Stockholm is filled to the brim with commuter e-bikes, the idea of getting one of those low-powered bikes for an athletic pursuit seems to be a mis-match. The goal is to get a workout, which implies significant effort/distance. Isn’t it risking getting stranded a long way out without juice?
I think of it as having a tail wind that you can turn on or off at the flick of a switch. So if you run out on the way home, not a huge deal. On the other hand, how awesome to be able to negate an actual headwind, to ride a bit further to see some sights that would other wise be out of your range, or up a steeper longer climb than you’d typically choose.
We both know that the goal is much more than “to get a workout” otherwise folks wouldn’t worry about aero or weight or fast supple tires.
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I’m considering getting one— the enjoyment of the ride is paramount for me rather than chasing a fitness or time goal, and a little assist would open up routes that I might otherwise not attempt due to climb difficulty. realistically I’d probably put more miles on an assisted gravel bike than a lovely fop chariot
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Being able to ride for longer due to the assist has its own fitness benefits.
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I can definitely see how folks could rationalize it. I think I’m happier having a lighter bike that feels and pedals like a bike, at least when it comes to a drop-bar bike. All that said I have never ridden a “nice” e-bike, I appreciate the kit I’ve got on my cargo bike but it’s noisy and definitely gives a different “pedal-feel” than my conventional bikes.
god damn, regular bikes are fucking over huh.
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No wai. I love regular bikes. I don’t want no boring ebike, give me a full rules-stretching e-moped! If I’m gonna have power I want to be basically on a motorcycle, but one that I can legally skirt traffic and be stealthy on.
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Also you can park it on the sidewalk
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It’s definitely becoming niche
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I’m a stubborn old goat that would rather be slow. I reserve the right to rethink it after a) I have a knee replacement and b) it goes so badly I need the juice.
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what kinda failure to N+1 statement is this? it’s another ditherable avenue
the whole point of this segment is mild assist integrated into the frame with lower power and lower weight than a full-fat ebike
n=1 is the future and the sooner you boomers realize this the better.
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ugh i miss my electric Big Hit almost daily.
I left a free pedal bike with air in the tires and a freshly lubed chain on a major avenue in Brooklyn and 24 hours later it was still leaned up against the bike rack
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spicy nail in the coffin
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Okay this shit is a little scary
Some of these incidents occurred when the battery was not charging, the product was not in use, and the product was in storage.
I was under the impression that most e-bike fires were cause by people using improper chargers and other sorts of user error/malfeasance. If these things are just randomly popping off that is a big of a problem.
We have been exploring this in the automotive world. Single cell thermal runaway. Given the high quantity of cells one is bound to contain a manufacturing defect that eventually causes an internal short circuit in a single cell, sending it into thermal runaway. The trick is to design a pack (or BMS battery management system) that can prevent this single cell thermal runaway from leading to thermal propagation where the neighbor ignites. This is easier in automotive battery designs with cylindrical cells, because each cell contains a lot less energy. In pouch cells, where each cell is much larger, that single thermal runaway releases much more energy that is more difficult to manage.
or so the electrical engineers I work with tell me
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It has definitely had me thinking about battery design and construction. I probably could not track down whoever made the battery on my ebike. I try to leave it supervised while charging but it sits out in the garage the rest of the time. OTOH Rad apparently contests the CPSC assessment so who knows what is actually going on (what else are they gonna do?)
Seems bad given they were already on the ropes…
I keep thinking how laptop and power tool folks seem to have this basically solved. It’s amazing how un-solved it seems for other sectors.
My understanding was almost all micromobility fires happen during charging, where one cell has a fault that doesn’t do much sitting idle, but start pumping energy into the pack and then things get fire-y.