Anyone into electric cycling? Electric Bicycles

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ABG:
NYC wants to replace delivery trucks with bicycles
UPS, Amazon and DHL have signed up for the cargo bike pilot program
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/12/22/nyc-launches-delivery-bike-program/


In a bid to ameliorate the horrific traffic congestion in midtown and lower Manhattan, the New York City Mayor's Office is trying to spur package delivery companies to switch from trucks to cargo bikes. Earlier this month, it announced a six-month pilot program that will introduce cargo bikes to the city, primarily south of 60th Street.

The pedal-assist electric bikes are not supposed to exceed 12 mph, can travel on the roadway or in bike lanes, and are do not have to pay to park at the curb and unload.

UPS, Amazon, and DHL have signed up, and other freight delivery services are invited to join. So far, FedEx and the USPS have not signed on.

DHL already has launched a pilot program in Germany. UPS has one in Toronto, Portland, Seattle and elsewhere. And Amazon claims to already have 90 delivery bikes in service in New York.

It's stated that 1.5 million packages are delivered in New York City every day, so one can see that the magnitude of the delivery-truck problem on the city's streets is huge. Unfortunately, the pilot program is quite small. As reported by nyc.streetsblog, UPS will field two cargo bikes — as against the 6,400 trucks it operates in the city. DHL will have three. . . .
 
ABG:
New York Governor vetoes bill to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters
The assisted bikes preferred by delivery workers will continue to be illegal in NYC
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/12/27/new-york-governor-veto-electric-scooter-bike-bill/


. . . The bill was passed in June with strong support, sailing through both the state Senate and the state Assembly will minimal opposition. The new legislation was particularly desired by delivery workers, according to StreetsBlog NYC, who often prefer e-bikes for their work.

However, Gov. Cuomo chose to veto the bill due to a lack of included safety measures. The bill did not include mandatory helmet requirements, for example, although municipalities could still have chosen to enforce a helmet rule if they had wanted to. A copy of the veto message was posted on Twitter by senior advisor to Gov. Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi. . . .


Veto message here: https://twitter.com/RichAzzopardi/s...9/12/27/nyc-e-bike-scooter-bill-vetoed-cuomo/


Among other issues, he wants them to have a lower speed limit, and doesn't care for e-bikes with throttles:
Specifically with respect to e-bikes, the throttle motor that allows a rider to increase speed without pedaling renders e-bikes indistinguishable from mopeds, which are already regulated and require license plates and driver's licenses.
 
Cuomo is an egomaniac and a dickhead. He's listening to his friends in NYC, where a few dickheads with e-bikes have ruined the image of e-bikers for the whole state. These fools would have been outlawed by just a modest power restriction.
 
ISTM that he raises a valid point - what is the practical difference between an e-bike with a throttle and a moped? I don't see that classifying such a vehicle as a moped would affect you significantly; you've already got a driver's license and can certainly afford a license plate, so beyond the minor extra cost, what difference would it make to you?
 
GRA said:
ISTM that he raises a valid point - what is the practical difference between an e-bike with a throttle and a moped? I don't see that classifying such a vehicle as a moped would affect you significantly; you've already got a driver's license and can certainly afford a license plate, so beyond the minor extra cost, what difference would it make to you?

There are no mopeds that I know of that have a top speed of 20mph or less. Even a 50cc class moped will go 30+ MPH. If it is true that he's using a boy who got hit by a truck and died because of no helmet as an excuse, then I have to ask: what makes an e-bike more likely to get hit by a truck than a strictly human-powered bicycle? If he wants a helmet requirement because he doesn't understand physics, fine. Requiring pedelec (PAS) only bikes is going to hurt mainly handicapped people. You shouldn't have to get a driver's license to ride a 20MPH bicycle. Next he'll be requiring a helmet and driver's license for 12MPH wheelchairs...
 
LeftieBiker said:
GRA said:
ISTM that he raises a valid point - what is the practical difference between an e-bike with a throttle and a moped? I don't see that classifying such a vehicle as a moped would affect you significantly; you've already got a driver's license and can certainly afford a license plate, so beyond the minor extra cost, what difference would it make to you?

There are no mopeds that I know of that have a top speed of 20mph or less. Even a 50cc class moped will go 30+ MPH. If it is true that he's using a boy who got hit by a truck and died because of no helmet as an excuse, then I have to ask: what makes an e-bike more likely to get hit by a truck than a strictly human-powered bicycle. If he wants a helmet requirement because he doesn't understand physics, fine. Requiring pedelec (PAS) only bikes is going to hurt mainly handicapped people. You shouldn't have to get a driver's license to ride a 20MPH bicycle. Next he'll be requiring a helmet and driver's license for 12MPH wheelchairs...


Fair points, although I think he's thinking more of faster e-bikes. Some of the throttle jobs I see around here look more like slightly lightened dirt bikes than bicycles and as you know are a hell of a lot faster than 20 mph, and I can't imagine anyone actually pedaling one as they look like they weigh a ton. Then there are the stand-up scooters I see that are doing at least 25 and maybe 30 mph on the street (often ridden with no helmet; talk about a likely future organ donor).

