What is Holding E-Bikes Back

N

nlhaines

100 W
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
120
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Let me preface this by saying that I am a complete newbie and in the middle of my first e-bicycle build, but I think as such my perspective on this is important to consider....

Electric bikes and conversion kits are great, but in my opinion are being held back from wider popularity by a couple of things. For these things to work on a massive scale things need to be a lot easier. I know most of the people here enjoy engineering/modifying/tinkering their own personal setup, but most consumers don't. The average person does not want to solder, test wiring combinations, modify shunts, etc.

There is a serious lack of 2 things that make things difficult for e-bicycle consumers. Lack of standards, and lack of information.

One thing that I think would be very helpful is a database of product information. It would contain things like the following:
Hub Motor dimensions, KV Ratings, Wire guages, windings, and other specs
What kinds of connectors different products use
Maximum recommended voltages, amperages, etc
What size rim/spokes/nipples/etc are the hub motors sold by X laced with
etc.

A lot of information is buried in the forums here, and even though the its all searchable, isn't very easy to find. Maintaining such a database would be pretty time consuming, but it would make building e-bikes a lot more accessible, and would probably prevent a lot of the same questions coming up again and again.
 
At this point I'd be doing more harm than good, but the wiki is great, and with some improvement it could become exactly what we need.
 
There are also issues like secure parking that need to be addressed. There may need to be something like coat and hat check personnel for bicycle parking before people will use them as primary transportation.
 
gogo said:
There are also issues like secure parking that need to be addressed. There may need to be something like coat and hat check personnel for bicycle parking before people will use them as primary transportation.
Click to expand...
Some city's already have theft prevention systems for bicycles/ebikes. But most city's spend all there money for the cars.
[youtube]Kv6bfmMIqRQ[/youtube]
 
nlhaines said:
Let me preface this by saying that I am a complete newbie and in the middle of my first e-bicycle build, but I think as such my perspective on this is important to consider....

Electric bikes and conversion kits are great, but in my opinion are being held back from wider popularity by a couple of things. For these things to work on a massive scale things need to be a lot easier. I know most of the people here enjoy engineering/modifying/tinkering their own personal setup, but most consumers don't. The average person does not want to solder, test wiring combinations, modify shunts, etc.

There is a serious lack of 2 things that make things difficult for e-bicycle consumers. Lack of standards, and lack of information.

One thing that I think would be very helpful is a database of product information. It would contain things like the following:
Hub Motor dimensions, KV Ratings, Wire guages, windings, and other specs
What kinds of connectors different products use
Maximum recommended voltages, amperages, etc
What size rim/spokes/nipples/etc are the hub motors sold by X laced with
etc.

A lot of information is buried in the forums here, and even though the its all searchable, isn't very easy to find. Maintaining such a database would be pretty time consuming, but it would make building e-bikes a lot more accessible, and would probably prevent a lot of the same questions coming up again and again.
Click to expand...

Hi let me start of by saying I am no expert in anything especially e bikes.
I feel technology is spoon fed to us in drips and drabs by large companies and governments that need to maximize the profit and taxes that this industry has to offer. The more this industry gains a foot hold many other businesses and sections of the government suffer from loss of revenue.
Those that benefit from the inefficient fossil fuel based transportation including Governments will do anything to suppress the growth of the electric transportation.

Going by the current available e bikes on the market it is clear to me that e bikes are being suppressed which makes them less desirable to the public in general.
The current speed limit on a e bike in Florida is 20 MPH and most likely similar speeds nationwide. sure you could go 30 MPH if your bike was registered and approved to be a moped.
either way an e bike is an inconvenience and potential safety hazard to the current mode of mass transportation as they legally go too slow to be able to go with the flow of normal transportation, yet they go too fast and too quiet to ride along safely with normal human only powered bikes.

while the technology exist if mass produced to make inexpensive e bikes capable of keeping up with standard mass transportation in terms of acceleration top speed and braking allowing the e bike to operate more in harmony with the flow of traffic all while making them more desirable to the public . it just cannot be allowed.
as it would severely impact big business and our Government. sure other companies and parts of the government would do well with the growth of e bikes the environment surely would benefit the most, it is just too much of a good thing for our own good.

