How many ebikes do you see per day on average?

Mathurin · Apr 27, 2009

Excluding days where for example you didn't go out or maybe you used a car to get around or you were otherwise crippled. Those days don't count...

As of 27 April 2009, I see around 10/day. Typically it's a low to mid range hybrid with a BionX on it.

Rassy · Apr 27, 2009

Counting my two, the most I've ever seen is two.

Zoot Katz · Apr 27, 2009

On the second Friday of every month I see ~15 or more if scooters count.
The past three days the same one missing its battery pack and controller has been locked to the same bike rack by the Credit Union.
I saw a new one at Canadian Tire last time I went down there to buy plumbing parts.
There's usually another scooter type parked in the same place when I ride by ~3 times per week.
The type most commonly spotted on the road are Bionx conversions.
I've seen the same Dahon and the lady with the grey comfort bike a couple times in the past month.
I'd say my average per month is well less than three per day per month though parking in front of The Renaissance Bicycle Company more than twice a month might skew the average if you're counting trikes and quads too.

swbluto · Apr 28, 2009

Oh gee, the most I've seen around Seattle is a little walmart bike. Back in Spokane, I saw a rear hub based bike that was probably a golden motor and a bion-x at the local community center. But I'll admit I'm not usually out and about in Seattle and I typically take the bus(And I use my time on the bus), so I'm probably not as aware of my local surroundings. Despite that, though, I've seen faaaar more bicycles in Seattle than Spokane so I can infer the ratios are probably different. I wonder if the ratio of electric-bicycles to normal-bicycles increases as the population density decreases, holding things like wealth constant? How do electric bicycles correlate with wealth in the United States, anyways? Globally, it appears there's a correlation with impoverishment and electric bicycles(China, FTW!), but within the upper echelons I have to wonder.

mrgarci1 · Apr 28, 2009

I'm seeing more and more - especially the Aiowa's, or whatever they are- the Chinese-made scooter-looking ones. I think they're also marketed under the Hy-bikes trade name. Most of the time I try and talk to folks I see riding e-bikes, but I always get weird looks from Asian folks when I ask them about their e-bikes. Maybe it's me, idk. Or maybe they don't see it as a novelty, like I do (lots of foreign students in this area).

but more interestingly, I randomly saw a few of the A2Bs at my local farmers market on Saturday - Javelina Cycles here in Phoenix has them for sale, and let me take a test ride for a little bit - they certainly kick some ass, def. the highest quality, they make the Giant Twist series look like complete toys. But I have yet to see an A2B "in the wild." They also had a GPR-S motorcycle on display (no test ride

), the first full electric motorcycle I've seen, production or otherwise.

Gotta say, I was kind of pissed that the guy I talked to seemed to have such a low opinion of my DIY build - it might not be elegant or over-built (yet), but it cost half as much, has twice the range, and can recharge at least twice as fast. Not to mention that I built it in my apartment with only basic hand tools. But whatever, haters gonna hate

swbluto · Apr 28, 2009

mrgarci1 said:
Gotta say, I was kind of pissed that the guy I talked to seemed to have such a low opinion of my DIY build - it might not be elegant or over-built (yet), but it cost half as much, has twice the range, and can recharge at least twice as fast. Not to mention that I built it in my apartment with only basic hand tools. But whatever, haters gonna hate

Was it an employee of some capacity? What can you expect when you're subverting their sales? (i.e., customer walks in/nearby, sees your bike, asks how much it cost to make, checks out the nearest store bike's price, the rest of the story...)

And asians - they're just less out of touch with electronics. :lol: Yeah, I can see that statement getting flamed.

mrgarci1 · Apr 28, 2009

Yeah, he was a salesman of some type. I guess I was just expecting more of a "we're all on the same team here" attitude. Especially beings as I'm CLEARLY not going to be buying one of his bikes- I'm 23 and had told him how I just dropped a ton of money (relative to my income) on a battery - not sure where he was expecting that sale to come from. I'm pretty damn proud of my bike, but he was talking like it was something to be ashamed of, that I didn't have an A2B. Oh well, different strokes I guess.

Link · Apr 29, 2009

Zilch. Hell, I barely see one NORMAL bike per day. Not that I get out much. :roll:

Joey · Apr 29, 2009

The poll needs more lower-numbered options.

Joey

ElectricEd · Apr 29, 2009

Joey said:
The poll needs more lower-numbered options.

Joey

I agree, in the last 100 days I have only seen 2 others apart from mine. This means I need an option for 0.02 ebikes.

