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this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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Why don't you just get an electric vespa?
Because I like bicycling, and a vespa won't fit into my apartment. (Can't leave shit unattended in the bike cellar in my building.)
My bike doesn't require pedalling, but because it's an option, I usually do it and then feel good about it, which leads to a positive feedback loop.
A cold morning? I don't need to use electricity, just pedal and warm up. Get a bit hot, don't want to arrive at job while sweating? -> Glide on electricity and take in the cool breeze.
You`re kidding yourself . A bike without peddaling is called a moped, scooter or motor.
Your vehicle doesnt compare at all to a normal bycicle.
Honestly people riding fatbikes are just avoiding having to wear a helmet and want the next best thing
Ebikes with a throttle are still ebikes, in the US the are specifically listed as class 2 ebikes. I get what you're saying but ebike definitions get a little blurred depending on where you're talking about.
In the US you (hardly) have any bicycle infastructure and ride on the same road as cars.
In the Netherlands bikes and vulnerable traffic ride on seperate lanes. Introducing bikes that go 50 km/h there driven by 10 years creates a problem. This issue simply doesnt exist in the US, hence the different classification and laws
Also: Many fatbikes here are illegal and/or tweaked. People simply dont care and ride around uninsured and unsafe at 50 km/h while using their phone.
50km/s is 3600km/h.
Mach 2,9. Man, those ebikes are fucking flying. I get why'd you'd be worried, that's dangerous
That seems like it would result in serious injury...
Haha.. I totally missed that. Thanks for pointing that out.
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No, you're kidding yourself, thinking you know what I'm speaking of.
A lot of people have to ask me whether my bike is electric or not. I've owned a moped, a scooter and a light motorbike (125cc). (so dope, I looked up the model and that's the exact bike I had, on sale. Not a similar one, the SAME exact bike, it has custom colours. I owned it about 20 years ago.)
Now this is roughly the first image from Google with "bicycle".
Here is what I ride now. Now please — and be honest — tell me which one of the first four images is that most like?
Did a guy riding a fatbike steal your girlfriend or something?
Where are you from dude? NL based or elsewhere?
Asking because you clearly live in a different world then I do And also completely deaf to all my previous arguements about issues we`re having here. . in the Netherlands.
But hey .. im glad you`re happy with your ride.
It's impolite to expect me to answer your questions when I asked you a question first.
Which one of the four images does my current ride most resemble? Please, do tell, as you were just telling me how you know what I drive better than I do.
I've been in the Netherlands as well. Yes, theres a whole lot more bikes, but the rules, the infra and the laws are more less the same as here. I've not had problems with anyone because of the size of the tyres their vehicle has. So explaining your weird generalisation would probably help people understand...
Honestly.. the big bar gives it away for me. But I agree with looking more like a bike.
Not the typical fatbike im referring to but ok. Here in NL we have big problem with fatbikes like these illegally modified to go 50km/h They look like this for example
There are quite a few issues we`re having here in the NL:
To conclude, Ìm not saying every ebike or fatbike is wrong. Here in the Netherlands the lack of good regulation and law is having a big impact on road safety for cyclists and pedestrians. We need good regulation asap
That being said: What country are you from? I`m wondering what is different there regulation wise
It's not fatbikes, per se, it's more Chinese EV's.
They make everything from longboards to bikes to scooters (the type I showed and the kickboard type) to mopeds.
A "normal" 25kmh limited e-bike with assist only, (which is the EU-requirement for these, legally, they're not supposed to have a throttle, only pedal-assist) medium range bike will have a motor of like 250-350w. Most of these Chinese wheels will have motors from 500w to several kilowatts. I'm content with a 500w motor, but even with one of those, I can go up to 35km/h on a straight road at full throttle, no pedaling. I used to have a kickboard style scooter that actually did 60 on a full battery, and yes, those can be very dangerous if the driver is irresponsible.
I know bragging smells, but as a thirdgen taxi driver, being polite and careful in traffic was sort of ingrained to me from a very early age. As long as you use the vehicle responsibly, it's okay.
But I know a lot of teenage douchebags don't, and that's where the problem lies, as there's no regulation on these vehicles you deem "fatbikes" (which for the record I now understand, but also think to be highly inaccurate because of the several types of vehicle you're trying to collectively address, most of which aren't fatbikes, but I understand that a vast majority purchases the fatbike types, because they're rather favoured in those shops as usually they have good prices).
There should be access to these, but with like a moped licence. (Idk if that's a thing in NL, but big in Finland. Or nowadays less so mopeds and more those weird atv-cars.)
Personally — if it were possible to completely rehaul traffic infra — I think we should have a lane for actual cars and trucks, then "light vehicles", and then a bikelane/pedestrian combo as is now. But like an added middle step for vehicles that often go above 25 but not usually car speeds, and which are mostly smaller, so would lose out when crashing with cars/buses.
So it's the same regulation for NL and Finland, and those "fatbikers" you dislike probably also order them from similar stores as I. See the thing is there's no regulation on China brining in those vehicles. They just say they are part of the sub 25km/h category, and the vehicles always have modes with less power so you could pass an inspection even. Then China sells them from a European warehouse they have, and because of the free trading within Eurozone, you don't pay taxes or have any sort of tolls or inspection on the thing.
So yeah, I definitely see the danger. Hell, I've honestly had a few bumps myself, but just by myself, really, I don't drive recklessly anywhere populated, just when it's me alone on an empty road. It's just that for me, those empty roads begin pretty much from my outer door, whereas in the NL, especially in cities like Amsterdam, you won't find a place with no other roadusers, and kids having power at their fingers won't be able to resist.
Usually probably their parents order them for the kids, as theyre several hundreds of euros. So... why would any parent order one like that and not a... safe one? Well, the biggest reason for me to have gone to the Chinese shops was simply the price. I'd end up paying literally more than twice the price for less than half the performance and battery. Yes the build would be more quality, the safety would be better. But... 800 euros is already a hefty sum to me, going well above 2k simply wasn't possible for me.
So it's not just a lack of regulation, but, yes, it is that very much as well.