No ebikes allowed?

I ride in/out of Times Sq all the time and even though they kinda know me (video everywhere) I can understand the initial shock of NYPD having a look in my battery bag.

Similar to carrying RC Lipo bricks through airport security. Looks kinda wrong/bad at first but once it’s obvious what it is and meets published rules for carry-on, it quickly becomes a non-issue.

I'm sitting there at the entrance to the park watching all the spectacle, all the traffic. If I were a bomber, I'd drive a van loaded with fertilizer, like has happened so many times. I wouldn't fool around with a small package of explosive. Means every single vehicle on the road passing by would be far more suspect. So why single out the guy with an eBike? We live in a bizarre new world of misplaced priorities accelerating along trajectories of fear and bias.

security theatre

Remember when they banned liquids from air travel? TSA screeners confiscating bottle after bottle of potentially hazardous liquids and doing what with them? Filling large barrels right behind where they were standing/sitting all day. Oh yeah, that's some real "hazardous" liquid ya'll saving us from...

Welcome to the "business" of military/police society. It's really a shame we spend so much time, energy and money on fear and tools of destruction rather than rebuilding infrastructure, healing sick people and/or protecting us from "commercial/corporate" predators...

Been riding ebikes over 6 years and a lot of it on bike paths which are technically illegal.. Was stopped by a cop once, and he wanted to know how far and how fast it would travel.. Offered to let him ride it, but he was directing traffic at the time.

If you're polite and not a douche, most people won't bother to complain.

State department, governors guard for terror threat ahead of July 4

Across the country, U.S. police departments are heightening their security to combat threats, including some proposed by suspected supporters of ISIS who live in the states..... The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued recent terror guidance, citing the July 4 holiday specifically as a target. As a result, the Governor also urged .... to be alert to any potential suspicious activity over the holiday weekend.

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Be on the alert for highly suspicious people riding eBikes carrying banners supporting highly suspicious left-leaning politicians who are advancing a socialist agenda. Its just not 'merican. We all know true blooded 'mericans drive trucks, carry guns and protect their god given rights to own and consume anything and everything they want. Now let's go get us some barbecue and pop a few rat heads.

Oh Goody. (Somebuddy likes theatre work.) Lessee... Dark glasses. (Check) White cane. (check) Can add seeing eye dog. (Now ebike is my "mobility device"... in slowest modes.)

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The 1st denial I was hoping to hop up on my regular east river bridge and maybe catch a distant view of Macy's fireworks display. The 2nd denial gives my battery bag a quick stink-eye before directing me to another approach.

Screw it, I learned last year the show isn't too visible from that vantage point anyway. Went home and watched it on TV.

We all feel so much safer don't we?

dogman dan said:

We all know how a typical bike battery assembled from hobby king packs looks.

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And occasionally behaves.

joepah said:

Been riding ebikes over 6 years and a lot of it on bike paths which are technically illegal.. Was stopped by a cop once, and he wanted to know how far and how fast it would travel.. Offered to let him ride it, but he was directing traffic at the time.

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Very few people know much about ebike laws - unless you're somewhere in New York where they're flat out illegal, the vast majority of people won't know the details. The vast majority of people who notice are more curious than anything else - I've run into plenty of older people who are fascinated by the concept, because they have weak knees/hips/etc, and there's "that one hill."

If you're polite and not a douche, most people won't bother to complain.

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Yup! Don't blow past people too obviously, and be polite.

The people I view as serious threats are the MAMILs (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) - hardcore recreational bicyclists who happen to be on the trail you're commuting on. They're more likely than most to know something about ebikes (usually, it's limited to "they're cheating" and "they shouldn't be on trails"), and are more likely to complain if they figure out what you're riding. Stealth is useful, though, as a lot of them will ride with headphones. But blowing past them on something that's not a Proper Road Bicycle will get their attention in a hurry.

But whatever you do, please don't be an ass on an ebike. They don't need any more negative attention.