Class 3 Urban eBike Owners: What is your preferred cruising speed?

[Asher]

One of the misnomers about class 3 ebikes is that just because you can ride at 28 mph, everyone will always.

I only rode at those speeds occasionally, and I imagine that's common. So I'm curious to know how others ride.

For class 3 eBike Owners, what is your preferred day time cruising speed in the city? (If you don't have a class 3 eBike, don't answer the poll)

I suspect results here will be higher speed than class 3 ebike owners generally, but I think it will be instructive nonetheless.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Having biked 40,000 miles on different bikes, my sweet spot in 23-24 mph.

I have reached as high as 50 mph but that was scary because the tire contact area is very small compared to a car or a motorcycle.

One needs very sharp motor and kinetic skills to be able to ride at 28mph. Accidents happen often if any of those factors are not seriously considered.

At 28mph, you burn through battery fast and most bikes don't have aero / windscreens to limit the drag.

At 23-24 average speed, I get decent exercise, reach destination faster, don't deplete the battery and maintain enough braking distance for safety.

 

[Asher]

Having biked 40,000 miles on different bikes, my sweet spot in 23-24 mph.

I have reached as high as 50 mph but that was scary because the tire contact area is very small compared to a car or a motorcycle.

One needs very sharp motor and kinetic skills to be able to ride at 28mph. Accidents happen often if any of those factors are not seriously considered.

At 28mph, you burn through battery fast and most bikes don't have aero / windscreens to limit the drag.

At 23-24 average speed, I get decent exercise, reach destination faster, don't deplete the battery and maintain enough braking distance for safety.

Agreed, 22-24 mph was my sweet spot for urban traffic, and that was only with 250w assist on a Juiced.

There were areas with 2000+ feet without intersections where I might go faster, otherwise.

By the way, a windscreen on your upcoming ebike, maybe as an accessory, would be a great idea and marketing tactic.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Try riding 22-24 mph against 20 mph wind...

 

[drewberz]

When I commuted to work 21-22 miles with ~900ft. gain, average speed was 19mph-21mph. 28mph potential is useful when you need to better keep up with traffic or make time.

As an aside, I think the focus should not be on the speed potential of the device, but what safe speeds look like for a given roadway. Just not sure how to shift the conversation to that. I like the class system for being able to quickly assess an ebike, but think this class system also leads to fundamentally misunderstanding how ebikes fit in the mobility ecosystem. One potential takeaway is that Class 1=Slow and Class 3=Fast. However, you could ride a Class 1 bike recklessly on a path and be cautious/conservative on a Class 3 bike on the same path.

 

[gkgeiger]

I don't have my class 3 bikes yet (soon), and I don't ride on the street, but on trails or sidewalk I like 15-18mph.

 

[dodahman]

I average way under 20 in an urban setting. There are no long runs where I live, with lots of stopping and intersections to clear. I usually do 28 the last 3 blocks of my ride, though, just to scare myself a bit. I am not commuting, just goofing around. If commuting, I would be going faster.

 

[MechaNut]

My RipCurrent S is a class 3. The default controller settings are class 2. I have seen no reason to alter the settings. I prefer the extra range over more speed. I find 20mph suits me just fine.

 

[Ken M]

I think some of the comments are very helpful. The path your on and how wide open it is matters. When I was on a designated bike path on the side of a road I liked to ride at 25-28mph because it felt a hell of lot safe to be closer to the speed of the cars going past me. On side walks with no pedestrians I would kind of cruise along at that 22-23mph range. I would always slow down when going by anyone walking to about 15mph because any faster and they probably feel threatened by the speed.

I do believe that in general the Class 1/2 regulation limit of 20mph is a bit too slow to allow a transportation ebike to be as effective as it should be. Time is money if you are commuting to work so being able to average 5-10mph faster on a long commute of 10-20 miles can pay for the ebike in time savings over a year. In Europe the pace is slower and the commutes usually shorter, but their new 25kph (like 15mph) seems to defeat the potential value of an ebike for getting people out of cars.

My position is that we need effective human scale transportation more than we need to worry about mamby-pambies that feel 20mph is fast enough. Not intended to be mean, just trying to make a point about the importance of ebikes being effective solutions for transportation.

 

[onlineaddy]

Correct. I commute and ride on the street only; most streets here have bike lanes. I ride at 25 mph as long as I can but typically average 19-20 mph due to stop signs, lights, etc.

 

[AHicks]

Mamby pamby here, who rides for recreational purposes only. 15mph limit wouldn't bother me any. I rarely go faster. Guys whining about speed limits, in my experience, are those commuting. I think everyone needs to understand there are different priorities among bike riders. A little respect for each other wouldn't hurt a thing, and might even do some good when it's time to get things done legally.....

Mamby pamby, really?

 

[antboy]

Once in a while if conditions are clear, I'll do a stretch where I go about 36kph (23ish mph), but 95% of the time the city traffic I'm in is stop and go - and I'm usually faster than the cars at 15mph, or I'm on fairly busy mixed use trails where anything over 15mph would be dangerous (and breaking the posted speed limit), especially with Clueless Karens jogging with their Airpods in, and oblivious to the world around them.

