E-bikes make cycling accessible to people who have disabilities and to people who don’t want to put in the conditioning but want to enjoy a hobby with their friends who do.
I love riding rural trails. I train for it. I do distance rides for fun. My wife and several of my friends love the adventure of it but don’t want to put in the consistent training. They’re healthy people, just not 75-100 mile per week riders like I am. Because of E-bikes, my wife and I can go on a few long rides a year together - me on a manual bike and her on our e-bike.
Don’t be such a dick. If you don’t want to use a motor, don’t.
I honestly never considered powered bikes as anything but a motorcycle alternative. they got nothing to do with bicycles and I don’t care about their potential demise (which is kinda overdramatic, that is nowhere on the horizon).
I know I have nothing but disdain and resentment when they hug bike paths, sidewalks, etc. and in my view those things should be in regular traffic lanes, same as mopeds and motorcycles.
as to the combustion part, no idea how prevalent that is but I wouldn’t keep this thing in my home or near it.
Aren’t you basically doing what this shop owner is complaining about? Conflating properly regulated, speed-limited e-bikes (which are mostly pedal-assist) with overpowered, illegal imports that function more like motorbikes (often with a throttle).
Admittedly, the line can blur, especially with unregulated imports bypassing local laws. But in places with sensible regulations, e-bikes are capped at speeds like 25 km/h—slower than conventional bikes can reach, but that’s a good thing, given their added weight and potential for greater harm in collisions.
The battery issue is real, but it’s not unique to e-bikes. Cheap, poorly made power cells plague everything from hoverboards to scooters. The problem isn’t e-bikes themselves—it’s sketchy imports circumventing safety standards.
Yeah you’re a dick.
E-bikes make the hobby accessible. Distance cycling or touring on a manual bike takes a large amount of regular intense conditioning, not to mention youth and health. Someone with an old injury or a disability or just a partner of a cyclist who wants to share the hobby with them and can’t dedicate the time to training can get real enjoyment from the help an e-bike brings them.
The fact that people enjoying themselves is in your way is you being a dick, not the bike being a nuisance.
Part of me gets where they’re coming from, I think it’s definitely a thing where some inexperienced cyclists on e-bikes ride dangerously at high speeds without having the cycling experience and technique to ride that fast.
However, just like I’ve had bad interactions with people on e-bikes, I’ve had bad interactions with roadies, people on BMX, cycle commuters, mountain bikers… I’ve also had super positive interactions with all of these groups. Generalizing e-bike riders as a whole based on the acts of a small number of people is silly and counter-productive. The more people ride bikes, the more cities have no choice but to accommodate them, which makes things better for everyone.
You sound like the kind of cyclist who assaulted a coworker of mine on his ebike, purely because he was on an ebike
ebikes are not motorcyckes. not by a long shot.
I think there is a distinction to be made between e-bikes with a reasonable amount of pedal-assist and e-bikes with throttles and overpowered motors.
E-bikes make cycling more accessible (old people, certain disabilities) and that’s something we should strive for. I don’t care to own one myself, but I do like the idea of still being able to cycle when I’m old and my knees are shot.
I think e-bikes on bike paths are a good thing, because it forces local councils to actually provide large bike paths, free of obstacles and separated from pedestrians.
I’m from Italy and bike paths are always so narrow and horrible that my only hope is in e-bikes to force a change.
