your part. You have to put in some effort, and the electric motor multiplies that effort. And the motor cuts out above 15.5 mph so if you want to match 20mph traffic you have to make up that remaining 4.5mph by your muscles alone. In my unscientific judgement it feels more strenuous than a brisk walk, less strenuous than jogging.
In my experience, most of the benefit is actually at low speeds because of the better acceleration. After waiting at traffic lights I can clear the junction faster from a dead stop, even if I forgot to change gears.
So yeah over any particular distance it's less exercise than a normal bike. But in my experience it makes longer distance journeys feasible in the first place, particularly over hills. I use my ebike way more than I ever used a normal bike. It's kind of like that Jevon's Paradox[1] where energy-saving devices encourage people to use more electricity -- my effort-saving bike somehow makes me do more effort overall, from the greater mileage.
>2 - they let inexperienced riders go really fast on bikes that are 3 x heavier. You see so many idiots cycling though red lights at 15mph weaving in and out of pedestrians. If you want to go that speed on a regular bike you have to earn that speed by cycling for many years
I can't make broad-brush excuses for cyclists who jump red lights. In most cases it's obviously bad I don't know what the situation is like in your city. But in a few cases I think it's justifiable and I do it shamelessly at particular junctions. Traffic lights commonly detect cars by an induction coil embedded in the road surface. These devices are often not sensitive enough to detect bicycles. So you can end up in a situation where the light will stay red forever for you. In my view that makes the lights defective and it's justifiable to skip them (with extreme care ofc). There are other particular junctions in my city where I do it. These are ones with dedicated bike-triggered lights but they don't always work and have dumb timings, and the layout is peculiar so you can safely cross by hugging close to the pedestrian barriers through a red light on certain phases. It's always faster and just as safe.
And some junctions are deathtraps for cyclists whether they go at green or red. I avoid those like the plague.
If they are "weaving in and out of pedestrians" this may be a sign the city doesn't have adequate cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure. It is not difficult to design streets so that people walking aren't disturbed by bikes, in fact it's much easier than designing them so that people biking aren't disturbed by cars.