Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

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> (and everyone had to walk or e-bike or mobility scooter in the zone)

E-bikes are very popular where I live. At first it was great to see people of all ages out biking everywhere.

But now everyone has started modifying their e-bikes to be overpowered and not require any pedaling. A lot of the cheap e-bikes have trivial procedures to unlock the power limit. Anyone who can search Reddit can figure out what to buy and how to do it quickly.

There's a multi-use pedestrian and bike path that parallels a road on my way to the office. In the mornings I commonly see e-bikes on the bike path going faster than the 30mph road traffic. I've been clipped by multiple e-bike riders who blew through stop signs or jumped from sidewalk to road. Last week I had to jump out of the way of an older woman on an e-bike who zoomed through a red light and turned right because she didn't see me in the crosswalk somehow.

A lot of these things are illegal, of course, but enforcement is non-existent.

It's weird to see it play out like this, though I should have seen it coming. I think even a small threat of enforcement and having modified bikes confiscated if used on public roads would make a lot of people think twice. For now, it feels like it's just an electric motorcycle free for all wherever we have a dedicated pedestrian and bike area.

It's just an electric motorcycle...

Fat tire E-bikes, recommended by Bicycling magazine.[1]

1933 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.[2]

It is an electric motorcycle.

It would be better to treat the more powerful E-bikes as electric scooters. Lose the pedals, lower the CG, require license plates, turn signals, and helmets. That's standard practice in China, which encourages electric scooters but discourages high-speed E-bikes.[3] "Electric mobility devices" - e-bikes, Segways, hoverboards, etc. are limited to 20km/h and have size restrictions. China already had a huge scooter fleet, which is going electric, but e-bikes never really caught on. E-scooters did, instead.

[1] https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a33313406/best-fat-tire...

[2] https://www.rideapart.com/features/247168/rebirth-of-an-amer...

[3] https://www.pacificprime.cn/blog/scooters-and-mopeds-china-c...

> It is an electric motorcycle.

The laws generally require that an e-bike must be under a certain power limit and the user has to pedal to keep it going. The power is for pedal assist only.

This is the difference between your links. The e-bike and the electric motorcycle have very different power limits and are controlled differently.

The unlocks remove the power limit and the mods can add a throttle so the user doesn’t have to pedal.

These turn it into an electric motorcycle under the law.

One is allowed on certain bike trails. An electric motorcycle is not.

That's a US definition pushed by the E-bike industry.[1] The EU has a completely different classification system.[2] Anything above a US class 1 e-bike comes with more restrictions.

Good E-bike vs. Motorcycle discussion.[3]

[1] https://bikexchange.com/electric-bike-classes/

[2] https://www.voltriderz.com/european-e-bike-regulations/

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM8Xli2KTzI

The problem is people not cars or bikes because we rarely take into account how what we do affects other people. Riding my bike, I try to always consider the delta in speed between me and other folks. Sure I can speed along the walkway if there's no one else but as soon as there are or could be people around, I better slow down. Not only for safety but also to reduce stress on whoever is slower. Maybe we're too focussed on ourselves, maybe our community has broken down, maybe we don't consider each other real fellow humans.

> Maybe we're too focussed on ourselves, maybe our community has broken down, maybe we don't consider each other real fellow humans.

I think this is unquestionably a problem in modern society. Too many interactions are purely transactional. People are isolated and lonely. Many people are only out for themselves. Community has definitely broken down

I don't know how to fix this and I'm definitely part of the problem, but I think it is a very big problem

This is essentially the premise of Bowling Alone. The solution is not easy, but it is simple. We as individuals need to rebuild community in our towns and cities. Start a club, start a pickup soccer game that meets regularly, join existing fraternal societies that are aching for new members or start your own new society. Volunteer at your local food bank regularly.

If you know your neighbors, you are less likely to run them down on your e-bike.

> If you know your neighbors, you are less likely to run them down on your e-bike.

And if you know your neighbor and maybe even rely on them somehow, it makes it much easier to accept certain behavior or opinions for example. It's much too easy to dismiss other people because they don't look like us or think like us, there is no downside because everyone only needs themselves.

It's sad but my hope is that the climate breakdown, wealth inequality for example will eventually lead to a "rebuilding" of a more localized society where we depend and help each other. Maybe hard times will come and give us a bit of a shake as a species.

An "unlocked" e-bike is just an e-moped, and should be confined to streets where mopeds are allowed. It's not even clear that such a vehicle can safely share the street with ordinary bikes, let alone pedestrians.

Get the cars out of the streets and the (possibly modified) ebikes onto them... They have a literally smaller footprint, and are a huge improvement over cars.

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