Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Richard230]

Motorbiker.org dug up this interesting e-bike.  It has an accessory charging carport called the "Spark".  I keep wondering how much of a market e-bikes have as they don't go much faster than a bicycle, cost a lot more, are much heavier and harder to lug around on public transportation.  Most bicycle riders that I have spoken to seem to think that you are better off either riding a bicycle or or a scooter/motorcycle, instead of an electric bicycle.  e-bikes are too heavy to pedal, go too slow and have insufficient range to be more practical than a bicycle.   

http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/xkuty-an-e-bike-with-some-novelties.htm

[protomech]

For living in the city, an electric bicycle is absolutely perfect .. or at least here in Nashville, where there is little public transportation to lug the bikes onto.

Typical production electric bikes weigh in the 40 to 60 pound range. Definitely heavier - you will feel the extra weight if you turn off assist, and certainly if you lug the bike. But the assist more than overcomes the additional weight when riding, range / access to charging infrastructure is a non-issue, and even a small increase in speed increases safety and comfort riding in traffic.

For example, I often ride with coworkers to lunch on a conventional pedal bike. Many of the streets we ride on are 25 mph, and we can mingle with traffic relatively safely as we can hit 20 mph pedaling hard. However, there are some 35 mph connector streets without bike lanes that are honestly unsafe to ride on (but we do anyways). I feel that being able to hit 25-30 mph for short distances significantly increases safety when mingling with road traffic .. and in many cases it is not a choice between bike vs electric bike but instead car vs electric bike.

[Mike Werner]

I've actually been looking at buying the electric Solex, which is an e-bike, styled like the old Solex. Where I live, with no public transportation and the closest shop 5 km away, and lots of hills, it makes sense. Obviously, since I should be getting y Zero DS any day now, that idea is out of the window. But if I was still stuck with several ICE bikes, I would have.

The Xkuty could have been a valiant opponent with its charging station. It tickels me pink to charge the bike without any further costs. Maybe one day for the Zero...

[NoiseBoy]

I live on a very undulating hilly island so eBikes are very popular especially with older people who like to cycle but dont have the fitness to tackle hills unassisted.

Im fairly fit and cycle 100+ miles a week for fun but there are still occasions after a long ride on the way up a 10% grade to get home that i wish i had a motor!

[WindRider]

For my 2 cents, for it's limited use case, I would rather have a bicycle that pedals and a Zero Motorcycle for longer/faster travel.

I can see the use case for elderly or non fit people or those who only have around town short distance needs but I would prefer to use good old human power for those cases and bicycles have an even lower cost of ownership and long term health benefits.

[Richard230]

In the SF Bay Area the impression that I get (from passing a lot of bicycle riders on my motorcycle, as well as talking to my bike riding friends) is that bicycle riding is mostly recreational and also contains a lot of snob appeal (mine is more expensive than yours and check out my new Spandex).  I see very few people riding for transportation purposes outside of dense urban areas where getting around in a car is tough.  No one is going to ride an e-bike for either exercise or for cheap transportation.  The practical types that are just looking for short range transport will ride a cheap bicycle and for longer trips will ride a cheap beater IC motorcycle - of which there are loads around here.  Or take the bus, if you are really desperate.  (I tried that the other day when I went to pick up my new Zero and it took me two hours to travel the 10 miles to the shop.)

[Natas Damien]

"No one is going to ride an e-bike for either exercise or for cheap transportation..."

No "ONE"..
just thousands 
http://endless-sphere.com/

In the SF Bay Area the impression that I get (from passing a lot of bicycle riders on my motorcycle, as well as talking to my bike riding friends) is that bicycle riding is mostly recreational and also contains a lot of snob appeal (mine is more expensive than yours and check out my new Spandex).  I see very few people riding for transportation purposes outside of dense urban areas where getting around in a car is tough.  No one is going to ride an e-bike for either exercise or for cheap transportation.  The practical types that are just looking for short range transport will ride a cheap bicycle and for longer trips will ride a cheap beater IC motorcycle - of which there are loads around here.  Or take the bus, if you are really desperate.  (I tried that the other day when I went to pick up my new Zero and it took me two hours to travel the 10 miles to the shop.)

[Richard230]

Well, we will see.  My son-in-law tried riding a home-built e-bike conversion and gave up after the bike ran out of power during his commute and he had to pedal its 100+ pounds uphill on the way home.  He then ditched the 3 kW hub motor and AGM batteries for a 300 watt hub motor and an Li battery system.  It isn't going anywhere either, as it is too weak to help much going up hill.  But he did enjoy building it.

Scooteria West in San Francisco has been selling e-bikes (the ones without pedals), on and off, for about the past 5 years and I have yet to see one on the street. They were also being sold by Best Buy for a while, but disappeared a couple of years ago.  If they sold well, I would think they would still offer them. E-bikes seemed like a good idea to me, I just haven't seen anyone actually riding one.   

[Mike Werner]

E-bikes seemed like a good idea to me, I just haven't seen anyone actually riding one.   

Over here, in Normandy, France, the postal service use e-bikes. Since it's very hilly here, it's impossible for the mail service to use push-bicycles and needed to use cars. e-bikes were a less expensive alternative, so now you see these yellow e-bikes everywhere. It's actually quite cool.

[Richard230]

I worked for the Postal Service for a year during the early-1960's and I used to deliver mail while riding my Vespa motor scooter.  Then the Postmaster saw me and put an end to that big idea.  Shortly afterward, the Postal Service started supplying their mail carriers with enclosed three-wheel Cushman motor scooters to deliver the mail.  These were re-badged meter maid vehicles.  Unfortunately, they were not very stable when us young guys (right before being drafted) would take a corner at 25 mph and the scooter would fall over, spilling us and the mail all over the street.  Plus, they were not powerful enough to climb our city's hills and we had to get out and hike up the hill to deliver the mail, anyway.  Now what they use are Jeeps-like vehicles that look like small vans and drive them about 100 feet at a time. Start, stop, start, stop.  If they had the money, EV's would be much better for urban deliveries, I would think.  They sure would produce less smog and would be quieter.  But the Postal Service is out of money and can barely pay its bills - thanks to Congress and the internet.   

[Mike Werner]

I just got some figures from e-bikes in The Netherlands, a country that has more bicycles than people. In 2013 1 out of 5 bicycles sold were e-bikes. Last year the number of e-bikes sold increased by 9.4% reaching 192,000 (out of 1,008,000 bicycles sold).

And that in a country where a "mountain" is a mole hill, as flat as can be. 

[Richard230]

I think I would be riding my push-bike a lot more if it was flat around here, too.  But everything is uphill and downhill.  I tend to coast my bike downhill and push it uphill.  The uphill part is not that much fun.