I invite anyone who argues that #EBikes are overkill to come live my life for a week. And I'll go live your life, in your superfit body that never sweats, on your awesome infrastructure that accommodates you and your kids, hauling around your weightless groceries.
You can live in my wonky middle-aged body still inflamed from #COVID19, at the bottom of the hill my city is famous for, in heat and humidity, on roads that will get your kids killed if they're not strapped to you.
actually you know what? I don't care. I know exactly what my #EBike has done for me. It's helped me live an almost car-free life. It's helped my child learn to navigate her community while bringing us closer together. It's helped me make friends. It's brought me joy and freedom.
You ride your regular bike if you want to. But stop trying to convince the rest of us that we don't need our ebikes. It's ableist, elitist, snooty, and none of your business.
@DrTCombs so, like, I live at the bottom of a hill, and would bike more if I didn't, and totally have plans to convert one of my bicycles into an e-Bike to fix this IN SPITE OF the fact that all the tooting and tweeting and self-congratulating from those who have them has gotten on my nerves. At current prices this is a fundamentally middle-class solution that poor families cannot afford, and I'd rather see widespread complete streets and off-street trails which link to bike buses. Just saying.
@colby I'd love to see all those things as well! Complete streets, trails, bike buses, regular buses everywhere!
And I'd love to see ebikes be more accessible to more people, because of how much cheaper they are than cars, and because of their much greater potential to woo people away from cars.
I'm just tired of the people telling other people they don't need ebikes.
@DrTCombs cheaper than cars, yes. but nowhere near the amount of jobs access that a car (or good transit) provides. actually much like transit and walkability, you probably have to pay more (or compromise on schools or housing quality) for a location in which even an e-Bike offers sufficient access to mandatory daily activities and again, this makes it very middle-class in nature.
@colby but the same can be said for acoustic bikes as well! plus the fact that the fitness/health required to ride them in many environments is an upper-middle class thing.
I'm not arguing that ebikes will replace cars for all by any stretch. Most people live in places in which the very notion of getting around exclusively by bike is laughable/offensive.
But: most people who live in places that could support cycling choose to drive instead. That's where ebikes will make the biggest difference
@DrTCombs what jerk thing for someone say! I was once a skeptic but after a family friend bought one and started riding to work for the first time, I started to think differently. Just this weekend, my kid asked for a ride and l loved that I could go 12 miles in a wicked headwind without having to use my asthma meds.
@DrTCombs I got an electric mid-tail to haul kids. It lets us have only one car in the suburbs, is our primary mode of transport, and it's enjoyable. I pulled my kids in a trailer with a regular bike before and I hadn't realised just how miserable I was getting. Ebike has made cycling JOYFUL for the whole family!
@DrTCombs - Groceries are my acoustic bike challenge, especially beverages. Seeing people attending to chores via bike, acoustic or electric, gives me joy.
@DrTCombs I can't tell you how excited I am to get my ebike next month!!!! My overweight, rod-in-my-back, achy knee, middle-aged body wouldn't get on a regular bike. The ebike I'm getting is a step through and I can sit upright, something I need for my back. And I'll be able to replace trips to Target & Aldi that would be in my car with an ebike trip!! Uphill both ways!
So people need to embrace the ebikers who are doing it despite their physical ability to ride a bike!
@DrTCombs The Aveton Soltera 7 Step-through. It's fully covered by the voucher program. the cost was always what was holding me back, so this voucher program was such a blessing!
You'll know when I get it because I expect to spam here with all the pics!
@somcak i didn't want to horn in when you asked @DrTCombs for bike model advice, but i have a strong pro-Aventon bias and am very happy that this was your choice, and wish you many happy rides
@bikepedantic@DrTCombs I was taking any and all advise! The Aventon brand was recommend by a couple of people, and due to the rod in my back, there were few that could accommodate me sitting up on a bike. The step-through was the perfect option! Plus, we can use the voucher to add a basket on the front and a rack on the back, we think. We'll find out more of what the voucher covers on Thursday. If the basket/rack aren't covered, we can swing them on our own.
@somcak@bikepedantic I would have welcomed the horning because when anyone asks me for ebike recommendations all I can think about is the tern gsd2 I'm drooling over but can neither afford nor justify
@DrTCombs@somcak@bikepedantic I don't like the Gen 2 as well as the Gen 1. It's heavier (e.g. solid running boards vs Gen 1 lower decks, metal fenders vs plastic), the suspension fork is not great (some having to rebuild after 600 mi!), it's more crank forward which doesn't work for me, the locking kickstand & saddle have known issues, and the price!
@somcak@DrTCombs as a generally fit person, I am a huge e-bike evangelist because no matter how fit you are, there are still things that you will do with an e-bike that you wouldn’t with a normal bike. Whether that’s cargo, hills, distance, or speed, e-bikes enable new cycling usage, and I fully support them for anyone who feels they could benefit.
@somcak@DrTCombs in the year before I bought an e-bike, I used my pedal bike for around 200 miles of trips. In the year after, I went on 1800 miles of trips. There just isn’t any comparison in how much utility a bike could give me.
@crschmidt@DrTCombs I'll be happy if I get 200 miles the 1st year. My goal is to replace all Target & Aldi car runs, they're each 2 miles away. Maybe a couple of trips to the beach or town square for music nights.
My main issue with replacing my car commute is that I go on a narrow, windy road where the speed limit is 35 mph & cars regularly go faster than 60 mph. The road is literally 2 lanes wide. Not much room for error in a car. That scares me on a bike. There's no alternate route.
@somcak@crschmidt@DrTCombs That kind of road sounds like a challenge. Not an American so not sure how initiating development of bike infrastructure would work, but is this something you could address to the local council?
My main exposure to local American government is ‘Parks and recreation’, pretty sure that is not reality 😀
It's a road that connects 2 towns, with the town line being on that road, so the jurisdiction is 2 different towns. My town has been taken over by the state for improper management, so the funding has been cut for all but essential services. For the other town, they haven't repaved or repaired their section of the road in the 6 years I've been here. So I feel like it's a lost cause.
@somcak@crschmidt@DrTCombs My sympathies, that is a rough piece of road. The only thing I could think of to mitigate is to position yourself such that passing you means going into opposing traffic. Yes, this is vehicular cycling, but as a reactive tactic to unacceptable infrastructure rather than as a philosophy to be supported
@DrTCombs I am a pretty fit dude that’s young enough to have some cartilage left and lucky to not have had COVID.
I love my e-bike and would 1,000,000x rather see people on e-bikes than in cars. I’d love to be in a place as a city where souped up e-bikes on our safe bike paths is a real problem to address.
I’ve never sat behind an e-bike and choked on the fumes. E-bikes aren’t calling me an asshole and honking at me. They don’t almost kill me all the time. E-bikes rock. Fuck those haters.
Anti-ebikers are the new "vehicular cyclists" that spent a decade arguing against protected bike lanes. Same demographic too from what I've seen. (under 40 largely single white dudes)
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