The speed pedelec is probably going to ruin ebiking, but it won't ruin it for me. I just hope ebikes are always the bikes that go less than 20 mph, and the regular cyclists respect them because there is nothing that threatens them.
@George S. ,
Ravi said:
"I remember the above quote from you. Now, many DIY'ers are into BBS-HD which will go well above 35mph. So, do you think BBS-HD will kill E-bikes?"
I don’t go over 20 mph, on the flat, except to test out batteries at high loads. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that you need a certain wattage to climb hills, ride into the wind, or both those things. So it’s hard to use wattage to limit speed. The number of people saying they will over-ride their bikes to go over 20 mph is pretty large. So the accident ‘that is waiting to happen’ could be on a Haibike or a Cross Current, both of which travel fast enough to cause some major damage in an accident.
How am I supposed to sell 20 mph, at this point? The owner of the only ebike shop in the area, eSpokes, say that 28 mph will bring a commuter element, young people, into cycling. Maybe it will and maybe that will spur some sales. If nothing else, speed sells. Whether the BBSHD is more of a risk than any other 28 mph ebike, I don’t know. The 1500 watt limit moves the bike into the 30’s, in theory, depending on the bike.
I’ve pointed out to Eric that he is selling a product that will be much ‘more illegal’ next year. He will have to certify the motors, or the builders will, and the limit is 750 watts in California. You have to label the bike, you have to lock it down. The BBSHD is locked down at 1500 watts right now. To get more watts than that, you have to use an external controller, which is a lot of work. That does show that Bafang could go in and lock the motor down at 750 watts, in about 5 minutes. Why did they bring the HD out, when it clearly exceeds US standards?
The hub motors end up in a bad place. The 750 watt standard will not go away, and it’s hard to make a responsive hub with that power, or at least it is harder. Actually, a BBSHD with a 750 watt limit would work well for most people. They could make the 28 mph speed and they could climb most hills. It might bog down in the snow or the sand, but 750 watts is what the ebike establishment said was ‘enough’. If those groups that got the new regs in California want people to end up on mid-drives, the BBS02/HD is still a pretty solid if unrefined motor.
Most people want to ride on paths. The speed limit on bike paths has never been above 20 mph. So the 28 limit, the speed pedelec, is meaningless. In California a Speed Ped is banned from bike paths, which is not so helpful. In Utah they are not banned, but obviously the speed limit is the same.
So I guess your friends in the industry aren’t going to talk to Eric? Is there any dialogue? Do they just wait around, waiting for a severe accident and hope the HD goes away? Could we have some room for people to experiment, but not call them e bikes? They let people build experimental aircraft, and they do fall out of the sky sometimes.
I think they will enforce the 750 watt standard, but it may take a few years. They could tell Bafang not to import anything that isn’t locked down to the US standard. What could Bafang do? OK, so it’s 2018 and all the motors are 750 watts. Will they give people some other category to experiment with, gee, 2 horsepower electric cycles and up? To me a bike is not something that goes much over 20 mph. But there are lots of things that can be made that go faster, but maybe they aren’t bikes or e bikes. Maybe they are low power electric motorcycles.
It’s sad, because you guys could never just enjoy the basic ebike. I think that’s a decent hub and a decent battery, not much else. It should be able to climb hills and overcome the wind, that’s why we wanted the motor. I could probably live with the Monte Capro or the Flux Attack, but they are new motors and I don’t need to be the beta tester.
Everyone ‘broke’ the original concept of the ebike. Eric with his 3000 watt mid-drives and the industry with the 28 mph speed peds that can’t even go on bike paths. That’s really what I said, a year ago, that my concept of an ebike is gone.
I can look at the Ride with GPS logs for all my rides, and my average speed is right around 15 mph.
j/k
