A good amount of “legacy” bike advocates are actively hostile to e-bikes, equating them to “cheating”. It’s gatekeeping bullshit.
Anytime someone asks me bike buying advice, my only reply is “go to your local dealer and talk with them”. That relationship and taking a few test rides are far more important than any spec on a sheet.
The thing about bikes is that if you want to go fast, you have to put in kilometers on the saddle. That trains not just your body, but also your mind, and teaches you how to behave on the road. An electric bike allows someone with little training to go much faster than they would be able to otherwise. Now imagine that you're an experienced rider going at a cool 35 km/h and as you're about to pass a newbie on an electric bike they swerve into you because they don't yet have the habit of looking back before moving sideways. Yes, it's a mistake of that particular person alone, but it's a mistake they were able to make because e-bikes exist.
...and yet car-on-car accidents are still a major source of premature deaths, to mention nothing of when the cyclist is the victim. The potential to do great harm has to be the overwhelming factor when assessing road risk.
> There are civil, if not criminal, penalties for...
Not really, or not enough at least. Drivers can and do cause horrific accidents because of inattention, bad judgement, intoxication, and road rage. There aren't enough penalties and, it seems, the situation has been getting worse and more chaotic lately, at least where I live in the Northeastern US.
We're not living in a utopis. Drivers can do whatever they can get away with. If the other party has a dashcam, then they maybe boned if the police can be motivated to do their job for once without murdering someone.
Oh, they master it, do they? So, you'd let a child who's been riding a bike for a week or so ride with heavy traffic, right? They've mastered it, so there's nothing else for them to learn.
You should have watched this video: https://youtu.be/sEON08d76oE?t=112 it nicely explains the importance of things like tram rails, and keeping a potato in your pants.
That was 40 year old me a couple years ago. Street car rails are terrible, bad for bikes and pedestrians, a lot of expense, and doesn't provide much more than a bus.
Dumbest comment I've read in a while here. Most Americans can't seem to "master" bike riding and so they all need to wear helmets. The Dutch don't and aren't the world capital of TBIs.
Dumbest comment I've read in a while here. (high five, it works both ways).
The Dutch have a bicycle culture and bicycle friendly streets where cars are outnumbered and don't despise cyclists in the manner of Sydney, Australia or Mean City, USA.
The Dutch also live in a flat country and don't extreme cycle down the side of Big Sur, etc either.
E-bikes are great for bike advocacy - what I’ve noticed is that a lot more people are biking because of them. I bump into lots more older people riding canyon roads than I used to, and people going grocery shopping or out to the pub on e-bikes. Friends who have been indoor people and not fit are buying e-bikes and getting out. This has nothing but positive effects on local traffic laws and bike lanes, and local trails and bike paths. I don’t have an e-bike yet, but I will get one eventually, maybe when my interest in climbing wanes, or maybe sooner just to increase my range.
My over middle aged colleague got into and enjoying cycling again with an e bike.
And he gives no dammn if this is cheeting according to some condescending self righteous hole of excretion. Did not even hear about those poor people. He just likes to move more and that's it.
Anytime someone asks me bike buying advice, my only reply is “go to your local dealer and talk with them”. That relationship and taking a few test rides are far more important than any spec on a sheet.