Mathurin · Apr 29, 2009

swbluto said:
How do electric bicycles correlate with wealth in the United States, anyways? Globally, it appears there's a correlation with impoverishment and electric bicycles(China, FTW!), but within the upper echelons I have to wonder.

Dunno but the electric bicycles I see are pretty much universally ridden by older people who seem to be well off. Also, note then when I mentionned low to mid range hybrids in my original post I was reffering to what you'd find in a bike shop, not the bicycle-like mechanisms like you'd find in box stores. Think around 400-1K$ for the bikes. They also often have accesories that show frivolous spending, like an expensive frame pump or a fancy bag. Roughly half of them seem to be vehicles, mudguards, a rack, lights, scrapes and buises on the paint, worn tires, grime, etc. The other half seem to be toys, some don't even have a bottle cage.

Joey said:
The poll needs more lower-numbered options.

Seems so, poll has been ajusted.

Zoot Katz · Apr 29, 2009

After ten or more ebike spottings per day, who's still counting?

Russell · Apr 29, 2009

I don't believe I've seen another ebike on the road...ever. Of course if there are any of them around my area and they are like the ones most folks on this forum ride then I'd never catch up with one anyway, then to my knowledge I've never had an ebike pass me either. Frankly since I travel at regular bike speeds and am always pedaling I doubt anyone suspects I've got a little helper, and that's fine by me.

-R

EDIT May 28, 2009: Woo-Hoo I saw my first fellow ebiker a few days ago. She was riding a Schwinn World and her husband a non-electric crank forward bike. We stopped and chatted for awhile. They told me the top assisted speed of the bike was 15 mph and the best range so far was 12 miles. Apparently the bike had been sitting around the shop for some time before they bought it as the battery was from 2007, so it's probably nowhere near the capacity of new. The bike was light compared to my 55 pound Kona/Bafang, I'd estimate low 40 pound range, though it was quite expensive at $1,800.

swbluto · Apr 29, 2009

The current revision is the best of the three, methinks.

Link · Apr 29, 2009

1/mo maybe. I've only actually seen, for sure, two different ones, and one the other day which I suspect might have been (thing on the back looked oddly like a load of shrink-wrapped cylindrical cells).

mrgarci1 · Apr 30, 2009

Ha! Just saw one, out my office window - it was of the expensive battery-in-wheel variety, first one of those I've seen on the street. The guy riding it looked like he had just bought it- he was def. on a test ride, not headed anywhere fast.

Drunkskunk · Apr 30, 2009

I've seen 1, exactly 1 battery powered sit down scooter, and 1 razor pocketbike style electric, in 2 years. I do see a couple disabled people on Hovarounds, does that count?

In the last year, i've seen a couple of gas powered bikes, but there just aren't that many cyclists around here except the lycra kind.

swbluto · Apr 30, 2009

I've also seen more gasoline powered bikes than electric.

Eric G · May 7, 2009

I see one a month....maybe,the ones I've seen are the Can.Tire Schwinn ebikes
I see lots more electric scooters out on the roads,go figure the e scooters are illegal on the roads here.

Eric

Anonymous · May 7, 2009

Cackalacka · May 28, 2009

I have seen exactly 1 ebike in the wild (not including mine.) The girl and I were visiting family out in San Fran last fall. I was stoked, as some friends of mine who had moved from the bay area said there would be scores of ebikers around town.

When I got there, I didn't see one until we hit the second leg of our journey; passed a dude going the other way off of the One, once we had crossed the Golden Gate bridge en route to N. California. Looked like a sealed lead configuration on a chain-style system. Frame and many of the components looked homemade, but didn't get too close a look as girlfriend was telling me to keep my eyes on the road.

kriskros · Jun 12, 2009

ONE.. in last year... a canadian tire thingy... i ride almost every day on the waterfront trail.... i know of one other ebiker [i talk to him via emaiol] he tows 40 lbs of battery behind a two wheeler.... i think the locals here are either too energetic... or couch potatoes

rguy56 · Jun 12, 2009

Rassy beat me to this one... I have 4 in my garage, otherwise they're fairly rare in these parts...

How many ebikes do you see per day on average?

Round to nearest I guess

0

1 per year

1 per season

1 per month

1 per two weeks

1 per 8 days

1 per 3 days

1

3

6

10

15

25

40+

100 kW

1 MW

100 kW

10 TW

100 W

10 TW

100 W

1 MW

100 W

100 W

100 kW

100 kW

1 MW

10 TW

1 MW

100 W

100 GW

10 TW

1 kW

Anonymous

Guest

100 W

10 kW

100 W

Similar threads