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posted by chromas on Tuesday April 16 2019, @06:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the I've-never-had-functioning-brakes,-I-don't-oil-my-chain-and-my-derailleur's-out-of-adjustment dept.

Brakes that are too effective have led Lyft to remove thousands of its electric pedal-assist bicycles from New York City (Citi Bike), San Francisco (Ford GoBike), and Washington, D.C. (Capital Bikeshare):

A month ago, Jordan Wyckoff was riding an electric Citi Bike to work in Brooklyn when he slammed on the brakes to avoid a minivan that swerved in the bike lane. But when he hit the brakes, the front wheel locked up, sending Mr. Wyckoff over the front of the handlebars and onto the pavement.

The same thing happened to Dominik Glodzik when he tried to brake before a stop sign in Astoria, Queens about two months ago.

William Turton flipped over the front of an electric Citi Bike while trying to brake before an intersection on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.

In recent months, dozens of riders have reported injuries while riding electric Citi Bikes, prompting the company on Sunday to pull all of the approximately 1,000 electric bicycles from New York City's streets amid safety concerns about the brakes. Lyft, which owns Citi Bike, took similar precautions with its other bike-sharing services in Washington and San Francisco.

Motivate, a subsidiary of Lyft since 2018, operates bicycle sharing systems in several cities.

Also at BBC and Engadget.

Previously: Uber May Try to Buy Citi Bike Parent Company Motivate
Lyft Acquires America's Largest Bike-Sharing Company, Motivate

Related: New Electric Bikes, Scooters, and Dockless Bicycles Hitting U.S. Streets
Uber Buys Electric Bicycle-Sharing Startup JUMP Bikes


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Tuesday April 16 2019, @09:17AM (7 children)

    Is that riders only get to ride the bike for 30 minutes before they need to return it to a dock somewhere (yes, I know there are places with dockless bikes, but these Lyft bikes are not them), so each time someone grabs one, it's a different bike that won't ride/handle the same as others.

    What's more, since these aren't personal bicycles, you get a lot of people who are not experienced bike riders (especially with the electric bikes), unfamiliar with the bikes they are riding (as they just grabbed it out of a dock), or both.

    This is a recipe for problems.

    I have my own bicycle and know how its brakes respond (and if I don't like that response, I can adjust the brakes accordingly) and am familiar with how it handles.

    Having bikes for folks to rent in urban areas is a wonderful idea, but we're going to see plenty of this as more inexperienced riders get on these bikes without a clear idea how to ride them safely.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Coward, Anonymous on Tuesday April 16 2019, @10:58AM (1 child)

    by Coward, Anonymous (7017) on Tuesday April 16 2019, @10:58AM (#830357) Journal

    This is a recipe for problems.

    With rental ebikes, you can add speed to incompetence. I'm pretty sure I know how that story ends. With regular bikes, inexperienced people tend to be slower.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Tuesday April 16 2019, @12:09PM

      With rental ebikes, you can add speed to incompetence. I'm pretty sure I know how that story ends. With regular bikes, inexperienced people tend to be slower.

      Yup. What's more is that those renting the ebikes rather than regular bikes are likely less athletic too. Which makes them more likely to be less experienced bicyclists. So the likelihood of issues becomes even larger from that perspective as well.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @04:45PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @04:45PM (#830464)

    You can chain 25-29 minute trips using the same bike, docking and immediately undocking the bike. You could possibly get the same bike again on a slow day if you finish your business quickly and remember which dock you parked it in. But you will inevitably use many different bikes with a bikeshare service. Some of them will feel 10% better/worse than others.

    Playing it safe and not braking too hard should keep you from falling on your ass. Instead of using the pedal assist to significantly raise your speed, you should use it to climb harsh hills more easily, if there are any.

    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday April 16 2019, @05:22PM (1 child)

      You can chain 25-29 minute trips using the same bike, docking and immediately undocking the bike. You could possibly get the same bike again on a slow day if you finish your business quickly and remember which dock you parked it in. But you will inevitably use many different bikes with a bikeshare service. Some of them will feel 10% better/worse than others.

      That's likely good advice. I imagine it may be helpful to to some folks here.

      However, I have my own (non-electric) bicycle. I can ride it whenever I like, for as long as I like, without paying some corporation that's sucking up my location information and who knows what else from my phone.

      Does the app require full network access? Access to contacts, photos and other data in addition to tracking your location?

      In fact, even if I didn't own a bicycle, I wouldn't install additional surveillance monitoring on my phone. Thanks, but no thanks.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @06:17PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @06:17PM (#830516)

        When I used a bikeshare, I had a little plastic key with a barcode that inserts into the dock. I still have it on my keychain, in fact. No phone needed, although I sometimes used a third-party app (Spotcycle) that could locate stations and occupied/unoccupied docks.

        The service worked for me despite the restrictions. I could bike from location A to light rail, etc. No need to lug a bike around to certain places, no chance of getting a bike stolen. I moved before they rolled out any pedal-assist bikes, but I would have liked to have them available.

        Certain cities have better terms. For example, Houston BCycle has 60 minute trips instead of 30.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 16 2019, @07:36PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday April 16 2019, @07:36PM (#830558)

    > so each time someone grabs one, it's a different bike that won't ride/handle the same as others.

    People do rent cars all the time.
    They're just careful for a few minutes until they figure out the dynamic behavior.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @11:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16 2019, @11:12PM (#830696)

      Clearly, you’ve never driven a rental car. People get into those things and cane the shit out of it the moment they leave the parking lot. Slow down for speed bumps? Nope, this is a rental! Redline off the lights. Yes sir! This is what rentals are for.