Eh, it is easy to hate on things. I tend to ignore the closed minds in all of life, the things that people find to be personally threatened by never cease to astound me.

As with all these comments, there should be no General Discussion at all. Every single thread here could be elsewhere.

I do not understand why people show up to threads they have no interest in to tell others they have no interest and it should go elsewhere so they don't have to see it.

As one who has ridden (but does not own) ebikes, and who owns a motorcycle, no, no they are not motorcycles. Anyone who honestly thinks ebikes are closer to motorcycles than bikes is pushing an agenda

The day I can take an ebike down a limited access interstate (and no, not one of those special bits out west where most traffic is allowed), maybe my stance will change.

Why so binary? The lower-power ebikes require that you pedal to activate the e-assist. So there is an entire category of ebikes that *combine* human & battery power.

Ironic how a topic about an uneducated critic getting it all wrong, gets flooded with uneducated critics getting it all wrong.

I don't know who this Grant Peterson guy is. I just now read a few paragraphs about him at wiki. That said, it's very simple to understand in my mind who and what he is. He's a purist. And that's that. And there is nothing wrong with that.

I was once a purist. Fly fishing. But man, when the artificial plastic lures hit the market, I changed. I love a plastic lure. That said, I like to pedal a bicycle. And I don't think that I will ever change. No interest in e-bikes. None at all. No Di2 for me. Nope. Geez, if I keep going here, I might be just like Grant Peterson.?? Doesn't matter if I am or not.

I think the OP is fishing for support on his opinion. I'm independent. I'm not biting...

After reading the link...
- the OP is way off base with how he interpreted the article's points and ramblings.
- that was a terribly written post by GP. Just bad. Good lord- work on having a start, middle, and end thst all connect properly before you post to your site for cycling nerds to read. Im not looking for Hemingway, but my 8yo daughter has more connected thoughts than what was in GP's posting.

+1

Like


I'm sure there's a moped or motorcycle forum around somewhere.

You including the production and disposal of batteries in your calculation of pollution? And what percentage of ebike riders actually use solar power?

The food argument is so stupid because it assumes that more sedentary people eat less. Hate to break it to you, but a lot of them eat a lot and grow obese. As a society, we are clearly eating more and less active than we were in previous generations. There's a strong linear relationship with exercise and calories burned, but not so with calories consumed.

The clothing thing is an argument you could make against any vigorous work out. Seems to me that's a better argument for walking around in sweaty clothes. Also, I wash clothes regularly, my riding clothes just make the load a bit bigger. I doubt there's that much marginal difference in the energy and pollution.
Now let's start talking about the environmental costs of more battery use.

In the UK they are classified as mopeds above a certain power - I think it's 250W - and you are supposed to wear a motorbike helmet if you ride one. E-bikes have to be below that power and only go when pedaled. Of course, this isn't enforced. I regularly get passed on my commute by someone who does no pedaling at all and wears no helmet.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you're entitled to your opinion as well. :thumb:

The universe is unfolding as it should. It just isn't done yet.

Figured it was about time for yet another in an (apparent) series of troll threads as his others fade into obscurity.

yawn..

There is a big difference between having no interest in one and advocating they be categorized in a manner that prohibits their use most places traditional bikes are used. I have no use or interest in one, but I certainly do not think they should be registered and one using them be licensed and them kept off rail trails and such.

I have no interest in one, but I certainly don't advocate they be treated as a street-only vehicle until they are operated by a throttle and are capable of speeds higher than a healthy fit cyclist can accomplish unassisted. There is little practical difference to anyone but the rider in the bikes we know of as ebikes and a fit solo cyclist to others around them.

It's a slippery slope with pedal assist e-bikes. They DO have a motor, that's pretty simple. As well there are many aspects to the use of motorized vehicles that go beyond Grant's comments and the thing that worries me the most is the potential that acceptance of a pedal assisted motorized cycle/moped, will start to see their current use on off-pavement trails and rail trails and into area's currently the province of mt. bikes. This is a HUGE problem given that countless mt. bike advocacy groups have worked very hard over the past 30 years to get mt. biking accepted into areas they might have been banned (and still are - Nat'l Park trials as example). Mt. bikers have tried very hard to dissociate themselves from "dirt bikes", ot motorized off road specific motorcycles. Accepting ANY motorized cycle is and as far as the mt. bike hating groups are concerned, the camels nose under the tent, that will eventually see the use of a motorized cycle (yes it has pedals) on trails where they really don't belong. That's going to potentially see trails currently accessible to non-motorized wheeled vehicles, to be be banned altogether for ANY wheeled vehicles.

Mopeds, and that's what they are, belong on roads, not MUT's or any area that specifically ban a motorized wheeled vehicle.

I completely agree Slightspeed, My preference is vintage bicycles, having said that the modern carbon wonderbikes are amazing, I do tend to agree though that e-bikes should not be considered bicycles

GP is way behind the times, and has actually missed the boat , so to speak.
He is in California, and California has already classified ebikes as bicycles.
Specifically, bicycles with a 20 mph limit are class 1 and 2 ebikes and can go anywhere push bikes can go.
Read it and weep.
https://peopleforbikes.org/wp-conten...02132018v2.pdf

The post that started this thread somewhat reasonable enough, and you raised some issues worth discussing. That's fine. But now you're just trolling, and it seems reasonable to conclude that was your intention all along.

That is one argument I agree with on the ebikes, that they should be off limits when it comes to MTB trails. Firstly, from a fragility aspect (the ones by me are closed enough for poor trail conditions that they don't want ripped up, no need to add torquey motors to the mix), and secondly, if you aren't fit enough to ride the trails in the first place, I'd have a hard time believing most people have the dexterity and reflexes to safely navigate them. But, it is a line I feel can easily be policed, just like throttle bikes that gets up into moped speeds.

I might be persuaded to give them a pass so long as you still need to do the majority of the pedaling work. Problems is, that won't last long. People have already begun to hack them and is some cases attain speed up to 40 mph! No pedaling necessary.

Pearls before swine, my friend. Wasted words of wisdom.

People come here to fight over trivia. people come here to pick fights when there is nothing already here to fight over.

People come here to stir the cesspool. Honesty and tolerance are only impediments.

Life's rich pageant.