EDIT TO ADD: Of course, in the wonderful Omega Man urban wasteland that is Covidia, I've found some opportunities to ride on the higher end given the Cower In Place rules clearing the streets.

 

[Asher]

Just to clarify, I mean the speed you travel at not including stops and braking. Ie the speed you plateau at. Not your average trip speed, which would include time at stoplights and such

 

[Ken M]

Mamby pamby here, who rides for recreational purposes only. 15mph limit wouldn't bother me any. I rarely go faster. Guys whining about speed limits, in my experience, are those commuting. I think everyone needs to understand there are different priorities among bike riders. A little respect for each other wouldn't hurt a thing, and might even do some good when it's time to get things done legally.....

Mamby pamby, really?

I only use that term because it seems those that like to ride slower than 20mph feel that their preference should set the limit on every ebiker. In reality I don't think any ebike that is say less than 50kg or ~100lbs is going to feel safe to anyone at speeds over 35mph which is about the speed many road riders can cruise at when they are in great shape. There is simply NO logic to setting assist limits at 20mph because it DOES limit the adoption of ebikes are human scale transporation solutions. I again say that is more important than mamby pambies pushing regulations to stay at 20mph for ebikes to not need registration or insurance. Sorry for the term but I can ride my non-assisted road bike faster than 20mph but it wears me out so I want to ride my ebike faster so I can get to work in a reasonable time. It's just that simple.

 

[Ken M]

Just to clarify, I mean the speed you travel at not including stops and braking. Ie the speed you plateau at. Not your average trip speed, which would include time at stoplights and such

I think most of us assume active crusing speed...not average trip speed.

 

[Ken M]

If you look at the results so far, only about 25% feel they cruise at a speed below 20mph on an ebike. That says a lot about the lack of common sense the 20mph Class 1/2 assist limit is.

 

[onlineaddy]

If you look at the results so far, only about 25% feel they cruise at a speed below 20mph on an ebike. That says a lot about the lack of common sense the 20mph Class 1/2 assist limit is.

Conversely, 0% cruise at >26 mph.

 

[Asher]

I only use that term because it seems those that like to ride slower than 20mph feel that their preference should set the limit on every ebiker. In reality I don't think any ebike that is say less than 50kg or ~100lbs is going to feel safe to anyone at speeds over 35mph which is about the speed many road riders can cruise at when they are in great shape. There is simply NO logic to setting assist limits at 20mph because it DOES limit the adoption of ebikes are human scale transporation solutions. I again say that is more important than mamby pambies pushing regulations to stay at 20mph for ebikes to not need registration or insurance. Sorry for the term but I can ride my non-assisted road bike faster than 20mph but it wears me out so I want to ride my ebike faster so I can get to work in a reasonable time. It's just that simple.

Lol so much wrong here. Practically no road riders are going 35 mph, and there are few people doing even 25 mph in most urban contexts. Every city that has mass cycling has speeds of 10-15 mph average. Eg green waves timed for 12 mph traffic.

20 mph is simply far faster than mass cycling can manage. And faster than that doesn't increase trip speed much but does markedly increase danger and energy expenditure. Especially for slower witted people like the elderly and young.

I'm not saying that e-bikes above 20 mph shouldn't exist, just that they are an effective ersatz band aid for a broken system designed around cars going fast and far on a daily basis.

 

[Alaskan]

I like to cruise between 22 & 25 mph on a class 3 bike (or delimited class 2 )

 

[Ken M]

Well in Japan and Europe they have 15mph speed limit.
Japan used to have 12mph (20km/h) limit but they raised to 15mph.

I'm glad that 28mph bikes exist, like Tora from Juiced said, Class 3 changed the game and got more people interested in the ebike as a possible car replacement for daily commute.

You're right, 20mph is too fast depending on the situation, but I don't ride 20 or 28mph everywhere. Just like other members here, I slow down in the bike trail where there are other cyclists, joggers, etc.

If we had 15mph rule just because 20mph can be too fast in some situations, how many people in the US would be interested as a daily commuter or possible car replacement?

Well said/written. There is no reason the lowest common speed should set the assist limit.

Others were saying that no road bikers cruise at higher than 30mph speeds but the human edurance test for 1 hour was over 33mph on a bike. That is a fact that it seems few people are aware of. I know many road bikers that can sustain over 30mph for a long distance and recumbent riders do it commonly as well. The issue is that very few of us in that good of condition and want to sweat our butts off to sustain any speed over 20mph.

I wonder how many of the people advocating for no ebikes assisting over 20mph have ever exceeded the speed limits while driving...probably 100%. Most bikers are keenly aware that speed and situation matter so they ride at the speed safe for the situration (if a biker hits a pedestrian they are equally likely to be injured so it's not like a car going down the sidewalk taking out pedestrians and bike riders).