I’ll buy an ebike when my legs stop working.
E-bikes are nice for riding on recovery days when you’re too beat up to ride otherwise, just saying.
I think the target audience for e-bikes are people who are mainly looking to transport themselves, and consider any amount of additional exercise gained in the process to be of less priority.
I personally value the exercise I get from riding my bike quite highly and therefore I choose a regular bike, but I also understand that I (and hence we) are in the minority here, and that e-bikes have immense potential for improving our society as a whole
I got an e-bike to transport cargo (two kids, groceries, etc.) in hilly terrain, and to do it every weekday regardless of weather conditions or how motivated I feel. If anybody thinks they’re going to do that consistently on an acoustic bike, they’re lying to themselves.
I mean, there are some sickos out there (present company included) but I don’t think that should be a standard to hold the general population to, so I agree with you
Gotta say, I love seeing exchanges on Lemmy like this. You took what people on other social media platforms might have taken as a passive aggressive comment, flipped it around and met them with respect and kindness.
Thanks for making my day a little better by proving that internet discourse doesn’t have to be outrage bait all the time! <3
(Oh and for the record, I don’t think the other comment was meant as passive aggressive. I just think people on, say, Twitter might have chomped at the bit to interpret it in the worst way to create engagement)
as an aging cyclist I have come around to e-bikes.
I value a regular bikes reliability, practicality, and affordability. They’re far more flexible than an ebike and I would rather use one in every situation.
Showing up at work not covered in sweat after a summer commute?
#firstworldproblems
I value those things too, but the appeal is not great enough for a lot of people, unfortunately.
This is what my son says, yet he never rides his bike. He does walk a lot, but more than anything has his partner drive him around.
Good for you. Don’t have to lord your athletic prowess over others, though. Not all of us are in the shape to use a regular bike.
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I LOVED riding on the back of a motorcycle, or in a pickup bed, as a kid.
This was one thing about the ombudsman bill. It had the electric car thing but it would have been much farther reaching if subsidize electric bikes. People will not necessarily get rid of vehicles with ice engines including hybrids but if they have an ebike they will likely use it less.
To burn down their house with a faulty battery?
Disagree. When it can replace my car, I’ll buy it. Until then its just unnecessary consumerism. Also it would be stolen in a heartbeat around here.
A car can’t replace the handful of flights I make, hence it can’t cover all of my transportation needs and I will be forced to only fly everywhere.
As it turns out, you can run multiple transportation options for multiple purposes just fine
A car can’t replace the handful of flights I make
Such an absolutely insane comparison. Can you take a flight to the grocery store?
As it turns out, you can run multiple transportation options
No one said you can’t. But my current transportation options cover all of my needs, so why would I add another, other than luxury?
Just off the top of my head:
- It’s cheaper
- It’s fun
- You get exercise
- It affords you some flexibility
- You get lower transportation emissions
Its not cheaper if it can’t replace my car, it’s much much more expensive.
I already have a fleet of bikes for exercise and recreation. I don’t actually use them for transportation because its unsafe and takes 10x longer to do things and I don’t want them to get stolen.
I already have a very efficient electric sedan so my transport emissions are very minimal.
You might not be able to use an e-bike for practical reasons like time/distance, but if theft is your only concern, get a folding bike you can bring inside. I like my Ride1up Portola for commutes and it goes under my desk when I get to work. At home it lives in the garage or inside the house during the winter.
E-bikes aren’t necessarily for every person in every use case, but they’re great in a lot of situations.
Its not my only concern, it’s one of many. But the main one is that it can’t do anything my car can’t.
I cannot drag around a folding bike inside the store with me.
E-bikes aren’t necessarily for every person in every use case
OP says they are, so that’s what I was arguing.
Fair enough. There are lots of things ebikes can do that cars can’t but it kinda sounds like you already had other reasons that made up your mind.
No, please, go on.
For one: You can’t ride your car straight from your house/apartment door to your office door, then fold it up under your desk to charge.
I don’t have an office door. Regardless, walking a short distance to an arbitrary store front door from a parking lot is far less stressful than riding a bike there from my front door in the 100+F Texas heat and hoping I don’t literally die somewhere along the way.
Listen, I can form an argument either way, but I’m also not the one making such wildly unilateral statements as the OP.
Cars can’t drive on the multi-use path, which means cars can’t get you through any decently-designed city as fast as a bike can.
Cars can’t take kids to/from school without waiting for-fucking-ever in line.
I don’t live in a decently-designed city.
I don’t have kids. And kids can walk. Or take the bus, ideally.
Right, but why should you have to use a whole car instead of just a bike for some of the things your car can do? Why waste the gas when an e-bike can get you to where you need to be for pennies worth of electricity?
Why should I have to spend thousands of dollars on a whole other vehicle to do something my car already does but worse?
I don’t use any gas and I charge my car at work so it doesn’t even cost a single penny.
Thousands? A cheap e-bike or, God forbid, a non electric bike is far less expensive than any car.
Okay, so you mooch off of work’s electricity to charge your car. Good for you. I never said you had to use a bike to commute. Maybe just to pop down to a corner store. If you don’t live somewhere that has anything like that close by, then maybe quit bitching at those of us that choose to live close to society have more and better options for transportation than you do.
