I see a ton of people driving erratically on e bikes. Either going against traffic, cutting through intersections, riders wearing headphones, etc. it’s got wheels and a motor, it’s a motor vehicle and should be treated as such. As far as speed goes, you would have to be Lance Armstrong (steroids and all) to go 20 mph on a pedal bike consistently. I’m exaggerating slightly but you would still have to be an A rider, and A riders ain’t lazy enough to use e bikes
It’s pretty trivial for any out of shape schlub to get a garden variety bicycle up to 30 or 35 MPH with the aid of a hill, but only if you don’t go by averages and discount the several minutes spent huffing and puffing up the other side first. I used the big hill in our town to crack 40 MPH once when I was a teenager, complete with no helmet and probably while wearing flip-flops.
Back then the pearl-clutchers screeched about pedal bikes at exactly the same tone and pitch as they’re doing now about e-bikes and electric kick scooters, but analog bikes have since been normalized. The ones now clearly have no idea of the types of shenanigans we got up to with our pedal bikes when we were kids. Back then if you were truly a cool cat you’d fit a little two stroke engine to your bicycle. If you weren’t, we’d skitch on the backs of tractor trailers as they passed through through town, preferably starting by grabbing one that was stopped at a (or rather at the time the) red light.
What it really boils down to is that adults absolutely cannot stand young people having access to personal transportation because it makes said young people harder to control. It was the same shit with skateboards, and before that it was the same shit with roller skates, and before that probably penny farthings. I’ll bet you the first time some caveman’s kid took a carved stone wheel and rolled across the village on it his parents complained about it.
it’s got wheels and a motor, it’s a motor vehicle and should be treated as such
Are you in favor of licensing and testing for other things that fit this definition? What about those 12v plastic toy cars that are sized for children? What about mobility carts for the elderly?
I have nothing to contribute here except sharing my one anecdote about this, which is that I once personally witnessed a guy on one of those electric mobility scooters receive a DUI because he was trundling it down the shoulder of the road, presumably while smelling of beer. Given the individual in question the latter part wasn’t much of a stretch. So in some cases, i.e. the ones where the law can be used to harass you, they actually are considered motor vehicles already!
No argument against what you said, but technically receiving a ticket doesn’t mean it’s a valid ticket or that you’ll be found guilty in court. I have no clue if what you described as legal or not. But I do remember a guy using his riding lawn mower to get back and forth to the bar because he would drive home drunk and he lost his car driving privileges. I don’t remember ever hearing if he was ever stopped by law enforcement for driving drunk on it.
No. I’m telling a person to use the same logic for multiple things in the same category. I mentioned multiple electric vehicles that go slow speeds. Whataboutism would be if I said, “yeah but what about Donald Trump, he doesn’t follow rules so we shouldn’t. And what about guns having fewer restrictions than eBikes?” Bringing up entirely different subjects.
Then car drivers can’t complain when cyclists take up an entire car lane, traveling at speeds under 25mph. Every car driver will be slowed down and you’ll need to be okay with that.
you would have to be Lance Armstrong (steroids and all) to go 20 mph on a pedal bike consistently
This has to be a fucking joke. In Germany you regularly see grannies do 30kph(20mph). I can easily maintain 40 for longer periods or do a sprint of 60 for a minute, but I’m very fit.
I see a ton of people driving erratically on e bikes. Either going against traffic, cutting through intersections, riders wearing headphones, etc. it’s got wheels and a motor, it’s a motor vehicle and should be treated as such. As far as speed goes, you would have to be Lance Armstrong (steroids and all) to go 20 mph on a pedal bike consistently. I’m exaggerating slightly but you would still have to be an A rider, and A riders ain’t lazy enough to use e bikes
Edited to make the last sentence make sense.
It’s pretty trivial for any out of shape schlub to get a garden variety bicycle up to 30 or 35 MPH with the aid of a hill, but only if you don’t go by averages and discount the several minutes spent huffing and puffing up the other side first. I used the big hill in our town to crack 40 MPH once when I was a teenager, complete with no helmet and probably while wearing flip-flops.
Back then the pearl-clutchers screeched about pedal bikes at exactly the same tone and pitch as they’re doing now about e-bikes and electric kick scooters, but analog bikes have since been normalized. The ones now clearly have no idea of the types of shenanigans we got up to with our pedal bikes when we were kids. Back then if you were truly a cool cat you’d fit a little two stroke engine to your bicycle. If you weren’t, we’d skitch on the backs of tractor trailers as they passed through through town, preferably starting by grabbing one that was stopped at a (or rather at the time the) red light.
What it really boils down to is that adults absolutely cannot stand young people having access to personal transportation because it makes said young people harder to control. It was the same shit with skateboards, and before that it was the same shit with roller skates, and before that probably penny farthings. I’ll bet you the first time some caveman’s kid took a carved stone wheel and rolled across the village on it his parents complained about it.
Are you in favor of licensing and testing for other things that fit this definition? What about those 12v plastic toy cars that are sized for children? What about mobility carts for the elderly?
I have nothing to contribute here except sharing my one anecdote about this, which is that I once personally witnessed a guy on one of those electric mobility scooters receive a DUI because he was trundling it down the shoulder of the road, presumably while smelling of beer. Given the individual in question the latter part wasn’t much of a stretch. So in some cases, i.e. the ones where the law can be used to harass you, they actually are considered motor vehicles already!
You can get a DUI on a horse too. In Japan you can get DUI on a bicycle, though I’ve never heard about that getting enforced against a non-foreigner.
No argument against what you said, but technically receiving a ticket doesn’t mean it’s a valid ticket or that you’ll be found guilty in court. I have no clue if what you described as legal or not. But I do remember a guy using his riding lawn mower to get back and forth to the bar because he would drive home drunk and he lost his car driving privileges. I don’t remember ever hearing if he was ever stopped by law enforcement for driving drunk on it.
Semantic whataboutism.
No. I’m telling a person to use the same logic for multiple things in the same category. I mentioned multiple electric vehicles that go slow speeds. Whataboutism would be if I said, “yeah but what about Donald Trump, he doesn’t follow rules so we shouldn’t. And what about guns having fewer restrictions than eBikes?” Bringing up entirely different subjects.
Then car drivers can’t complain when cyclists take up an entire car lane, traveling at speeds under 25mph. Every car driver will be slowed down and you’ll need to be okay with that.
This has to be a fucking joke. In Germany you regularly see grannies do 30kph(20mph). I can easily maintain 40 for longer periods or do a sprint of 60 for a minute, but I’m very fit.
Keep editing…
Way to take the high road, chief, although that was pretty good 😊