If you make a way for me to travel safely without potholes within an inch of passing cars, I’ll buy an electric bike and ride it everywhere.
Sorry, best we can do is Mad Max.
I just ride around with a flame thrower and spray off a warning jet when cars get too close.
The pot holes are terrified of me because of the flame thrower, so they just get out of the way.
It’s great fun, but I know I’m totally screwed if I crash.
Also, I’m pretty sure the tank hurts the range on my bike real bad.
Supposedly, heavy giga-cars are the reason for so many potholes. Much harder to design asphalt for longevity supporting obese mammoths than simple sedans, much less bikes.
Whatcha gonna do about the rain?
“There is no bad weather, just inadequate clothing” is what we tell ourselves in Norway to not get too depressed by the shitty weather.
Ride a bike in the rain 🤷
Where I live is way too hilly and way too close proximity to cars so I won’t be doing it at all, I just walk into town instead.
Are you made of sugar?
I wear a poncho or a rain jacket/pants. I usually at least have a pair of cheap Frog Toggs in my bike bag: They’re like $10 and work great.
Or I just get a little wet and dry off, in the summer it’s not really a big deal.
Are those Frog Toggs breathable at all? I was thinking about getting some for my regular bike rides.
Yes, but in my experience, not quite as breathable as higher end breathable membranes (like nicer/newer Gore-tex or eVent). Definitely way better than my old tarp style poncho and a still better than mid range stuff like Marmot precip. If you don’t mind spending the extra money, eVent is amazing but for the price, Frogg Toggs are still pretty great!
You think ebikes aren’t weatherproof?
They are definitely not weatherproof. Most are weather resistant, but good luck getting any companies to cover water damage.
Idk, that’s why I asked.
Enjoy it 😉
In terms of gear, a waterproof shell and pant shell if its pouring. Usually downpours don’t last and I can just wait 10 mins though.
Change of shoes + socks at work.
Waterproof shoes and merino wool socks are my go-to.
But can the electric bicycle handle very wet conditions?
Yeah. My bike has Bosch electric drivetrain and they’re designed for it. The bike share ebikes where I live are also Bosch electric drivetrain and sit outside exposed to the elements just fine. Downpours no problem at all. I just wouldn’t submerge it. Although my friend accidentally submerged bike in floodwaters during a storm and bike was fine…
Snow/ice no problem too. Extreme cold it’s great too although you may loose a bit of range, and I bring the battery inside to charge.
Awesome!
Most bikes are at least water resistant but if it’s a downpour and I need to ride I’ll opt to take my regular hybrid bike instead.
Wear a rain coat?
You sound like a city girl who for the first time in her life saw a forest
Americans are all spoiled by their weatherproof, rolling, one-ton death machines. Riding a bike in the rain isn’t that hard, just dress correctly.
Oh nationalism. Not what I expected when asking about bicycles.
I’m American. Lol.
How do I stop someone from stealing it? I’m for it but I live in suburbia and the stores don’t have bike racks for anything other than a parking lot. It’s not a “bad” area but it has people. A $500 bike is one thing but a $1500 bike is another.
I don’t think there is any secure bike parking as mentioned in the article and I’m not talking daily commute to work. If anyone has any tips I’m open to ideas.
You can get a $1500 electric bike? The only ones I’ve seen at the bike shop all start around $5000. I can get a car for $5000.
You can get e-bikes for under 2k but they have some definite drawbacks. I wonder if the ones in the bike shop are all super high end models or mountain bikes. Even very nice e-bikes are around 3k, if they’re designed for city use. Check out this list here https://bikexchange.com/best-electric-city-bikes/
I bought a cheap 500w electric mountain bike for $600, beat the shit out of it in the mountains, and it still runs fine. You definitely don’t need to drop a couple grand just to commute around town.
Place near me sells electric bikes for like $2200 CAD so about $1600-$1800 US
You can get an e bike for less than $500 now.
That’s less than a regular bike costs. Is it any good at all?
They are ok. Heavier, not super nice. But comfortable enough for 30 min or so.
You can get a new bike for $5000. You can’t get a new car for $5000 (unless you live in China). You can get a car for $5000 of course, but it won’t be a nice new car.
I’ve kept a chain around both of my scooters’ stems for the years I’ve been riding each of them and have not had a problem yet. Two things to note: I’m not in NYC and I keep it racked in high visibility areas in daylight. Honestly with the price of bikes a 1200 scooter with a thick chain isn’t worth the trouble me thinks.
Yea but like the other guy said, there’s nothing to chain it to. I also live in suburbia and have been looking at an e-bike for groceries and other short errands but there are no bike racks at the stores for me to rack and chain it. Best thing I can do is chain it to a signpost I guess
Rolling it through the store until they install bike racks is a great passive aggressive approach.
One place I lived was close to a semi-suburan mall. Despite being on a major intra-city bike lane, there was a single bike rack tucked in the delivery area.
I also learned from my new neighbor that you can just install bike racks wherever you want. He just buys the pole like ones and installs them wherever he wants parking.
He just buys the pole like ones and installs them wherever he wants parking.
Fucking genius. I 100% believe it would work and that nobody would ever even question it as long as you threw on a high vis vest while installing them
He doesn’t even high vis. Shows up on his bike, slaps in the tapcons, then locks his bike and goes for a shop.
I’ve only seen one of his poles get removed, but it was replaced with an official city one.
My city also lets you call and request one anyway, he just doesn’t like waiting. Edit: request are actually handled by the burroughs and differ slightly.
I often chain to lamp posts.
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