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E-bikes are the fastest-growing segment of the bicycle industry. They're popular with commuters and baby boomers who might not otherwise be able to get out on a bicycle.
The bikes, which can cost $2,000 or more, combine the frame of a regular bike with lightweight batteries and electric motors for extra zip.
Their sales jumped 72% to $144 million in the U.S. last year, helping to breathe life into bicycle sales that have been relatively flat, according to the NPD Group, which tracks retail bike sales nationwide.
Their popularity has led to conflict.
In bike-friendly southern California, as local land managers take cues from agencies like the National Park Service, some are banning e-bikes from bicycle paths. That has angered riders, said Morgan Lommele, of PeopleForBikes, a bicycle advocacy group and trade association.
[...] Maine and 21 other states have adopted laws that classify e-bikes into categories. Most are treated like regular bicycles under such laws, said Lommele, who has been working with states to create uniform definitions. Only the fastest e-bikes are restricted to roads.
At Acadia National Park, the e-bikes are welcome on paved roads inside the park and even on dirt roads where cars and trucks are allowed.
But they're not allowed on the 57 miles (92 kilometers) of carriage roads funded and built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. that meander throughout the park, offering stunning views of lakes, mountains and the ocean. The carriage paths are popular with bicyclists.
The only exceptions for e-bikes are for people who qualify for mobility devices under the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Christie Anastasia, park spokeswoman.
Should E-bikes be treated like bicycles or motorcycles when it comes to roads, bike paths, and access?
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday June 27 2019, @04:41PM (4 children)
If people are around, the biker should reduce speed to slow biking mode: if not, go faster.....as long as they can control the bike.
And slow enough so there is no destruction of wildlife/fauna/pathway.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Informative) by captain normal on Thursday June 27 2019, @06:45PM (2 children)
TFA is about power assist bikes that really do not go any faster than any mountain bike. The problem is in rules oriented park officials that see "no motorized" vehicles in the rule book and so therefore are going to enforce the rules come hell or high water.
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday June 27 2019, @08:13PM (1 child)
There are many categories of e-bikes. Those software-limited to 15/20 MPH per local regulations should be allowed anywhere bikes are. Those going 35/45 can have their own regulations, and the over-45 crowd is a motocycle.
There, problem solved, as it is on the other side of the pond (ish, they are too restrictive and forget that human-powered bikes can easily go past 15)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @02:04AM
Nope. You are talking a rational solution to a cultural issue bicyclists have against the non-purists. Your solution is thus doomed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @07:07PM
what if someone is a steroid freak bicyclist in training? do you think they will go slow? what can go where should be decided by size and then just have speed limits. you don't need to micromanage by feature and propulsion method unless the propulsion method creates burdensome side effects in and of itself. like exhaust fumes or loud noise, for instance.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by acid andy on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:09PM (16 children)
They're popular with commuters and baby boomers who
might not otherwise be able to get out ondon't think a bicycle fits in well with their life journey. Because it's all about the narrative and what their friends will want to talk about and, of course, if it costs less than $1000 and doesn't have some flashy, shiny, sales dude evangelizing it, then it must be total, smelly, horseshit, fit only for the poor, amirite?In all seriousness, when an e-bike is light enough that it doesn't become a serious hinderance when the battery is low and the batteries aren't too expensive or difficult to replace, and doesn't fall foul of too many regs as per TFA, then it does start to look like a good idea to me.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:26PM (7 children)
I haven't used an e-bike yet, but I have been uphill on a normal bike. That's the killer app. Maybe the overall lower exertion and lower trip duration will allow some people to bike commute without becoming a sweat monster.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:41PM (4 children)
Yeah with fresh batteries on a shortish commute where they can be plugged in so they're ready to go again for the journey home, I can see the market for them. For the more serious cyclist that wants to do longer, faster rides, I can also see how flat batteries quickly become unwanted weight to haul around.