When ever one of you highly trained and skilled Techs come up with a true break through that will make a positive change in this industry their will be 1000 people or more lined up to try and hide it from the rest of us.

I feel eventually the e bike market and industry will do very well and end up being a viable replacement for many polluting Gas powered cars, but not until they figure out a way to squeeze every last penny from our tired worn out bloody fist.
 
Bikes using any type propulsion will always be seriously limited because a large majority of people DO NOT RIDE. And as long as hurtling machinery - murderous cars/trucks populate roadway landscape and receive vast majority of "funding" they never will.

If your question is about technology - imagine being one of the "early adopters" when starter motors and SLA were the only readily available components? From that viewpoint, there's not much holding eBikes back with regard to technology, IMO.
 
Ykick said:
Bikes using any type propulsion will always be seriously limited because a large majority of people DO NOT RIDE. And as long as hurtling machinery - murderous cars/trucks populate roadway landscape and receive vast majority of "funding" they never will.

Really murderous car/trucks? I don't mind stepping out on the limb here, I have yet to see one car or truck start itself up and run a muck mowing people over.
its always dumb ass people not respecting themselves or the people around them enough to treat the transportation they are in with the respect and attention that it needs.

there is a few exceptions to these murderous cars that you speak of. LOL

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=car%20eatting%20a%20cat&qs=n&form=QBVR&pq=car%20eatting%20a%20cat&sc=0-12&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&mid=19D8B74274DDC1B49F1F19D8B74274DDC1B49F1F
Click to expand...
 
you obviously do not ride a bike in a major city or on busy roads. some of us have a rational understanding of risk and have been knocked down by cars numerous times.

so until you have been knocked to the ground by a car several times, don't be sending us your LOL's.
 
dnmun said:
you obviously do not ride a bike in a major city or on busy roads. some of us have a rational understanding of risk and have been knocked down by cars numerous times.

so until you have been knocked to the ground by a car several times, don't be sending us your LOL's.
Click to expand...

First off you do not know what I have been though on bikes mopeds, e bikes and or motorcycles even hitchhiking. second my statement is clear its not the automobiles fault its the idiots driving them. ( some of those same idiots also ride e bikes with the same disrespect they show in a automobile. )
Some of the intersections and roads in my city are in the top ten most dangerous in the United States that's why most reasonable people that are aware of problem areas go out of their way to avoid them when on or in a vehicle that puts them in inherent risk.
if you never learn from your mistakes you are certainly doomed to repeat them. you have to understand that operating a e bike comes with risk and reward.
it doesn't matter where you are, e bikes are in that special category that puts you at more risk to interact with traffic than just about any other mode of transportation, even in cities where I live where there is many bicycle lanes and many human powered bicycles on those lanes e bike and gas powered bicycle riders use those lanes for their own purpose traveling at speeds that cause them to be a danger to non powered bicyclist and themselves because they are passing other riders at high speed in a small lane that is not designed for passing at all . plus you add in the factor that when a automobile driver sees someone one on a bicycle at what appears to be a safe distance for the car to pull out, the gap quickly changes because the bike is traveling at a much faster speed than what is normally expected from a bicycle.
the poor bastard in the automobile has no idea that the bicyclist is on a super quiet fast electric powered bicycle can cover that much more ground in that short of time.
when your pointing your fingers at the amount of wrecks you have been involved in, how many fingers are pointed right back at you.
Take some of the responsibility yourself and adjust your riding habits to match your environment. sure accidents will still happen and yes their are still people out there texting while they drive, and one day can ruin your day or end your life, but those same people that are stupid enough to do it in a automobile can cause the same amount of carnage on an e bike.

remember e bikes that are fast to accelerate and have long range capacity batteries , are a direct result of passionate people like ourselves helping motivate the industry to higher standards more than ever before. however as you should be well aware they are not that common yet and are slowly appearing more in daily traffic, The average person in a automobile will likely assume your e bike is a non powered slow bike under a quick glance
it will take many years before the majority of people perceive all bikes as fast bikes and hopefully look a little longer before they pull out,
Until then it up to us those that want to live to pedal another day to educate both e bike riders and automobile drivers the need to pay more attention to their surroundings while riding and driving.

