comments from strangers when out on your ebike....

[Stu33]

Hi,


Ok so have my first electric bike,i love it, tho it needs fixing up a bit! but still it gets me about much faster & easier & i needed it as my health isnt good, i have a 2nd hand wisper 905 city se. It takes nearly every hill just on the throttle...
i noticed someone made this comment as i looked through the forums "What a sorry state this country is in - I read many opinions about e.bikes and what strikes me most is the shear lack of empathy many have been brought up with" I have to say i`ve had comments even in my 1st week of having this bike, one guy i saw smiling at me as i approached a bus stop, then exclaimed "bike cheat!" as i passed..... then when i first set off today , as i approached a somalian guy about 50 meters away,he started smiling,beaming at me , i was thinking "aye!?".................. then later on the way home riding on the road I passed some guy to the left of me on the pavement, he shouted something which started with "sh" I turned my head as he said it, didn`t hear the rest... but still i was`nt happy. I cant say i like attention off strangers much.. do people on here have to put up with many comments off strangers while out on their ebikes?

regards,

Stu In birmingham

 

[GloveMakingMan]

Down here in North Devon i get quite a few "Cor, look at this Mabel, it's a bicycle with a blimin motor on it, i've never yeard or seen ort like it before in me life!"
Back in July, when i attended a local village fete, there seemed to be more interest in my bike than there was in the vintage cars and tractors!

 

[eHomer]

........ do people on here have to put up with many comments off strangers while out on their ebikes?....

I keep getting endless comments from pedestrians like "how much are they ?", "do they need taxing ?", and "where can I get one ?"

Whereas any lycra clad cyclists generally don't say anything, as I eventually breeze nonchalantly past them after they've tried to shake me off for a mile or so.

 

[jackhandy]

Plenty of interest when the bike's at a standstill _ Lots
of it's covert, though _ "Not Really looking at this wondrous machine"
I've never had Cheat comments shouted while I'm on the move though.
Mind you, I'm always pedalling (other than going down) & contributing a goodly proportion of the effort required by our Cornish hills.

 

[GloveMakingMan]

Although my battery is hidden in the frame and doesn't really look like an ebike (just looks strange), some people think my Kryptonite D-Lock is some sort of futuristic energy source!

Maybe in the future, something the size of my Kryptonite D-Lock with a range of 100s of miles!?

 

[Artstu]

I rode up the hill of a hill climb time trial just before the start of the racing yesterday, I got a few hey that's cheating comments, all friendly and warmly said though.

 

[JohnCade]

Although my battery is hidden in the frame and doesn't really look like an ebike (just looks strange), some people think my Kryptonite D-Lock is some sort of futuristic energy source!

Being beamed in from the planet Krypton maybe?

 

[mike killay]

I remember the time of early CB walkie talkies.
The sight of people walking around talking to boxes was utterly bizarre.
Nowadays, mobile phones, walkmans (men?) etc. mean that nobody gives a second glance.

 

[Woosh]

Took my Petite out yesterday, pootled slowly past 3 or 4 lads of about 12 who all started shouting out how slow I was. So I upped the assist to 5 and pushed down the throttle. Heard one of them say 'Blimey'...(or words to that effect, I am in deepest darkest Essex after all)...... So the laugh was on me.

 

[Gringo]

I always get mixed reviews although the unexpected "that's cheating" dost get my goat.
These days I try very hard not to rise to the comments, after all they only ever come from those with limited imagination.

 

[mike killay]

I don't know if you have ever been fishing. I go to the promenade. After about the 100th 'Caught anything?' query from passers by, I tend to reply,
'Only you.'
I think that there are some social occasions that prompt people who normally would not think of approaching a stranger say these things.
Next time someone says 'Cheating' to me, I shall reply,
'Didn't your mummy tell you not to talk to strangers?'

 

[JohnCade]

I don't think most people mean any harm by it. It's just a way of making small talk. Lubricating social intercourse so to speak. I've had people say it to me years ago when I passed them on my road bikes and they were on shoppers.

Many people aren't very good at quick repartee and so stick to the tried and trusted. They aren't too good at empathy either so tall people are always asked if it's cold up there for instance, as though nobody had ever thought of that gem before. Never seem to realise the poor sod has heard it a thousand times since he was sixteen or something.

Whenever I get around to washing the car someone will always say "can you come and do mine when you finish?" I just suffer the fools. If not gladly then with good grace.

 

[neptune]

Further to Mark`s fishing story.We had a girl in our village called Courtney. I used to call her the fisherman`s daughter, and it stuck. She is still referred to by this name today, fifty years later.

 

[RobF]

Whenever I get around to washing the car someone will always say "can you come and do mine when you finish?" I just suffer the fools. If not gladly then with good grace.

I agree a comment like the car wash one is wearisome, but absolutely harmless.

But however you cut it, cheating is universally regarded as a negative, undesirable, dishonest act.

Calling someone a cheat is a nasty insult.

Much as I try to rise above it, it annoys and frustrates me to have the word 'cheat' ringing in my ears as I pass a group of people.

It's happened twice today and very occasionally, but consistently, in the couple of years I've been ebiking.

Curiously, the comment is almost always from the type of pedestrian who I judge not to be a cyclist.

 

[Wander]

Was out on some Byways a couple of weeks ago, stopped to chat to some trail bike riders.

Part of the conversation went like this:-

Trail bike rider: "You've got a motor, that's cheating."
Wander: "So a bloke riding the same trails as me but with an internal combustion engine tells me that I'm cheating does he?"
Trail bike rider: "Er, er, er."
Trail bike rider's mates: Fell about laughing at him.

 

[JohnCade]

Rob F

Well if it's just pedestrians who haven't ridden a bike since they were kids it's on a par with someone calling out any sort of drivel as you pass. People who wear a trilby get sick of Indiana Jones comments for instance. It's not as if you were in a competition against unpowered bikes so what does a thoughtless meaningless comment like that matter?

 

[Kinninvie]

Had 4 commentsd from lycras so far and every one was complimentary.
One chap I met at traffic lights asked me where he could get one .

 

[Gringo]

I did consider getting my cycling jacket printed with "Cheating & loving it"

 

[KirstinS]

My comments received are largely complementary . Occasionally grateful as my commuter route has a 3 mile stretch used my the hardcore Lycra time triallers.

"Please tell me you are on an electric !"

I've had the odd " that's cheating" but my stock reply which varies a little depending on how much time I have (ie stationary or whizzing by) is " nope , it's called commuting !"

 

[Stu901]

Had one guy on a road bike smirk at me whilst waiting at lights at the bottom of a hill. I jst smiled and thumbed the throttle when the lights changed and pulled away from him. He did eventually catch up about 3/4 of the way up and all he said was "not as daft as i first thought"
I took that as a compliment