vickster
Legendary Member
As long as you never exceed the speed limit whatever it might be... and don't stop in the ruddy ASL at lights as the bike painted on the road clearly has pedals!!!
eBikes...mmm
- Thread starter Cathryn
- Start date
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OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
Not at all! Those posts that disagreed with me I read, like and responded politely to some. I was hoping for a discussion.
OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
as a complaints analyst, one of the things i look for is wording......to me, your making a complaint
OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
I shall phrase things more carefully next time.
KnittyNorah
Über Member
- Location
- The Frozen North (of England)
You did come across initially as very judgemental of people who use e-bikes - especially those who appear , to your eyes, anyway, to be 'fit and strong' - and seemed to be demanding that people have a reason which is acceptable to you, for riding them. Tone is almost impossible to put across on t'interwebz, isn't it?
Let me ask you, would you ever consider asking the same blunt question of people who use wheelchairs? Many wheelchair users 'appear' - on brief or initial acquaintance at least! - to be 'fit and strong'. Many of them are indeed 'fit and strong' as will soon be evinced by the paralympics. Does that mean you think they don't need, or shouldn't use, a wheelchair, or that their use of a wheelchair somehow disappoints you and diminishes them?
Of course you wouldn't, and you don't - yet the impression you put across in your initial post is that you are somehow disappointed that people who you don't think should 'need' to use an e-bike, are doing so nonetheless.
Maybe you could have put it in a less-confrontational way -
'I'm puzzled about e-bikes and their growing popularity. Would those of you who use them, be willing to explain? I'm especially interested to know why a person who considers themself to be fit and strong would ride one. It's not something I've ever considered'.
Or something like that?
newfhouse
Resolutely on topic
Some people could start an argument in solitary confinement…
newfhouse
Resolutely on topic
And others gave the appearance of it being an affront to their presumed masculinity. Of course, it may have just been their wording that left that impression.
what has masculinity got to do with riding an ebike???
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
2 things
Firstly I assume we are basically talking about UK/EU legal ebikes - i.e. (just be be clear) max power 250W, throttle and motor cut off at 15.5 mph
Apart from the pre 2016 ones that are max 200W and can have a throttle
Totally different to a few I have seen with a hub motor the size of a dinner plate
Other point - as far as health is concerned I am - in my opinion - better off on a 2 hour ebike ride than a 30 minute ride on a 'proper' bike - and I am far more likely to do it
I have also found that I started riding my new ebike (the old one was pre 2016 and had to assist modes - on and off! - I started in Sports mode - I soon knocked it down to Tour mode - this year I have made my normal mode Eco - and often knock it down to Off, especially if there are other riders on a narrow path so passing would be inconvenient or rude
Also - a little story - but one where something similar has happened a few times
Last summer I was riding along a dual carrigeway heading toward Warrington - I was on a good cycle path next to it and there was a long gap between intersecting roads - it was basically flat with no wind.
Eventually I reached the next main road and had to stop to wait for the crossing to go green.
A much younger bloke pulled up next to me on a mountain style bike puffing and blowing. He looked at my bike and said "Oh good - I didn't know it was an ebike - I have been killing myself trying to keep up with you and feeling bad that you could stay ahead!!!
It felt wrong to tell him that I was maintaining about 18mph along the whole stretch - i.e. the motor had cut out a few yards after the previous junction when I got to the cutoff speed and the rest was him trying to keep up with an old fat bloke on a VERY heavy bike!!!!
EDIT - corrected due to typing error saying no throttle on pre 2016 when I know damn well they can have one!!!!
Firstly I assume we are basically talking about UK/EU legal ebikes - i.e. (just be be clear) max power 250W, throttle and motor cut off at 15.5 mph
Apart from the pre 2016 ones that are max 200W and can have a throttle
Totally different to a few I have seen with a hub motor the size of a dinner plate
Other point - as far as health is concerned I am - in my opinion - better off on a 2 hour ebike ride than a 30 minute ride on a 'proper' bike - and I am far more likely to do it
I have also found that I started riding my new ebike (the old one was pre 2016 and had to assist modes - on and off! - I started in Sports mode - I soon knocked it down to Tour mode - this year I have made my normal mode Eco - and often knock it down to Off, especially if there are other riders on a narrow path so passing would be inconvenient or rude
Also - a little story - but one where something similar has happened a few times
Last summer I was riding along a dual carrigeway heading toward Warrington - I was on a good cycle path next to it and there was a long gap between intersecting roads - it was basically flat with no wind.
Eventually I reached the next main road and had to stop to wait for the crossing to go green.
A much younger bloke pulled up next to me on a mountain style bike puffing and blowing. He looked at my bike and said "Oh good - I didn't know it was an ebike - I have been killing myself trying to keep up with you and feeling bad that you could stay ahead!!!
It felt wrong to tell him that I was maintaining about 18mph along the whole stretch - i.e. the motor had cut out a few yards after the previous junction when I got to the cutoff speed and the rest was him trying to keep up with an old fat bloke on a VERY heavy bike!!!!
EDIT - corrected due to typing error saying no throttle on pre 2016 when I know damn well they can have one!!!!
Last edited:
numbnuts
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
Pre 2016 can have a throttle - under grand dads rules Fact !!
PaulSB
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I don't understand your problem. Yes using a non-ebike improves your a) and b) but the other side of the argument is I now see people of all shapes, sizes and ages in parts of rural Lancashire where I've never seen them before. Great. A few weeks ago we saw two teenage girls on e-MTBs tackling one of our finest climbs, Waddington Fell. Without an e-bike there is no way they would have been there. Sometime last year we were asked for directions by a young man, 6'+, broad shouldered and apparently very fit. He wanted directions to the top of a local hill. He was on an e-bike. We did say to each other "Really?" but he was out, having fun and getting some fresh air and exercise.
The cycling world is far from going all electric. At a guess my club members own 800-1000 bikes between them. The guy who owned the only e-bike has sold it, he bought during recovery from heart surgery.
You love cycling with your friend, you're trying to persuade your parents to buy eBikes and plan to get one yourself in the future yet you don't understand why they have become so popular? Seems odd to me.
yup oddly enough most people think that ebikes stop at 15.5mph and arn't aware that you can pedal them past the limit........
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
Correct - mistype on my part!!!!!
I knew that as my old one had a throttle - sorry!!!! - I'll correct the original now
thanks for pointing it out
newfhouse
Resolutely on topic
In reality? Nothing at all.