Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Not talking about motorcycles. Again for the billionth time we are talking about bicycles with pedals that only go forward with pedaling (yes coasting downhill aside). The goal here should be to get more cars and petrol engines of the road not say "well because the bike has a motor it is a motorcycle now no matter what" because that is just ignorant and backwards thinking.
E-Bikes are fitness vehicles you have to pedal them in order to move and yes you can use more or less assistance but you are still having to pedal. I know plenty of my customers have gotten into better shape on an e-bike. Maybe they could get better exercise on a non-electric bike but if they weren't going to ride it or had issues that prevented them from getting on it then where is the exercise? Some people might not ride at all so if we can get more people riding that is always a good thing. Also maybe the e-bike will help them get to a position they can ride a non-electric bike with confidence. Instead of trying to put up walls and barriers around ourselves and say electric bikes are not real bikes we should embrace the future and be thankful we might get a few cars off the road.
Look I get it, I have 12-14 regular non-electric bikes and I love them and wouldn't give them up (though I do need to sell some stuff and make more room for some new projects) but I recognize e-bikes can be another bike in quiver and a useful tool for a lot of folks. Heck if I can get a cargo e-bike to get groceries or go to the hardware shop and not have to worry about parking or gas or car insurance that sounds pretty good to me. I can ride a bike just about anywhere, a car or motorcycle not so much, I also tend to have a lot more parking restrictions with those vehicles I don't have with a bike.
Sure long distance a car could make more sense but if it is really long distance you have planes and trains and boats (though make sure you know whose boat is that boat before boarding) as well and on those vehicles you can have a bike with you which is pretty neat.
I agree that now all powered bikes are the same thing, but lines need to be drawn concerned the amounts of power used in the assist, otherwise you're asking to set up a loophole where there's an incentive to market what are essentially motorcycle equivalents with pedals in order to skate licensing, inspection and off-road infrastructure limitations.
I definitely see the use of low-powered ebikes as a social good if it increases the number of people able to or willing to cycle, and sharing bicycle paths and lanes with those vehicles really isn't a problem. When you get into high-powered fast bikes or heavy cargo bikes, then you need to keep those off the bicycle infrastructure.
I'm definitely not going to set myself up as some sort of judge as to what kind of vehicle any person SHOULD ride, that's their call. My interest is solely in whether or not it affects the safety of others.