I have to wonder when it says they're popular with boomers, whether that's just because they're the only ones that can afford them!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday June 28 2019, @03:28AM (2 children)
$200 will get you a cheap bike, or an electric scooter with plenty of power and range to provide a substantial assist for a bicycle at most any cost-consious store (Walmart for example)
And yet there seems to be a severe shortage of readily available sub-$400 electric bicycles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @04:56AM (1 child)
Part of the price problem for e-bikes is the bike part. Consider the chain drive--the chain tension when you stand on a pedal (at 3:00 or max torque) in a low gear is several times your weight (ratio of pedal radius to front sprocket radius). The parts in the driveline have to be fairly strong and stiff to resist this force.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday June 28 2019, @08:21PM
And? Those are already included in the price of a non-e bike. All you need to do is add a small motor, battery, and voltage controller.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @10:14AM
I'm afraid your numbers are off.
Flat batteries are like an empty gas tank. Yeah it can happen. But it takes super minimal foresightedness in my experience. Most trips for groceries or to work are 20km or less and don't even take 1/4 of my charge.
The use case here is urban cyclists, not tourers taking a week or a month.
Tourers, too, are not so bad as ebikes now. Have regen breaking, and be smart about wind and your own pedal power, and off the shelf setups will happily get you 100km in 5h with charge left over through moderate hills and flats.
I used https://www.ebikes.ca/tools/trip-simulator.html [ebikes.ca] and with 100W of human power - lighter than walking - and a 52V 16Ah Downtube battery on flat ground, a tucked mountain bike tourer can get 160 km on a charge, ripping along at 50kph. Further, if slower.
Have you compared the price of a new ebike to a new car? Or of an ebike conversion to a used car? Have you read anything about lifetime cost per distance? Ebikes are cheap as dirt in their class - powered vehicles.
Super biased source claims $18k cheaper over the lifetime of a car: https://pedegoelectricbikes.ca/cost-savings-electric-bike-versus-car/ [pedegoelectricbikes.ca] I personally estimate ebiking instead of driving has saved me about $12,000 and 300 hours over the last three years and change. (I didn't buy a used car, don't pay for gas, and my area is prone to heavy traffic and I beat busses and cars handily during rush hour. I estimated a 15min savings/trip but really that's before finding parking or waiting for the first bus to show so that's an underestimate. I don't get to listen to podcasts though. I do lose to dedicated tramways with rights of way but none match my normal routes.)
Ebikes are dirt, dirt cheap for what they provide.
Expect that to change as regulation drives up cost/unit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @08:27PM (1 child)
I bought an e-bike. I always used to ride bicycles, but when I moved, I just didn't have the endurance for the kind of hills they have here. With the e-bike, casual rides just for the fun of it are possible again. A hill? No problem, just turn on the assist. And for the not so hilly or flat areas, I often ride without any assist at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @02:06AM
You're exactly the type of person bicycle purists hate. Stop enjoying yourself and live by their rules!!!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Mer on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:42PM (5 children)
Everytime I ponder getting an ebike I think about tinkering with it, because you could always stick more batteries and a bigger motor on it.
And then I think about putting an ethanol cell instead of batteries and then I realise at this point, why not buy a small motorcycle.
Shut up!, he explained.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday June 27 2019, @06:05PM (1 child)
There are even starting to be electric motorcycles.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday June 27 2019, @09:22PM
Starting? Look up the Lightening motorcycle.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @08:30PM (2 children)
I can bring my ebike into my office without someone bitching about motor vehicles inside the building.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @03:57AM (1 child)
Yeah that's one of the killer distinctions between a bicycle and a motorcycle. You're usually not allowed to bring a motorcycle into a building/subway/bus:
http://web.mta.info/bike/ [mta.info]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @05:04AM
Ha, reminded me of a funny story from ~50 years ago. My senior year in high school I commuted on a 125cc dual purpose motorcycle. A sophomore that I knew slightly had to bring in something and lecture about it for 10 minutes as a classroom exercise--he chose my motorcycle. With suitable note from his teacher, we wheeled the motorcycle into his class, past several astounded hall monitors, waving the permission slip as we went.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Thursday June 27 2019, @06:38PM (1 child)
Counsel for the Baby Boomer defense would like to point out the existence of flashy, Internet connected, beautiful-person/trainer-on-the-screen enabled, Peloton style bikes that don’t actually go anywhere, and so far as I know, don’t even drive a generator. Granted, you don’t get in anyone’s way with them.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday June 27 2019, @07:05PM
Fair point. I guess mindless consumerism is timeless--so long as there's a ready supply of easy credit.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Thursday June 27 2019, @06:57PM (1 child)
I love to bicycle. As I get older though, there are things that just aren't available to me anymore. I simply can't go on a 40 mile ride as I just don't have the stamina. Having an electric assisted bicycle to help add that 20% back is a god send to me.
