This morning's commute and other commuting stories

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.

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.

I think they just annoy me as they're lazy cheats who can't be bothered to get fit and ride a bike properly

My mother switched to an e-bike after losing a lung. It meant she could still ride a bike but with assistance when she needed it.

Her surname isn't something like van den Driessche is it?

I have a 30mph-capable electric moped thing.

It has a small rear number plate, you need a helmet and don't need to pass a test to ride it, just half a day's CBT instruction, or if you're old like me and passed your driving test in the 9s not even that.

It'll only do 15-20 miles from a full charge at max power but other than that it's bloody ace for pootling round town.

just half a day's CBT instruction, or if you're old like me and passed your driving test in the 9s not even that.

I remember doing my CBT in 1992, but then that's because I wasn't old enough to do my car test so it was the only way to get out on the roads on a 50cc hairdryer.

The fact that people who got their car license before 2001 don't need to do CBT explains an awful lot about the behaviour of scooterengers.

CBT teaches you very little. I’m amazed they let 16 year olds out on their own after a 2 hour training ride.

But I reckons it’s simply riding a scooter that makes you a hooligan, they just bring it out in you.

And 17 year olds after about 5 hours in a car.

Also amazing how much of a hooligan you can be on Yamaha SA50 (mine was beige with a wire basket on the front).

Yamaha SA50

Guitar thread?

Yamaha passola

Hadn't had any problems with ebikes until I almost got collected this evening by some wannabe derny rider trying to shoot a non-existent gap between me and a bus. Seemed like the behaviour of a promuter but done at the speed of a motorcyclist.

New fangled contraptions/10

It's a lot better now, thanks. I've had the issue for over a year now, I can't ride drops any more because that's how the injury started and it's really been pissing me off, riding riser bars, not being able to race or ride hard, stuff like that. Put a lot of weight on cos I wasn't pushing hard on my ride to work. Lots of physio and acupuncture didn't help, so went for the big cortisosteroid jab into the bone/tendon junction under ultrasound to they could locate the bad area. I had it done under a local, but when it wore off a couple of hours later, jeeeeeeesus. Ridiculously painful, couldn't bend the arm, hand stiffened up etc. Was off work for 5 days. It's eased off now, I still have to wear a support and have to take it easy - no gripping hard, no twisting with the hand, to give it the best chance to heal. Fingers crossed it works, else it's surgery, ugh.

I can't ride drops any more because that's how the injury started and it's really been pissing me off

Can you explain a bit more how you got injured? I'm trying to ride in the drops more often as they're effectively ornamental when I slam my stem. Keen to avoid injury though obviously.

What are the costs?
Purchase and running?
Quite interested in getting one.

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.

Bus I was on got rear-ended by another bus, rear window shattered, shocked passengers (both buses) but no injuries. Poor chap sitting on the back seat got showered in shattered (safety) glass despite his full hi-vis attire. We weren't moving much beforehand due to an incident with emergency services up ahead so at least the police got there pretty quick. Can only think the driver behind accidentally accelerated instead of braking, or thought we were moving off when we weren't, because it felt like they accelerated pretty hard into us. Somewhat unnecessary drama for a late sleepy commute....

It’s an erider city 30. I paid £1000 but it’s gone up recently, presumably because Brexit.

The quality is meh compared to a used petrol for the same price. We do maybe 50 miles a week on it and keep it inside, if you did twice that and left it on the street it would soon deteriorate.

Modern scoots can do 100mpg, so for 50 miles a week we’d spend maybe £150 a year on fuel.

I’m not very good at electricity maths but here goes my guess: 1kw looks to be about 13p to buy. The motor is 1500w and lasts about 30 minutes, so that’s 750w, so 6.5p per charge. So that’s £11 a year. And there’s no road tax so that saves another £15.

No servicing needed so that’s another £100 a year saved.

And for us the insurance is £120, for our 125 Vespa it’s £210 so another £90.

I guess it’s maybe £30 a month cheaper to run overall than a petrol.

I don’t think it’s worth saving that for the massively compromised range, but the quietness is fun for the rider and brilliant for other people.

1kw looks to be about 13p to buy. The motor is 1500w and lasts about 30 minutes, so that’s 750w

I think that should be

1kw-hour looks to be about 13p to buy. The motor is 1500w and lasts about 30 minutes, so that’s 750w-hour

Aberdeen this morning. My mate's garden.

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some bellchief tried to squeeze past me going through the narrow segregated cs7 lane as you cross kennington road and exit back onto kennington park road going north. once he got his handlebars past mine he decided riding directly alongside me as we approached a stopped bus and accelerating like a 70's lada trying to overtake something was the way to go. so I spun up (having slowed to figure out what the fuck he thought he was doing) and zoomed round the bus so I could make sure I hit the next set of lights before they changed (because racing each other is for chumps, racing light phases to avoid long reds is smart commuting).

he must have taken umbrage at this as he came past me about 250yds later on the approach to the lights outside kennington station pushing his largest gear and desperately trying his hardest to not make it look like he was trying too hard, thing is, I'd just began slowing for a van up ahead who'd clearly changed his lane positioning to turn left and sure enough his indicator blinked on and he made his manouevre as racer boy blindly continued to accelerate towards him before spotting him last minute and just about slowing in time to avoid riding into the side of the van.

best bit was then watching him try to pull away in his top gear having just come to an almost complete stop.

lel/10

Haha

Raynaud's/10

Don't get old. It's shit.

Giro d'Genitalia out there today.

2009 RvV... we didn't make it onto the ferry... well... not on our original bus anyway.

I am having a similar issue with my right thumb. Started when I bought new winter gloves that are rather tight in that area especially changing gear (campagnolo lever). They are the only gloves that work for me when is closed to zero temp so I am a bit stuck at the moment