New to #Portland Ride: East Neighborhoods, on April 30 at 5:30pm, group ride led by city staff to explore ways to get around by bicycle in East Portland neighborhoods! 7.5 mile loop, mellow pace, Lincoln Park (SE 135th & Mill)
Just started a spreadsheet to keep track of energy usage over time for my 2 ebikes. There's only the most recent "trips" (which I reset every time I charge the battery) so far - so, one entry for each bike.
The human efficiency numbers are very close, which is so Interesting! Average speed for these bikes are pretty close (but not recorded), so that's telling me that I'm putting roughly in the same effort, but supplementing with the motor to hit my desired speed.
searching for e-bike recommendations for my disabled ass, that won't break the bank and have an amount of cargo capacity even if it's like a few bags of groceries (more is better, i'm a disaster)? I need to nearly-never pedal and especially not up any hills or anything
@fuck_cars Something I wish Australia would change is laws prohibiting any vehicles between a 200W ebike and a full motorcycle. I'd get a lot of value from a 60kmph limited 1kW ebike. But currently to sell such a thing it would have to comply with all motorcycle requirements, and things like ABS on both wheels is really not required for such a device.a #AusPol#eBikes
Going from four classes (pushbike/e-bike, moped, LAMS motorcycle, full motorcycle) to five seems thoroughly excessive.
Mopeds (electric or petrol) are cheap and relatively low-skill and low-risk due to the limited speeds. Write to your politicians asking them to allow them to be used on car licenses like other states and NZ allow.
I also question whether you’re going to get any significant use out of a moped with a higher top speed but not much more power. The 4kW limit appears to be tailored to allow a moped to generally climb a moderate hill while in 50km/h traffic, rather than pull to the side and need a separate lane like pushbikes.
"Finally, we find that even when #eBikes incentive programs are designed cost-effectively, the costs per ton of #CO2 reduced still far exceed those of alternatives or reasonable social costs of GHG emissions. We conclude that the argument for allocating public funds for e-bike incentive programs must be based on the co-benefits of e-bike travel and ownership, and not solely on GHG reduction" (like the 40k/yr people killed with cars, injuries, asthma & sedentary diseases)
Or we could account for the cost of driving as simply road wear and maintenance, plus the high cost of housing for cars (through subsidizing car parking, mandatory parking requirements, that non-drivers pay in their rent and groceries, anywhere that charges below market rent for parking spaces.) Or, who pays for all of the space between destinations, that makes it too far to walk?
“Bicycle deaths in New York City hit a 23-year high in 2023, according to new data from the NYC Department of Transportation. Of the 30 cyclists who died last year, 23 were riding electric bikes. “
So I looked up the article, and that is all it says; that’s the entire thing. Nothing about how they died, just that they died.
It seems that the #NYTimes is having a War on Bikes, especially #eBikes, and I wonder why.
I’m going to assume these bicyclists were hit by cars (not an unreasonable assumption), so why is the #NYTimes framing it that #eBikes are somehow dangerous, and not #cars?
One final thought (well, maybe 2), but does anyone ever notices that the word “crash” is almost never in the reporting, and 2) when these things are reported, they never mention that there are #DRIVERS in the #car; but sure, #bicyclists are keeling over dead.
It’s really weird how the #NYTimes can shift-blame everything in such a short blurb.
Go for a ride on your bike. I do regularly, for no particular reason... from my little cottage, into the forests, with my parter who for some reason unknown to me tolerates my shit. 50km this ride, ebike for the steep mountain :)
Find a spot and sit, watch the birds before they're all gone . Wedge Tailed eagles, yellow tailed cockatoos, Wrens and finches today.
Please pass HB 4067! Transportation is the second highest household cost for Oregonians after housing. Oregonians of all ages increasingly rely on safe, affordable electric micromobility like e-bikes to get to work or school, make ends meet, and connect with family and friends.
Safe, accessible, affordable e-bikes create opportunity for all.
And what, call them motorcycles? If passed, this will not end well.
I’m very keen on e-bikes, I see older and less capable people riding them all the time and it increases the number of people on the roads cycling rather than driving. Apparently they have no plans at the moment to up the maximum powered speed.
@Glencoe I remember that. Whether it would have helped or not I don’t know but they had no helmets. I frequently ride without one, but that is with at least 100,000 miles of experience and off road excepted (I always wear protective gear) I ride aggressively cautiously if that makes sense. Kids often don’t and I seem to remember that pair were ‘on the run’?
@Wen there's chatter in the #emtb community to get the speed increased from 25kmh to the American standard of 32kmh.
Frankly I don't see the need. 25 is fast enough to go uphill and gravity assists when going downhill. The only reason I can see is that folk want to go hooning around in the flat and with little thought for others.
If you way underestimate the climate benefits of #eBikes, subsidizing them is still a good deal. (Does driving cost society more than $0.02/mile? Yes, by a factor of 100 at least, but that also seems like a super low cost for the carbon. They say reforestation would be more cost-effective, but lately the forests burn up a lot.)