Red Puffa Guy had a transverse saddle on his motorbike. Like a shooting stick or something.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"The electric bike is not a short-term trend"
(506 posts)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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Ridgeback expands e-bike range
Posted 4 years ago # -
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Even a switch to bicycles (including electric bikes and scooters) is only part of the answer. Fundamentally, this is not a vehicle problem but an urban design problem. Or rather, it is an urban design problem created by our favoured vehicle. Cars have made everything bigger and further away. Paris, under its mayor Anne Hidalgo, is seeking to reverse this trend, by creating a “15-minute city”, in which districts that have been treated by transport planners as mere portals to somewhere else become self-sufficient communities – each with their own shops, parks, schools and workplaces, within a 15-minute walk of everyone’s home.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/23/electric-cars-transport-train-companies
Posted 4 years ago # -
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Our business is expanding and we're building the biggest carbon-neutral eBike shop in the UK.
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https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-us-recharge-the-electric-cycle-company#/
(In Granton)
Posted 4 years ago # -
@chdot, sadly the crowdfunder seems to have ended I might have bought a clothing voucher otherwise.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Interesting article @chdot.
Couple of wild figures on range though. 15 mile range quoted by one pensioner quoted is incredibly low. Probably had throttle.
Then Raleigh claims it can get 135 miles out of a 500wh Bosch battery. Normal max would be 50 miles (way more than any average bike journey)
Good to see EST offer in Scotland mentioned. 4 year interest free loan thanks to Holyrood.
Halfords at al probably hate that entry into finance market here I'm sure and wi l be glad other devolved admins have not taken up (being few Greens to promote it elsewhere in UK). Halfords run the Cycle2Work scheme here used by University of Edinburgh and others.Lastly Canyon are looking at quadracycles. This German based direct sale company (no dealers) has a lot of cash to spend. Citroën have already entered with their electric micro quad - the Ami. Canyon will require you to control assist electrics with feet (by pedalling as normal e-bike).
https://electrek.co/2020/12/24/canyons-four-wheeled-electric-pedal-car-investment/
Posted 3 years ago # -
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The company’s former premises in Granton Road are to become the base for new “community interest company” Urban Initiatives, which will focus on e-bike and e-cargo bike hire, bike maintenance and training, and local guided e-bike tours.
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Posted 3 years ago # -
My cousin in Glasgow is getting an electric bike. Says he's going for a Ribble which looks like a rival to Boardman.
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-al-e/
versus
https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2327-adv-8.9e.html
Seems to be a continuing trend towards electric bikes with road bike looks and battery well hidden. Anyone here ridden one of these 'electric sports adventure bikes'?
Posted 3 years ago # -
The Ribble one looks nicer. IMO.
Though the Boardman battery can be removed.
Claims of 56 miles and 60 miles range on Breeze mode. Dependent on your weight and rid8ng style.
Posted 3 years ago # -
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“The Cowboy 4 completely redefines life in and around cities,” said Adrien Roose, Cowboy co-founder and CEO. “By designing two frame types featuring our first-ever step-through model, an integrated cockpit, and a new app, we are now able to address a much larger audience and cater to many more riders to move freely in and around cities.
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https://www.micromobilitybiz.com/cowboy-introduces-latest-generation-of-urban-electric-bike/amp/
Posted 3 years ago # -
From link -
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“Policymaking is often out of step with the things we really value in our lives, and yet it shapes them so profoundly that we can lose sight of the fact that even the most apparently immutable things – the way we travel every day, the design of our cities, even my fear of cycling – all could be different,” he writes.
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Posted 3 years ago # -
Posted 3 years ago #
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The report provides a new figure for e-bikes. While the ECF estimates a manufacturing carbon footprint of 134kg, Trek’s figures show that electrifying any bike adds about 65kg of CO2e to production emissions. Making a basic commuter e-bike would therefore produce about 165kg of CO2e.
But compared with the manufacturing impact of a car, the differences between a conventional bike and an electric one are marginal. Making a small hatchback produces about 5.5 tonnes of CO2e. An electric version adds another 2-4 tonnes owing to the battery and electric motor. And manufacturing an SUV produces up to 13 tonnes.