But to simply call all cars and truck drivers murderers is way off base and will do nothing to support our cause.
 
nelsonk1969 said:
But to simply call all cars and truck drivers murderers is way off base and will do nothing to support our cause.
Click to expand...

Murderous: Capable of murder (by their inherent/basic/essential qualities).

Simple inattention by the operator, without malicious intent, can easily lead to the death of vulnerable fellow road users. If the operators understood this lethal aspect of their choice in conveyance and operated their potentially deadly weapons scared to death of injuring someone with it, we'd all be in better harmony.

Instead, many vehicle operators behave as if they are sitting in a chair playing a video game that has no physical consequence. Until the norm is something like they have in The Netherlands, where operators actually defer to bicyclists instead of acting maliciously toward them (intended and by default through inattention), murderous is accurate.
 
You people are just totally wacked in the head, and just want to argue for arguments sake.
the only thing I brought up and was merely to lighten the mood was the OP that I quoted stated that all Cars and trucks are murderous.
when in fact a car like a loaded gun by itself cannot kill anyone without human and now computer interaction.

If you don't get my original post you clearly have a stick up your A** if you can not clearly see the problem with e bikes in a congested city or any traffic you will likely continue to get injured in accidents and or possibly killed.
the percentage of mentally unstable people allowed behind the wheel of a very large vehicle is simply disturbing, the fact that some people here are shocked when they get knocked to the ground repeatedly by those mentally unstable people are just asking for it, by not taking action against it.
However I guess the flock needs to be thinned some to make way for much smarter people that understand common sense.
crying about it here on a forum will do no one good and if you continue to put yourself in harms way knowing what will likely happen then your just as mentally unstable and also have no business in traffic at all.
we have mental institutions and prisons that are designed for people that operate vehicles thinking their is no consequence to running a muck driving or riding without responsibility and consideration to their fellow man.
I am guessing a few of you need to have your head examined and or institutionalized as you have likely taken one to many blows to the head or smoked one too many bowls.
 
If you don't recognize that both cars and loaded guns are murderous, you're the one who's sick in the head. But you can take consolation in that you have lots of sick company.

Most folks don't even have second thoughts about a system that devotes 60 percent of the surface area of our cities to cars; ruins our lives with noise, pollution, and physical barriers to human movement; and imposes such pervasive physical hazards that children often can't even play outside where they live.

I want to live to see a day when driving a private car for transportation is as rare and inconvenient as flying a private plane for transportation. Until then, I think a good first step would be a blanket 20mph speed limit inside city limits for anything with a motor on it. That would make a big dent in the noise and danger imposed by lazy people's bad choices.
 
Motor vehicles are mis-used a lot more than firearms. People regularly load their 2 ton projectiles with momentum and then purposely ignore the trajectory. When that results in collision, injury, and death, our culture deems it an accident. Its a sick and perverted culture we live in, especially when people purposely threaten unprotected fellow road users with them seemingly with impunity.

Blaming the victim is part of the sickness.
 
Nothing is being held back. If there were some more reliable bikes that were a bit cheaper, there'd be more sales, but mostly people just aren't in the market.

nelsonk1969 said:
You people are just totally wacked in the head, and just want to argue for arguments sake.
the only thing I brought up and was merely to lighten the mood was the OP that I quoted stated that all Cars and trucks are murderous.
when in fact a car like a loaded gun by itself cannot kill anyone without human and now computer interaction.
Click to expand...

You won't catch me arguing with that one, but you just gotta get used to it if you're going online. Yeah, let's not forget about all those annoying computers making annoying posts. . . .

