On Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at 10:46:36 PM UTC, AMuzi wrote:

There just are fewer electric bicycles. So far...

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Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

I'm no longer so sure. I've of course heard all the talk of the coming e-bike revolution, but my own bike is now ten years old, and in that time I've seen precisely three e-bikes beside my own in a catchment are of 40-50,000 people. It is as well to describe them:

2x were tourists down from a nearby city on rented e-bikes, looking for a place to charge them. Both standard 25kph limited pedelecs.

1x driver who did his license for a year for drink-driving, something not tolerated in our society. 750W centre Bafang motor in a custom built bike. I ride past his house often and when we met on the road he offered me a ride: I was impressed by the torque and acceleration, and by the comfort too on 60mm Big Apples, same as on my bike, but didn't attempt to establish a top speed; around 40mph would not surprise me. Not a bike for either a novice bicyclist or a cocky rider or even a rider of small motorcycles. An experienced superbike rider, he rides on the road with cars, not on paths unless he goes offroad. He thought that if he'd spoken to me first, he would have specified a smaller motor so he could have more range, because he thought my bike a good balance between power and range.

Several people on fora with me have followed me into electrifying their bikes with mid-motors and all are using them. But that increases the universe from which my sample is drawn to ten of millions... Anyway, they don't change my conclusion (below): they're all longterm cyclists, tourers, commuters, coming naturally (age, disabilities) to electric *assistance*.

And that's it. I know several more people with electric bikes gathering dust in their garages but they rode them so little before they parked them for good that I never saw them on their bikes. But they stop their cars in town and out on the road to ask if my bike is for sale. They're under the impression that my bike is possessed of some German magic that makes my battery go further by several multiples than theirs did -- they just don't believe it is because I pedal and cut in the battery only when my heart rate exceeds the permitted limit. They look at me in horror when I tell them that I charge the battery even if I rode it only a couple of klicks to the shops and back. They wrecked their bikes by running the batteries flat because they bought the bikes for "exercise" and then didn't exercise but used their bikes like motorbikes. ***They're not cyclists.***

And that is the key. Established cyclists understand the concept of looking after your equipment and thus make the transition to e-bikes easily. Non-cyclists will not be persuaded by electric bikes to become anything you will recognise as a cyclist. A new generation might grow up to be electric cyclists without first being cyclists, but that is pure speculation arrived at by elimination, never the most persuasive of reasoning methods.

Andre Jute
So how come I can't see the revolution I'm supposed to be leading?