What have you learned from your e-bike experiences?

[Jeremy McCreary]

At least she wasn't an elected official, I guess. I've been pretty lucky with neighbors, but some of the others I've met in retail or service environments seem to spend their entire lives being as hostile as possible, even if there is no benefit to them in it at all.
Doesn’t make any sense to me, but there they are.

Unfortunately, doesn't have to make sense to these folks. The final temperament that emerges in your mid-twenties is the one you'll have for life. The research is clear: It's about 50% genetic, 40-45% peer influences, and 5-10% upbringing.

Your temperament controls your behavior through your emotions. You can try not to act on the dangerous and anti-social ones, but some just don't have the strength, and some don't even try.

Not saying that these folks deserve a pass on their bad behavior. Just that it's generally neither transactional nor fixable in the sense that the underlying emotions can somehow be improved.

 

[Art Deco]

Unfortunately, doesn't have to make sense to these folks. The final temperament that emerges in your mid-twenties is the one you'll have for life. The research is clear: It's about 50% genetic, 40-45% peer influences, and 5-10% upbringing.

Your temperament controls your behavior through your emotions. You can try not to act on the dangerous and anti-social ones, but some just don't have the strength, and some don't even try.

Not saying that these folks deserve a pass on their bad behavior. Just that it's generally neither transactional nor fixable in the sense that the underlying emotions can somehow be improved.

Makes sense. By the time I was in my late 20s I was over being an angry young man ( with occasional lapses well into my 30s) , and now am just a grumpy old fart, pretty happy most of the time.

Martial arts training seemed to work for me (and later for my grandson) but in my teens I probably qualified as a real monster. Hereditary, I suspect, but certainly fixable.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Makes sense. By the time I was in my late 20s I was over being an angry young man ( with occasional lapses well into my 30s) , and now am just a grumpy old fart, pretty happy most of the time.

Martial arts training seemed to work for me (and later for my grandson) but in my teens I probably qualified as a real monster. Hereditary, I suspect, but certainly fixable.

Developmentally, it's a long way from the teens to the mid-twenties.

 

[DDBB]

I guess the guy who wants to flatten my tires thinks he should have control over who rides past his house on a public road

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I guess the guy who wants to flatten my tires thinks he should have control over who rides past his house on a public road

Could well be, but he could also be a thug who just likes to do what he can to scare people.

 

[teskow]

My attitude and experience differ from some of you. Most of my rides are on sparsely populated trails and (mostly) lightly-traveled roads. But, I think I’m similar to Jeremy… with a little more detail as follows:

1. I hate road riding. I am the opposite of @stompandgo. I agree with his comment about loving to see kids out there, etc. But, there are a lot of particularly unfriendly motorists out here in central Massachusetts, and I’ve had some bad encounters that have (luckily) not ended in me getting chased into the woods or something worse… In any case, unless I’m getting a friendly wave (not the finger, that is) from a motorist, I do not make eye contact or initiate anything. I ride the “with traffic” direction (on the right, that is) , and there are very often minimal shoulders where I ride, though I try to stay to the right of the white line if I can — sorry UKers if this makes no sense to you .

2. I occasionally run into asshats riding bikes too quickly (both regular and e-bikes) on the areas of populated trails that I ride every day. These people almost never make eye contact or wave. These people only get frowns from me.

3. In most other cases I keep it down around 10-11MPH and I am always waving, saying hello, and warning pedestrians (or saying “on your left/right/down-the-middle) at a distance when I’m coming up on them. Fättie is an imposing beast and I don’t want to scare pedestrians.

4. I’m usually not passing other bike riders (of any time) unless there are no pedestrians around and I’m going faster (15-20 on the trails) or we’re going in opposing directions. Almost always a wave or a hello in those cases.

Now that is an attitude to be envied.

 

[Chazmo]

Unfortunately, doesn't have to make sense to these folks. The final temperament that emerges in your mid-twenties is the one you'll have for life. The research is clear: It's about 50% genetic, 40-45% peer influences, and 5-10% upbringing.

Your temperament controls your behavior through your emotions. You can try not to act on the dangerous and anti-social ones, but some just don't have the strength, and some don't even try.

