CLASS 1 EBIKES: A VANISHING BREED?

antboy said:
Oh trust me, definitely the Cdn site. Specialized make great bikes, but they are NOT "pretty careful" with their online presence. ;)

It took them the better part of a year to catch most of it, but to this day, the Vado SL (4.0 and 5.0) still have US speed and range in the "read more".
www.specialized.com

Vado SL 4.0 EQ

There’s no other e-bike out there with ride quality, range, and power like this, at a weight that’s light enough to carry. The Turbo Vado SL 4.0 EQ is b...
www.specialized.com www.specialized.com


View attachment 91302

. :)
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Mmmm, no excuses for their mistakes. Sorry for mine.
 
Jimbo08 said:
Mmmm, no excuses for their mistakes. Sorry for mine.
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Oh no worries.

I'm just acutely aware because every month or so a friend of mine keeps going back and forth on looking at the Vado SL and sending me links (it would be his first e-bike, and he's a Specialized fanboy).
 
mschwett said:
i doubt that’ll happen.

however, at some point someone riding a class 3 eBike on a MUP is going to hit a pedestrian, cause injury, and be subject to significant uninsured liability when the attorneys for the other parties go after them.

that said, i ride a class 3 eBike on mixed use paths, carefully, and turned off. it’s a bit silly and i take the risk to be almost astronomically low with caution and common sense.
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Mixed use situations on water or land usually give priority to the smaller and slower. The responsibility and liability falls on the larger and faster to avoid collision. Speed limits help reduce the collision damage to the innocent party. Pedestrians on a MUP are often wandering with no focus as to where they are on the path, but they have the right of way. The commuter wants to get from A to B. A speed difference of 20 kmph is probably survivable. The onus is on the faster party to limit their speed and avoid the collision. Pedestrians and squirrels have no liability.
 
I don't think speed is as much a factor as convenience. While I don't use it much, a throttle is great for getting rolling from a dead stop especially when in a higher gear.
 
Ken M said:
That is all the koolaid everyone keeps drinking. A compliant "low speed electric bike" is defined federally as a bike. Those land managers do not have the power to alter that regardless of how big their egos are. If there was any data showing that compliant LSEBs were causing any safety or wear issues on paths I would listen to the land managers but they have NOTHING to back up their position. Telling me they got a complaint from a walker or horse rider is nice and cute but is meritless because we don't know if that ebike was compliant of if the issue was created by them. Many hikers and horse riders want the trails to themselves and feel their experience is ruined if any bikers are allowed. It's just another one of America's great whine fests.

They have the power to ban ALL ikes but that would result in a major backlash. I'd be willing to bet that 99% of all the complaints about ebikes on trails managed by these land managers are not even compliant ebikes but they get lumped in a such because ignorance is rampant.

The fact is the definition in HR727 is intelligently written (it was drafted by a PhD Electrical Engineer named Malcolm Currie and he spoke to congress about the importance of ebikes being passed from NHTSA to the CPSC to be regulated as a bike) and the idiots at People for Bikes should never have pushed 3-ass legislation. or did I mean 3-class....nope.
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Surrons and Horses are hard on trails, noticed two trends in Ebike advertisements, no pedaling or ripping up the landscape on a barely legal EMTB.( why is destroying the ecology so much fun?(apparently)
 
Art Deco said:
The distinction between class 1 and class 2 is really annoying to me, even though I ride a class 1. A speed limit of 20, 25 or even 30 mph I can see as needed, but how you get to the speed... pedals , throttle, or downhill shouldn't matter. Angry.
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One of my deceased friends told of following a "roadie" doing 55mph down a grade( scary)
 
Art Deco said:
A common legal 1 hp vehicle where I live is an Amish buggy. We ride the same shoulder on the same roads.
And some people can't pedal so can't use the trails at all without a throttle. I'd rather they ride a trike or even an ATV then their truck on a Sunday drive.
..
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That ol' equine got the torque though( Horses are underrated- do they need a class?)
 
In the distant past I've gotten my carbon road bike up into the mid 50s a handful of times descending mountain roads (backside of 33 over the border from harrisonburg in VA and 211 dropping into Luray off skyline drive). I just remembering getting hyper aware of the fact that I'm riding a sub 15 pound bike on wheels I built myself wearing what is basically underwear. Once you're in the 50s it almost gets scary to touch the brakes. The luray descent is a two lane highway and you pass cars the whole way down if you're riding that fast.

These days once I'm at 35 or so I sit up and enjoy the descent. My most ridden descent back into town from gravel rides tends to top out at just under 40. Theres a stop sign right at the bottom so its a good way to make sure your brakes are working well.

Above 30, sketchiness varies a lot by bike. I've had bikes (mainly steel ones) where the frame just felt too noodly to be comfortable on too much beyond 30. The carbon bike always felt super planted. My ebike is aluminum and feels solid as well, though the 50mm gravel tires tend to not feel great at speed in corners on pavement.
 
At 50mph, if you have a reflector attached to your spokes, its weight is enough to throw your wheel out of balance. If you happen to have reflectors on both front and rear wheels, the resulting vibrations can really liven up your day; DAMHIKT.
 
jabberwocky said:
In the distant past I've gotten my carbon road bike up into the mid 50s a handful of times descending mountain roads (backside of 33 over the border from harrisonburg in VA and 211 dropping into Luray off skyline drive). I just remembering getting hyper aware of the fact that I'm riding a sub 15 pound bike on wheels I built myself wearing what is basically underwear. Once you're in the 50s it almost gets scary to touch the brakes. The luray descent is a two lane highway and you pass cars the whole way down if you're riding that fast.

These days once I'm at 35 or so I sit up and enjoy the descent. My most ridden descent back into town from gravel rides tends to top out at just under 40. Theres a stop sign right at the bottom so its a good way to make sure your brakes are working well.

Above 30, sketchiness varies a lot by bike. I've had bikes (mainly steel ones) where the frame just felt too noodly to be comfortable on too much beyond 30. The carbon bike always felt super planted. My ebike is aluminum and feels solid as well, though the 50mm gravel tires tend to not feel great at speed in corners on pavement.
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In full aerobrake mode a couple of my Hills will hurtle you at 38mph even in drag mode its not comfortable in Deer country, am guessing could get way over 40 mph if I leaned forward and cleaned the aerodynamics up, one hill doesnt really even have a shoulder on the curve at the bottom. A Jogger actually ran off the road and"crashed" on the one curve.( He put a sign up commerating the event)
 
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