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Comment by awjr | Hacker News Reader

Within urban environments, electric bicycles need serious consideration. A scooter does not provide you the flexibility that an ebike does. Yes they are speed limited, however they are significantly cheaper.

My wife suffers from knee problems, so we're in the process of buying a pedal assist+throttle ebike to enable her to get around the city of Bath. A moped would not enable her to take advantage of the cycle paths in the area. She would still need to mix with HGVs on the road.

It naturally needed a basket and the right colour :) http://www.juicybike.co.uk/electric-bikes/classic-click-dutc...

Electric bikes have benefited massively from technology advancements in the last couple of years and anyone looking at an electric scooter should seriously consider an electric bicycle. It offers a lot more flexibility in where you can go with it.

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I'm in fine shape, but I'll never go back from my ebike, simply because pedaling from a dead stop is so easy that it gives me no reason to run stop signs. The assist also means my average speed is closer to my top speed, so getting around town (with two kids on the bike) is just as fast if not faster than a car, once you factor in parking and all the time I don't waste waiting in traffic etc.

I've had both failure modes (fried my motor somehow, rode pedal-only for a week before I could get to warranty service) also (busted my gearset somehow, got around on throttle-only til I scheduled maintenance.) I ride hard, usually pass everyone (with a wide berth, I'll hang back instead of passing rudely.)

If you are replacing your Prius then a few thousand dollars is easy to afford. The shop that built my bike: http://www.splendidcycles.com/

You should seriously just gear all the way down at a stop. It's easy to start then, and easier on the bike.

Even easier if you learn how to track-stand, which you can do on any non-coaster-brake bike (fixies are easier, but it's possible with just a freewheel and a slight incline or clever application of brakes). I usually beat cars through the intersection from a dead stop without straining.

I like the throttle for starting out with a heavy load of (maybe dancing / leaning) kids. Then I can keep my foot on / near the ground longer. Foot push + throttle seems to get me through intersections with fewer distractions than on my old bike.

> with two kids on the bike

I don't think the roads where I live are safe enough to even consider that.

I'll ride a regular bike but I don't want to go anywhere near car speed without car protection (airbags etc.)

> My wife suffers from knee problems, so we're in the process of buying a pedal assist+throttle ebike to enable her to get around the city of Bath.

The UK has different regulations, but beware that in the EU "proper" if it has a power-on-demand it's legally a moped or a motorbike, only pedelecs (pedal-assist only, cut off above 25km/h, under 250W maximum continuous rated power) are legally bicycles. Also of note, "S-pedelecs" branding in some jurisdictions are a marketing lie, they are not legally bicycles (except in Norway, where they are allowed on bike paths if and only if the electrical systems are shut down)

The biggest issue with electric bicycles for me is the fear of getting it stolen. My current, mid-expensive bike is stressing me like hell whenever I leave it out in the city for more than an hour, despite a big padlock. An electric bike would be a more visible target and I don't think I could ever actually leave it alone in good conscience.

Am I just paranoid or is this a real issue?

It's definitely an issue in Austin.

https://twitter.com/atxstolenbikes

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/police-350-4000...

It's likely not an issue at the moment because electric bikes are still a novelty: highly recognizable and harder to resell. Should they get popular, then sure, it would be an issue, exactly like it is for any bike.

Btw, it's ridiculous that in 2015 we still haven't solved the problem of stolen bikes.

They're becoming less recognizable: http://www.faradaybikes.com/

$3,500 for that is so crazy.

When your bike is your car you can rationalize spending an almost unlimited amount cycling gear and gadgets under the guise of saving money. (I speak here from experience).

its not that much I am looking at a folding bike(only type allowed on train) and the light weight Brompton's are over $2k

That's still easy to look for, the front hub is huge.

There are specific techniques for locking a bike up properly, but it does need a d-lock and possibly also a cable. The idea being that your bike is the least attractive to steal. http://lifehacker.com/5942301/the-proper-way-to-lock-your-bi...

The late, great Sheldon Brown on locking your bike: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html

Well that's my point. An e-bike would be a lot more attractive to steal.