I've ridden e-bikes before and for me it wasn't about going faster, though on a road sure you could. They are about adding to your own stamina. I get a 20% boost. I don't want to be stuck to a car for the rest of my life because I have trouble peddling up a hill. Because I get older I shouldn't be strapped with getting a note from some government agency that "I'm disabled or old" to go enjoy life. These things aren't loud. Most folks would never know someone else was riding an electric assist bike.
The only folks I see that have trouble accepting that this is the future are the purists. The park people that don't want anyone there "because no one is responsible." The younger kids who are still in perfect shape. Almost all the reasons I see are based in selfishness and/or based in a fictional bogeyman zombie bicyclist world where there are too many "morons" on the trails.
I'm all about getting people out to have as much fun as possible while they are still alive. This is a game changer.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @10:23AM
Careful! Some trails forbid cyclists; the trails are too soft and sensitive. Most trails forbid motorcycles and dirtbikes, because even if a trail can handle a bike, it might not handle a motorbike. You don't disagree with these limits, do you?
The trail impact of an ebikes is somewhere between bike and motorbike. No human can sustain a 2,000W burnout on a trail kicking dirt and digging a gouge. An e-bike or a dirtbike can. So while I love ebikes, some trails are simply not built to withstand the damage which an ebike can put out, and which a human on a bike (absent a pickaxe trailing attachment) cannot.
Yes, there are dumb people dissing ebikes for dumb reasons. But some limitations - no ebikes on sidewalks, on spongey trails, etc - seem clearly in-bounds.
(Score: 4, Informative) by corey on Thursday June 27 2019, @09:48PM (1 child)
... an ebike to work every day. Giant Quick-e. It's reduced my commute time from 55min to 35min each way of the 16km trip. And I wear my work office clothes. So no showers or changes of clothes. When I got the job, it was further away, I wanted to get to work quickly, this was the best option out of car, motorcycle or bike. Unless I leave the house at 6am to beat the traffic.
I usually get 2 return trips out of a charge, or 1.5 of there's lots of wind or something.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Friday June 28 2019, @10:18AM
You're not alone. I've got a patch of land right along a biking path. By my estimate, at least 20-30% of people use an e-bike these days.
I tell ya, when a 70 year old zooms past while you're peddling at top speed ... the world is coming to an end.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday June 27 2019, @09:57PM (5 children)
The problem with "is this a motorized vehicle?" is that it doesn't address the real problems, which are:
1. Is this going to be going fast enough to be dangerous?
2. Is this going to be loud enough to annoy everyone else and/or cause problems for the wildlife?
It might be good to change the regs from "no motorized vehicles" to "no going faster than 15mph" and "no noise over 65 decibels barring emergencies", which would be the actual problems you're trying to solve.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @12:11AM (1 child)
You forgot erosion:
3. Is this going to further destroy the very trail that brought everyone to the park in the first place?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday June 28 2019, @03:31PM
Then make a weight limit too.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by boltronics on Friday June 28 2019, @10:30AM (2 children)
Meanwhile, I'm zipping around on my non-electric mountain bike at 30kph with a noisy TurboSpoke [turbospoke.com] (so pedestrians know to stay out of the way).
I've had complaints because people think I'm using a ebike. Ha! Yet if I don't use a TurboSpoke, they complain if I don't ring the bell 60 times a minute.
