HaHa it actually happened......Cheat !!!!!!

[Fat Rat]

Not for me, I said it was your argument that amounted to your being a part time cyclist.

I don't think pedelecers / e-bikers are cyclists at all. It's fundamental to cycling that the cyclist provides the motive power. Being mechanically propelled isn't cycling.
.

What does pedelec stand for ..... Of course Pedal Electric Cycle

Now the key word there is Cycle which a Cyclist rides

I thow my leg over the bike and turn pedals which takes rider force that makes me a cyclist
The fact I sometimes have partial assistance has no bearing on the matter i still have to put in effort to move otherwise bugger all happens
Last time i looked that was riding a bicycle or cycling which makes me a cyclist

And as for your comment "being mechanically propelled isnt cycling" All bicycles are mechanically propelled its just the engine that has slightly different characteristics (human solo or human with assistance)
I know of course im wasting my time here because your going to twist this around to suit your argument but facts are facts and sometimes even your views arent quite right .


No hard feeling thou from me , im sure we will lock horns again on a different matter it just wont be this one

This cyclist is signing out for the night

 

[flecc]

I know of course im wasting my time here because your going to twist this around to suit your argument

Not going to twist anything around since it's obvious you aren't going to change your mind.

My whole point from the outset if you care to look back is that calling power assisted riding cycling will always bring accusations of cheating.

If what we do was called something else, that wouldn't have been possible. It's why car drivers, motorcyclists and even autocyclists with pedals in the past were never called cheats. In others eyes it never looked like they were pretending to be something else.
.

 

[ttxela]

I ride in every day on the Cambridge busway cycle path and the range of conveyances used is quite impressive, walking, running, cycling, ebikeing, roller skating, horse riding, those sort of long roller ski things, skate boards, powered skate boards - you name it!

Never been called a cheat - I don't think anyone would be able to narrow down what method non-cheating was!

 

[mike killay]

As an old arthritic I suppose I could say that I might be cheating death, but my face is wrinkled enough to simply reply 'Child'

 

[oyster]

That ain't cycling, it's pedelecing.

Surely ecycling? - Halfway between cycling and recycling.

(Given that 66% of recycling is inffective, perhaps not exactly half way.)

 

[RobF]

You Johnny-come-lately types don't know the half of it.

When I began ebiking way back in, er, 2010, there was a great deal of hostility.

It was something different which was the main cause, kids tease the ginger kid not because of his hair colour, but because of his unusual hair colour.

On my early rides the only ebike I ever saw was mine, I was different, I stuck out, and I got stick for it.

Now I will see another ebike or two on a lot of rides, I'm no longer different, no longer stick out, and no longer get the same degree of stick.

 

[flecc]

Surely ecycling?

A bit too close to saying cycling though, still likely to prompt the cheat accusations. The name needs to be different enough to stop that.
.

 

[flecc]

You Johnny-come-lately types don't know the half of it.
When I began ebiking way back in, er, 2010, there was a great deal of hostility.

That amused me, 2010!

I first rode assisted in 1950, sixty-eight years ago!

Nobody accused anyone of cheating back then, it was unheard of. The reason for that was twofold. First almost all cycling back then was utility for transport, there was none of today's silly furiously pedalling around at 20 mph plus, specially clothed and looking like a Tour de France entrant. Up to 12 mph was usual, wearing normal street clothes.

Second, with over a million assisted bikes reached in Britain within five years, it was a new normal.
.

 

[Blunderbuss]

Many of the names we have for things also have a scientific (usually Latin) name as well so how about:

"Hominum potentia" instead of cycling and and "Mixta potentia" for ebikes.

As supplied by google translation.

 

[flecc]

In EU law, which law we follow, pedelecs are referred to as EPACs*. (Electric Pedal Assisted Cycles)

So we are Epacking.

* UK law re-orders that to EAPCs.
.

 

[LeighPing]

It's all moot and all biking. Motorised or otherwise. Ebiking allows the best of both worlds and cycle laws apply.

 

[flecc]

Ebiking allows the best of both worlds and cycle laws apply.

Only some. Cycling doesn't have a 14 years lower age limit.
.

 

[LeighPing]

Only some. Cycling doesn't have a 14 years lower age limit.
.

For those of us under 14, and there's not many on this forum, off road is OK for a taster. My extra large, 8 year old nephew Archie loves them.

If he can ride a bike legally, then why can't he ride an ebike legally?

 

[Nev]

I haven't yet had another cyclist call me a cheat when I have been on my bike. I have however had a few people (usually non cyclists) come over and look at the bike when I am sitting outside my local Costa Café with it.

When I tell them it's an electric bike (many of them don't realise it is), then they say isn't that cheating. I then go into a brief explanation that one still has to pedal the bike and that it has four modes etc. etc. Most of them say they would like one if they could afford one.

I wonder though in a few years to come, as the general trend seems to be to make ebikes more stealthy, if other cyclists will be even able to tell for sure if your on an ebike or not.

I would imagine a lot of people don't realise the Orbea Gain has a motor on it.

 

[anotherkiwi]

You Johnny-come-lately types don't know the half of it.

When I began ebiking way back in, er, 2010, there was a great deal of hostility.

It was something different which was the main cause, kids tease the ginger kid not because of his hair colour, but because of his unusual hair colour.

On my early rides the only ebike I ever saw was mine, I was different, I stuck out, and I got stick for it.

Now I will see another ebike or two on a lot of rides, I'm no longer different, no longer stick out, and no longer get the same degree of stick.

You should try a recumbent trike one day...

 

[anotherkiwi]

In EU law, which law we follow, pedelecs are referred to as EPACs*. (Electric Pedal Assisted Cycles)

So we are Epacking.

* UK law re-orders that to EAPCs.
.

You can't do anything like the rest of the EU can you?

 

[flecc]

You can't do anything like the rest of the EU can you?

Other way round.

Our EAPC law was in force from 1983, long before the EU thought of having one, in which they perversely named them EPACs.

Both are wrong though.

The UK allowed throttle only without pedalling, so EAPC (Electric Assist Pedal Cycles) was inaccurate.

The EU require pedalling to get power, so EPAC (Electric Pedal Assist Cycles) is also inaccurate.

If they had swapped them over, they'd both have been right!!!
.

 

[egroover]

I've had the usual grunts, and 'that's cheating' as I whirl past the roadies uphill on the commute to work. I've replied with the usual comment 'carbon frame, skinny tyres?, that's cheating !' which is met in most cases with laughs of 'yeah, you got a point'.
Caught a couple of roadies out on a ride a few weeks ago, I was only a couple of mph quicker than them, so waiting until a small hill I whirled past, I thought I'd get in early and mutter 'sorry gents, got a battery on board, and yes, I know it's cheating', as I went by. They reacted with laughs too.
I ride my road bike and non powered hybrid for pleasure/touring/holidays, and I ride my ebike to commute to save on parking and to arrive at work not sweaty, so I don't fully understand the negativity, other than pure narrow mindness

 

[soundwave]

those ebikes that cant go faster than 15mph get on my tits there just so slow lol

 

[TZC]

It's always been spectators for me, I was riding down a street and a gentleman of lesser intelectual capacity shouted the "speed limit's 20! "

I was doing 17.

Or, going up a treacherous hill the garden dweller shouts "cheat!"

I'm not really bothered by it just confused that these people wouldn't think twice about those cheaters sat in their vehicles on the daily work run. Sipping their coffee maybe eating a twix while the internal combustion unit takes them along and they don't do S**t to help it

Edit: Oop I spelt intellectual wrong. I guess that negates my point. In my defence my wireless keyboard plays up a fkn treat lately