What a vapid article from someone who cares far too much about conventional appearances.<p>E-bikes are fantastic for a ton of different uses. It’s not supposed to be a motorcycle and it’s explicitly not supposed to be exercise equipment.<p>I feel like the author just hates themselves and is trying to sound snide about e-bikes tbh.<p>I agree it doesn’t have the same aesthetic flair of a badass motorcycle or a Vespa, but that’s a lot of whining about it for someone who apparently doesn’t own either of those things and is mad that the e-bike they bought didn’t make them as cool as they had hoped.
An ebike has different value for peoples individual needs. I don’t think you can make an grand assumption about people and the value they get from them.<p>My ebike arrives on Tuesday and I’m getting my car ready to sell today. My car has now sat in my garage for 2+ years now with very little use since we already own another vehicle. I’ll use it to get around our Midwest city without showing up drenched in sweat a couple times a month while doing other things with the cash from my car. We’ll see how it works out.
This is such a myopic take from The Atlantic. The ebike is a monstrosity IN AMERICA where there is little infrastructure for bikes. In Europe, it is changing the face of mobility for many for whom car ownership is out of reach.<p>Americans live in a world of subsidized petrol - a world that will come crashing down sooner or later. If gas is $10/gal maybe you won’t be so concerned about how cool you look with a battery on your bike frame.
the author seems to hate himself and is entirely too caught up in appearances. if you want to ride an e-bike, ride an e-bike.<p>he seems to not know what he’s talking about as well. he posits that bikes traveling 20-30mph will tempt riders to try and join traffic. who wants to tell him that that’s how fast human-powered bikes already go?
I got my ebike a month ago. I cycle at least 35 kilometers a day since. From home to my daughter's nanny, return, five days a week. I've never put much thought about my "identity" as a commuter. All I know is petrol is well over two euros a litre, and I'm getting chubby and out of breath.<p>I'e always seen driving as something I needed to do. I've never really minded it, but never really liked it either. On the other hand, I really, really love my bike. It takes me everywhere reasonably fast. I do not need an insurance. No paperwork. Low maintenance as well. Should I run out of battery, well, it's still a bike. I don't really have to think about parking either.<p>I won't make cycling my identity, but I really enjoy the sense of freedom that came with my bike.
<i>Anytime you pedal with the motor engaged, it will push you forward more than you’ve pedaled. I thought I’d acclimate to it, but I still haven’t; especially when pedaling from a coast out of a turn, I forget the motor is in gear, and when it engages it sends me off course, flying into the curb (or worse, into traffic)</i><p>That's just not a good controller. In other words: yes there are bikes like that but do your research before using it as an argument in what reads like a weird unfounded overly generalized crusade against a complete segment of transportation.<p>Counter argument, by means of anecodte just like the OP's: I have ridden quite a lot of different ebikes and speedpedelecs and the vast majority doesn't ride like this. In fact I have the impression often the controller is programmed to slowly ramp up, taking a while to reach full power. And of the ones that do have the tendency to behave like the OP's, there was only one on which is was annoying but not yet such that it would send me off course.
To contra the author, my partner who had ridden a bike once in the 10 prior years is now making 2-3 5 mile trips a week on an ebike.<p>To align with the author, the assist levels allow safer travel on streets, you no longer slow below 10mph on a hill. I was already beating cars off the line on a bike, now I can start and even switch lanes before cars are barely moving.<p>And it is definitely exercise, and you can choose levels of assist if you want to make it easier. A stationary bike also makes exercise easier, I hope the author writes down those next /s.
Yikes, this article is full of bad opinions.<p>1. We're supposed to sweat and "earn" our bicycling. I guess people who drive 4,000 pound vehicles around get a pass on this one. Oh, and fuck you if you've got bad knees or are elderly or need to go up steep hills, you'd better go buy a car or ride the bus.<p>2. E-bikes can go kind of mildly fast...just like bicycles. If you're in really good shape you can definitely ride a bicycle at faster speeds than your bog-standard bike share e-bikes, which are governed to 25mph of assistance and feel like a lead weight once you go over that speed. The male world record for unassisted flat bicycle speed is over 80 mph.<p>3. E-bikes are more expensive than regular bikes. Okay? I guess people driving around $35,000 cars get a pass here, too. I also Googled "best cheap e-bike" and I found quite a few models under the "minimum" $1000 that the author quotes. People spend almost $2,000 a year on gas, but somehow an e-bike is "expensive."<p>> Anytime you pedal with the motor engaged, it will push you forward more than you’ve pedaled. I thought I’d acclimate to it, but I still haven’t; especially when pedaling from a coast out of a turn, I forget the motor is in gear, and when it engages it sends me off course, flying into the curb (or worse, into traffic).<p>4. The author sucks at riding e-bikes. lol, I've never had any of these problems. Maybe the author bought a shitty e-bike. Maybe the author sucks at riding them. I don't know, I've never heard of this complaint from anyone. Since the author likes sweating so much, maybe just take a regular bike and leave the rest of us alone.<p>5. Bicycle and e-bike riders are blamed for traffic safety issues <i>caused by cars</i> and <i>caused by bad city planning.</i> Literal victim blaming.<p>Imagine if everyone rode e-bikes instead of single occupant personal vehicles. Most of us burn gallons and gallons of fossil fuel driving our empty F-150 trucks around 8 lane highways, blasting our A/C to drown out the effects of climate change that surround us. But e-bikes are the monstrosity, apparently.
