Recent content by Ken M

I think the data showing the number of pedestrians injured by ebikers is not easy to find. A recent six-year urban study found that out of all reported e-mobility and bike-related emergency room visits, approximately 7.5% were pedestrian injuries involving e-bikes, traditional bicycles, and...

Spandexters have never been the riders to look towards for fashion or common sense.

Essentially what Washington State has done is killed the Class 3 ebike and returned to what was defined in HR727 for a compliant "low speed electric bike" that can be sold in all 50 states. I wonder if the people that already own Class 3 ebikes will petition for grand fathering of those ebikes...

No matter how many times I mention it, nobody ever reads HR727 which is the federal definition for what is a compliant "low speed electric bicycle" that can be sold in all 50 states. It does not define a cut-off at 20mph....it states that motor alone speed is limited to 20mph on level surface...

Well I rode an ebike in the Denver area over 6000 miles one year and never did I see a biker hazardously riding thru pedestrians. I hear all these horror stories that pedestrians are claiming but I wonder if they are walking in road side bike lanes where bikers are going a bit faster (there are...

Somewhat accurate but the definition of compliance was intended to be HR727 and states were supposed to retain "use" regulations of compliant "low speed electric bicycles" as same as traditional bikes. There was one "class" that allowed full power to 20mph and limited assist beyond that speed -...

C'mon....bikers don't want to get hurt so common sense is that they will slow down when there are pedestrians. This does not advance the bike safety debate whatsover as it sounds like saying "they have WMDs."

Historically for non-electric bikes, "classifications" referred to the type of bike (e.g., Road, Mountain, Gravel, Commuter, Cruiser, Trike, Recumbent). Obviously depending on intended use the bike designs were optimized for that use. Doesn't mean you could not ride a mountain bike as a commuter...

Do we really need to parse a "low speed electric bicycle" as defined by HR727 into classes. As performance changes / increases there are different product classifications - ebike/moped/motorcycle/etc. Some companies are putting functional pedals on what essentially are mopeds or motorcycles and...

Yes....10X downhill is easy to do without a motor or even pedaling which is why the 28-30mph top assist makes a little sense as an ebike would not really exceed a speed commonly achieved on traditional bikes. Going downhill is also when a lot of accidents happen...maybe the largest %.

That was a "use" law - an example of when a state does something stupid like the 3-class legislation (this was not a "use" law). For interstate commerce we need federal definitions for what is legal for sale in all 50 states (HR727 did that for low power electric bikes but also established that...

It's not really the speed capability of the mobility devices (some sports cars can easily exceed 200mph), it's the idiots that think they can go 50mph on a mixed use path with a 15mph speed limit. Common sense needed because if someone in a fast sports car does 200mph thru a residence area and...

Try this. Try riding up say a 6-8% grade on a Bosch or Yamaha 250W rated mid drive ebike while trying to maintain 20mph. You quickly discover that takes a significant rider effort to sustain that speed and I would argue that is a problem when using an ebike for urban mobility because if riding...

Thick street tires around 2.5' wide for passive suspension like the Schwalbe Moto X (why are most street tires designed to be lite for racing?), No front fork because they are just so the industry gets service money later, 120nM or more mid-drive (so can sustain 20mph up a reasonable hill...

I think that most people see ebikes, just like traditional bikes, as recreation / leisure / fitness oriented instead of for any serious urban mobility which is really where their highest potential lies. It's the sad reality of the industry but besides Stromer no ebike producer has really...