I'm done.

This should get some of you excited. How about 45-50 mph anyone?

https://outriderusa.com/collections/...products/alpha

At a club event, I was talking w/ a guy who in an inaugural member- 1964.

He showed me pics of two e bikes that he has built up recently. Said that he can select the amount of power assist,

doesn't ride them all the time, but appreciates the help in the hills.

I think he's earned it.

Stealth... Nobody would ever suspect you was riding an E-Bike.. https://www.electricbike.com/10-fastest-ebikes/

Why E-Assist will fail, once E-Bikes catch on... https://electricbike-blog.com/2016/1...thing-awesome/

This is an E-Assist bike IMO... New Type-Approval for Speed E-Bikes Now Effective - Bike Europe Much more of an "assist" , not as much an moped...

You could be talking about a good number of cyclists, based on posts on this web site.

Anyway, electric assist is fine. I may have to use it myself some day. But, what about full time electric vehicles? Lawyers and such make a living from stretching and contorting rules to their benefit. So, it becomes an enforcement issue. Does a 125mph electric Harley fitted with pedals qualify to ride on the Electric Bikes Allowed path?

How about an e-bike trike? Does it extend that far?

to TiHabanero (the OP):

Don't "hate to admit" you'll eventually find yourself needing an ebike to meet your cycling wants and desires. Just be glad the option (and many, many styles of ebike) is open for you.

I took that option about 2 years ago when a knee injury (as a result of cycling) caused me to make a decision - Option 1: stop cycling altogether for the year (or more) it would take for the injury to heal, or Option 2: get a bike that would help you out in a pinch when you needed the help while you still enjoyed your bike.

I chose Option 2.

It took a month or so of research to find if the market had what I wanted - a system that was pretty much invisible at all times, never took away from the enjoyment I had of regular cycling (turning the regular pedals on a regular bike), and components that could be removed within minutes if I desired. What was most important was to find something that both protected my knee on hills by taking up the bulk of that burden ONLY when I wanted it to, while not stressing my knee (having to pedal through a mid-drive motor) while riding on normal (flat) surfaces.

I found what I wanted in a company out on the west coast.

1 20 year old vintage bike, 1 new front wheel with a small electric hub motor , a pair of 20 mile lithium batteries, and 5 minutes to put them together - and I had not only embraced change, but I could continue to enjoy cycling, go on the charity rides, ride with the cycling clubs, and never miss a beat while my knee slowly healed.

I could not have done that without the help of my newly converted ebike. I would have had to sit out an entire year. No cycling, no enjoying the open road. No fun charity rides in new and exciting places. None of that would have been possible without the quiet help of that front wheel motor.

And now that the knee is finally healed and I can charge up a hill without worry (or pain), I am back to riding my sweet road bike (after a thorough cleaning to remove the thick layer of dust from a year+ long hiatus of disuse). I am happy to use the road bike for the short club rides. For the upcoming long rides (30-50 miles) this year, however, I will still take the ebike with the silent little motor that no one ever sees, or hears, or even realizes is there. I like the security of knowing it will help me get out of trouble if I need it to do so. Like having a friend along for the ride to give me a bit of extra strength when mine is flagging. And I can cycle along like everyone else and NO ONE knows the difference (unless we are going up a hill. Then eyes widen and faces show wonder)

So...despite the number of people posting here who despise anything polluting a "pure bike", sometimes embracing a change in the type of bike you use is all you might need to spell the difference between being a participator to a sport you love...or being the spectator standing on the sidelines, wishing you were still a part of the fun.

I say again ... if society (that's US, by the way ... society is The People Living in a Social Arrangement) cannot work how how to survive e-bikes, we are worthless.

Scofflaws? Yeah .... that's new? We still have murderers and thieves too. Somehow we almost all manage to live our lives We went from horses to cars, to very fast cars .... and are heading to self-driving cars, it seems. Anyone who wants to opt out ... I am sure there is a kevorkian site somewhere.

The rest is just fear and angst and people who like to whine for attention.

500 years ago almost everyone walked because the few who had animals needed them for agriculture and pulling carts. Disease was rampant and medicine primitive and superstitious. Food was scarce and "nutrients" ..... forget gels, forget ibuprofen ... sufficient protein was a challenge.

And on top of that rich people could pretty much kill you at will.

Now we whine because one person in a thousand is rude.

it's funny ... I live in the same horrible world as all the rest of you, with its deadly e-bikers, drivers, rude pedestrians .... and I am Way Psyched to be alive. I love being alive and getting up each day to live, even though most days i have to work 11 or 13 hours. I love being able to ride a bike on the days that my schedule and my body allows it. I love the fact that i can share with people from around the world on the internet ... I can well remember the days when the same few thousand people in your immediate vicinity were all the people you would ever know, except for the dead folks in libraries.

I can see pictures of people and things and places I might never get to visit ... and sometimes can plan visits. Twenty-five years ago it was all done with atlases and maps and guesswork ... now I have google maps and can scan each foot of each road if I want.

