Are E-Bikes a technological step up or down from horses?

Reactor said:
Unfortunately I grew up with horses! :evil:

Am I the only one here that has been thrown off a horse simply because it wasn't use to being riden. Never happen on my ebike.
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I bet if you got on the wrong ebike and it was your first time, it might chuck you. Heck, even if it isn't your first time, it might chuck you. See LFP's Death Bike:

[youtube]0JtW3rhfCE8[/youtube]
 
HA HA! Maestro LFP: "Nothing to see here folks. Move along."
 
LockH said:
I notice in this thread so far nobuddy has mentioned the maybe "overhead" re food grown to feed horses. Their "energy sources" may suffer degradation from "pests". Other animals, bugs, etc that constantly insist on "sharing" WattEVer grows. Plus, depending on local environment, some land may be less arable for growing any sorts of plants, or may "suffer crop failures". Depending how energy is "gathered" (generated), perhaps none of the above applies to the "e-bike". Yes?
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You mean the horse could suffer from a power cut?
 
Hehe... Maybe asks the folks in the province of Quebec (almost entirely "hydro" power, w/surpluses sold to NY State, etc.)
 
r3volved said:
as a strong proponent of psychedelic research I have to jump in and FYI... mushrooms not= peyote
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Hehe... Not called "shroomage" any more?
L
 
I can tell because I have both.

-Horses are much higher maintenance than any bike. They are also very easy to damage, not only by abuse but most of the time by the sole ignorance of their owner. Damages to a horse is likely to cause great emotional and financial distress to most.

-They require so much knowledge and experience that very few people today, are able to deal by themselves with all the aspects of horse maintenance. It is also becoming more difficult and expansive to find proper resources to help.

-They are much more dangerous, not only to ride. The simple fact of owning horses makes you likely to be hurt, or that someone will be hurt in your premises, regularly.

To buy and care for a good horse requires a lot of time and money. The best horses are unaffordable to most, and very few riders are able to train one to its full potential. A horse requires 4 years of training to become a complete riding horse, a man requires 10 years of training and many different horses to become a complete rider.

Please use inert materials for transportation, toys and all kind of abuse. Horses are not technology. They are alive and will give themselves until death. They involve responsibilities, consciousness and art.
 
Definition of TECHNOLOGICAL
1: of, relating to, or characterized by technology

2: resulting from improvements in technical processes that increase productivity of machines and eliminates manual operations or operations done by older machines
— tech·no·log·i·cal·ly adverb

It is truly the capacity of human society to control nature with view of getting benefit from it.
 
Well said Mad, Every real cowboy I know would agree with it all.
 
LockH said:
Some folks like horse meat. Not sure whether any have tasted ebike (I haven't tried myself, though I have been known on occasion to lick my ebike (stopped that when the weather got too cold. My tongue got frozen.).
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I love it !!!! LOL
 
Some how I can't image riding a horse to work, leaving it out side for 8 hours and expecting the critter to perform as well as my E-bike on the way home.
 
So I guess I could see the 'eBike Express Mail,' but could you really hitch up a few 1hp eBikes to the stagecoach. . . ?

The real story of the horse for local transporation was that visiting was normally limited to a 6 mile radius if you wanted to be home again that night. It's a question of both the one day range AND the speed.

German_SS_Cavalry_Horse-drawn_Artillery-385x252.jpg
batavia6.jpg


Meanwhile, the horse was actually used for such additional uses as the driver of the first railroads --- BEFORE the steam engine was in use railway cars were pulled by horses. On the 100th anniversary of the first locomotive the horses were still busily moving the railcars around at the stockyard. England had more horses in the early 20th century than at any other time in history. Much of that horse population wound up moving to Germany in the 1930's, in fact playing a huge role in moving the Waffen across the European continent, as Germany had neither fuel nor machinery in great volume. Japan lacked fuel, machines, AND horses, so they rode bikes across the Asian continent. Couldn't move artillery with them. Don't THEY wish they had eBikes.

I just think that yes, the eBike would be a HUGE technological step backward from a horse. Such a limited device, while the few things it does better it doesn't do so much better. Nor does it possess the ROMANCE.

