eBikes are not cheating

[solarbird]

Twitter friend posted a link to Outside Magazine's article, Riding an E-Bike is Not Cheating, and I have to say, what it reports matches my experiences.

I don't do a lot of car trips to start - we live by a major transit corridor for reasons - but even so, I absolutely am replacing car trips with ebike trips. I can and do carry real cargo (in one case, a motor+toolbox) on my ebike over significant distances and it's fine.

I'm also replacing transit trips with ebike trips, because they're more fun. And in a lot of cases, even with good service, the ebike is as fast or faster, thanks to the 8 to 10-minute walk to the stop. Going downtown, or to the U. District, it's Metro or Sound Transit, generally. (It's pretty close, in the U. District - depending upon where you're going, eBike can be faster.) Closer than that, ebike wins outright.

To haul large cargo, I obviously take the car. I jokingly refer to that as "hence the name: Car Go." But for medium cargo, even if it's heavy? The ebike is a real option, when it was not one on a standard bike.

My cargo rack is rated for 55lbs. That's a lot of weight. Like, well more than that motor+toolkit. And it's fine.

And the thing is... it's actually... really fun. Like, more fun than regular bike fun. Like, "tricking out the bike" fun and "finding excuses to use the ebike" fun.

I mean, full disclosure, I used to like biking on a regular bike. But I got out of the habit after being hit by a car. I needed a new bike just because of Scared Of Old Bike, just a little. Probably any new bike would've done it, but this one did it extra.

Also, our hill is kiiiinda nuts, even for around here. It makes car drivers nervous and makes cars complain in two different places driving up it, right?

But ebike?

ebike don't give a fuck.

Zoom.

And that feels great.

Comments

[gorgeousgary]

Reading the article, the first thing that comes to mind is to wonder how many of the critics of ebikes choose to drive a car with a manual transmission and/or no power steering when they need a car? If not, perhaps they should not throw stones...

[solarbird]

Ironically, I've always had stick shifts, and I have had a vehicle with no... wait, no, Mon-Starr had power steering. But it did not have power brakes! And it was a 3/4 ton pickup, so I drove it... carefully. xD

[peristaltor]

"E-bikes have been around for over a decade…."

Well, yeah, I guess. I was selling them here in Seattle two decades ago. Bought my first in '97 as well.

Then again, the sure sign that you are ahead of your time? You can't make a penny in profit.

[solarbird]

Sure, but I think they mean more generally. It's easy to forget coastal cities get things earlier, much of the time.

[sistawendy]

The whole "ebikes are cheating" thing is nonsense. You know I love my reg'lar bike, but why would I yuck somebody's environmentally friendly transportation yum? And what about electric motorcycles?

And as for the ebike giving no fucks about monster hills, I'm surprised that we're not seeing electric motors in trucks & buses more. They need the torque, and electric motors have it in abundance.