E-bike prejudice?

[Leesome]

Some people forget the bicycle was invented means commute, battery power mere returning that originality.

Anyhow last weekend day I cycled 25 miles (6 hours includes stops) and if any one could serious think going cycle 25 miles return then think again. Electric got me back home under three hours, includes a stop for a barbecue.

Very enjoyable time and shall be again.

 

[Uningles]

Spot on- who really cares what others think? I get few comments and the occasional "that's cheating", but retort "so?".

Car drivers and motorcyclists and cyclists all have their own snobbery. Maybe ebikers do too, or will, but we're so few we're more supportive.

Short answer is do what you like if you're not actually harming others .

You can't cheat if you're not playing the game they think you are.

 

[lemmy]

After all, if someone put a motor on their indoor exercise machine we'd all call that cheating.
.

An exercise motor-cycle - there's an interesting idea! It might just catch on.

I have an idea for marketing e-bikes.

-----------------------------------

Are You A Fat, Lazy Tub Of Lard? Do You Like To Make Ordinary Decent Cyclists Angry? Do You Want To Pay £1,000+ For A £50 Bicycle With A Food Mixer For An Engine?

E-Bike! You Know It Makes Sense.

------------------------------------

My son seems to think it might not work can't think why

 

[flecc]

Are You A Fat, Lazy Tub Of Lard? Do You Like To Make Ordinary Decent Cyclists Angry? Do You Want To Pay £1,000+ For A £50 Bicycle With A Food Mixer For An Engine?

E-Bike! You Know It Makes Sense.

The cycling purist's answer:

Are you a fat, lazy tub of lard? Buy an e-bike and stay a fat, lazy tub of lard.
.

 

[PedalsPlusPower]

Someone did not like my cheating.

The other day we arrived home to discover that my da-in-law's folder had been nicked while we were out. A 75 year old on a small pension will feel the bite, even if it concerned only an old steel folder.

I hopped on my heavy eBike (Meerkat) and thought I would have a look around the neighbourhood. About half a mile from home I spotted a group of boys walking on the pavement, and 1 of them on a bike I immediately recognised (I have done maintenance on it).

Unfortunately they spotted me fairly early on and the one on the bike took off with a headstart racing through small sidestreets with some descents and quick turns. I pursued in throttle mode. He did manage to accellerate away from me (the small wheels helped him there), but I would soon gain until the next quick manouvre. He soon turned into a fairly steep uphill street and when he saw me gaining he dropped the bike and ran off.

I lifted the bike onto the front and drove it home, confident that I would probably not have made it so easily on a normal bike.

Sometimes it pays to cheat and makes you feel good too.

Hey well done Hitthroadj, great story as well!

Wayne. Pedals Plus Power

 

[Neil]

How about fun and extra speed

I ride my ebike and leave my normal bike at home. Why would i want to ride an normal bike when I have much more fun bike to ride. I don't care if i am seen as cheating, my modified bike uses the extra power to go faster. I can save 30 min a day or 2.5 hours a week of my life using a ebike over a standard bike. Ebikes a just more fun to ride.

 

[billadie]

I've only had an ebike for a couple of months, but except for one instance, I haven't experienced any prejudice, quite the reverse. Many people have expressed interest and enthusiam. On Friday, whist passing a couple of cyclists with a small child, the woman shouted, "Is that an electric bike, they're brillant!". whilst today a man followed me into a supermarket carpark to find out`how they work'.

What is lacking is the opportunity for most members of the general public to try an ebike. If they could, I'm sure that many would be many more enthusiasts.

 

[Neil]

Carbon fibre is cheating

Why not play their game. With a ebike you take a practical but heavy bike and turn it into a lightweight bike. Solid and reliable. Those people in who call us cheaters what do they do? They replace all the bit on a bike with stupid expensive lightweight carbon fibre. These bits are not very strong and last no time at all. OK if you have a racing team to spend a fortune replacing all you bits, but for normal mortals these bikes spend most of the time in the shed. They are taken out on sunny days once in a while the rest of the time is spent on more normal bikes. Is this not also cheating?

 

[HittheroadJ]

Thanks Wayne. It still feels good.

I tend to agree with Neil in that riding an eBike has no element of embarrassment or shame for me. I have always liked cycling. I stopped doing much of it because of a sore knee and because going uphill got me sweaty to the extent that you had to get changed etc. Just too much interference with normal life. Nowadays I can race downhill and climb back up at the cost of ....no sweat at all. I have not used my normal bike in a while. Why would I use it?

In about two months I have been approached by interested strangers in the street 4 times. I have once been hooted at by young rowdy men who clearly considered my eBike a poor excuse for a motorcycle, which left me cold.

The more I think about it, the more i am convinced that if more people tried eBikes the uptake might increase. Even with my cheap one, it puts a smile on my face everytime I use it.

 

[Tex]

it doesn't matter what you ride, within reason, as long as it has pedals and requires some reasonable, low level input from the rider -- as long as you get out there and RIDE. the more legal (or semi-legal) bikes of ANY persuasion or type on the road the better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Tex]

Interesting. What is the "preferred traditional Dutch style" to one can be "dorky"/"uncool" ... "upright 'novice rider' position" to the other.

I do hope that this thread is about diversity, respecting different preferences and choices, rather than about believing in one's own cool & serious riderness to the extent that others can be called names.

cheers

hi. may have miss communicated. i have my personal style and choices, but embrace diversity of all bikes. just trying to explain (poorly) the perspective of some snobs. i am not one! went for a lovely ride the other day on the northern beaches of sydney, me on my "racer-like" e-bike and my mate on his "FELT cruiser e-bike. met lots of riders who wanted to borrow both! the few (lite) beers along the way were pleasant too!

 

[Ratzakli]

Does it really matter what other people might think?

However aggrieved and upset us e-bikers might feel about the "injustice" and "prejudice" that others may exhibit, we are hardly likely to change their minds so why bother commenting on it?

It seems like such a waste of time and effort to get riled up about it.

 

[Alex728]

I've never had other cyclists take that much notice of the e-bike nor even comment. Even the lycras tend to wave in a friendly way. Maybe I'm just going too fast to hear what they are saying

 

[Bob_about]

I had been passing a guy (on an unpowered touring bike) in the opposite direction for a number of weeks when one day we both had to stop either side of a busy road to cross onto the continuing cyclepath the other side.

He waves at me and ducks accross and stops to speak to me

I am expecting a question about the e-bike, the speeds I am doing when we pass, the battery range or even how far I commute on it.

No, none of that - he wanted to know what make my baseball cap was and where I had bought it from (RonHill with Hi Viz rim from that excellent on line retailer Wiggle if you are also interested)

Not a single comment about the bike - pro e-bikes, anti or otherwise - he just seemd to accept that I was a cyclist who passes him each day.

Perhaps as e-bikers we are more wrapped up in the detail of the bike we are riding than our fellow human beings around us (a comment my wife has also made when I drone on about it!)

Either way, ride it like you mean it and enjoy it!

All the best

Bob_about

 

[HittheroadJ]

Sorry Tex,

Great to hear you enjoy yourself.

Cheers.

hi. may have miss communicated. i have my personal style and choices, but embrace diversity of all bikes. just trying to explain (poorly) the perspective of some snobs. i am not one! went for a lovely ride the other day on the northern beaches of sydney, me on my "racer-like" e-bike and my mate on his "FELT cruiser e-bike. met lots of riders who wanted to borrow both! the few (lite) beers along the way were pleasant too!