Front page LA Times today regarding Ebikes

[PedalUma]

There was once a car called 'Little Bastard.' Little Bastard had a lightweight front with a rear engine. When driving around a corner the only way to keep the rear from swinging out was by jumping on the accelerator. But that meant that you were going even faster into the next corner and faster than that into the next. The real answer is to drive a balanced car and to decelerate. What I am really saying is like with Little Bastard and speed, the answer to the gun problem is not more guns.

The curse of James Dean’s 'Little Bastard' Porsche 550 Spyder | Hagerty UK

Dean was killed instantly when he crashed driving his Porsche 550 Spyder but his 'Little Bastard' would go on to cause considerably more trouble.

www.hagerty.co.uk

 

[Slaphappygamer]

There was once a car called 'Little Bastard.' Little Bastard had a lightweight front with a rear engine. When driving around a corner the only way to keep the rear from swinging out was by jumping on the accelerator. But that meant that you were going even faster into the next corner and faster than that into the next. The real answer is to drive a balanced car and to decelerate. What I am really saying is like with Little Bastard and speed, the answer to the gun problem is not more guns.

The curse of James Dean’s 'Little Bastard' Porsche 550 Spyder | Hagerty UK

Dean was killed instantly when he crashed driving his Porsche 550 Spyder but his 'Little Bastard' would go on to cause considerably more trouble.

www.hagerty.co.uk

Poor Little Bastard.

 

[PedalUma]

Poor Little Bastard.

It was fun, until it wasn't. That's a lot like drugs and guns: Fun until it wasn't. Then nightmare. It was such a cool beautiful car and no one knows where it is, even with a $500,000 reward. A car like that would be so fun to ride, drive, up the Northern California coast from SF to Mendocino. Just take it easy. I would rather dive it than a modern SUV. It did not have whiplash headrests and maybe not even seatbelts.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

It was fun, until it wasn't. That's a lot like drugs and guns: Fun until it wasn't. Then nightmare. It was such a cool beautiful car and no one knows where it is, even with a $500,000 reward. A car like that would be so fun to ride, drive, up the Northern California coast from SF to Mendocino. Just take it easy. I would rather dive it than a modern SUV. It did not have whiplash headrests and maybe not even seatbelts.

Back in my fast Japanese sport bike days, Hwy 128 was on my short list of favorite California motorcycle roads — and that's saying something. What an exquisite 3D piece of asphalt!

Hwy 2 along the San Gabriel crest was another.

 

[PedalUma]

I love Hwy 1 North of the Golden Gate with a manual transmission.

 

[Mulezen]

A clockwork orange on ebikes

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/e-bike-riders-in-southern-california-torment-nightlife-crowd-with-fireworks/

 

[Slaphappygamer]

Wow. Kids are making e-bikes look even worse now. Truly sad.

 

[rayray]

Wow. Kids are making e-bikes look even worse now. Truly sad.

No, stupid adults are using this to make e-bikes look bad. What do the bikes have to do with the actions of these kids?

 

[PedalUma]

I was working at an electric bike store yesterday when a person walking by said to another, 'He fell off his electric bike'. What if he fell off his bike? Electric has nothing to do with it! I do agree that under 16 should not have throttles on bikes or scooters.

 

[rayray]

I was working at an electric bike store yesterday when a person walking by said to another, 'He fell off his electric bike'. What if he fell off his bike? Electric has nothing to do with it! I do agree that under 16 should not have throttles on bikes or scooters.

I agree in general. However, I did buy a Rad bike for my grandson. He lives on acreage, and only rides it there or on paths with me, so he’s not doing anything that would risk harm to others. Now, he might crash on their land, but I did crazier stuff when I was a kid. And, we didn’t wear helmets back then.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

No, stupid adults are using this to make e-bikes look bad. What do the bikes have to do with the actions of these kids?

Well, I guess they could’ve used regular bikes as a getaway car.

 

[m@Robertson]

One more sign that ebikes are marching towards ubiquity, and the idea of a bicycle you have to pedal is becoming a thing of the past. Especially for a younger generation who sees them as basic transportation rather than some sort of exercise device where if effort is not demanded, it loses its nobility and becomes evil. Backward thinking that favors more automobiles.

