Vorpal wrote:Ivor Tingting wrote:
As a moderator I would have thought you of all people would be aware of CyclingUK's policies particularly on a thread you are actively contributing to.
I am no longer a Cycling UK member. The forum is run by volunteers, not Cycling UK staff.
Ivor Tingting wrote:There is a really NASTY current of ridicule and humiliation in this thread from people who advocate and promote electric bikes toward those principally me who wish maintain and protect traditional cycling against imposter electric bikes becoming the norm. First point you are NOT cycling, so don't even attempt to justify that you are. Even if I did ride an Ebike which shall never ever happen I wouldn't even have the nerve to infiltrate traditional cycling and claim I still was. The shame. I couldn't do it. Perhaps it is you electric bike riders who should clear off and find some where else to revel in your sloth.
While I have moderated a couple of posts, I have some difficulty with you telling your fellow forumites that they are lazy, not cyclists, etc. and should clear off and go revel in their sloth, yet complain about others. Do you honestly think it is not nasty humiliation of a worse sort to say to a disabled cyclist that they are not a cyclist at all but stand in juxtaposition to all that cyclists have fought for? That they have 'infiltrated traditional cycling'? Really? When disabled cyclists already have to fight to have their needs as cyclists recognised, they should also have to fight to simply be recognised as cyclists? When they are so often forgotten in planning that includes stupid barriers, no cycling zones, and 'cyclists dismount' signs? You want to make them fight to merely be accepted as cyclists?!? There are very few post on this forum that really make me feel angry, but this is one of them.
Ivor Tingting wrote:I am done with this. It is upsetting and depressing to find cycling has been hijacked by the lazy brigade who just want to legitimise their motorised transport within cycling siting lame health issues. Please allow yourselves to be medically assessed to qualify for an electric bike. So many people I see riding electric bikes are perfectly fit and healthy and riding far in excess of the 15mph the motors should be limited to. I cannot believe I am the only traditional cyclist that feels this way. There must be other cyclists like me but who are too scared to speak up for fear of being bullied by the ever bigger and stronger Ebike mafia.
I doubt that you are the only cyclist who feels that way, but I sincerely hope that you are few and far between. As for people going too fast, antisocial behaviour needs to be dealt with as such. It doesn't matter what form of transport. Personally, if someone is going to behave like a ****, I'd far rather they did it on an ebike than in a car.
Ivor Tingting wrote:I have tried highlighting the environmental damage that the manufacture of Ebikes and their components cause the environment not to mention their reliance on continuous charging from the national grid, but this is just ignored. The only conclusion I can draw is that electric bike riders do not give a crap about the environment because if they did they wouldn't buy or ride them. Period. Cars have nothing to do it. People have a choice traditional all your own effort bicycle or electric bike. Good choice or bad choice. But if you make the bad choice don't claim you are still a cyclist as you are NOT. You ride an electric bike. The antithesis of traditional cycling.
While it true that folks who can ride normal bikes would do better both for themselves and the environment to do so, rather than ebikes, all of the folks that I know who could ride normal bikes, have replaced their cars with ebikes, rather than their bikes. That's got to be better for the environment, not worse. I don't have an ebike, so it's not something I have researched in depth. Very little boils down to good choice or bad choice; it is more nuanced than that.