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I think they just annoy me as they're lazy cheats who can't be bothered to get fit and ride a bike properly
or disabled people?
or pass a test, get insurance etc and be in some vague sense responsible like an actual motorbike rider.
Not everyone can afford that.
It's only a matter of time before one of them has a nasty crash.
That I agree with.
Tenners-
In all seriousness, a "registration light" system for fast e-bikes and electric mopeds would get a lot of dirty, smelly, noisy petrol mopeds off the roads.
In parts of China it seemed like 90% of traffic was e-mopeds and it was awesome to ride a pedal bike there with virtually no cars blocking things up.
Something like 30mph limit, small rear number plate required, helmet required, no test needed, would be great. Anything that meets the current regs could stay free of regulation.
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or disabled people?
We were talking about the people who delimit their e-bikes, not all e-bikes. Electric assistance by law is limited to 15.5mph:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/electric-bikes-uk-law-234973
It's easy to override this, though, and some people do. I've met about half a dozen riders like that in London. Not all had met hippy and were hanging their heads in shame.
The utility of e-bikes for certain purposes, e.g. for people with mobility difficulties, is evident. Another area where they have a definite purpose is for rural (or very long) commutes.
However, the limit is proposed to change:
https://www.eta.co.uk/2017/01/17/fast-electric-bicycle-are-coming-new-laws-for-speed-pedelecs/
While I personally think this is better than people using cars, it brings another couple of problems. I think 30mph is too fast in an urban centre, irrespective of which vehicle is moving at that speed. I also worry about perfectly fit riders using them and no longer gaining the health benefits of unassisted cycling. It's different for people who would otherwise not be doing exercise at all. Also, e-bikes (not even fast ones) have been a contributing cause to a lot of additional crashes in the Netherlands. There is also always the issue of ever-increasing mobility; it means that the need to travel continuously increases, and this trend (the spreading out of destinations) continues apace, when economies should be more locally-centred to be sustainable. Obviously, e-bikes are only one contribution to this overall trend, which is much wider, but still one that concerns me.
inappropriate_bike
Oliver Schick
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I think they just annoy me as they're lazy cheats who can't be bothered to get fit and ride a bike properly or pass a test, get insurance etc and be in some vague sense responsible like an actual motorbike rider. It's only a matter of time before one of them has a nasty crash.