Yep; the nicer ones I've looked at are in the $2000-$4000 range, or roughly double what normal "nice" road bikes cost. I'd probably feel safer with it in a bike locker or in a coffee shop / work / train station by my side.

You definitely shouldn't be using a padlock to lock your bike... you want either a proper heavy duty chain lock from a company like Abus, or a U-lock from a company like Kryptonite.

Sorry, a U-Lock is what I use (English and all that).

If you have to lock it up outside make sure it's in a very public place with at least a decent u lock. You can cut a u lock in 30 sec with a grinder but most thieves won't do that with other people around.

If you're still worried buy a cheap Android phone off craigslist and attach it somewhere it'd be hard to remove. If someone steals it you can use GPS tracking to find it.

The real issue is that for the vast majority of people who could use them is their window of use is dramatically limited by weather.

Why I always tell friends to end the lie of "I will ride my motorcycle to work and save money".. until its too cold too wet too windy too hot I had a bad day and suddenly you have a garage queen

This is why I love my Boosted Board do much (well, among other reasons). I can just pick it up and carry it inside once I reach my destination.

http://boostedboards.com

Agree - love the colours of their electric bikes. Interesting article on the same site which reviews their design attitude to colour. http://www.juicybike.co.uk/lego-and-bike-frames

> Yes they are speed limited, however they are significantly cheaper.

I see that as an advantage. Where I live, college kids flying around on their scooters/motorcycles in residential areas are dangerous. Electric ones are so silent, you won't even know what hit you.

I find that with well-maintained bicycles as well. Lots of people take pride in making sure nothing on their bike makes any noise at all (a topic that comes up often on the biking subreddit), and then they ride at 25mph down a bike path shared by people walking or biking significantly slower.

I'd almost rather be hit by a modern car than by a bicycle. At least the car is designed to crumple and protect the pedestrian, bikes aren't designed to protect anyone, yet they go just as fast as other city traffic.

Have you actually seen anyone getting hit by a modern car? They definitely do not protect a pedestrian.

Hence the use of the word "almost".

Uh, cars are designed to crumple and protect the car's occupants. They do this best when hitting a solid object, not a pedestrian. You'd be mowed down and likely killed or left with a traumatic brain injury.

Modern cars certainly are designed to protect pedestrians. That was part of the movement away from steel bumpers towards plastic bumpers with foam inside. I used to drive a 1998 Toyota 4Runner, and you could tell it apart from the 1999 4Runner because the '99 had what people call a 'fat lip bumper'. The bumper was enlarged to help protect pedestrians.

Here's an article from 2007 about designing cars to protect pedestrians: http://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/protecting-pedestrians-thr...

Volvo has pedestrian airbags in their newer cars, the car will detect collision with a person and pop the hood up on a cushion to keep the pedestrian safe: http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-pedestrian-airbags-wor...

Been hit by both going at ~ 25mph. Bike every time. F • t = m • ∆v

You are far from the reality. Anyone who's been hit by a car and a bike would agree.

Does no one actually see the word "almost" in there? Or are people just not understanding what the word "almost" means? It means "I'm using this unrealistic comparison to make a point." And that point is that bikes have no safety features, yet are pitted head to head against both motor traffic and pedestrians.

Would I get this many missing-the-point replies if I said "I would almost rather die than have my hand cut off"? Would I get a bunch of people saying "you've obviously never died, I've died plenty of times and anyone would rather have their hand cut off" or start quoting physics to me about how much inertia death has versus your hand?

Because I'm pretty sure I wrote the word "almost" in my comment, and I'm also pretty sure I didn't edit it in. Seriously, I'm about 95% certain that the word "almost" was included in my original comment when I hit "reply" for the first time. So literally anyone who read the comment would have had the chance to see that I used the word "almost".

Or are people just not understanding what the word "almost" means? It means "I'm using this unrealistic comparison to make a point."

It doesn't generally mean that though, in what I would think to be the popularly understood context of what you were saying, you were claiming they were very close, not that it was an unrealistic comparison of things far apart from one another.

If you said "I would almost rather die than have my hand cut off", and seemed completely sincere about it, most people would think you were an idiot.

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