Does anyone have an Electric Bicycle?
 

Hey RS beatdown crew,

Does anyone have an electric bicycle? I just saw an electric bike shop open up on my way to work and it got me thinking.

I'm wondering if it's just a FAD or if it's actually practical. I know they're a few thousand dollars, so it's not gonna be an impulse buy.

Anything I should know before looking into one?

Thanks

Nope. But I do have a pedal bike that I use around town... Because my legs work.

Buddy of mine has one. He says it can go from Surrey to friggin Stanley park and back on one charge!!!! That's nutso. It ain't the fastest but hey that's pretty sick.

He picked it up used for like 4k with barely any kms on it. Looks more like a scooter than an actual bicycle but it works.

i dont think it's a fad and I would go for one if there was a way to secure it

when they come down in price, weight and have better range i'll get into one...i assume by then the traffic will be significantly worse

Vancouver has lotsa hills and some times after a day of training you just don't feel like pedaling hard/sweating like a pig

They're about $2k on the website.. Which, seems pretty reasonable.

https://radpowerbikes.ca/

Not sure what I think about ebikes. So do you ride them in the bike lanes? If so, you're going to be passing commuters at 30 kph and I can foresee some accidents. Or, do you ride an ebike on the road and take up a lane, which is way too slow. They don't quite belong in the bike lane and they don't quite belong on the road taking up a lane. Some bike paths are so busy as it is with normal bikers on human power, I can foresee some issues with more and more ebikes and no regulations.

I think any motorized vehicle should require rider/driver get some sort of license.

seems cool!

but i think some a hole in vancouver is going to try and steal it or steal parts from it if you parked it outside while you go to work/store/shop/whatever.
I dont think it'll be fun lugging that battery pack along and those electric motors are mighty expensive too.

Id personally go for something like this. Still an electric bicycle and you can ride in bike lanes

https://motorino.ca/motorino-xpd

I always see the ones that look like scooters, being ridden on the fucking sidewalk. Its bad enough when it's a bicycle.

I saw one that looks exactly like a motorbike/scooter. It was able to keep up with traffic on knight st bridge... approx 60-70km/h.

You have 2 types:

e bikes like this:
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/u...658173_614.jpg

Owned buy people who don't have cars or have lost there drivers license because of a DUI. Many come with pedals but are taken off because riders claim when doing sharp turns they hit the ground and crash. But it's really because they are too lazy to drive.

Then you have electric bikes like this:

https://www.capsbicycleshop.com/merc...obo-630-80.jpg

They use many standard bike parts. Cost anywhere for a couple of thousand to 10K plus. Max speed allowed in BC is 26 KM but you can easily change a setting to go faster. One guy I was talking to who sells them said his bikes can go 46KM a hour. They have 3 modes. 100% pedal, pedal assist when you need spome help, and 100% motor.

This one can go 80 KM/H with a range of 60 KM.

^ Exactly what you wrote concerns me:

50cc scooters require at least a driver's license and they are on main roads (and I think that's bare minimum, there are so many nuances of riding a 2 wheel motorized vehicle. Preferably, scooter riders should go through mandatory course). So if these electric bikes can do scooter speeds, it only makes sense that a driver's license is required at the very least and a license plate.

Are helmets required? Or is it OK to hang one off your handlebar like some 'cool' riders that I've seen.

With 80 km/h capability, that means I can conceivably see one of these yahoo riders on Knight Street bridge? Great ... so cars will lean into other lane to avoid one of these urban riders and cause an accident and thousands of people will be home late for dinner.

^ lol it already happens. Most of them I see either wear a bicycle helmet or have it around the handle bars.

I don't have a full e-bike. I converted a mountain bike to have a stand-by electric motor. Only when I need electric power, I push on the throttle. There are a lot of hills where I live, so the motor is great to assist getting up those hills.

As a test, without me pedaling, the motor got the bike up to 35 kph. With me pedaling flat out, the bike got up to 50 kph...

I'm sure when e-bikes get more popular in Canada like in EU, there will be more regulation on speed within city core limits.

This ... before downtown becomes like Thailand would be nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=L-wSb0UY1PQ

https://dheroux.files.wordpress.com/...ke-traffic.jpg

I think anything with a motor that's riding on the road require a driver license and insurance from ICBC and must ride on the road like cars do. I mean with the speed these ebikes can go they can actually seriously injury someone or even even kill someone. At that point someone should/need to be responsible.

regular road bikes can already be ridden at 30kph on a flat road by a semi fit cyclist. also ebikes i think are limited to 25kph. just think of them as regular bikes in every way in terms of expected etiquette and following the current laws for regular bicycles. really the biggest benefit to the riders is going to be that they can cruise up hills.

why would you need to do more than 30kph though...because you're not sitting in traffic you're likely to get to a destination around town just as fast if not faster than a car would even if you're only doing half the velocity

if they're not mandating licensure on these slaughter machines then they won't on e-bikes

https://s-i.huffpost.com/gen/3447822...Y-RCMP-570.jpg

what happens when those e-bike with fatty tires run out of juice? must become a pita on pavement without assist. Also, do you lock it up like a normal bike? seems risky, I doubt most workplaces/markets let you park that indoors

it takes me 50m to ride to work and 35m to drive there. if i had an ebike and cruised up the hills it would probably take me about 45m or less... i can see the appeal in these things for commuters.

if they legalized electric scooters and if i lived within 5k to work i would definitely ride those instead though. 20kph, decent range and incredibly easy to transport.

takes me 25 min instead of 18 to one office...westbound
55min instead of 22 to the other, eastbound

i'm not fit though...avg 20kph

Since it's a motorized bicycle I would count them as motorbikes. An electric car is treated the same (legally) as a gas car so I think an electric motorbike should be treated the same as a gas one.

I'm more worried about some idiot flying down the sidewalk or through a park and tanking a pedestrian. Even with the spindliest rider and the lightest bike you're looking at over 150lbs of meat and metal slamming into you at 80km/h. That's gonna cause some damage.

Mustang group buy?

ICBC does too.......... except there's a loophole that if you stick pedals on them (every e-bike has pedals somewhere on it, even if they're useless and borderline inaccessible), it doesn't need insurance. I am shocked they haven't closed this loophole over the years.

Yep pedals are the loop hole but everyone takes them off. In Nanaimo we have a city council member who rides one without pedals and does not where a helmet.

never seen pedals off of an ebike, maybe an electric scooter.

Its a super common mod.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-b-c-1.1167387