The utility cyclist wrote:however the speed in which the users of e-bikes can accelerate and the top speed compared to ones normal speed you could do under your own steam is absolutely an issue that is being ignored.
Well the assist is legally required to cut out above 15.5mph, which might be faster than unfit people can power themselves but is hardly breakneck speeds.
That most ebikes a bricks will hinder going much over 15.5 either....
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
In the OP it sounds like it was acceleration rather than top speed that enabled the rider to get past and do a left hook. Can someone who actually has experience of riding various ebikes comment on how fast they will accelerate compared to the average cyclist (whatever that is)?
The utility cyclist wrote:however the speed in which the users of e-bikes can accelerate and the top speed compared to ones normal speed you could do under your own steam is absolutely an issue that is being ignored.
Well the assist is legally required to cut out above 15.5mph, which might be faster than unfit people can power themselves but is hardly breakneck speeds.
That most ebikes a bricks will hinder going much over 15.5 either....
The acceleration is nothing to write home about either.
Nobody ever frightened themselves on a screw-and-go moped with a mighty 5bhp. In comparison an ebike has a 1/3hp motor which is about the same as a 5cc engine shoehorned into a radio controlled aircraft.
Looking for reasons to support an irrational dislike of something is the underlying mechanism at play here I think.
Si wrote:In the OP it sounds like it was acceleration rather than top speed that enabled the rider to get past and do a left hook. Can someone who actually has experience of riding various ebikes comment on how fast they will accelerate compared to the average cyclist (whatever that is)?
I can accelerate moderately quickly under my own steam. On an ebike I probably accelerate about the same - mainly because I pull off in an higher gear - although it means I can 'hold' the acceleration for longer. From experience I'm certainly no quicker than a moderately quick cyclist off the line.
Perhaps the OP was particularly slow getting off the line and she just 'went for it'? I've been frustrated even on the local Citybikes sometimes by how slow other cyclists get going.
Legally compliant ones have more acceleration than the average utility cyclist not putting much effort in, but not more than a reasonably fit person putting some effort in. The legal limit on power is 250W so there's no reason the left hooking cyclist couldn't just be a normal one.
The OPs problem was mostly rubbish cycling behaviour really (edit: on I meant on behalf of the cyclist on the ebike), I see a fair bit of poor positioning at lights from all kinds of cyclists. More normally I find it's folk all huddling right on the left heading straight on.
Last edited by Stevek76 on 8 Feb 2018, 7:20pm, edited 1 time in total.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
Si wrote:In the OP it sounds like it was acceleration rather than top speed that enabled the rider to get past and do a left hook.
Yes - that is exactly the case - I don't think she would have put herself on the outside at the lights had she been on a normal bike and she certainly wouldn't have got ahead of me. Surprised by the amount of venom this thread has generated - I can see huge advantages in e-bikes getting people out of cars and on 2 wheels - but like any other vehicle, you still get some muppets using them.
Revolution wrote:Yes - that is exactly the case - I don't think she would have put herself on the outside at the lights had she been on a normal bike and she certainly wouldn't have got ahead of me. Surprised by the amount of venom this thread has generated - I can see huge advantages in e-bikes getting people out of cars and on 2 wheels - but like any other vehicle, you still get some muppets using them.
10% of people are muppets regardless of transport.
The only thing I find odd about that scenario is ebikes really aren't that quick. I'd never pull up alongside a cyclist and assume I could get in front in time to make a turn and that's even as a moderately quick cyclist with a motor assist to boot. There's simply too much risk and no safe fallback if you can't pull it off.
But then I'm assuming the decision is rational, perhaps I'm wrong...
Cyril Haearn wrote:If what the utility cyclist writes is true, what then?
Looking at their posts in the electric car thread I think they simply have an issue with electric vehicles. Whether it's the vehicles or they're batterophobic who knows.
On the plus side you'd struggle to find any technological shift that didn't have legions of decriers so it's just par for the course of the human race.
I believe what the utility cyclist wrote about older e-bike riders and 'accidents' until I see some figures to prove or disprove
I suspect what you're seeing is merely that e-bike riders tend to be older in general. There are few analyses of e-bike casualties yet. One of the few is https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 7514002231 about Switzerland which concludes "With respect to differences between the injury severity of e-bikers and bicyclists to-date no clear statement can be drawn. It is suggested to regularly evaluate e-bike accidents to show trends and/or identify changes."
STATS19 doesn't have different Type of Vehicle codes for e-bikes and other cycles, despite some form of e-bike existing in UK law since the 1980s if not before. I don't know whether that's changed with CRASH.
Anyway, left-hooking isn't going to be recorded in any police reports if it doesn't result in a collision or getting stopped, so submit it to http://www.CollideOScope.org.uk as a near miss if you want it recorded.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Out of curiosity, how easy is it to customise the kit to go above the 15mph limit? Human nature being as it is, there will doubtless be people toying around with this, and presumably it would be extremely hard to test for modifications at the roadside.
The utility cyclist wrote:the negative effects of big uptakes in e-bikes even in the safest country in the world for bicyclists is clear to see.
OMG!
Run for the hills! The ebikes are coming and not just any old ebike, an ebike ridden by a woman that on a good day downhill could hit 15mph in as little as 8 seconds! Get them safely back in cars where they belong. Who amongst us will petition the Queen?
LOL as the yoof might say. Summed up situation very nicely. Although not very pleasant at the then time seems like an Isolated incident
toontra wrote:Out of curiosity, how easy is it to customise the kit to go above the 15mph limit? Human nature being as it is, there will doubtless be people toying around with this, and presumably it would be extremely hard to test for modifications at the roadside.
If it is a China OEM hub bike not to hard and often easy, if a China after market hub kit very, very easy. If mid dirve like Bosch, Yamah,steps etc still all built in China/Taiwan harder but can be done with an expensive dongle. Hub motors 19- 20 mph quite esaily if unrestricted with good input and faster if you up the voltage.
I'm all for ebikes, though I don't have/want one myself, but I'm not sure all of them have their speed limiters set where they should be- that may explain the op's problem.
It's also the case that when a lot of middle and late-middle aged blokes became able to afford the motorbike they had always wanted (a Harley or whatever) there was a big increase in fatalities in that age group, obviously with more of them riding there would be some increase, but I have heard bikers saying that the fatalities are out of proportion because those blokes hadn't had a bike since they were 20 and had a far less powerful bike and had bought something far too powerful for what was, in effect, due to lapse of time, a beginner- and often an overweight and unfit beginner at that. I wonder if that may be the case with ebikes - people who have forgotten how to ride a bike properly and are now going faster than they did when they last rode decades ago (because of the motor).
Yup! I think you're right about the older/returning riders. Looking at a couple of articles on cycling in Holland, they seem to think that this is the cause of a 'spike' over there!!
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