Not saying that these folks deserve a pass on their bad behavior. Just that it's generally neither transactional nor fixable in the sense that the underlying emotions can somehow be improved.

I’m pretty sure this is not true in my own case. I think a much larger percentage of my behavior is governed by my world view. That has changed radically in the last few years, and my behavior accordingly. Also, I have found that living within some very clear credos makes things right (for me). I didn’t used to do that, and now I do.

 

[DDBB]

There's one place on my daily ride where ride against traffic. It's a 100 yard long stretch of a secondary road and there are two lanes of traffic coming the opposite way. The shoulder on this side of the road is wider than the other side and the other side only has one lane so IMO it's safer to ride against traffic for this short section. It amazes me how many cars and trucks refuse to switch lanes to the outside lane to give me more room as they come towards me, in fact some try to make it closer than it needs to be because I guess they think it's fun to scare the bicyclist.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Following up on post #75 and subsequent replies....

Today was my first day back on the bike after 26 days of nursing a difficult saddle rash. Kept it to 8.2 mi with 55 ft/mi worth of climbing just to be safe.

Felt soooooooo good to be riding again! So far, so good on the butt front.

This adventure taught me 2 valuable lessons: (1) The proper use and care of cycling shorts, and (2) that you don't have to be riding your bike to spend money on it!

So I replaced the horned Ergon GP2 grips (left) that I'd been using for the last year with some new Ergon GA3 MTB grips (blue). The GP2's horns and big palm wings just hadn't delivered the hand and wrist relief I'm looking for.

The GA3 grip is very similar to the Vado SL's black factory grip (middle) but feels nicer to the hand. We'll see.

This was an opportunity to streamline the cockpit a bit and add a little more accent to the SL's bumblebee color scheme. The QuadLock phone mount had already introduced a touch of blue, so I just added a little more.

If anyone questions the blue on yellow, I'll just tell them that I'm a pro, and the Swedish Bikini Team is my main sponsor.
;^}

 

[DaveMatthews]

so good on the butt front.

Make up your mind mate...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Make up your mind mate...

I'd remind you that because the world is round, your butt's always in front of something.

 

[Chargeride]

Following up on post #75 and subsequent replies....

Today was my first day back on the bike after 26 days of nursing a difficult saddle rash. Kept it to 8.2 mi with 55 ft/mi worth of climbing just to be safe.

Felt soooooooo good to be riding again! So far, so good on the butt front.

This adventure taught me 2 valuable lessons: (1) The proper use and care of cycling shorts, and (2) that you don't have to be riding your bike to spend money on it!

View attachment 199269
So I replaced the horned Ergon GP2 grips (left) that I'd been using for the last year with some new Ergon GA3 MTB grips (blue). The GP2's horns and big palm wings just hadn't delivered the hand and wrist relief I'm looking for.

The GA3 grip is very similar to the Vado SL's black factory grip (middle) but feels nicer to the hand. We'll see.

View attachment 199270
This was an opportunity to streamline the cockpit a bit and add a little more accent to the SL's bumblebee color scheme. The QuadLock phone mount had already introduced a touch of blue, so I just added a little more.

View attachment 199271
If anyone questions the blue on yellow, I'll just tell them that I'm a pro, and the Swedish Bikini Team is my main sponsor.
;^}

The national organisation for women strike again, they even have questions about your grip collection.

 

[stompandgo]

I have the same blue GA3 grips on my grey Cannondale. The small size fit well. Screw the fashionistas. Ride on.

 

[Base]

yellow blue reminds me of the older team sky colors

 

[DDBB]

My wife was on the Swedish bikini team back in 73'

 

[stompandgo]

pics or yer lyin

 

[DaveMatthews]

I'd remind you that because the world is round, your butt's always in front of something.

And lest we forget the old adage "One man's a$$ is another man's face"...
Ancient saying from... um... er... somewhere...

 

[Slaphappygamer]

That blue matches my handlebars.

 

[Gionnirocket]

pics or yer lyin

... and preferably from '73!

 

[DDBB]

Pics will cost you 5 bucks per shot