It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the future of transportation

Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:04PM (#37227843)

Pedal assisted e-bikes are a more complex design that leads to more cost. This is fine in the west where everyone is rich, yet they are rare in the developing world (especially china where cheap e-bikes are popular) where people are less rich. Putting so many restrictions on a cheaper to produce product could be seen as anti-poor.

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by lm28469 on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:16PM (#37227970)

Aren't you confusing hub vs mid motors ? There is no reason for pedal assist to be more expensive, some of them are as dumb as "is pedal turning > assist". I've even seen people remove the chain of their bike and still get the electric assist while providing next to zero effort

https://wheretheroadforks.com/mid-drive-vs-hub-motor-e-bike-...

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:19PM (#37228012)

Even the pedal/chain setup is an extra cost that doesn’t make sense in a cheap e-bike. We are talking $2-300, there isn’t a lot of margin for superfluous features.

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by lm28469 on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:22PM (#37228038)

But then again it wouldn't be a bicycle, and according to a lot of western countries you'd need a license, insurance, plate, helmet, &c.

> We are talking $2-300

Nah, you can get a basic setup for < 100, maybe lower fi you're mass manufacturing, most are fixies, plus you have a backup when the battery dies

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @05:10PM (#37228567)

I would say $100 was possible 5 years ago, now I’m sure inflation has made the market a bit more dear.

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by duxup on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:06PM (#37227860)

Arguably you could say the same for many costly safety features...

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:18PM (#37227991)

Have you lived this before? In a city like Beijing there are tens of thousands of people commuting via cheap e-bikes, they are slightly faster bikes, that’s it. Just speed limit them if anything and be done with it (and really, how fast do you think a 2000 kuai e-bike can go anyways?).

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by duxup on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:26PM (#37228093)

I’m not opposed to a speed limit if that’s what you’re asking.

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by Karrot_Kream on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:24PM (#37228060)

A speed limiter is a much cheaper, more direct way to add safety without mandating anything else about the bike.

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Re:It’s not an electric bike craze. You’re looking at the fu... by duxup on Tuesday August 22, 2023 @04:25PM (#37228077)

I’d be fine with a limit.

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