vincent713

A sidewalk also does not allow cars! AGAIN where I live there's no law prohibiting bikes on sidewalks so how do I know if it's a MUP or sidewalk?? There's no sign saying this is a sidewalk or MUP. If you think it's safer riding on the road then that's your life. No one will ever convince me otherwise, I'm sticking to my sidewalk.

Leebo

Yowzer, shouting. A mup sometimes has signs stating as such. Usually separate( not next to) a road. Maybe a photo would help.

vincent713

Here's an example of the sidewalk "on the right side" that I ride on. There are NO sign anywhere stating if it's a MUP or sidewalk. I've never seen MUP signs.

350htrr

Yes well, there is a difference between a sidewalk, a path, a MUP, Until you realize the difference your opinion an sidewalk riding is questionable...

vincent713

Question me all you want, just remember I told you so when you get hit by a car on the road.

350htrr

That is probably how I'm going to die... Some fully loaded logging truck is going to squish me like a skunk on the road... But, until now, my 2 big crashes happened on a MUP, and on a path/sidewalk... The first I lost a weeks worth of memories/life, the second I had a broken neck and couldn't ride for 6 months...

vincent713

Until you show me some scare injuries, your crash is questionable.

2old

Dang 350, with that history I can see why you're in favor of the road. Could you please tell us what happened if it might help prevent something similar occurring to us?

350htrr

From another thread...

How fast can you safely take a corner you ask... You won't really know till you crash on one, as I found out... I have been going down this paved trail with a hill in my area for 10 years probably over 100+ times, with about a 35*/40* corner at the bottom, every time 52KM/Hr... Then one day I came back from a road trip and still had my road tires on instead of my trail tires and 54 KM/Hr WooHoo, so the next day I went and put some effort into it and went down noticeably faster... And crashed, got up and said to myself "wow, I think I got away without breaking anything" pushed my bike home 1.5 KMs and the next morning went to the hospital because fingers were going numb and started to suspect my neck was broken, the nurse and doctor practically rolled their eyes and I actually had to DEMAND an x ray as they wouldn't believe me. Anyways to make a long story short I did have a broken C6 vertebrae? A few weeks go by and I'm at home and decide to look at my bike and the speedo said... 56 KM/Hr top speed, so now I know 54 KMs is the fastest I can take that corner, safely? I doubt it... I now slow down to about 30-35 KMs every time now...

EDIT; I guess the real safe speed is 35 KMs/Hr on that corner, or at least it is for me, now...

Don't remember anything about the other crash at all but 1 week of memory is gone, I had crossed eyes for 10 months, jaw was out of alignment 1/8 of an inch and the wife said I just sat there most times in a different world for that week... Both happened on a MUP

2old

350, thanks; cautionary tale. I push my MTB's at times, but try to be much more conservative with the ebike. Now, I'll be even more careful.

Leebo

Umm, you're riding at motorcycle speeds , just get one and stick to roads. 32 mph on a bike path. Yowzer.

InTheRain

Pretty cool! This morning as I was peeling off layers just outside the office building a guy pulls up next to me on an e-bike! I commute on my e-bike most of the time, but today it was dry and this afternoon is beautiful, I rode the carbon fiber road bike. However, I talked with him a bit and told him that I also have an e-bike used mostly for commuting. I also pointed out an e-bike that was parked and locked to the railing just 40 feet away from us. My bike and the locked bike are both BionX kits. His bike was a very cool bosch mid-drive Felt.

Hey... maybe it is catching on! I don't believe that there are more than 150 people that work in the building... so 3 with e-bikes is pretty cool. There are probably another 10-15 people that commute on regular bikes (probably not everyday...but at least when the weather is amicable.)

Edit: just noticed this article about e-bikes on today's cnet website:

https://www.cnet.com/news/electric-bo...he-fast-track/

2702

The costs of the bike itself is just too high if you go by MSRP, where I live 80% of people are paycheck to paycheck or worse so a 3k Ebike is a pipe dream no matter how you ride it.

InTheRain

I just think it depends on how you prioritize. Most people I know that live paycheck to paycheck still have two or more cars and they pay for gas, insurance, parking, and maintenance on both cars. They still go out to eat 4-5 times per week. They have plenty of money to cover their cigarettes and alcohol.