Why more American teenagers are rejecting driver's licenses in favor of e-bikes

There’s a good chance that when you were a teenager, getting your driver’s license was seen as a rite of...

electrek.co

 

[PedalUma]

I built out of box and sold a banana seat throttle bike today to a mom for her son. The family has 11 bikes and come from MTN bike culture. He will be riding it as transportation, will be safe, and will not be doing wheelies in public. It has quality components with a UL battery, and large hydros. A Super 73 came in today with its brake calipers removed and a bent fork. A kid did a wheelie on it like that and crashed. He clearly could not feather the rear brake to bring it down. It is nuts that parents would allow it. It is a first generation that is not supported. We had to tell the mom that it is not worth fixing. The cops called me yesterday and we met to discuss Classes 1,2,3. A kid doing a wheelie crashed into the back of a car and broke his leg yesterday. That is lucky and a good lesson. It turns out it was a 50 mph electric motorcycle with no pedals. They called it a bike. That is not a bike. We will sell quality banana seat bikes because families want them, and to help displace the internet only ones. Yesterday one of those came in. All the home assembled hex cap screws were stripped with SAE and it cost $550 to put it right. Again, no working brakes. The parents don't check the brakes.

 

[Taylor57]

Just got back from a trip to Santa Barbara, Ventura and then the Ojai Music Festival. Upon arriving in Santa Barbara, the first thing I saw as I turned onto State Street were 3 kids on Super 73s, no helmets riding from the street onto the sidewalk at a decent clip. The 73 seems to be the bike of choice for the no helmet crowd!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Just got back from a trip to Santa Barbara, Ventura and then the Ojai Music Festival. Upon arriving in Santa Barbara, the first thing I saw as I turned onto State Street were 3 kids on Super 73s, no helmets riding from the street onto the sidewalk at a decent clip. The 73 seems to be the bike of choice for the no helmet crowd!

See a lot of that in coastal north San Diego County, too. Super73s are very popular here. Maybe half have a helmet onboard, but it's usually on the rear rack, not the rider's head.

OK, I get that a kid can leave home wearing a helmet and put it on the rack once he's out of sight. But what about the many with no helmet anywhere? How does a parent let a kid leave the house like that??

No surprise that this is pretty much a young male phenomenon. No shortage of young girls on ebikes here, but I never see them without a helmet and rarely on a Super73-like ride.

Unlike many of their male counterparts, the girls are generally responsible, courteous riders who actually know and obey traffic laws and basic bike safety rules. They often have a girl passenger and sometimes get distracted by that. But overall, happy to share the bikeways with them.

 

[Taylor57]

See a lot of that in coastal north San Diego County, too. Super73s are very popular here. Maybe half have a helmet onboard, but it's usually on the rear rack, not the rider's head.

OK, I get that a kid can leave home wearing a helmet and put it on the rack once he's out of sight. But what about the many with no helmet anywhere? How does a parent let a kid leave the house like that??

No surprise that this is pretty much a young male phenomenon. No shortage of young girls on ebikes here, but I never see them without a helmet and rarely on a Super73-like ride.

Unlike many of their male counterparts, the girls are generally responsible, courteous riders who actually know and obey traffic laws and basic bike safety rules. They often have a girl passenger and sometimes get distracted by that. But overall, happy to share the bikeways with them.

Also, saw a lot of ebikes and not a lot of people pedaling! I love my throttle, but to be 100% throttle only is going to be the death of ebikes in our neck of the woods...

 

[Ender]

One more sign that ebikes are marching towards ubiquity, and the idea of a bicycle you have to pedal is becoming a thing of the past. Especially for a younger generation who sees them as basic transportation rather than some sort of exercise device where if effort is not demanded, it loses its nobility and becomes evil. Backward thinking that favors more automobiles.

