What's the point of 1000+W ebikes ?

[MadRhino]

Maybe you would prefer the old woman driving a car ?
On a bike that is sub 100 lbs, it is not likely that she would kill anyone but herself. Most elderly people are driving cars. Yet, the most dangerous segment of the population on the road is 16-25, who are involved in much more than their share of fatal accidents.

To ease the spread of the light weight personnal transportation, is the only way to get people out of their cars. The best way to achieve such goal, is to free light weight transportation means of any restrictions.

 

[Eskimo]

For a high speed velomobille something like 1500W is good, but above that is not my cup of tea really. Not bannning it from anybody else though.
Lots of power is fun of course. That"s the point. On a velomobile if you have silly amount of power you can fly on the top of hills like tornado.
Of course it's not cycling anymore really, but definitely fun i would expect.

You could as well ask what's the point of over 50hp cars? That's enough to get you around enough rapidly.
Ride a velomobile. Go lightning fast. Stay on the road. All good. Do it only if you feel you can handle it.

 

[rumme]

You could as well ask what's the point of over 50hp cars? That's enough to get you around enough rapidly.
Ride a velomobile. Go lightning fast. Stay on the road. All good. Do it only if you feel you can handle it.

Exactly. The speed limits in America on highways , are around 70 mph or less, therefore a 50HP- air cooled 4 cylinder volkswagon is really all we need to be offered
for commuting .

 

[Chalo]

The speed limits in America on highways , are around 70 mph or less, therefore a 50HP- air cooled 4 cylinder volkswagon is really all we need to be offered
for commuting .

I've thought for a long time that a good way to de-escalate the arms race that American roads have become would be to allow personal vehicles to have a modest amount of power (50hp would be an example, but I imagined less)-- but only that much, independent of vehicle size. So people would only have a big vehicle if they really needed one, because bigger would equal slower.

De facto power limiting will happen soon enough, because robot cars don't care how much power they have.

 

[arthurtuxedo]

So ? People are killed by cars everyday and they didn't restrict the power that they have. In New York, they have the ebike law, not because idiots were riding ebikes but because idiots did vote the law.

Never let idiots rule your life, that could be making you one of them.

Agreed that power should not be restricted, only top speed and perhaps vehicle weight. Europe's silly (and poorly defined) 250W limit and pedalec-only laws are a perfect example of clueless bureaucrats sticking their noses where they don't belong. The other extreme of allowing yahoos to pilot motorcycles with pedals and use the same bike lanes as families on beach cruisers is an equally bad idea.

 

[Chalo]

For cripes' sake, folks-- there is no limit on e-bike power and speed. There's only a limit on how much power and speed an e-bike can have and still be defined as a bicycle. Forgive me if I don't see anything wrong with that.

You can have whatever flavor of electric motorcycle you want. You just can't arbitrarily declare it to be a bicycle. A multi-kW bike with pedals isn't a bicycle any more than a pickup truck with pedals is a bicycle.

 

[MadRhino]

With ANY motor, a bicycle is not a bicycle anymore. For me, if it is built with bicycle components and usable as a bicycle; no matter the power, it is an ebike. Then, no matter the power that any vehicle has, there are speed limits for the road that you ride and that is the only valid restriction since it does apply to all, equally.

 

[999zip999]

So what is LFP death- bike ? It has peddles. MadRhino what's that in your avatar that looks like a push bike cuz I certainly wouldn't be peddling that thing I'd be pushing it from behind.

 

[MadRhino]

So what is LFP death- bike ? It has peddles. MadRhino what's that in your avatar that looks like a push bike cuz I certainly wouldn't be peddling that thing I'd be pushing it from behind.

That "thing" is a 7000$ DH racing bike, and it is very easy to pedal with its small single chainring that is common on those bikes. It is not fast on crank work power, but it can rush in the rough down a hill and comfortably jump 50ft.

That was in case you wonder why we fit big motors with lots of power on them. Today, we are lucky to have a choice of components and frames that are better than most motorcycles with a fraction of the weight, thanks to DH racing.

 

[999zip999]

I wasn't talking about the bike

 

[MadRhino]

Ah !
She didn't need to be pushed. She was pulling very hard indeed, on my bank account especially.

Yet, even at the age that she is today, you would be in danger telling her that she is looking like a push bike.

 

[tomjasz]

Every bike I own has had some time on the MSF (motorcycle safety foundation) track. Practicing avoidance maneuvers and braking. Biggest lesson? Most of us have no idea how our bikes BRAKE until it's to late. IF that 1000W build brakes safely, I say go. BUT I suspect most builds are woefully inadequate for braking distance. This lack of attention will end up in an accident, and accidents will bring regulations.

 

[MadRhino]

Most users of the street have no clue of their braking distance when the weather is bad. Riding a bike, not only do you need to know yours, but estimate theirs too.

 

[Hardergamer]

Why do i like so much power? doing wheelies past cars, racing my mate in cars motorcycles etc! Its like asking why does the bike club I'm part of like going out and doing 180mph racing on the street? (and some of us our police) it what we do!

