I happen to know folks who due to one arthritic malady or less than
optimal joint replacement surgery have opted for electric assist bikes
or wheels with hub motors.
I also have taken note of many more cyclists of larger habitus using
electric assist bikes. Then there are a whole bunch or cargo/kid hauler
electric assist bikes on trails around town.
I think they are a good thing. Most of us able bodied, hard core
enthusiasts will put off or scorn the thought of using electric assist.
Let's assume that most folks who use electric assist do so based on some
need that we probably don't know about. Many work places don't have
showers. Electric assist one could image, can keep one below the gushing
sweat threshold on the morning commute.
I've noticed that most west coast cities that allow electric bikes do
have rules that include behaving in regard to maximum speed, passing,
remaining non aggressive and the like. Should Madison have such rules
and post them? Probably.
Bottom line is: even the heartiest of urban cyclists might age into the
need for an electric assist bicycle at some point and then we'll look
back on our years of scorn and finally come to the conclusion that we
were not being understanding, nice or fair.
Brian Mink
Monona
via Bikies <mailto:bikies@lists.danenet.org>
July 8, 2016 at 9:45 AM
If that what it takes to get these sedentary brutes onto a bike, then let
them ride their electric bikes on roads and not on bike paths.
....
Admittedly, my n is pretty small, but I resent these lazy assholes being
on the bike paths. And it's bogus to say these are for sedentary folks.
> By far, the most people who use them will be former bicyclists.
I personally could not see myself wanting one. (Years ago I tried one when
someone from MGE was demo-ing one at some event and I wasn't impressed.)
But I also don't get all the hostility about them. I don't see how
discourteous/unsafe passing is any more or less obnoxious by someone on an
electric-assist bike than it is by someone on a traditional bike who
thinks he's doing Tour de France. A moron on an electric-assist bike is
not inherently worse or more dangerous than a moron in Spandex<tm>.
As for the opinion that most people using them will be former bicyclists,
so what? If it helps keep on a bike someone who has diminished physical
capability, what's wrong with that?
_______________________________________________
Bikies mailing list
Bikies@lists.danenet.org
http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
--
Sent from Postbox
<https://www.postbox-inc.com/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=siglink&utm_campaign=reach>
_______________________________________________
Bikies mailing list
Bikies@lists.danenet.org
http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
