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Could electric bikes become popular here?

  • 11-03-2010 11:09am
    #1
    serendip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 287 ✭✭


    On the BBC:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8538221.stm

    To Quote: "Recent statistics suggest that only one in five [Beijing] city residents now use an ordinary bicycle to travel around."

    Note the disappointed "only", above. Would that we had 20% of commuters cycling here.

    Perhaps electric bikes are more common than I think, but I was pleased to see one in Dublin yesterday. If a little electric push makes cycling possible for people who otherwise might find it too physically challenging ... then good thing, I say.


Comments

  • #2
    tunney
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,584 ✭✭✭✭tunney


    I can see them becoming very popular - they are a logical extensive of a compact triple with a 36-26 cassette.


  • #3
    Lumen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,218 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    IMO electric bikes are mainly appealing because they are deliberately designed to avoid much of the regulatory framework which governs mechanically propelled vehicles.

    If they had to be taxed and insured like motorbikes, they would be unlikely to sell at all.

    That said, I wouldn't mind one powered by a methanol fuel cell.


  • #4
    dubmess
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 282 ✭✭dubmess


    Same problem as most electric cars, until they stop them looking ridiculous the mainstream aren't going to buy them.

    They are also ridiculously heavy. My cargo bike weighs less than most of them, which would make actually pedalling one of them a complete nightmare, you'd want to use the battery all the time.

    And expensive... lots working against them.


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