Re:First 100 miles on my E-Bike
by Decade on Saturday December 30, 2017 @02:52PM
(#16037118)
> I don't think it's the bike. I think that there are a lot of cyclists who are simply not candidates for e-bikes because riding under their own power is part of the attraction.
You should not be asking why bicyclists are not riding e-bikes. You should be asking why motorists are not riding e-bikes.
0.6% of Americans bike to work.[0] 86% of Americans drive, 89% of them alone. If even 1% of motorists switched from driving to e-biking, that would increase the bicycling population by over 100%.
> The motor addresses the issue of effort, but not safety, weather, or a variety of other factors,
The US has a really bad built environment.[1]
> including the fact that driving a car is fun for a lot of people.
Automobile manufacturers spend billions and billions on advertising, convincing people that driving is fun.
You should not be asking why bicyclists are not riding e-bikes. You should be asking why motorists are not riding e-bikes.
0.6% of Americans bike to work.[0] 86% of Americans drive, 89% of them alone. If even 1% of motorists switched from driving to e-biking, that would increase the bicycling population by over 100%.
> The motor addresses the issue of effort, but not safety, weather, or a variety of other factors,
The US has a really bad built environment.[1]
> including the fact that driving a car is fun for a lot of people.
Automobile manufacturers spend billions and billions on advertising, convincing people that driving is fun.
[0] https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2015/acs/acs-32....
[1] https://www.strongtowns.org/slowthecars/