Quiet everyone, Ford North America Product Communications director has an opinion about e-bikes.
Quiet everyone, Ford North America Product Communications director has an opinion about e-bikes.
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this guy sucks but he's not entirely wrong. There's a memorial on my street from a bit over a decade ago when Chinese quads were really popular. All the tweens in a local neighborhood used to ride them around with their even younger siblings on them, usually 3/4 of them not wearing helmets, doing wheelies, etc. It was extremely unsafe, but for whatever reason (either ignorance or stupidity) their parents allowed them to ride them when they weren't home. All of that stopped after a little group of them were hauling ass on the side of the road in tall grass and one of them tried to outrun the line of them next to the trail in the tall grass. He ran head-on into a telephone pole, flat out, without a helmet, and died instantly.
They're not comparable. Average ebikes can't really go any faster than a fit rider on a good road bike.
I can easily go 50km/h on flat ground for a short amount of time in a mountain bike if I want to and I'm almost obese - an ebike that can go appreciably faster than that for more than 10 minutes is very expensive and very much looks like a motorcycle.
Just copying my reply to the other user here:
There's a lot of "ebikes" that are just electric dirtbikes with vestigial pedals. It's easy to modify them to put out way more power than they're sold with, too. There has to be some kind of grappling with this new category of things that can pretend to be a bicycle but still spin tires, rip past 30mph, etc. They need to either be hard limited or treated more like motorcycles than bicycles.
Those are already legally considered motorcycles and since they look exactly like motorcycles the law often ends up getting enforced (cops don't like unplated motorcycles). In fact I just saw one of them get impounded yesterday.
The ebikes I'm talking about don't look exactly like motorcycles, and to be clear, they have bicycle pedals and are considered e-bicycles. Glad to hear your local cops are enforcing it, either way.
Can you give me an example? I built my own ebike so I'm familiar with the componentry, going something like 40mph (ripping past 30mph) requires a serious battery and a very expensive motor. You can't just modify a normal legal ebike to go that fast, the motor will overheat and the battery won't last 20 minutes on a charge or long in general.
Also, nothing that can go past 28mph is considered an ebike in the US. The moment it goes any faster it's an unplated scooter/motorcycle
I don't have any specific examples because I'm not really into ebikes, I've just been passed by them hauling serious ass before
I can easily go 50km/h on flat ground for a short amount of time in a mountain bike if I want to and I'm almost obese
Very much doubt that
50km/h for a short amount of time is far from unusual for most cyclists. The fastest cyclists can do 90km/h in a burst which requires ~5x more effort than going 50km/h.
Most people with a little training can do ~1200W which is enough to get to those speeds with a good position on a well adjusted bike.
You're right, my bad. Seems fast to me!
I broke 20 mph on my longboard regularly on flat ground.
It's fast and I'd have to probably stop for a break, but for a sprint on a light bike on a good road...yeah, not unheard of. I can keep up 30kph for 10 min or more if trying.
Both of these are not "commuting in your work dress" levels of effort though. In normal use you're rarely going above 20-25 unpowered and 30 powered on the flat.
I understand, but quads and ebikes are quite different. They're much smaller and aren't gas powered, far less force. They can be modified to go up to like 30 miles an hour, but normally cap out around 15.
If mopeds and cheap quads like that can be driven and easily bought by children, ebikes are a form of harm reduction.
There's a lot of "ebikes" that are just electric dirtbikes with vestigial pedals. It's easy to modify them to put out way more power than they're sold with, too. There has to be some kind of grappling with this new category of things that can pretend to be a bicycle but still spin tires, rip past 30mph, etc. They need to either be hard limited or treated more like motorcycles than bicycles.
He ran head-on into a telephone pole, flat out, without a helmet, and died instantly.
Well...
Kids aren't equipped to make good decisions, the poor kid paid the price for his parents' mistake