You folks think that the Possibility that a few hundred thousand people out of a few hundred million might buy e-bikes and "ruin everything"? You have already lost with that crappy attitude. But that's your option. Suffer and kvetch through your miserable lives in what could be the most wonderful world we have ever seen.

Hey ... please don't think I am considering you all lame whiners. I mean, the folks in Puerto Rico who still don't have power and fresh water? They have some real issues.

Momsonherbike .... what a terrible example she sets, out there literally making the best of things and even making things better. We should all condemn her and her e-bike .... right?

**********?

I know I am not that smart, but it seems to my tiny brain that her post is rather a stark contrast to some of the others ..... which do You think represents a better attitude? Can we get a poll?

If electric motor powered vehicles that are erroneously categorized as non motorized vehicles come attached to successful open heart surgery (I've had 3), then I will just have to except their use and abuse.

Dude, you don't need an e-bike ... you need a doctor that can do open-heart surgery once and fix everything.

You must be both really sick and really tough.

I'm guessing you are NOT into embracing any form of assist...? That could prove very unhelpful when you get to that point of needing some, and could ride with some assistance but choose not to ride at all...

Mr. Maelochs, you can write and write and write about how horrible people are about electric motor bikes, but "No Motorized Vehicles" means no motorized vehicles. Not that hard to understand.

When enough people see 50 MPH bikes and trikes there will be laws written about them along with registration fees etc.

Keep in mind that, in most states at least, a tricycle is legally defined as being a bicycle.

I think that if you need a motor on your bike to make it move, you should wear a vest that says either DISABLED or LAZY.

My dad is 83 or 84 and rides his 5 speed step through Breezer ( his hips don't allow him to swing a leg over). He refused to get his knees replaced (surgery sucks). His hips were a mess. Then he misjudged a shadow/curb and broke one hip. Then he got his hip replaced (surgery sucks) and still does his 10 miles a day. When it's windy (he lives in Dallas) he rides on the trainer. When he rides outside, he stays in the neighborhood. While growing up, my friends used to tease me because they would see my dad riding his bike to work--rain or shine--in the snow. His current doctor told him that if he didn't ride his bike, he would have been dead a long time ago(he's got some weird red blood cell thing). Riding a motor assisted bike is like taking pills to lower your cholesterol, loose weight, decrease your anxiety, etc. Any one who rides one is just lazy and I get very worked up when some folks try to convince others that it is just part of getting old.

Okeydokey... I think now, I and everyone else should understands your take on this subject...

That's exactly what will cause e-bikes to get strictly restricted or banned altogether. Looking at the advertising and reading the forums it's obvious everyone wants a faster e-bike. Our local MUP has a 15mph speed limit. There are the usual bikers that exceed that and now e-bikes are starting to appear and some go much faster. I guess it's the American way. The regional park district that administers the MUP is running a one year trial of allowing e-bikes. I make sure to leave a negative comment every time I see one speeding, which they all do. The only thing electric that belongs on that path is a wheelchair.

Funny how little actual reason people use in their reasoning behind hating things.

Finally, the real reason for the electric motor bike was written. LAZY. Now we can have a true conversation about the use of electric bicycles without having to dance around the 'L" word.

Yeah, I think that many people tend to wait until after they have formed an opinion before looking around for reasons why.

It definitely happens in politics and religion. Bicycling is a little bit of both so why wouldn't it happen here too.

I bet you could have heard the same type of debate circa 1900 about that newfangled contraption, the automobile. Dangerous toy or a new paradigm in personal transportation? Both sides on that question had arguments analogous to those in today’s debate over ebikes.

My prediction is ... we’re at the start of the “ebike revolution” - ebikes are going to experience a period of rapid growth where technology improves and prices fall rapidly. In 10 years, probably the majority of adult bicycles sold in the US will have some form of power assist.

Lazy is a relative term, not an absolute.

Some would say people who have 20 gears are lazy because they don't ride fixed or single-speed.
Some cruel people would say that people who lie on their backsides while riding, instead of sitting upright, are even lazier.
I walked a four mile round trip to the supermarket to get some meat today. Some lazy buggers had actually cycled there.

I cannot understand the negative comments from smug, self-satisfied riders who think that, because they do it the hard way, then everyone should. They are too blinkered to understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have the health and strength that they themselves have. E-bikes are an annoyance to a few but a boon to many.

I still ride hard rides on my human-powered bikes at the age of 70, and see no reason why I shouldn't do so into my 80s. I am not proud of this but grateful for the genes my parents gave me and the luck to remain relatively injury free. If an e-bike means I can go on beyond that, bring it on.

As far as the argument goes about inconsiderate e-bikers on paths and trails goes, there are enough manual bike riders around with these traits as well. Should all cyclists be banned because of some miscreants or should the speed rules be enforced more effectively?

Exactly my point. We are destined to repeat the same mistake albeit on a smaller scale.