What's holding back the e-bike boom? Research, safety, and bias (article)

[RunForTheHills]

Try this. Try riding up say a 6-8% grade on a Bosch or Yamaha 250W rated mid drive ebike while trying to maintain 20mph. You quickly discover that takes a significant rider effort to sustain that speed and I would argue that is a problem when using an ebike for urban mobility because if riding to work time is money so average speed matters a lot more that if you just ride for leisure or fitness (ie I don't want the ride time increased because I have to slow to 5mph to get up a hill like that if I don't want to get sweaty).

Sure front forks make an urban ebike rider a bit more comfortably, but I've had very high end forks on the ebikes I commute on (have the 2.5" x 27" Moto X tires I mentioned) and I can not tell a difference in ride quality unless I'm hit potholes or bumbs and that is just an occasional event - the forks add more cost and service than they do value on an urban mobility ebikes (check out most of the Stromer models and they don't have front forks and are consider by most to be the best urban mobility ebikes on the market).

I think a belt getting shredded on an urban mobility ebikes would be a very very rare event such that the lack of servicing is a big bonus. You are right that needing an IGH for a belt is a luxury. Sure derailleurs perform just fine but there is the risk of a lot of wear and chain stretch if the ebike has a high torque mid drive like the Bafang Ultra (sadly that motor is not being integrated on any urban mobility ebikes currently - Sondors had 2 models but not out of business).

Those are minor technical issues. Most are debatable on whether or not they are actually issues. They aren't preventing people from buying an ebike to commute to work. Most people in the US just don't want to ride an ebike to work. They haven't even thought about whether they can ride 20 mph up a hill to shave 3 minutes off their commute and probably have no idea that belt drive bicycles even exist. The things people really care about are it's going to take 45 minutes on a bike vs 20 minutes in a car, their hair will get messed up wearing a helmet, It might rain tomorrow, they can't haul a trunk's worth of stuff around on a bicycle just in case they need it, they are going to the store after work, or they are meeting friends 20 miles away, etc.

 

[kevinmccune]

It was all about boosting efficiency and GDP. Sadly, it failed.
"The "Cash for Clunkers" program acted as a highly regressive redistribution of wealth, effectively transferring taxpayer money up the economic ladder. [1]
Because the government program required participants to purchase a brand-new vehicle to receive the voucher, higher-income, older, and wealthier households overwhelmingly benefited from the subsidies.Conversely, lower-income households were largely priced out of participating and shouldered the long-term negative market externalities. [1, 2, 3]"

watched them destroy a fairly new model Volvo it took ten minutes to destroy the turbo and seize the engine,a clunker hair no! many of these good cars ""Buick Roadmasters"and the like were turned in so they wouldn't help a poor person or someone else to have a good ride,never under estimate avarice and jealousy( this happens more frequently then you think,I saw people strip trades and resold vehicles,the box of junk sitting in the garage in the way till it was discarded 6 months later and its a fact for example many Roadmasters and other fine cars were destroyed,I do not believe the caveats you mentioned perhaps you can tune me in to a article that exemplified the caveats and conditions,a guy who worked at a junk yard told me of a perfect Cadillac Northstar( ran perfect who was dismayed when he couldn't buy it off the scrap yard )was sold by the pound for scrap and an acquaintance of mine took a perfectly good Mercedes and specified that it be crushed( he was dismayed when I told the him local import recycler probably parted it out,probably why the forklift operator took such pains to unload it carefully,no "cash for clunkers" had nothing to do with the economy it was just some over educated liberals idea of cleaning up the environment and I guarantee the smokey oil drippers never saw the crusher( read the stats on how many good cars were destroyed) 'I used to be very liberal,the dumbass's changed that when I got in the ditch or or crawled in the manhole( real world s*it- no cushy air conditioned job) you wonder why the country is in such a state its because of the lack of parity! The liberals are steadily destroying America while the so called"conservatives" are gobbling up the rest,join the party Independence endorsed by the founders since 1776 and folks embrace and try to get along with with the other nations work toward getting rid of our and their corruption( communism is just capitalism without any of the perks and the murderers get to take over because of fear and regulation( that's the way it ends up) As R Ricardo used to say"Lucy you have some splaining to do"! if your a Christian at the "White throne Judgement will you stand on the "right or left"? The Goats do not know Christ,the "Sheep" do superstition aside would you sooner live with the sheep or goats? as in all things practice discernment,the mega churches are not your friend.( good grief,political and belief systems)

 

[kevinmccune]

Those are minor technical issues. Most are debatable on whether or not they are actually issues. They aren't preventing people from buying an ebike to commute to work. Most people in the US just don't want to ride an ebike to work. They haven't even thought about whether they can ride 20 mph up a hill to shave 3 minutes off their commute and probably have no idea that belt drive bicycles even exist. The things people really care about are it's going to take 45 minutes on a bike vs 20 minutes in a car, their hair will get messed up wearing a helmet, It might rain tomorrow, they can't haul a trunk's worth of stuff around on a bicycle just in case they need it, they are going to the store after work, or they are meeting friends 20 miles away, etc. with as much tensile strength

belt drive? the famous "bike trekker" switched back to chain drive after two "gates" carbon fiber belts failed him while riding in Utah( kevlar much better) observation proves that anything with as much tensile strength as carbon fiber does not like flexing,so rest easy chain lovers,clean and lube those chains,maybe not the best but they fulfill 95% of the need at a fraction of the price,the way to swing!