Urban Cycling Developments

[mrnyc]

nyc to montauk point lighthouse — 128mi/11hrs give or take —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7R5M...JhM29leDQwcXhp

[mrnyc]

more of the goofy —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8FI7...JkdWQ1anA5Zg==

[mrnyc]

about ocean parkway brooklyn the first dedicated bike route —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8CT9...dycm41OXUxbQ==

[SIGSEGV]

Interesting report about Chicago: https://www.replicahq.com/post/measu...oost-in-biking

[mrnyc]

smaller and suburban ohio cities are on the move too —


more:
https://www.cityoflorain.org/500/Act...ation-Planning

[mrnyc]

sad news —



Fridrich Bicycle to Permanently Close at the End of August

After nearly 150 years in business, Cleveland's oldest bike shop will permanently close next month

By Vince Grzegorek on Fri, Jul 26, 2024


more:
https://www.clevescene.com/news/frid...ugust-44798954

[Busy Bee]

^At least it sounds like there is some hope a bike shop could continue under a new owner.

Dang, I have family in Solon that I'll be visiting in the fall. But that will be too late.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^At least it sounds like there is some hope a bike shop could continue under a new owner.

Dang, I have family in Solon that I'll be visiting in the fall. But that will be too late.

as we say in cleveland, in case can’t make it to solon it’s no los.

but seriously, that was a revered old bike shop. everybody had something from there over the years. hopefully the site carries on as a bike shop, maybe more for modern tastes with e-bikes and repairs and the like. although hopefully no bootlegs and they store the dam batteries elsewhere.

[jmecklenborg]

Oh please - real bike shops are becoming wildly irritated by e-bikes. People keep bringing in cheap e-bikes that they bought online, the shop tells the customer that they're not going to attempt to repair the bike, customer gets pissed, customer leaves nasty yelp review and tells all of their friends how elitist the shop is.

Most e-bikes are scams. People are willing to spend $1,000 for an e-bike that is below Wal-Mart quality. It works for 5 rides and then the trouble starts.

Meanwhile, a $1,000 analog commuter bike is a helluva commuter bike (I'm not sure that you can even get one that expensive). Honestly you're getting something fantastic for about $600.

Bike shops are doomed if the bike market switches to throwaway e-bikes that only last one season.

[mrnyc]

^ umm, yeah bikes shops are struggling. case in point obviously. but selling and fixing e-bikes is a thing now too. there is room for both and new owners with a fresh look might likely take advantage of that.

[jmecklenborg]

Except there really isn't "room for both". They've been banned from many types of paved and offroad trails. In cities, the e-bikes are much faster and heavier and are causing much more serious accidents.

The only reason people think an e-bike is a bicycle is because they're called "e-bike" and not an e-motorcycle or an e-moped. It's marketing, just like everything else, and if you point out reality then you're the bad guy.

Also, e-bikes aren't a good form of exercise because real bikes aren't even that great in most cases. The typical recreational bike rider doesn't ride very often and when they do they don't ride hard if they can avoid it. The e-bike completely removes the "sort-of-hard", i.e. flirting with a heart rate of 140bpm, let alone the actual hard (170-180bpm).

[Klippenstein]

And yet, study after study show health benefits of e-bikes...

[Nouvellecosse]

Walking also has health benefits and it doesn't significantly elevate the heart rate either. And it isn't true that ebikes are much faster than regular bikes. Ebikes power assist is limited to either 32km/h in NA or 25km/h and these are both speeds easily reached on a conventional bike. The difference is that an ebike can help a person sustain a comfortable cruising speed for longer distances, when going up a gradient, or against a head wind.

As someone with both an ebike and a regular bike, my regular bike is actually faster in some situations and slower in others. Faster going downhill and slower going up for one. The main thing the ebike accomplishes is that it encourages people to bike and get some exercise even when using a regular bike would be too slow due to things like hills or when they don't want to get sweaty. Times when I'd otherwise feel obligated to take the bus. Claiming it has to be regular bike or nothing because ebike isn't enough exercise is like claiming someone has to run to their destination since walking isn't good enough exercise. Well running may be very popular recreationally, walking is far more popular as practical transportation.

It also isn't true that ebikes are necessarily more dangerous. It depends on the model. My ebike isn't any heavier than the thick-frame mountain bike I had as a teenager, and there are plenty of conventional bikes nowadays that have a similar weight. Modern batteries and frame materials tend to be much lighter now than for ebikes 20 years ago. And it also depends greatly on the weight of the rider since the force experienced in a collision is based on the momentum of the total system (bike + rider+ any cargo). A 200lb man riding a 25lb conventional bike at 32km/h has far more momentum than say. a 130lb woman or teenager riding a 40lb ebike at 32km/h.

The idea of classifying ebikes as motorcycles makes zero sense considering that most motorcycles can reach (usually far exceed) highway speeds and weigh hundreds of pounds (average about 600lb). Meanwhile ebikes are assist limited below the speed of most city streets. And mine only weights about 35lbs and all the ones I've seen weighing well under 100 lbs. I think some people fail to make the distinction between bicycles that happen to have a battery and motor assist compared to the ones that look like a moped with barely functional pedals that only exist so it can be called an ebike. My ebike model below is most certainly not just called a bike because of marketing. Anyone would clearly see the difference between that and a motorcycle with the only visible difference being the battery.


https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales/...78e/daymak-ec1

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Except there really isn't "room for both". They've been banned from many types of paved and offroad trails. In cities, the e-bikes are much faster and heavier and are causing much more serious accidents.