Chalo said:
If you don't recognize that both cars and loaded guns are murderous, you're the one who's sick in the head. But you can take consolation in that you have lots of sick company.
Click to expand...

Yeah, most of believe this could never happen in real life. But Chalo knows that THIS is a true story.

[youtube]v5N3fKVz-Z4[/youtube]
 
Chalo said:
If you don't recognize that both cars and loaded guns are murderous, you're the one who's sick in the head. But you can take consolation in that you have lots of sick company.
Click to expand...

You can take a loaded gun and put it in a car. if not one single person ever touches either of them , no murder can happen because of that gun and car.
again you people are ill and need to be heavily medicated.

if you want to get all tree hugging wacko and tell me that murders happened in the making of these items while that is possible it was not my point.
So go take your pills and behave yourself.
 
nelsonk1969 said:
Chalo said:
If you don't recognize that both cars and loaded guns are murderous, you're the one who's sick in the head. But you can take consolation in that you have lots of sick company.
Click to expand...

You can take a loaded gun and put it in a car. if not one single person ever touches either of them , no murder can happen because of that gun and car.
again you people are ill and need to be heavily medicated.
Click to expand...

If you take the typical ignorant, callous, and marginally retarded car driver and deprive him of a car or a gun, he'll be mostly harmless to strangers. Add a car or a gun and there will likely be trouble.

Roughly 50,000 dead Americans every year would attest to that, if they weren't dead.
 
Chalo said:
Until then, I think a good first step would be a blanket 20mph speed limit inside city limits for anything with a motor on it. That would make a big dent in the noise and danger imposed by lazy people's bad choices.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Cars need to slow down in urban areas, rather than having bikes speed up to match the "flow"...

So called jaywalking laws need to be repealed.....

An interesting street scene :)

[youtube]oY8VWSO1Gdo [/youtube]
 
Not forgetting how the motorcar saved cities from the pollution, danger, smell and noise of horses...

I read a newspaper article from about 100 years ago concerning my home town. It was writing by someone angered and frustrated by the dangerous amount traffic on the main road during rush hours, complaining that one was liable to be knocked down when attempting to cross the road. The source of the problem? All the local shoe factory workers riding their bicycles to and from work :D
 
This page quotes Super Freakonomics, where I original read about it: http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/03/29/the-horse-manure-problem/

A bit more info here: http://www.banhdc.org/archives/ch-hist-19711000.html

Seven times more people killed by horses in 1916's Chicago than by cars in 1997!
 
Punx0r said:
Seven times more people killed by horses in 1916's Chicago than by cars in 1997!
Click to expand...
And the conclusion is that "the motorcar saved cities from the pollution, danger, smell and noise of horses..."??

Anyway, no one proposed a return to horse drawn transport.... :)
 
Do you know what book "Proved" that driving drunk was safer?

Punx0r said:
This page quotes Super Freakonomics, where I original read about it: http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/03/29/the-horse-manure-problem/
Click to expand...

Ummm, 'Freakonomics' is not a source. Written by two guys who don't believe in doing research. The idea popped into the head of one of these guys and it appears in this book as though it's some sort of fact that abortion reduces crime, going so far as the misquote a study they apparently never read. Many questions have been asked about where they get so many numbers they throw about; they try to fight back by debunking socalled false claims the critics have made without producing any proof the claims were in fact made.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
E-bikes are arguably worse than electric cars
2 3 4 5
Replies
111
Views
12,898
calab
C
e-beach
‘A Dangerous Combination’: Teenagers’ Accidents Expose E-Bike Risks' A New York Times Article
2 3
Replies
72
Views
5,794
nicobie
nicobie
R
    • Like
A critique of mid-drive riding recommendations (and hub drive criticisms)
Replies
15
Views
5,152
Bullfrog
B
M
Bike mechanic starting mobile repair trailer, ebike specific tools worth adding
Replies
20
Views
1,421
ZeroEm
ZeroEm
DotScott
What Should My Settings be? Sabvoton SVMC 96120 and QS205 50H V3
Replies
7
Views
3,501
Santacruz
Santacruz
Back
Top