I have to think that this is pure click-bait. I know a lot of people who love their ebikes and now do lots of things (shopping, dropping kids off at school, going to friends' houses) that they otherwise would have done in a car. Especially where I live in California which is so car-centric.<p>I agree that ebikes are relatively new and they are clunky and heavy and imperfect. But they certainly also feel like a revolution.
I was riding almost every day in almost any weather a cheap e-bike for commuting to work in Berlin. I felt many times that I could ride faster on a normal bike, but acceleration and ease of going uphill or against the wind was worth it. It was more disadvantages of this particular bike. Now I think the best commuting e-bike would have a small battery and it would not be obvious looking at it that it is an electrified bike.<p>I also have commuted with my regular, non-fancy bike. I have seen people riding slowly, but comfortably their dutch style bikes. It seems like a non-issue. You ride what fits you or what you have available.<p>People already do buy very expensive bikes that are without a motor. People buy different cars. Some buy expensive sports cars, some buy expensive luxury cars, some buy hybrids for their fuel economy, some buy whatever that was cheap and good enough. All sorts of people have all sorts of reasons to buy all sorts of things. Wether it is bikes or cars. I think if the author has those kind of problems with e-bikes he is not in a mindset to commute with a regular bike either.
As a rider of both motorcycles and bicycles (lifetime, being a Dutchie), I think this article is a waste of space and time. I just bought an ebike last year (nothing to do with the pandemic, but with my living in hilly Brisbane now) and I think it's perfect. I wouldn't ride my non-electric here in the heat or for long distances on the hills - I ride my ebike almost everywhere, often instead of taking the car, an Uber or public transport. My motorcycle remains a favourite for really long distance weekend outings, or a commute if I need to be quick. It fills a niche (or even gap) perfectly. This guy is a rigid conservative thinker, that doesn't know what he is talking about.
What a load of rubbish.<p>I take my kid to school on my bike. I go shopping on it, including weekly food shopping. I commute on it, if I'm not working from home.<p>I have essentially no transport needs it can't meet (that can't also be met by a train). As such, my outlay of £1500, annual service of £50, and £2/month to charge the battery is.. incredible. No car can compare.<p>To live in a world where that is a choice is an epic privilege, and to not acknowledge it is fundamentally a better option than a car is, in my view, epic obtuseness.
<i>Spending five large on a conventional bike would get you a status symbol—you’d come off as a cyclist for sure. For that matter, spending that dough on a Vespa would infuse you with an Aperol-tinged Italianate cool. You’d want to be seen arriving on your moped. But I don’t want anybody seeing me on my e-bike. It’s just kind of embarrassing.</i><p><i>Vehicles have symbolic value, like it or not. Cars denote freedom; commuter bikes imply, for better or worse, jerkitude or tweeness; motorcycles are cool; e-scooters are for douchebros. But e-bikes bear no clear character.</i><p><i>Even the sonic pleasures of motorized or nonmotorized two-wheelers are up for grabs. A motorcycle signals power (and maybe a caricature of outmoded masculinity) from its exhaust. But a bicycle makes no noise apart from the whir of its crankshaft and the chu-chunk of its derailleurs. My e-bike is pretty quiet, but the motor does whine at me when it engages. The battery, attached to the frame like a water bottle, also rattled like a jalopy before I strapped it fast to the down tube. At every moment, the e-bike reminds you that it’s not quite a bicycle, nor yet a motorbike.</i><p>A certain Fran Blanche shouts "Get a grip, dude" when reading out viewers' comments like this, shakes her head and moves on to the next one. "A motorcycle signals power [...] from its exhaust", and the exhaust is where these power-signalling exhaust-tuners can go together with their deafening noisy, dangerous and pollution-heavy vehicles. as can this crap article that is predicated on an almost completely unreflected, superficial report of the author's irrational and arbitrary value perceptions. Earned a [flagged] for the right reasons IMO.
<i>"E-bikes’ identity crisis might seem like the symptom of a transition"</i><p>The identity crisis is that they are electric motorcycles/mopeds pretending to be bicycles. Here's a good video on this by someone who has both an e-bike and a motorcycle.[1]
He points out that for his commute in traffic, they get about the same performance.
But on the motorcycle, he's more visible, has better protective gear, and has a lower center of gravity.<p>The difference between a class I e-bike (20mph, no helmet required) and an electric motorcycle capable of 45 MPH is a switch. The trouble is, e-bikes with motorcycle speed capabilities lack motorcycle safety features. They're under-braked, under-tired, have crap suspensions, don't have full lights and turn signals, and the rider is up too high, so accidents are worse.<p>There's a video of someone who put an e-bike motor hub in a small motorcycle frame, which got him something that's a better e-bike than most e-bikes, but is classified as a motorcycle.