I dislike all nanny laws such as mandatory helmet use (for adults; kids are a different matter), but ISTM defining pedelecs as e-bikes with max. speed limited to 20 mph, and anything over that is a moped would be a reasonable reg. The human body has evolved to survive impacts up to 20-30 mph or so (human running speed- Usain Bolt averaged 23.35 mph when he set the 100m record, maxing at 27.28 mph), with the likelihood of serious injury/death increasing exponentially above that, which is why many parts of Europe have adopted 30 km (18.6 mph) speed limits for areas with lots of pedestrians/kids; in the UK there's a "20's Plenty for Us" organization which advocates for that MPH speed limit in residential areas, with lots of success: http://www.20splenty.org/

It is desirable to attempt to reduce the speed of road vehicles in some circumstances because the kinetic energy involved in a motor vehicle collision is proportional to the square of the speed at impact. The probability of a fatality is, for typical collision speeds, empirically correlated to the fourth power of the speed difference (depending on the type of collision, not necessarily the same as travel speed) at impact,[121] rising much faster than kinetic energy. . . .

Vision Zero, which envision reducing road fatalities and serious injuries to zero by 2020, suggests the following "possible long term maximum travel speeds related to the infrastructure, given best practice in vehicle design and 100% restraint use":[129]

Possible maximum travel speeds


  • Type of infrastructure and traffic Possible travel speed (km/h)

    Locations with possible conflicts between pedestrians and cars 30 km/h (19 mph)
    Intersections with possible side impacts between cars 50 km/h (31 mph)
    Roads with possible frontal impacts between cars, including rural roads[130] 70 km/h (43 mph)
    Roads with no possibility of a side impact or frontal impact (only impact with the infrastructure) 100 km/h (62 mph)+

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit

Also see the graphs on pages 12-13 of:
Relationship between Speed and
Risk of Fatal Injury: Pedestrians
and Car Occupants
https://nacto.org/docs/usdg/relatio...ry_pedestrians_and_car_occupants_richards.pdf
 
I dislike all nanny laws such as mandatory helmet use (for adults; kids are a different matter), but ISTM defining pedelecs as e-bikes with max. speed limited to 20 mph, and anything over that is a moped would be a reasonable reg.

We don't disagree on that - as long as it's actual top speed, not indicated, and as long as throttles are allowed. It shouldn't matter if a 20mph bicycle has a throttle to help with starting off, and if they want to mandate that the throttle can only work alone for a few seconds at a time I don't even object to that, although I know that others would.
 
Yeah, great. Climb a big hill, cook your battery. I guess that won't be such a big concern, though, as the 250 watt motor guarantees that people will have to use that convenient frame design to sling the bike over their shoulders and carry it up any and all big hills.
 
That seems pricey for what it is.

If I had to do it again I would likely go with the Ride 1 up LMT'd
https://ride1up.com/product/lmtd-2/
It's lighter, and has a built in battery and more low end torque.
 
Yes, that looks good. I need a rear rack and fenders, though, and I don't like built-in batteries because they do deteriorate sooner or later, and then you apparently have to buy a new bike.

I got a new Das Kit from an Ebay seller, so that I can replace the noisy hubmotor on my Metro. It's the same 500 watt geared motor rear wheel assembly the Metro uses, but either they sold me a 27" wheel in a 26" box, or the Schwalbe 26" tire is a very small 26" (despite being what is on the bike now) while the rim is a very large 26". In any case I can't get the damned tire on the wheel...
 
The Ride 1 Up battery is removable, it just sits "in" the U shaped frame instead of bolted on to it. They do have a "city" version as well.
https://ride1up.com/product/700-series/

For reliability and durability through I really like the Rad City, huge beefy back rack and optional front rack as well. Although for true cargo I don't think you could beat the Rad wagon
https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radwagon-electric-cargo-bike
 
I considered Rad Bikes, but the prices are only reasonable if you don't want or need fenders, luggage rack, lights, etc. The motors used to be Direct Drive, and DD hubmotors aren't as good at climbing the large hills we have around here. I think they may have switched to geared motors recently. Someone here bought one, and didn't like the finicky rear brake setup...
 
LeftieBiker said:
either they sold me a 27" wheel in a 26" box, or the Schwalbe 26" tire is a very small 26" (despite being what is on the bike now) while the rim is a very large 26". In any case I can't get the damned tire on the wheel...

Certain rim/tire combinations can be a real pain to mount but be sure you have the right tire for the rim. There are lots of different terms used to describe tire size but the least ambiguous is the ISO number.

For 26" (mtn bike tires) the ISO size is 559.
There were also 26" tires used on old Schwinns (weird, Schwinn-specific sizes) and old English 3-speeds (650A) = ISO 590.
There is also 650B aka 27.5 tires/wheels that are ISO 584.
Some triathalon bikes use 650C which is ISO 571.
Normal road bike tires (700C) are ISO 622.
27" rims/tires (USA market only) are ISO 630.

The ISO size of often printed on the tire sidewall. The only ones that are easy to confuse are 700C and 27". Any other tires will be WAY off in size and they won't even be close to fitting. If the tire is a '26" tire' and it almost fits, it is probably the right size and you are just dealing with a tolerance issue on the tightness of the fit. You can use tire irons to get the tire onto the rim but do be careful to not pinch the tube. Also, different styles of rim tape can make a difference. You might try to put the tire on with no tube first. If it goes on that way, it's the right size and it might stretch a bit over the course of a few days making subsequent mountings easier.
 
I've been getting this same info at EndlessSphere.com, but thanks. The tire seems to say 559. I can get one side of the tire on the rim, but not the other. The tire may be damaged at this point.
 
A new trend this year has been to offer sub-$1k electric bikes with decent components but no suspension at all, save an available suspension seatpost. Good enough for the young, I guess...
 
LeftieBiker said:
A new trend this year has been to offer sub-$1k electric bikes with decent components but no suspension at all, save an available suspension seatpost. Good enough for the young, I guess...

We also need to check the quality of the battery. If this is an irreplaceable part, then I understand why the price is so attractive (
 
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