The only reason people think an e-bike is a bicycle is because they're called "e-bike" and not an e-motorcycle or an e-moped. It's marketing, just like everything else, and if you point out reality then you're the bad guy.

Also, e-bikes aren't a good form of exercise because real bikes aren't even that great in most cases. The typical recreational bike rider doesn't ride very often and when they do they don't ride hard if they can avoid it. The e-bike completely removes the "sort-of-hard", i.e. flirting with a heart rate of 140bpm, let alone the actual hard (170-180bpm).

what the goofy are you talking about? paved off road trails? this is a bike shop in the city. e-bikes are hugely popular and even useful for like deliveries. if a traditional bike shop isnt making it anymore new ownership might take advantage of that. they exist and there is 100% room for both.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

what the goofy are you talking about? paved off road trails?

They're being banned from things all over the place because they aren't appropriate vehicles for existing bicycle trails, be they paved (asphalt) or dirt mountain bike trails. People are even trying to ban them from city parks:
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...-registration/

e-bikes are hugely popular

The whole point of real bikes for urban transportation is that they're cheap, environmentally friendly, and provide some modicum of a cardio workout. E-bikes aren't any of that.

A decent e-bike is very expensive which means it's very vulnerable to theft. A cheap one is going to end up in the dumpster by the end of the year, which by default means it's just more consumerism. And you're not getting any appreciable exercise by limply spinning its pedals. Many e-bikes are also very heavy, which makes them a pain to carry up steps into an apartment.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

They're being banned from things all over the place because they aren't appropriate vehicles for existing bicycle trails, be they paved (asphalt) or dirt mountain bike trails. People are even trying to ban them from city parks:
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...-registration/



The whole point of real bikes for urban transportation is that they're cheap, environmentally friendly, and provide some modicum of a cardio workout. E-bikes aren't any of that.

A decent e-bike is very expensive which means it's very vulnerable to theft. A cheap one is going to end up in the dumpster by the end of the year, which by default means it's just more consumerism. And you're not getting any appreciable exercise by limply spinning its pedals. Many e-bikes are also very heavy, which makes them a pain to carry up steps into an apartment.

none of this has anything to do with a old traditional bikeshop, perhaps ohio’s oldest, closing and hopefully getting a revamp by new blood and selling both bikes and e-bikes. probably. if they’re smart.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Walking also has health benefits and it doesn't significantly elevate the heart rate either.

You can't coast while walking. Bicycles coast which means you always get periodic breaks. E-bikes are...one continuous coast with vestigial pedals that you can spin around for show and to trick the state legislature into thinking you're not on a moped/motorcycle.

And it isn't true that ebikes are much faster than regular bikes.

I can maintain 20mph on my road bike for a few miles (but definitely not 50+ miles like top local riders)...because I'm in shape. I am regularly passed by Wal-Mart people on Wal-Mart e-bikes approaching or maybe exceeding 30mph. So we have the least-skilled riders on the the fastest and heaviest vehicles.

[Klippenstein]

^ Again, you'll probably continue ignoring the facts, but e-bikes do provide "a modicum of a cardio workout" as you put it.

People who are riding close to 30 mph without pedaling are probably using motors that are not legal in the US. You're lumping all e-bikes together and ignoring that for the most part they provide a lot of benefit.

On the federal level, ebikes are defined by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as "low-speed electric bicycles" if they have:

A motor producing less than or equal to 750 watts of power
An assisted speed of less than or equal to 20 mph (with an engaged motor)
Fully functional and operable pedals
Electric bikes that meet these criteria are considered to be bicycles under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) and are therefore subject to the CPSC's safety standards for bicycles. These standards include requirements for the strength and durability of the frame, the brakes, the tires, and the electrical system.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The whole point of real bikes for urban transportation is that they're cheap, environmentally friendly, and provide some modicum of a cardio workout. E-bikes aren't any of that.

They are all of those things actually. Not quite as much as regular bikes, but overwhelmingly so compared to cars, the primary transportation mode on the continent. Compared to say, an electric car, the size difference of an e-bike's battery is like a cellphone battery compared to a large laptop's. And they have utility that regular bikes lack and which make them appealing to more people who would consider using them as an alternative when they wouldn't consider a regular bike. And keep in mind that not all e-bikes can be used without pedaling. Some - like mine - are either pedal assist or pedal only.

[Nouvellecosse]

I think the key takeaway here is that bicycles were created for transportation, not for exercise. The exercise was always just a nice side benefit that may or may not be important to a particular user. Just like cars were created primarily for transportation rather than beauty or recreation. So just as it would be absurd to say a person shouldn't use an efficient and affordable economy car for transportation because it isn't beautiful or super fun, it's equally absurd to say people shouldn't use even cheaper and more efficient ebikes for transportation because they don't force the person to exercise enough. If they want exercise, nothing is stopping them from choosing to pedal. And if they don't want the exercise, that isn't anyone's business but theirs, unless we're going to hold motorists to the same standard.