Calvin made a lot of good points in his 1000mi/13 month review of his Shadow. He rides his bike for what he does. That's Gold Medal status, in the scheme of things. But other people do long commutes.
http://electricbikereview.com/commu...adow-1000-mile-review-part-1.1636/#post-17349
The people who have been around this forum for the 'duration' seem to get more aggressive in what they will do. A year ago, there was a yearning for bike paths. Now, it's clear that might happen, but it won't happen soon enough. So people are using the roads. I also notice speeds, commute speeds in particular, are moving up. I notice, cynically, that the test of a 'proven' ebiker is that the standard speed has (at least) a '2' as the first digit. This has happened to me. I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to use a legal road vehicle that goes faster, and just be part of traffic. That's the 125cc motorcycle or scooter. I'd never get out of my neighborhood in the winter.
The industry, the retail ebike industry, seems to be oriented toward older folks. The 'step-through' is a great symbol of this. On the other side of the bike shop I visit (eSpokes/St. George Utah), the ebikes for young people tend to be 'off road' bikes, and now fat bikes. There are not a lot of bikes I would call transportation bikes. Their latest thing is selling camo hunting bikes. The value bike market may slide over to crowd fund campaigns. I'm waiting for the 'big guys' to respond at the low end.
If you have to have a car, even for 10% of what you do, the economics turn against you. The car just costs too much. The standard numbers for newer cars come in around $7000 a year, including big chunks of depreciation. The theory is that you take that money, $600 a month, and apply it to a house in the core of a city, where there are walkable/bikeable services.
I looked for houses that would work for two wheeled transport without owning a car. I thought about renting cars, but my brother pointed out that most rental agencies can't cover you for liability, you get that from the car you own. I'm not sure how this works. You need a place with car-sharing, if you need a car but don't want to own one. There are a lot of 'gotchas' out there. I lived in London, briefly, a couple of times, and it would be idiotic to own a car. But that's not how cities like Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas or Salt Lake work.
I'm getting more used to riding on the streets, using sidewalks, back streets, bike paths. But Winter would be tougher. There is a real windy season here, with 20mph winds and 35 mph gusts, but much higher on some days.
Are we tough enough for bikes and ebikes? Even the young people. There are people who watch the evolution of batteries, in particular, and some say "Don't sweat it". You'll still have your car, it will just be electric. Solar and wind work just fine, going out enough years. If you look at gas/oil prices today, you could say some of that is starting to sink in. Oil as a stranded asset, something no one will ever use? And you can still have your big house in the suburbs, the minivan for the kids. Kids do complicate transportation. That's hard to ignore. People may not 'have to' ride ebikes, and I'm not sure they will want to. Everything in Utah is wrapped around family and kids, and the kids need to go a lot of places. It's a totally suburban culture. Minivan World, or Suburban
![Eek! :eek: :eek:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)