Cycling UK Forum

Flipping heck - how perfect would the World need to be before we get down to arguing the morality of which bike you choose to ride.

If you would benefit from it for health/injury reasons, or want it for no other reason than you simply enjoy having it, then go for it. You don't need anyone else's permission or approval.

PH wrote:Flipping heck - how perfect would the World need to be before we get down to arguing the morality of which bike you choose to ride.

Quite!

reohn2 wrote:

PH wrote:Flipping heck - how perfect would the World need to be before we get down to arguing the morality of which bike you choose to ride.

Quite!

I agree: when one person chooses there is no issue. But if 5 million people choose maybe (just maybe) there is.

PH wrote:Flipping heck - how perfect would the World need to be before we get down to arguing the morality of which bike you choose to ride.

Absolutely! I think someone put their own interpretation on my article title and if you read the article you'll realise it has absolutely nothing to do with the morality of installing e-assist. The article addresses some arguments that have spurned lately, mostly on the various FB groups, about whether you're getting a proper workout on a trike with e-assist and should you therefore install a motor if you intend to use the trike for exercise.

And should you?

horizon wrote:And should you?

Why would anyone think otherwise?
Without a motor for various reasons exercise could be far less due to restricted use.

As for 5million e-bikes/trikes,etc the sooner the better IMO as it'll put cycling on the map in a country wedded to the car for short hop transport,and in so doing become a movement successive diabolically poor governments where cycling is concerned,can't ignore.
In turn it may pave(sorry)the way for better cycling infrastructure,less car use and greater respect for cycling as a result.

All I know is that for one reason and another, my cycling use was tailing off a couple of years ago & after I had a nano conversion on my Brompton, it perked up again. Nuff said, I think.

horizon wrote:

reohn2 wrote:

PH wrote:Flipping heck - how perfect would the World need to be before we get down to arguing the morality of which bike you choose to ride.

Quite!

I agree: when one person chooses there is no issue. But if 5 million people choose maybe (just maybe) there is.

Right again horizon
If 5m upgrade from car to e-bike that might be good, hope they use roads, mind
If 5m downgrade from musclecycle to e-bike it could be disastrous, speeds would rise

Speed kills

Cyril Haearn wrote:

horizon wrote:

reohn2 wrote:Quite!

I agree: when one person chooses there is no issue. But if 5 million people choose maybe (just maybe) there is.

Right again horizon
If 5m upgrade from car to e-bike that might be good, hope they use roads, mind
If 5m downgrade from musclecycle to e-bike it could be disastrous, speeds would rise

Speed kills

Not sure why speeds would rise, given limits on ebikes. I regularly travel faster than 22kph but that has nothing to do with my having an ebike since the power cuts out. And since most simple human beings cannot both cycle and drive simultaneously.....

Cyril Haearn wrote:

horizon wrote:

reohn2 wrote:Quite!

I agree: when one person chooses there is no issue. But if 5 million people choose maybe (just maybe) there is.

Right again horizon
If 5m upgrade from car to e-bike that might be good, hope they use roads, mind
If 5m downgrade from musclecycle to e-bike it could be disastrous, speeds would rise

Speed kills

So you think the change from car use to e-bike use is a retrograde step due speed?
I think there may be a sliigghhttt increase in speed between a bike and an e-bike use which the differential would be mainly uphill,but compared to cars it would be minor by comparison and that's before we even get into kinetic energy on impact,parking,pollution,noise,cost in health issues,etc,etc.
I'm inclined to prefer city and town centres full of e-bikes than the smelly noisy dangerous jammed up equivelant presently endured whenever I go into one.

No - he was saying car -> bike good.
muscle bike -> bike might increase speed..

It wouldn't increase speed to a dangerous level... there isn't a continuous relationship between speed on the road and danger.

Sorry my mistake,and I agree speed in this context doesnt mean significant danger.
But in the UK there won't be a sudden(5million)increase in e-bike use and with it a speed increase,unless those e-bike users are changing from other forms of transport not just bikes.
For that to happen car use will need to be severely restricted within towns and cities,the sooner the better IMO,only then when the private car is absent on the roads will something more benign take it's place,which predominently will be public transport.
But it will open the door for a better more sustainable transport option such as bike,e-bike,and lightweight e-vehicles.

I have a GTech bike which I inherited so it cost me nothing. I use it sometimes for a 20 mile run I do as the average speed is higher than my usual but I feel it does not have the range I would like. I looked at ebikes but I do not think battery range for my needs is enough without spending silly money. I opted in the end for an Ice Adventure which I could I think upgrade in the future if I last long enough to need it.

I have recently fitted a motor to our tandem trike. Personally I don’t need one on a bike but we are both 71 and my wife struggles a lot on the tandem on the hills. We haven’t done a lot of riding with it yet, but the three hilly rides we have done have been far more pleasurable. We have only tuned the motor on when climbing, turning it off again at the top. We both still get a good workout but return home without feeling completely worn out. Our rides have been between 45 and 57 miles and the battery level meter has not moved yet. So using the assist only when it is really needed, a good mileage is easily possible. With regard to replacing the battery when it is done, even if it is obsolete, as long as the new one has the same voltage it should be just a case of fitting it to the bike plugging it in. The one I have simply fits to the bike bottle mounts.
So my feelings are fit one if you need the assistance, but not if you just want an easy ride to the shops.