 

[flathill]

You can't "California Roll" stop signs on a motorcycle anymore without getting fined (If you do it often and daily)

Il-legal ebikes are now the fastest way to get from point a to b. Officers aren't stupid they know your fugly ebike is above the legal limit but jaded officers know the difference between natural law and the stupid ninny laws they have to en-force. They dont want to enforce the ninny laws on motorcycles either, it's just that it's a great way to make money to pay their pensions. When ebikes gain critical mass and can be milked by the state you will be required to get a license and registration to simplify milking (billing)

 

[amberwolf]

A multi-kW bike with pedals isn't a bicycle any more than a pickup truck with pedals is a bicycle.

What if it's a multi-kW pickup truck with pedals that fits the legal definition of bicycle in the state it's ridden (below 20MPH)?

 

[craneplaneguy]

I finished up a crane job today, and rather then drive it across town to my yard, I instead drove directly to tomorrow's job, parked it and got the eMontague out.
12.5 miles later, after running a few errands on the way, I was back at the crane yard. What a joy it is to zip around town on it instead of the crane! Sure the eMont is heavy at about 50 lbs., but it's still 51,000 lbs less then the work rig, plus it accelerates way better and parking is much easier. I'll start tomorrow off with a 6 mile ride to the job site, partially up one of the steepest hills in town, can't wait to kick it's ass.

Last week, while town riding again, I had a dweeb on a small gas scooter of some sort, do the "I looked for cars, but the bike didn't register" thing and after looking directly my way pulled right out in front of me. Riding hyper defensibly it was no problem, if I had not it could have gotten ugly. I considered running him down, I'm pretty sure I could have, but settled for just yelling at him to make sure he realized he screwed up. A little squirt of power and I was out of his aiming point thanks to the instant acceleration.

Through some sort of marketing thing, I had the chance recently to sign up for 4 different magazine subscriptions, for $1.00 for all 4. Makes no sense to me, the postage alone has to cost more, but anyway one of them is "Road and Track". I perversely like reading about the latest hypercars, and it's amazing how many of these cars have a top speed of close to 200 mph, (and over) right out of the dealers showroom. It's great that they are allowed, not to go that fast, but to drive something responsibly that is simply capable of going that fast....while there doesn't seem to be a constant stream of news stories about horrific crashes caused by the people buying them. Kind of like our high powered ebikes, with great power comes great responsibility. Lots of fun too.

 

[liveforphysics]

Nice build Amberwolf! I will take it for a test ride if I happen to be in the area. Your vehicles have never disappointed me in being exciting to operate!

 

[amberwolf]

At least this one doesn't have wiggly remote steering like CB2 did when you decided not to ride it out of the pits. But SB Cruiser's still underpowered for exciting take-offs, still doesnt' come close to CrazyBike2's ~4seconds to 0-20MPH (which is still pretty lame). (and having to take off the X5304 for a broken axle and swap in the lesser HSR3548 off of CB2 doesn't help).

Someday I'll get the Lebowski controllers and power stages built and fix the current-supply problem of feeding the motors what they need to accelerate quickly.

 

[markz]

For cripes' sake, folks-- there is no limit on e-bike power and speed. There's only a limit on how much power and speed an e-bike can have and still be defined as a bicycle. Forgive me if I don't see anything wrong with that.

You can have whatever flavor of electric motorcycle you want. You just can't arbitrarily declare it to be a bicycle. A multi-kW bike with pedals isn't a bicycle any more than a pickup truck with pedals is a bicycle.

Its a moped

 

[Chalo]

A multi-kW bike with pedals isn't a bicycle any more than a pickup truck with pedals is a bicycle.

What if it's a multi-kW pickup truck with pedals that fits the legal definition of bicycle in the state it's ridden (below 20MPH)?

That's a cool ride. It wouldn't be an electric bicycle in Texas, because it's too heavy. But it would still be cool.

It could possibly fall into the Texas category of "motor-assisted scooter" (another no-license/no-insurance required classification). That definition was crafted to legalize Go-peds, but it's particularly vague.

 

[markz]

Its a "[strike]Disability[/strike] Disabled Mobility Device"
"Look offizer I stubbed my toe and this is my beer getter hiccup I mean grocery getter"
Yeah thats not funny, e-Ride Sober!

 

[rumme]

For my bodyweight and local terrain, a more logical thread title would be " WHATS THE POINT OF 250 WATT EBIKES " ? Which kinda proves that each persons
needs in a ebike will greatly vary but its a good thing we have moral and logical govts to tell us people we only need a 250 watt setup and if you want 300 watt or more, then you need to pay fees...TO MAKE IT SAFER .

 

[Chalo]

Says someone who's never had to pay the price for an uninsured or hit-and-run driver.

 

[Compoundbike]

I overtake cocky (wanna be) cycle pro`s in my stealth looking mountain bike. Im also in Spandex so that little electric moto gives me a edge.. lol