lazarus2405 wrote:I just got back into the ebike world and noticed you're in Rochester. I'm a ChemE at RIT! My bike's been sitting in the basement since I moved out here two years ago, but I'm looking to build it into a cargo bike in the long term. I've got a few questions for you.
How do you like the handling of the longtail in general? Does it feel like a bus in traffic, or is it comfortably smooth with the longer wheelbase?
How's commuting in the area, with the, um, quality of driver skill in Rochester? I'm a little concerned - my wife got hit in the crosswalk in front of the Strong ER two years ago commuting by bike. A knee surgery later she's just now back in shape.
And have you ever had any legal trouble here? Technically any motor at any power level is not a "bicycle" according to the NYS DMV, but I can't imagine being hassled in the RIT area.
Thanks for your time. I don't know if you're loyal to any particular LBS, but if you ever need anything for the bicycle part of the rig, bring it into Bert's and ask for Aaron. I'd love to take a look at your setup.
Sweet! We should meet up.
The longtail handling stucks to be honest. It all depends what your frame of reference is though. I like to ride motorcycles that are designed properly. For a bicycle the longtail is great, once you add all the ebike stuff, it makes it a little more challenging (read the earlier pages of this thread to see wht I mean) That being said I can stall is pretty long and take it over see-saws and stuff, so it's not an issue, just not ideal, but really no ebike chassis usually is.
Nobody gives me any trouble, just pedal when you see a cop. As long as your not riding aggressively and irresponsibly, nobody is going to mind. In fact RIT has a big Ebike club, and they're gearing up for a pretty cool ebike fleet for rit.
As far as riding in Rochester goes, if you ride a bicycle, you're only better off with a little higher top speed IMO, from a safety point of view. let me know what you're thinking I'm kind of in the process of starting a pseudo-business to support ebiking in the area:
www.ebikeseast.com. There are a few others in the area riding. In fact RITs president is a big ebiker, I saw him and his wife riding by the canal path, randomly one day, I was only on my pedal bike, but he definitely doesn't just joke around about the ebike thing.
