Ivor Tingting wrote:You are symptomatic of the ignorant selfish people who buy and ride E-bikes. They are not even EEEEEEE bikes. There are MOTOR bikes! It has nothing whatsoever to do with car use. This is your fallacy. To think people like you have corrupted cycling. You are imposters. I take exception that you have the gall to say you are cycling when you are NOT. The whole point here is the selfish justification of people like you who simply cannot be bothered to pedal for themselves. I don't care how fast you go, whether you illegally fiddle with the motors to derestrict so they do considerably faster than allowed. What ever. What I do care about tis the DAMAGE that these so called "bicycles" have contributed to the planet in their manufacture. Are you totally ignorant of where the metals come from to make the motors and batteries? It is nothing to do with other electronic or electrical devices. As if we ever needed motorised bicycles! We didn't. They started appearing as some one or some company thought they could make a lot of money! Do you just close your eyes and ears to this, the huge mining operations around the world and manufacturing processes to manufacture these motors and batteries. Then there is the whole electricity energy industry you need to plug into to keep the batteries charged so you can use the bikes which a conventional bicycle simply doesn't require. From your comment I get the impression you simply do NOT care. Out of sight out of mind, nothing to do with me I only ride the bikes. But you could make a conscious decision and decide NOT to be a part of the marketing scam and stick to riding a conventional all your own effort bicycle without a motor or battery. Your view is typical of motorised bicycle owners justifying their ownership totally ignoring the fact you could still choose to ride a bike without a motor or battery but simply don't because the environmental issues simply don't figure on your radar as you simply don't care. I hate these new motorised bicycles. In my view they go against all that cycling and cyclists have achieved. It is in most peoples human nature to be lazy, to take short cuts, to try to pull one over on others, to try to get something for nothing, to be in denial of reality. Well I suggest you go to Africa, Australia, South America and see the huge open mines where the metals are sourced to make these motors and batteries the huge factories where they are made. It is a huge industry despoiling landscapes and the planet, contributing significant pollution and goes against everything I believe cycling has traditionally represented simply because most people who ride and buy them are simply too lazy to care. if they had any principals then they are quickly ditched. It is shocking. There should no tax breaks whatsoever for these motorised bikes and I object as a tax payer effective subsiding those that manage to get any tax relief on them. In fact they should pay more tax as a penalty for making a bad transport choice.
So vitriolic you posted it twice
For the record,I own four solo bicycles a Tern folder,Genesis Vagabond,a Genesis Longitude,and a Salsa Vaya,I also own a KHS childback tandem for taking my many grandchildren out for a ride,none of them are electric assist,though the granchildren give a nice turbo boost when needed
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We also own a Circe tandem that's been fitted with an electric assist kit (front wheel motor and a 17ah battery),we were forced to sell our Cannondale and Santana(unassisted)tandems when Mrs R2's health deteriotated due to Parkinson's disease.
The Circe was bought for it's low stepover as Mrs R2's flexibility is affected,Parkinson's syptoms are many and varied one of which is a lack of energy,so electric assist was needed for her to enjoy any cycling at all.
There you have my/our excuses for raping the planet of it's natural resources,and being lazy buggers,which also includes us owning and using a car(evil diesel),using electric and gas in our home that consumes even more of the planet's resourses.As for batteries we also own a mobile phone each,and there's a tablet and laptop in the home all run on LiOn batteries,I also own three cordless drills two have NiMh and one has LiOn batteries,there's also lead acid batteries in the car and in our caravan.
So by your reckoning we're beyond redemption it would seem
If you live without any of these modern day resourses or travel anywhere and everywhere under your own self propelled effort you have my highest admiration otherwise don't crow.
The problem with zealots is they like to point the finger without considering the overall picture,we humans have been draining the earth's resources since we stood upright and whilst I agree those resources are finite we can reduce our consumption,an e-bike as I stated previously can be part of that reduction if the alternative is an ICE or even an electric powered car.
IMO your claims of purity are spurious and fall flat unless your use of electric and batteries that store that electricity are absent,which I strongly suspect are not.
