MikeyMK

In the UK;

Limited to 15.5mph
Pedal assisted
Limited to 250watts motor (problematic as it may put out more with higher voltage)
The throttle is not allowed to work unless the pedals are turning.

In this state, the bike is legal to use as a bicycle. Though of course, like mine, there is the prospect of the rider lifting those restrictions whilst out on the fly..

Teamprovicycle

As long as they are not in my way i could care less

rydabent

Some day you will be old, and you might have a different take on the subject.

rydabent

Dont get all exercised by someone that did his own back yard e-bike. It is generally understood that e-bikes can have motors up to 750 watts. I think that pretty much all commercially available e-bike adhere to that.

Darth Lefty 

I don't really buy the idea that the e-bike guy is going to be inattentive. A bike path must get pretty dang narrow as you go faster. Also, I'm a sometimes motorcyclist and it's way, way more engaging than either a car, or a bicycle, unless the bicycle is going down a bumpy hill.

Still, 750W is 1hp and a lot more than an average person can sustain for any length of time.

Hypno Toad

+1

I hate the idea of banning all e-assist bikes. There's a long list of very valid reasons to use an e-assist bike... and getting old is only one reason. It's been said before and I'll repeat: anything that gets people out of their car is a good thing!

I've promoted an e-assist bike to Lisa for her commuting route that is very hilly so she didn't have to worry about arriving at work covered in sweat (she sweats a lot and works in a very formal environment). Side-note: we moved and her new commute is 3 miles of dead flat non-moto trails.

Hypno Toad

French mayor warns holidaymakers over illegal electric bikes

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...lectric-bikes/

Not a well-written article, but relevant to this thread.

Edit - and this one: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/...ctric-bike-go/

fietsbob

the "You guys should", sub committee for product development ,

Is only waiting for your line of credit, to be deposited with their bank,
to get right on that..





...

GerryinHouston

Sorry, Nigerian prices are not credible bike technology developers

nasabiker

you can die happy buddy
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/a...ery-80032.html

jitteringjr

Out of curiosity, how is the battery longevity on these things. I see the Specialized Vado batteries are $1000 for a replacement. Are they like iPhone batteries where after 2 years, they only last like 50% as long?

nasabiker

Most advertise around 3 years to have 80% capacity- higher end brands is charge cycles like 1000 or so. I aske dthe Local bike shop and the Specialized battery monitor actually tracks percent charged so 1000 cycles I think. so if you only used 33% at a time you would have to charge 3000 times. this is for full capacity it slowly degrades over time before it fizzles out- in time the prices will go down and they become more prevalent- my kit battery is 48v 14.5ah and was like 300 bucks, but the battery management system is probably quite a bit less complicated, and is also not proprietary.

Doug5150

Board admins: one of the ads is slowing down your pages a lot. I had to block a bunch of stuff to post a reply because the reply-edit box was pretty much unusable in Firefox (20-second delay between typing and the screen changing).
With most of the ads blocked it works just fine! :>)
(The google ones on the top and far-right are still there, so those don't seem to be the issue)
...?
Ya know what would be great, was if there was a browser plugin that could figure out from all the ads and scripts on a page,--which ones were slowing the browser down the most, and then have an easy way to submit a report on the web page.
That way websites could still have ads, but they would be able to cut off advertisers who insist on trying to push multi-megabyte/high-CPU-load ads.

---------------

Your situation is unique, were you aware?
In 99% of the US, using Segways is not legal on public sidewalks or public roads. And the rental e-scooters also aren't legal either, for the same reasons.

I already noted what the US federal definition of a "motor vehicle" is: it is a vehicle that bears a DOT-assigned VIN number. Almost all US states have laws which state that the ONLY non-motor vehicles allowed on public roads are bicycles, and the DOT regulations have a technical definition of what a bicycle is, that most states also use. That definition does not specify the absence of a motor, but it does specify a number of other requirements that Segways and e-scooters don't meet.

And almost all US states also have laws which state that ONLY pedestrian traffic is allowed on public sidewalks. No motorized vehicles are allowed, except as handicapped-assist devices. And the technical requirements for handicapped-assist devices (and for the people who can operate them) are defined in the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

A Segway, and an e-scooter, and a pocket bike are not bicycles, and they are also not motor vehicles. They are classified as "motorized riding toys", and they are not legal for use on US public roads, or public sidewalks. They are only legal to ride on private property.

This is why back when Segways came out, most cities stopped people from using them, claiming that they weren't legal. Only a couple big US cities made special laws just to allow them, and that is at least one reason why their popularity never reached beyond those few cities (I think only two major cities? or three? Seattle, SanFran and Portland maybe?).

------

More recently I have read that Segways can qualify as handicapped-assistive devices, if someone who is legally handicapped is using them. So you may see them in use, in states where they would otherwise not be legal.

Hypno Toad

Minneapolis (and DC) has Segway tours. I don't see anybody using them except guided tours, and in very specific tourist areas. Anybody that uses a bike to get around knows to avoid these tourist areas, like the pic on the home page of the segway tour, we always move to the road for a mile or two to miss these tours along with the significant number of clueless tourist wandering aimlessly through the bike lanes.

The rental e-scooter thing has Minneapolis and St Paul city counsels working fast and furious to figure out laws since there was nothing specific (enough) on the books.

jitteringjr

Denver is saying these E scooters are fall under the toy vehicle thing, but are only allowed on sidewalks and not on roads. Not sure if for the purpose of this, they consider MUPs as sidewalks, but the riders definitely seem to.

Doug5150

I tend to suspect that the e-scooters are a dead end already, just like rental bikes are turning out to be most places... And the e-scooters are more fragile, and more valuable to scrap (since they have batteries in them).

Also a followup to a link posted some time ago:
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/20...eyards/566576/

I think that the bike in picture number 17 is interesting--it has air-free tires, and single-sided mag wheels besides. I can't see the drivetrain it used?

Hypno Toad

The e-scooters is much like the Chinese story you shared; however, the bike share programs in the US are not the same model. The bike share in Minneapolis (and other cities I've ridden them) have worked in partnership with the city and built up slowly, with lots of planning. The e-scooters are a ton of private companies popping up over night in heavy competition with each other - that's what happened to Chinese bike shares. China's bike share problem is the exception, most places have a successful and growing bike share program.

Edit/afterthought: Do you believe Divvy is a dead end in Chicago? I use Divvy bikes every time I'm in Chicago for business. I'm planning to be there again in November and look forward to using Divvy to avoid downtown traffic.

Cuyuna