Is electric the end of the bike as we know it

[skyhawk]

Will there come a time when all bikes will have motors and buying a non electric bike will be either next to impossible or used only

[reohn2]

No.
EDIT:- And furthermore as e-bike use increases as it surely will and as a matter of course increasing overall bike use,infrastructure will need to increase as a result and there'll follow a critical mass that government both local and national will not be able to ignore.
I see the e-bike as a saviour of cycling not a curse,of course there'll be some downsides but nowhere near as much as there is now.

[squeaker]

No.

+1

[Freddie]

They'll always be more expensive than a regular bikes and there will always be people that enjoy the exercise/quiet of cycling to not want a motor.

Speaking of quiet, a couple came past me on relatively recent carbon bikes and the cassette hub was making an awful racket, couldn't put up with that.

[Cugel]

Will there come a time when all bikes will have motors and buying a non electric bike will be either next to impossible or used only

Depends on the degree and force of the adverts. If enough sheep-peep take them up, we will then be told that, "No one wants a non e-bike. I've told that to 28 people asking for an old-fashioned bike today".

It'll start with Le Tour being on e-bikes, "to make it more of an exciting spectacle". MAMILS and faux-racers of every ilk & tittle will then demand one. The bike industry will chuckle gleefully and sell them like hot cakes.

Cugel, resisting one so far despite having to grovel & suffer on the ladywife's electrified back wheel.

[whoof]

Do you mean in the same way that the invention of the motor boat brought about the end of swimming, sailing and rowing? Or that the advent of the mobility scooter has resulted in no one other than a few extremist ramblers walking?

[Phil Fouracre]

Of course, obviously

[Ivor Tingting]

Will there come a time when all bikes will have motors and buying a non electric bike will be either next to impossible or used only

People's selfishness and ignorance regarding conserving the planet knows no depths. Even if every single forest has been cut down and all we can see is rubbish all around us up to and beyond the horizon and into the seas, landscapes destroyed for mining to dig out the raw materials to make the motors and batteries for these lazEEEE-bikes, people would still buy them as they are lazy and selfish.

We had it in our grasp, the humble bicycle, but no the greed and laziness of people had to ruin it. Look what has happened in China. Literally huge mountains of abandoned redundant surplus to requirement bicycles.

The same happened to sail and the clippers when steam ships came in which also died a death when aviation started. Now most of our cargo is moved by huge diesel powered supertankers. Sail died a death a long long long time ago. Traditional cycling ALL YOUR OWN EFFORT will go the same way. People just don't care. It's depressing and upsetting.

[reohn2]

Will there come a time when all bikes will have motors and buying a non electric bike will be either next to impossible or used only

People's selfishness and ignorance regarding conserving the planet knows no depths. Even if every single forest has been cut down and all we can see is rubbish all around us up to and beyond the horizon and into the seas, landscapes destroyed for mining to dig out the raw materials to make the motors and batteries for these lazEEEE-bikes, people would still buy them as they are 888888888888 lazy and selfish.

We had it in our grasp, the humble bicycle, but no the greed and laziness of people had to ruin it. Look what has happened in China. Literally huge mountains of abandoned redundant surplus to requirement bicycles.

The same happened to sail and the clippers when steam ships came in which also died a death when aviation started. Now most of our cargo is moved by huge diesel powered supertankers. Sail died a death a long long long time ago. Traditional cycling ALL YOUR OWN EFFORT will go the same way. People just don't care. It's depressing and upsetting.

I like to see a well argued and thought out point,however that wasn't it
What of the the electric light you turned on as it went dark last night,the warm water you washed in this morning,the window you looked through to the world outside,the dwelling you live in,the food you eat and the delivery system that enabled you to enjoy it,the clothes on your back,the computer you typed your acrid reply on this thread,the very bicycle you ride and claim to be so much better?
Where do you think the raw materials came from ,cloud cuckoo land?
Or were they mined and extracted or grown from the earth we live on and manufactured into what you need for a pleasant life?

You appear to have a very blinkered view of the world you live in,one that shuts out the truth to suit your own misaligned,jaundiced and skewed attitude to anyone who disagrees.

[Pete Owens]

No - In the same way that mopeds never did. The original mopeds were just power assisted bicycles in the way ebikes are now until they morphed into small motorbikes.

[Cugel]

Will there come a time when all bikes will have motors and buying a non electric bike will be either next to impossible or used only

People's selfishness and ignorance regarding conserving the planet knows no depths. Even if every single forest has been cut down and all we can see is rubbish all around us up to and beyond the horizon and into the seas, landscapes destroyed for mining to dig out the raw materials to make the motors and batteries for these lazEEEE-bikes, people would still buy them as they are just so firkin lazy and selfish.

We had it in our grasp, the humble bicycle, but no the greed and laziness of people had to ruin it. Look what has happened in China. Literally huge mountains of abandoned redundant surplus to requirement bicycles.

The same happened to sail and the clippers when steam ships came in which also died a death when aviation started. Now most of our cargo is moved by huge diesel powered supertankers. Sail died a death a long long long time ago. Traditional cycling ALL YOUR OWN EFFORT will go the same way. People just don't care. It's depressing and upsetting.

I have sent you some clay tablets and a stylus so you don't have to use the lecky involved with that computer thing, the servers, the interweb and so forth. In return you could perhaps sent me details of your own lecky-avoiding procedures. Do you watch the tele whilst turning a large hamster wheel generator quite vigorously, for example? Perhaps you do the ironing by lying supine in a creased T-shirt? One only hopes you grew the cotton in the back garden and wove that T-shirt yoursen!

Cugel, enjoying your rants.

[mercalia]

yep when we see the Tour de France done on ebikes?

[rjb]

At the speed rail fares are increasing there must come a point when commuters will switch to electric bikes.

[al_yrpal]

In 2012 I visited China visiting several cities including Beijing, Xian, Shanghai and HK. On two wheels Electric bikes were almost universal and in all that time I only saw a handful of conventional cyclists. So, for commuters and getting about cities I think electric bikes will increase and become more common here. Obviously we have a different culture and many cycle not only for convenience but for fitness too. If you twiddle the settings correctly you can get a decent workout on an electric bike and cover greater distances with less effort.

Its funny, but visiting several Vietnamese cities at the same time, petrol fueled scooters was the predominant means of transport?

Al

[Oldjohnw]

I hope that Mr Tingling is not suggesting that we all fly to China to check out the electric bikes.

Mischievously,