Comments from strangers about your bike

Curious what everyone's most interesting comment about your eBike is? I ride around Houston and have only seen 1 other eBike around town (coincidentally it was while I was at Target near I-10 searching for a cheap steel frame bicycle).

Just on the way home from work today I got some guy asking "Who makes your bike?". My response was "Me?". He had a bicycle on his trunk rack so obviously was into bikes. A shame we couldn't talk longer as the red light turned green and we were off.

I've had some kids tell me to do a wheelie while at a red light as well. Hah. As if these eBikes aren't already dangerous enough..

-Kendall

I usually get: Is that a motor?

It's cool when chicks are able to spot out the motor. I think they are smarter if they can identify a motor. There are plenty of clueless people out there

I live in Brazil, so its less common here. But i'm always asked about my bike. Usual questions are:

1)How fast does it go?
2)How much does it cost?
3)How long does the battery last?
4)Is that a motor?
5)You recharge it in the power plug?
6)Why you didn't get a motorcycle instead?(I usually get this quetion after answering question number 2, stuff is expensive in Brazil.)


As a good boy, i answer 6th question nicely: well, it have no polluents, no taxes every year, no gas, no license, etc. But in the depths of my soul, i'd like to answer: because its my money and i do whatever i want with it. People only care about the money, they don't give a shit about the enviroment and stuff.


I've been stopped once from an eletricist and we talked for about 30 mins, he asked general stuff such as power, battery life, manufacturers, price. We became friends and keept in touch, he plans to build his own ebike. In the whole, i usually have good experiences answering peoples doubts about the ebike =)

I've been meaning to create an account for sometime, but this thread called me to action.

I too live in Houston (well for the past year at least), and just got done building my ebike today. 9C fast wind, 12S 8Ah, 20A controller, pretty standard stuff.

Took it on a bike path off of Buffalo Bayou, and very soon into the ride I hear a bike bell and see someone on a road bike going pretty fast behind me. I'm also cruising (not pedaling) and let off the throttle a little to let him pass me. As he passes he said, "I was wondering how you were going so fast!" I hope to hear more comments like that in the future since I plan on riding this bike three miles each way to work downtown.

I've also told a bunch of my friends I was building an ebike, and their reactions ranged from the standard 'why', to 'that'll be pretty expensive', to 'why not just buy a moped'. Very few thought it was a good idea. I think once they twist the throttle they'll get it.

Kendall, if you live by that Target, we're basically neighbors by Houston standards (~1 mile away)!

-Austin

One random guy looked at my bottle battery and wanted to know "just how much coffee did I drink exactly?"

I then explained it was a bottle battery. And that was a motor upfront.
Then the usual questions about how fast and what range....

Ebike is an addiction! Nothing is more exciting, noiseless, cheap, enviroment friendly, dynamic and usefull than an ebike.

I usually get, did you make that yourself?

I can't imagine why.

Unfortunately, here in the land of NYC where eBikes are targetted for extinction by city council, my stock reply to inquiries: "are you LE? (law enforcement)" If they answer no I will often just say it's an "assistive" transmission.

I've had a couple people wave me down to stop and ask about my bike. Usual questions how fast, how far, cost etc. One guy at a bus stop asked me if that was some kind of brake in my wheel, pointing at my front hub motor. I notice some people stare but don't ask questions, I do wonder what they are thinking, but I assume it's positive curiosity.

The only time I get negative comments is when I'm riding in the winter through a snow storm in bad conditions. One guy slowed down, lowered his window and called me an idiot this past winter, this was an exceptionally bad weather day with few cars on the road and lots of snow.

I suspect I get noticed the most when I'm going fast but people don't have the opportunity to ask. I don't mind stopping and answering questions for people. I'd like to encourage more people to get into these, specially people depending on the bus to get around. Ebikes > Bus by far!

E bikes are so unheard of here in my town, I got the "is that a brake?" comment constantly when I ran a front hubmotor.

I love it when people compliment me on my bikes.

Then they ask where to buy it and I say you can't, I made it and they look like they want to cry.

However, the comments I get are nothing compared to what my mate Brett gets as he's riding his x5404 Cruisemeister around on his maiden voyage some dude in a car pulled up next to him at the lights, considered the bike for a few seconds and said "That's fukcin awesome man" He got a big thumbs up from some bloke in a lamborgini the other day too.

I just tell them it's the Fiore cruiser from hell and I hope you're not going there. :lol:

Best interaction I've had so far was from young pretty girl, turns out she is from Brazil, who after asking all the usual questions, asked me for my phone number!
She never called thou, but still it was very nice

My favorite was the hooker who asked us "Are those electric bikes quiet enough to sneak up on someone and shoot them?"

People usually ask me if I have regen which is kind of weird because I never see any other e-bikers around here. I've also got the drum brake comment on the front hub motor before. I'm back to both front and rear motors on my bike again which is great because I really don't have to pedal much anymore. Most times I'm going too fast for anyone to ask me questions.

The first question I always get asked is "When you pedal, does it charge up the battery?"

Even smart people ask me this, it blows me away how stupid this is, every time.

John in CR said:

My favorite was the hooker who asked us "Are those electric bikes quiet enough to sneak up on someone and shoot them?"