But low-end electric motorcycles have not caught on in the US.
Bikers think they're uncool, and bicyclists think they're uncool.
They're popular in parts of Asia. So, yes, there is an identity crisis.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM8Xli2KTzI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM8Xli2KTzI</a>
You can skip this article; it says nothing interesting and is mostly highly debatable.<p>Also, this line is an attitude that is endemic in the bike-hating world:<p>> tempting riders into joining actual traffic.<p>Riders <i>are</i> actual traffic. I got shouted at once (in the UK!) for blocking "actual" traffic while I waited to turn right. "Get out of the traffic". Fuck you dude, I <i>am</i> the traffic. The alternative to me blocking you on a bike is not nobody blocking you - it's me blocking you in a car.
Interesting bit of mass psychology about the status. The bike-enthusiast set do very much have their own currents of fashion, and are a crowd apart from the pragmatic cyclists.<p>Probably this is more significant in places where the simple city bikes and casual commuters are in the minority and many/most bikers on the road are some kind of serious hobbyists.
Unfortunately for our author the writing had already been on the wall for a few years in bike crazy the Netherlands where they've been buying more e-bikes than pedal bikes for a couple of years now. Even in western Canada where I ride half the bikes on the bike paths are e-bikes. There's no going back.
God, that was a rambling article. Overwrought prose that really doesn't strike at the real issue: The e-bike is a hack to avoid regulations. If you don't have a mechanism to power the bicycle with a human, then it is a scooter/moped and would require taxes, registration, and so on.<p>Furthermore, with motor and battery tech as good as it is, it would be nice to take the concept of e-bike (get places efficiently with a small vehicle that keeps me from sweating) and move it one step up: Some kind of vehicle with sun protection, perhaps some stability (add a wheel or two) , even a windscreen! But now, that's a "car" and that needs to weigh 3500 lbs and withstand and F-15 crashing into it at Mach 1.5.<p>Cities that want to court a more European, renewable, Gen-z WFH mindset should be building controlled infrastructure for such styles of transit.
Visited a friend up in Truckee who he and his wife commute daily on their ebikes. We rode the town together and I gotta say the EBike is the biggest thing since the bicycle. Ok you don't get the same exercise, but you can ride farther faster, so tend to take the bike more often.
A pair of ebikes is a wonderful thing.<p>You can ride with family or friends of all abilities.<p>You can get exercise while they cheat. They can keep up with you if you are faster, or vice versa. You're even with your spouse or kids in ability and excitement.<p>You can increase the assist to pass someone or for tricky uphill bits.<p>And if you went and explored and it's getting late, the bike will help get back to the car or back home even as your energy and patience wane.
A rare occurrence when you can tell the article is trash just by reading the title. How bored and talentless must some "journalist" be to pick E-bikes as a windmill to fight against?<p>I'm glad this is flagged accordingly.<p>For bonus points: every title by this author is clickbait [1]:<p>[1] <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ian-bogost/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ian-bogost/</a>
Large segments of the population have given up on walking. Frankly, I think even regular non-e bikes and scooters should be discouraged by public policy in favor of walking. In my city, I see too many overweight people riding around leisurely on bikes who would be served much better by walking.
"E-bikes’ identity crisis might seem like the symptom of a transition"<p>E-bikes seem to be quite popular around where I live. What's of more interest is the identity crisis that e-bikes have triggered in the author.
Like mopeds and petrol bikes, which were in vogue and then disappeared. The bike was never designed to be powered by motors.<p>Would we design a two-wheeler from scratch, to be run by electric motors, we would just have a motorcycle again?<p>Ditch the bike chain and traditional propulsion. Make the pedal angle determine the speed of the e-motor and use hands for turning and brake.
I weep at the number of seemingly illiterates reading this and coming away mad because they think it says "ebikes are bad".<p>Edit to answer hawski's question:<p>The author has properly identified many, probably even most, challenges facing us as we try to integrate ebikes into our societies. Some of these are fundamental contradictions in what we ask. They don't work like bicycles; they don't work like any other motorized vehicle. For both commercial and ecological reasons we would love for them to take on a larger role but this is unlikely until such contradictions are resolved, which also requires acknowledging them across a variety of domains (legal, technical, cultural).<p>As to the responses, I feel like people are jousting with some hypothetical version of themselves who they imagine would write this article, rather than what's actually written. Constant projection of the article saying some people will be concerned about X, to thinking the author is passing some judgement on ebikes due to X. Ian Bogost's for lack of a better word, schtick, for the past decade has been making a problem of what seems to be some kind of mundane ontological situation. That he's decided to turn his eye on ebikes this time says of his personal life only that he's recently gotten an ebike. (When it's about, like, shipping crates, HN eats this shit up despite it being equally indulgent!)<p>Edit again: You can even see the discussion recapitulating his points of contention as they're also mostly agreeing the article is bad. Total projection.