As for possible speed restrictions, I can see my speed when I have my bike computer charged or am wearing my Garmin watch. However if a bike is not electric, good luck enforcing speed limits when there's nothing there to measure the speed!
Anyway. the police aren't going to catch a cyclist in areas inaccessible by cars (which accounts for most of my regular ~4k commute to work). They wouldn't care to, and they would be physically unable to. Heck, I've seen cyclists run a red light right in front of a police car and they didn't do a thing.
It's GNU/Linux dammit!
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday June 28 2019, @03:37PM
For what it's worth, some jurisdictions do have cops on bicycles.
But yeah, this whole story should be under the I want to ride my bicycle [youtube.com] department.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday June 28 2019, @08:29PM
Heh, I used to do that as a kid with just a playing card or piece of plastic hitting the spokes. Probably not nearly as loud, assuming the "muffler" is actually a resonance chamber, but plenty loud enough to get people's attention, and really easy to tune the volume and sound to whatever you want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @10:00PM (1 child)
See what rules are working in other countries like China which has been heavy into e-bikes for a decade now.
Also soon we’ll have e-motorcycles and just where do you draw the line on that? Wattage?
https://www.motorcycle.com/mini-features/bmw-motorrad-vision-dc-roadster-concept.html [motorcycle.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @04:02AM
It's a bike if the subway and buses allow you to carry it onboard. http://web.mta.info/bike/ [mta.info]
It's not if they don't ;)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Thursday June 27 2019, @10:40PM (3 children)
I'd say it should be the reverse, e bikes on bike paths, and anything that travels under 3/4 of the speed limit shouldn't be on a road. So no bikes on 55 mph hiways. ebikes on, nomal off of 45 mph roads.
I'm sick of dudes going 5 mph around a blind corner causing me to slam on the brakes, making guys behind me slam on them even more almost causing a pile up. Keep your toys off the road.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Pino P on Friday June 28 2019, @01:33PM (2 children)
So how do you plan to fund the construction of trails parallel to every 30 mph city street for every cyclist who can't sustain 22.5 mph (which means most of them)? I can sustain 15 mph under favorable conditions (not uphill, no headwind), but not 22.5 mph. Or would you prefer that I ride 15 mph on a sidewalk designed for running at 7 mph?
Even licensed motor vehicles do the same thing when turning the corner coming out of a stop sign
(Score: 2) by Username on Sunday June 30 2019, @09:00PM (1 child)
Well, it's 15 to 25 legal on city streets around here. So 18ish. 15 isn't that far off, especially during rush hour. But yeah, in my town and surrounding towns, it is legal, and customary, to ride your bike on the sidewalk with pedestrians. Or in the grass/shoulder. Just slow down for pedestrians, if you want I guess. Bikes have faster braking and more maneuverability than any other vehicle. It's less fatal to have a collision between a 15mph bike and 7mph pedestrian than with a 30mph car. Just don't hit the bored housewife of a high end attorney.
Put a bafang on that thing, get your 22 mph.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday July 02 2019, @12:53AM
If sidewalks in your area are wide enough to be deemed shared-use paths [wikipedia.org], good for you. Where I live, a few sidewalks are in fact 9 feet or wider, with the intent of shared use. But most aren't that wide, and many have parts where trees planted adjacent to the sidewalk have pushed up the concrete, creating bumps that impede bicycle travel. And in the central business district (that is, "downtown"), sidewalks are for pedestrians only by city ordinance, and cyclists must share the road with motorists.
When not preparing for a left turn, I use the bike lane where available, and I treat the shoulder as a bike lane when it is safe (such as lacking debris that could cause a puncture). I may also use the sidewalk for the first and last blocks of a trip. But a lot of roads in my city have neither a bike lane nor a safe shoulder nor a shared-use-grade sidewalk, in which case I use the right half of the right through lane. In fact, many roads not wide enough for a bike lane in each direction have a "sharrow" marking [wikipedia.org] (bicycle pictogram with two chevrons above it) to encourage this sharing.