The idea isn’t to get rid of your car that you’re obviously angry that you had to spend a whole bunch of money on and are forced to sit in traffic every day with. The idea is, where possible, to eliminate the need for something as big as a car for whatever is possible.
A cheap e-bike
Is the most expensive bike you’ll ever own.
God forbid, a non electric bike
Moving the goalposts.
I never said you had to use a bike to commute.
No, but the OP said I should. That’s what I was replying to.
quit bitching at those of us that choose to live close to society
…no one is “bitching at you”. No one suggested you shouldn’t do that. I don’t know where you got any of that from.
The idea isn’t to get rid of your car
It is for me. I’m not spending thousands of dollars on a redundant vehicle.
you’re obviously angry that you had to spend a whole bunch of money on and are forced to sit in traffic every day with
I’m not and I don’t.
You’re arguing with a strawman here. All of the points you think I’m making are imaginary, made up in your head somehow.
Not trying to move goalpoasts, trying to provide options that might be cheaper for you, since you mentioned cost. Repeatedly.
A bike is not intended to be a redundant vehicle. It’s intended to replace a much larger, heavier, and less efficient vehicle for shorter trips. I’ve got an e-trike I use to make trips to the grocery store on occasion, when it’s just me and I don’t need the space. Gets me up and moving, saves gas, and doesn’t take that much longer, especially since I do all my shopping on the weekends. I’ll grab fast food on it, too, and it’s great for that because I can cut through neighborhoods and trails rather than have to deal with being tailgated all the time.
I shouldn’t have to use my car all the time. That’s the point. If you’re in a city, you shouldn’t have to use your car, either. Nobody should.
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https://findtheright.bike/bike/longtail-ebike?car=own&replace=25
If you own a car and replace 25% of trips wih an ebike, you’re up $3,000 over 5 years.
I have an electric sedan. I charge it at work. The only per-mile cost is tires, which are $1k every ~50k miles ($0.02/mi). And it definitely would not cover 25%.
Fair! Definitely makes your calculus different than most.
Though insurance and maintenance/repairs are other per-mile costs you are forgetting.
Depreciation is another consideration, but that depends on uf you you plan to sell or drive until failure, and if you want to wrap electric batteries and motors under depreciation or maintenance.
Though insurance and maintenance/repairs are other per-mile costs you are forgetting.
I’m not forgetting them. Insurance is not a per-mile cost. And as I explained in the comment you just replied to, I have no maintenance or repairs, other than tires.
The bikes I have cost far more to maintain and repair. My main bike I bought 4 years ago and have replaced virtually every component on it in that time. Both wheels, several sets of tires, 2 derailleurs, suspension rebuilt multiple times, multiple chains, cassette, brake pads, shifter cable/housing, grips, pedals, shoes, saddle, etc. etc. And its not even an ebike.
Insurance is not a per-mile cost.
The fuck it isn’t! I mean, sure, technically it’s a cost per time period, but the cost per mile is just the cost per time period divided by the miles driven per time period. You can’t just go around pretending it doesn’t matter; that’s dishonest.
The bikes I have cost far more to maintain and repair.
Either you are way overpaying on bike maintenance, or you’re leaving car-related costs out.
The fuck it isn’t! You can’t just go around pretending it doesn’t matter; that’s dishonest.
…but it isn’t? And it doesn’t?
the cost per mile is just the cost per time period divided by the miles driven per time period.
…huh?
I don’t believe you
Okay, well, you can just choose not to believe me, that’s your prerogative.
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hahahaha what is this. Those thing are expensive as fuck. Hard to find parts and you do not have the infrastructure to keep citizens safe. hahaha losers get ready for the draft. It would be cheaper to own a motorcycle. Yeah lets just hop on the intercity freeway through residential areas to get run over by a monster truck as the driver generates his chatgipity child porn. Just wait til we go to war with chyina… yeah we will build our industrial base alright… making drones to kill kids. We ain’t up to no good. More dulisional hopium… vote blue no matter who hahahahahaha
IDK, my e-bikes cost under $1000, get me around town fast without using gas, lets me legally bypass streets/traffic, then roll into my office, and fold up under my desk to charge until I need it. You can’t do that shit with a motorcycle, plus you have to worry about parking, extra maintenance, insurance, registration and all the other hassles of a registered vehicle.
Motorcycles are great (especially when it comes to traveling far, fast), don’t get me wrong, but e-bikes and motorcycles fill different roles and have different capabilities. The total cost of ownership on a reasonably good entry level e-bike is still lower than a motorcycle.
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Don’t be an asshole or you will be permanently banned.
What the fuck even is this bass-ackwards comment lmao
The excessive "haha"s sound like you’re trying to convince yourself something is funny, like people going “WOOO!” at the bar trying to fool themselves into having a good time.
My bike cost $580ish with shipping, all the bike parts are obviously standard, and the electric parts are easily swappable if you have even a primary school education on how electronics work. If you can build a pc, or hook up an aftermarket audio system, you can swap an esc. If you have even the basic understanding of RC components, you’ve got a good idea of what to look for. If I wanted to completely swap out all the electronics, it would take me less than $200 and an afternoon or tinkering.
A $1,000 e-bike is a lot cheaper than a new car. Just sayin’.
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