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Posted 3 years ago # -
Driving a oil propelled car 12,000 miles in a year would produce around 50 tonnes of CO2
"The average passenger vehicle emits about 411 grams of CO2 per mile."(411x12000/100 converted to tonnes)
So although that extra production CO2 seems substantial, presumably over the life of the car it its reduced significantly (especially given UK electricity now around 98% green)?
Posted 3 years ago # -
This has very strong vibes of the music industry trying to deal with the panic around downloads back in the 90s. If there is a mass problem with people making their e-bikes go faster then it shows a significant number of 'normal people' consider it both desirable and safe enough to do so (even including the risk of getting fined).
These kind of 'desire lines' should prompt us to look at the ebike regulations just like tracks wearing through the grass in a park prompt us to consider where paths go.
For example, why should ebikes stop at 16mph in a country where we're adopting a 20mph default speed limit? After all, nobody's suggesting it should be illegal to pedal the bike up to 20mph with your own legs. It would be interesting to know how many 'chipped' riders are basically only doing it so they can slot into car traffic instead of constantly getting overtaken.
Personally, I'm not willing to ride around on a chipped ebike but I would definitely spend a few grand to get a faster ebike if it was legal. When I was commuting to the west end I really noticed a lot more bad car interactions on our ebike than my road bike (where I could average 25mph or more).
Posted 3 years ago # -
@Dave the first point in your argument could be extended to speeding in cars.
Your second point (for example ...) seems stronger, but I would note that e-bikes can also use shared paths for example. One would like to take it as read that people would be sensible, but that is not completely true for those on bikes as it demonstrably isn't for drivers.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I think the manufacturers probably have a different game in mind - DRM everything so only "official" parts will work. Because of the tampering u kno. Cynical swine.
On the policy front while faster e-bikes/s-pedelecs are fine with me for general traffic use there are situations (shared use paths to pick one) where their use would be inappropriate (just as smashing it at 25mph on a road bike would be).
Different regulations than the ones we have are needed, rather than just upping the assist limit from 15mph to 20mph (say).
Posted 3 years ago # -
Are modifications really that much of a problem? The only ebikes I've seen going suspiciously fast or without pedalling have looked like conversions of normal bikes.
The cynical angle, I suppose, would then be that they're trying to say "we've got our house in order, you just need to ban these (competing) conversion kits".
Posted 3 years ago # -
Perhaps drones are a salient example.
All kinds of rules and regs for responsible manufacturers and users to follow, allegedly ignored by naughty people.
Also much hysteria.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/01/the-mystery-of-the-gatwick-drone
Posted 3 years ago # -
While @Dave may be able to commute on a normal bike at 25mph, that's not an option for most people. While acknowledging the 'desire line' argument, that's only applicable for bikes on the road mixing it with motor vehicles. For bikes that use cycle infrastructure and shared infrastructure, it seems reasonable to me that they are limited to a speed which normal people can reasonably reach as a maximum.
tl;dr summary - if you want to go fast on an e-bike on the road, get an electric motorbike with tax/insurance etc that doesn't look like a bicycle and isn't allowed on bike paths.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@Dave the first point in your argument could be extended to speeding in cars.
That's a good point, but I think the key difference is you can quite legally pedal the bike yourself at 20mph, and this is not a difficult speed to achieve in the grand scheme of things. Yet there is no real campaign to force cyclists to only pedal at 16mph for safety reasons.
While it's hard to think of a safety advantage of letting drivers speed, if you were to align ebikes to the speed limit in 20 zones you'd expect fewer bike/car interactions and thus better safety. It's more like the rationale for increasing HGV speed limits to 50mph on the A9 (even though technically, letting them go faster seems like it only has safety downsides)
Posted 3 years ago # -
tl;dr summary - if you want to go fast on an e-bike on the road, get an electric motorbike with tax/insurance etc that doesn't look like a bicycle and isn't allowed on bike paths.
But these people just drive cars... I can't think of anyone I know who would want a bike that they couldn't cycle up Middle Meadow Walk and had to go through the hell that is Tolcross instead.
You could get a motorbike, but then how do you do the shopping or take the kids anywhere? There aren't really "cargo motorbikes" (in fact if you get an S-pedelec it's illegal to use either child seats or tow a trailer). Back to the car again.
Posted 3 years ago #
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