If you talk to people that commute everyday by bicycle, you will not run into many that say they wish they were still commuting with their cars. I admit, an e-bike is a luxury in comparison to a regular bicycle. However, a second, third, or fourth car is a luxury in comparison to an e-bike. If your car is critical to your career, I understand that you need it to work. But, if your car is just to get you to work on a commute of less than 10 miles and it stays parked there all day (and you pay for the parking) then I really don't accept the "pipe dream" excuse for an e-bike or even a regular bike. I know that there are a lot of different situations that require a car - dropping off and picking up kids, etc. But believe me, there are plenty of people that could commute by bicycle or e-bike that would find it a much cheaper alternative to owning an extra vehicle.

tds101 

MUP (I didn't know what the hell it meant): https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/...-mup-mean.html

dpe743

Around here, there are several stretches of high-traffic road with what looks like a sidewalk, but no breaks except at traffic-light controlled intersections. Like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2376.../data=!3m1!1e3 or this: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2378...7i13312!8i6656 -- it looks like a sidewalk, but I'm not sure how any pedestrians would get to it (notice the large parking lots separating it from the businesses), or where they would take it to.

InTheRain

It looks like a sidewalk to me. It looks like there is another one on the other side of the road. The MUP's that I have seen are paved...not cement like a sidewalk. MUPs seem to be about 10 feet wide. The MUP's that I use are built on what used to be old railroad lines and continue on a route that is away from cars and roads. Images from the trails (MUP's.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=cheh...Ch29zQRQ&dpr=1

These truly are "multi use." Walking, Jogging, Bicycles, Skateboards, dog walkers, kick scooters, and even horses.

dpe743

I agree that this looks like a sidewalk, the point being is that other than the material and manner of construction (things that look like sidewalks typically are cement and have expansion joints every three feet), I have a hard time telling the difference (from a safety aspect) between the above sidewalk picture, and this: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2662...8i6656!5m1!1e3 (which is an actual MUP). In the previous case, the sidewalk is far away from any buildings, and there are no driveways (except box store entrances that are traffic light controlled). In the second case, the MUP is far away from any buildings, but (being a lower traffic road) happens to have occasional driveway breaks. BTW, I found out the purpose of the sidewalk picture that no one walks on -- it is actually for the bus stops. People get on or off the bus, and may walk a very short distance to get to the box store that they work at.

(Personally, I wouldn't cycle on either the road or the sidewalk in the one case, as there are enough other lower traffic roads that I can take which aren't that far out of the way. In fact, I feel safer on a 2-lane roadway then the 5-lane monstrosity.)

vincent713

I would ride on that sidewalk any day! They don't prohibit that where I live, thank God.

2old

I think that riding on most sidewalks is prohibited in CA, but I've been doing it for 30 years (only one on an ebike) and haven't been accosted yet, so I'll keep up the practice.

vincent713

You'll be riding for a long time if you continue with this practice.

K2AZ

I'm new here and I'm building a E-Bike using a K2 Attack 2.0 with a 8fun 1000w motor. Being 64 and a long time rider I have chosen a E-bike to help keep me riding. As all of the others have said, one thing we can all expect to have is worn out human parts !

I feel this will play a big roll in the future on EBikeing. But it will come down to price, weight, and people trying the systems.
Randy

tds101 

I'm not interested in getting an optibike, but this video gives you an idea of how the popularity of ebikes is on the rise. Excellent!!!

https://youtu.be/vSV4IJ8wWeo

InTheRain

Good luck with the build. I'm enjoying my daily commutes on my e-bike. I have to admit that I am quite surprised at the perfect reliability I've had with my BionX kit. I hope that is true of other e-bike systems. Even with this morning's absolute drencher, the e-bike was flawless. I'm hoping that e-bikes will catch on as viable transportation and utility biking for light cargo. If it doesn't, I'm happy... plenty of room in the bike lanes and on the MUP's for me!

K2AZ

Thanks,InTHERain. I'm a bit of a gas head but the newer battery systems have me rethinking how I do some things. Guess I'm making up for past desecration to the planet ? LOL