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I used to ride through South Providence RI on my pedal only bike at about 4:30am on my way to the train. I swear the pimps at the time must have made their rounds by bike, as I'd see a change in behavior in the working girls as I approached.
* From afar - slacking off on their corner, like a fast food restaurant employee when there's no hungry people.
* Getting closer - snap to attention like a marine when the general walks in. Or at least, the hooker equivalent thereof.
* Closer still - Back to relaxed/bored look. They knew I was neither customer nor management.

I'd chuckle to myself. "Bicycle Pimps. Sounds like the name of a crappy cover band."

I get all kind of dumb questions and comments riding the critical mass around Houston. I've only seen one other ebiker during a CM. Older folks like it. Younger folks are 50/50 against my bike, until they have to ride up on the overpass. One time this chick wanted to trade bikes with me after 5 miles of pedaling :lol: .

Oh, I just remembered about stupid comments too. I get this occassionally: "If you pedal does it charge the battery?"

I say "no, when you pedal, it goes forward like a normal bike" (I don't get into the regen thing. I'm not a glutton for that type of punishment)

since my bike is wood[click on pic to enlarge], i do get a lot of comments and questions and picture takers...most start with"did you make that".. i sometimes get some very knowledgeable questions concerning construction details...there are a lot of people who are woodcrat hobbyists... the wood questions often lead to motor interest, and i have referred quite a number of people to ES..many have have even written down the site info... i get a lot of commenys from kids..tgrade scholl to teens..cool, awesome, like your bike...often when i am stopped the youngsters come over and make some very interested ans intelligent comments... there was one encounter that left a bad taste...a person [of eastern extraction] affered to bay the bike for $500.00..unfortunatly i did not have a large blunt instrument handy i was talking to a couple of cops on bike patrol and one of them said,if it ever gets stolen it sure wont be hard to find...the other one said yep, just look for somebody toasting marshmallows :lol:

kudos said:

The first question I always get asked is "When you pedal, does it charge up the battery?"

Even smart people ask me this, it blows me away how stupid this is, every time.

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This is most common question here too. I can"t stop wondering, where they get that? I mean, i have never thought about that myself at all.
Another funny thing is, that people are bit afraid. I"ve tried to offer test rides for them, like "please try it, and you"ll understand", and they go "noo, noo, no, no, no"
Many ask about the price too.

My bike is too stealth for people to know it is electric (with a Q100 and a pannier for the battery). No one knows it is an electric bike, but they do wonder why I am going so fast on a mountain bike.

I think to most people, the Q100 looks like a power tap or an internally geared hub (which it is in a different way).

A little off topic, but I ride a home-built Huffy cruiser that's pretty stealthy and I ride a Zero XU. I get 10x the questions on the bicycle than the Zero. I see other e-bikes at least once a week (usually Curries) but I have never seen another electric motorcycle here. The most common questions are:
1. How far?
2. How much money?
3. Will you build me one?

Yeah, a Zero XU costs about the same as a Specialized Turbo. Looks like fun. Specialized needs to do better than that if they are serious (but maybe it is a good image maker for them).

May or June 2011: Earlier version of my present ride before I converted it to 2WD.

Typically I've been stopped once or twice a day and have been asked all sorts of questions - pretty much on par with everyone else. Plus the propeller on the end makes for a good laugh :wink:

One of the best was when I pulled into a Teriyaki place for a quick dinner and was scarfing away on a plate of Yakisoba when some older fellow comes in and says (words to the effect) "Who's the owner of that electric bike?" It's a small place, and all eyes turn my way when I wave him over. He says to me "I know the model is 'Hot Wheels', but who's the manufacturer?" :lol:

Actually I get that a lot. On the Road in 2011 heading north back to Washington, I had just got back onto US-101 North heading towards Eureka after a very pleasant tangent through the Redwoods... when some guy in a SUV comes tearing arse past me, pulls off at an turnout, jumps out of his vehicle and starts waving at me like madman pointing at my bike. I know what he wants so I pull off and we start jabbering away with the 20 questions. A CHP pulls up, nice looking gal about my height gets out and says "Everything alright here?" and I tell her 'yeah' and that he just wants to know about my electric bike. It's those animated types I like the most cos they are just geeked out and excited, and I really enjoy their enthusiasm; it's fun to share

One other time that was unique had to do with the same trek heading south and through Lassen Volcanic National Park. I pulled off at a rest stop ... to rest and gobble up some gorp when a guys comes over with "Is THAT and electric bike?!?" And we start with the 20 questions, yada yada - and then he points to the propeller at the end "What's THAT?!?" I hook my thumbs to my chest and tell him "Wellllll, THAT Thar is my Diametric Coriolus Inductive Regenerator!" :wink: He takes a gasp and a long look in my eyes and says "Sooo, it's functional then?!?" I about laughed out loud but decided to play it out cos it's not every day that you catch a whopper... so I says "Actually it's for a laugh..." and he cuts me off and says "Well, you know THEY gots those kinda things..." and he proceeds to give me websites that supposed to be selling gimmicks and on and on... and I just thought "There's one born every day" and walked away.

Each encounter is unique. I try to be a good steward and play envoy to the technology. The more people understand what we have, the faster the acceptance and adoption. Just makes it cheaper for us all around.

Happy trails and happy Friday, KF