Just a clipreel from possibly the greatest horse movie ever made, as the poem it's based on is read.

[youtube]jo51fIu_fjk[/youtube]
 
What a great clip to post, thanks! :D
I sometimes wonder what has happened to that pioneering spirit in Australia now. Where once it use to be innovate now its regulate. That video took me back thanks again.
 
I hadn't particularly considered trying to use ebikes to do everything horses used to do. Fairly obvious a horse makes it up the trails in the Rocky Mountains better than a bike. I've melted a motor or two trying to ride trails built for horses. The horse gets up steep trails better.

Equally obvious that a few ebikes would have a struggle pulling a stagecoach or wagon loaded with beer. Not a horsepower limitation, but more of a low gear traction inequality. But you could build an EV that could haul that stagecoach, by gearing it down enough and giving it a tire with more grip. The EV would have plenty of torque, when geared for a maximum speed of less than 10 mph, and 4 hp.

Saddle horses could go quite some distance beyond 6 miles, but if you were limited to using your plow horse a 6 mile trip was likely as far as you would wish to go. Here on the El Camino Real, they tended to locate a town, or at least a hacienda with water and protection from Indians every 8 miles or so. 8 miles was about the maximum range for one days travel with a carreta and oxen. Many places got settled with some kind of town every 6-10 miles because that was about as far as you could haul your product to market in a horse wagon in one day.

On the Butterfield trail, the stagecoach line from New Orleans to San Diego, I think they had about 20 or 25 mile intervals for stations where there would be water and fresh horses. The route took quite a roundabout path compared to the modern highways and rail routes. They couldn't follow the easy way, they had to follow the way with springs or wells to water at. At that time, 1850 or so, real towns were hundreds of miles apart, since there is only two rivers between Texas and California. Crossing from the Rio Grande to the Colorado was such a bitch even Indians didn't do it much.
 
The fingers said:
Considering vet bills nowadays, and the put down fee for a horse being close to a grand at the track; many here would shoot your ebike full of holes just for fun. :lol:
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That's definitely a good point to consider.

And you can swap parts from ebikes to other ones. Horse.... not so much... maybe a saddle and bit.
 
cal3thousand said:
... maybe a saddle and bit.
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Actually, with todays modern medical miracles...
 
r3volved said:
as a strong proponent of psychedelic research I have to jump in and FYI... mushrooms not= peyote
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They are both so spiritually intense and mind blowingly amazing each on there own, but the combination of both added to the brain of a horse in large quantities should make for a very exciting ride on something that normally has a comparatively weak power/weight ratio. If you could get the horse to remember how to run at least. :)

I respect that some folks have mastered horsemanship and enjoy amazing experiences riding (sober or tripping-balls)horses. Personally, I will take an ebike though. :)
 
Hehe... Speaking of "horses", I am currently watching on TV (our "AMC" channel) the 1958 movie "The Big Country". Lots of amusing stuff re horses, but also one of the lead characters (Greg Peck) plays a "duck out of water", as from a marine biz sailing family. (Wearing "dude" clothing on shore.) Anyway, lots of "yachty"/sailor talk, plus, again, lots of "horsey stuff". So lessee... Leather pedal straps? Check. Boot spurs? Check. (Haha... Another character suggests Peck character needs to "learn the ropes".)

So yeah... Lots of sailing stuff (and "horsey" stuff) mixed in with other modes of transport.

(Note to self: Must investigate nose cone *anchor* mechanism for my zeppelin. Look Ma! No wheels!)
 
'The Man from Snowy River' is about young Jim having to learn the ropes, but also the realization that his father has taught him things the rest here don't know --- Like which horse can run down the side of a cliff and how you stay on as it does. In three parts.

'Return to Snowy River' had more horse sequences, while they were good nothing quite matches the end of the original. It's a bit of a forced story, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTlSp0yHoVc

Oh, there's this old Russell Crowe film that's entertaining kid film even if we have seen it all before. Crowe is the 'Bad Guy,' but actually nothing so bad about him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdAV9bSSjjI
 
Hehe... I know that EVery year is the Year of the Ebike, but I was just reminded, that in Chinese astrology, this immediate past Jan.31 kicked off the Year of The Horse. Hehe...
 
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