Originally Posted by
Caliper
Personally, my gripe is e-"bikes" being considered bicycles. A bicycle is human powered. Period. End of story. Add a gas motor or an electric motor or an antimatter drive and it is NOT a bicycle. The best current word is moped.
I do not begrudge e-"bikes" their existence though, only their being allowed in places that have been created and set out to not allow motorized vehicles. If an e-"bike" is OK, what's wrong with a bike that has a gas engine assist? They have existed for years before e-bikes anyways.
I see that. I have no idea why things are called what they are called. Maybe the industry is trying to avoid all the bureaucracy stuff that comes along with motor vehicles? license, insurance, etc... Which is my
#1 reason for being attracted to E-bikes. Ride to town, then park it on the sidewalk along with all the other bicycles. Zip down the street at 3 am without waking the dogs/neighbors.
I guess it doesn't bug me much to what people call them, the end result for me comes down to the advantage/disadvantage list.
as for this, "OK, what's wrong with a bike that has a gas engine assist?" NOISE! Electric is dream compared to combustion in the noise department.
Electric is new. Electric is change. If that change is good or bad. I can not say. yes it has a motor, it is powered. But to just toss it in the same broken system that already deals with motor vehicles would not be justice. IMO nor would it promote Growth to a better tomorrow.