| Re: electric bikes on centuries
mike vore wrote:
> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>> As I'm reading an article in this-morning's San Jose Mercury News
>> about newfound popularity of electric bikes, and their limitations
>> (max speeds 25mph or less; need to be recharged after 8-20 miles), I'm
>> thinking yeah, same old stuff that's been out there, heavy, expensive
>> to repair, cause parts & frame failures on modified bikes etc.
>>
>> Then the article mentioned that an engineer has a recumbent design
>> he's trying to bring to market that will go over 100 miles on a
>> charge, at speeds greater than 30mph. And at that point I'm wondering-
>>
>> What's gonna happen when people try to show up on a century (or, for
>> that matter, any other organized bike ride) on one of them? So far,
>> it's been a non-issue due to limited range. But if that's no longer an
>> issue...
>>
>
> Forget what happens at the beginning of the ride. Wait till one of those
> 'riders' tries to brag about riding 100 miles to a cyclist that pedaled
> the entire (or even most) of the distance. The 'lectric rider will get
> laughed out of town, "What a WIMP!"
>
>
>
>
WIMP maybe, but better than sitting on a couch drinking beer and
watching football. Double that if he were to run out of beer and drive
to the store for more at half time. The electric bike might just keep
one more bad driver off the road, so I would cut him some slack just for
the cause and effect point of view. If he's riding an electric bike at
least he isn't going to run you down with a car.
Bill Baka
|