Why more American teenagers are rejecting driver's licenses in favor of e-bikes

There’s a good chance that when you were a teenager, getting your driver’s license was seen as a rite of...

electrek.co

I tried to tell my sisters that this was the answer to their "we have to get our teen to get their license" problems. E-bike being cheaper than the insurance increase and then having to help with a car. But Nooooo. They scoffed at me!

 

[J.R.]

The only constant in the world is change. In the 1970s I worked at gas stations from the time I was in grades 9 through 12. The oil crises at its peak and smaller cars and motorcycles were what many looked to, to save money. Cars and even motorcycles were still costly. All the sudden a solution appeared from Europe and Asia, and it was cheap! No license, insurance, registration and you could ride more than 100 miles for 35 cents. It was all the rage, my family of 5 had 3 of them. One was from a familiar name to many of us old cyclists, Motobecane from France and two Garelli from Italy. Mopeds.

They were the rage, if you can believe it. Local car dealers gave away mopeds with the purchase of a new car. They were everywhere, ticking off all the car drivers. To our family they were more of a novelty, at the time I rode motorcycles and "10 speeds". People took this alternative seriously. I saw many turn up at the gas station, wasting my time for a 25 cent purchase

Eventually municipalities passed laws, required licenses and insurance. Mopeds are barely a footnote in American Transportation.... then e-mopeds... I'm not sure how this ends up. Certainly, regulations are coming where there's will or need. Governments will look to get their cut. History repeating itself?

Negative perceptions are definitely gaining steam about these things we've grown to love so much. I wish we could separate from the mopeds, but I think the die might be cast.

I was struck by these guys posting this as though they are the victims. The MTBr was right! Our fellow ebikers.

 

[jabberwocky]

Negative perceptions are definitely gaining steam about these things we've grown to love so much. I wish we could separate from the mopeds, but I think the die might be cast.

I was struck by these guys posting this as though they are the victims. The MTBr was right! Our fellow ebikers.

A substantial percentage of the ebiker community has a belligerent "you can't tell me what to do" attitude. Especially the overpowered throttle everywhere crowd. I've had a few friends in the MTB advocacy world really sour on ebikes, and its not from people out there riding class 1s. Its exhaustion from dealing with Surron style jackasses tearing up trails and then flipping out when told they aren't allowed to ride them on MTB trails.

Whats gonna suck is I suspect the solution is going to be to just move back to banning ebikes on trails. I know trail managers and the people who do the maintenance and stewardship are over trying to argue with every idiot who bought a Surron and wants to argue that its an ebike and they can ride it there if they want because the trail allows class 1s. You can't even take it as an education opportunity (which is how most advocacy folks would prefer to handle it). The riders know they aren't allowed, they just don't care.

 

[Taylor57]

The only constant in the world is change. In the 1970s I worked at gas stations from the time I was in grades 9 through 12. The oil crises at its peak and smaller cars and motorcycles were what many looked to, to save money. Cars and even motorcycles were still costly. All the sudden a solution appeared from Europe and Asia, and it was cheap! No license, insurance, registration and you could ride more than 100 miles for 35 cents. It was all the rage, my family of 5 had 3 of them. One was from a familiar name to many of us old cyclists, Motobecane from France and two Garelli from Italy. Mopeds.

They were the rage, if you can believe it. Local car dealers gave away mopeds with the purchase of a new car. They were everywhere, ticking off all the car drivers. To our family they were more of a novelty, at the time I rode motorcycles and "10 speeds". People took this alternative seriously. I saw many turn up at the gas station, wasting my time for a 25 cent purchase

Eventually municipalities passed laws, required licenses and insurance. Mopeds are barely a footnote in American Transportation.... then e-mopeds... I'm not sure how this ends up. Certainly, regulations are coming where there's will or need. Governments will look to get their cut. History repeating itself?

Negative perceptions are definitely gaining steam about these things we've grown to love so much. I wish we could separate from the mopeds, but I think the die might be cast.

I was struck by these guys posting this as though they are the victims. The MTBr was right! Our fellow ebikers.

I had a Puch moped in college. It was awesome to zip to and from campus-until it got stolen outside my apartment one night during a party. Still miss that little silver beauty...