Anytime Im in my car behind a biker, I remember this: do not be frustrated with the biker, be frustrated with the city planners. If only our cities here in the states were more biker and pedestrian oriented as so many european towns seem to be. It would be much more environmentally friendly and lead to a greater quality of life!

I was riding my (non-e) bike to work and found that I drove my car more and more because I was tired in the morning and didn't have the energy to pedal. I chose to convert my bike into a e-bike and now the problem is gone. On sleepy mornings, I throttle it all of the way. Other days, I just turn the pedal assist on. The part I didn't expect is that I feel so much more connected to the community on a bike. When I drive in my car, I feel like I am in a weird bubble and removed from the town.

I realize this is geared toward the prospective "green" ebike consumer, but the use of ebikes is why you can get get delivery so fast in large cities like NYC. The guys who do that work, work *hard* and the electric assist/throttle allows them to keep up with the brutal demands of the app based delivery companies. Ebikes aren't just the toys of the upper middle class retiree set.

Hearing someone describe biking as a "frivolous children's activity" sounds so foreign to me. 😂 In Germany, biking is so ingrained into daily life, frivolous isn't something I'd ever think to attribute to the activity

Something for the writing team to consider for the future is that Stroad has a specific definition: a road too wide and fast to be safe for pedestrians while having too many intersections for efficient movement of cars. It's the grey area between a street and a road, not a short hand for either one ☺️

Genuinely glad you mentioned Not Just Bikes. There needs to be a mindset change and shift in North America to prioritize quality public transit and pedestrians. It makes no sense to do otherwise if you basically are penalized with high risks for no having a car.

I mean, E-bikes (talking pedal-assist), due to their ease of use, are more likely to be used for longer trips, errands, and daily commutes. The ability to go up hills without straining oneself makes someone more likely to bike over drive. Simon Clark and TechAltar have great videos about that. I get what you mean by "Don't buy anything new if you don't need it" but I would say if the cards are played right, they are a net positive. Of course, more regulation around the manufacturing and sourcing standards around e-bikes would be best but I'd say it's overall a good thing.

Don’t forget e-cargo bikes there are models that definitely rival some small cars in cargo space, it’s pretty wild

“Frivolous children’s activity” - someone who lives in North America

To me, the biggest barrier between me and commuting on a bike is theft. One time, the police even caught the thief and because my bike then was too cheap the thief got away nearly scot-free

ebikes really caught on here in my rural town in germany. at this point i see WAY MORE elderly people ride their bikes for fun! they still have to take the car to buy groceries, but i feel like ebikes really imrpoved their quality of life. fit people, young folks and kids still ride their normal bikes but its apparent that the ebike is really trendy and i wouldnt be surprised if they replace the regular bike for anyone that can afford one since the region i live in has many mountains and hills, getting around on a regular bike is INCREADIBLY HARD unless youre really fit. Ebikes are very much an upper middleclass kind of item here, but im sure that in one or two years, people that cant buy one new, will get their hands on a second hand ebike (bc like all trends, there will be people that dont use theirs and will get rid of it)

What's nice about Not Just Bikes is how the channel shows how bicycle infrastructure can also benefit car infrastructure. Being Dutch and having both a bicycle and a car, I can confirm that using both modes of transport in the Netherlands are usually a pleasant experience. So all y'all car people: it can be done and it can benefit you too ☕️

I suffer from severe anxiety/panic attacks/agoraphobia (I'm a wreck lol). I have struggled with these conditions since I was 16 years old and I recently just turned 40. I have never had a car license because the closest place to go take the written test and driving test is several towns over and thanks to my agoraphobia I just can't make it there without having a severe panic attack. I bought an ebike 2 years ago and it has been life changing for me. I pretty much never leave my town and if I do it's not very far out of town but my ebike has given me more freedom than I've had in the last 24 years of my life. I should probably mention that I can't use a regular bike, well I can just not for long due to a knee injury I had in my early 20's. I don't have to ask friends or family members for rides or have to wait around and for a taxi/uber to pick me if I have to go to a doctors appointment or if I just want to go pick up a few things at the grocery store. The money I've saved from not having to take taxis or ubers has already paid for my bike and then some. It gets me out of the house so much more, I love just going out and riding around town which has really helped with my agoraphobia. I can definitely understand both sides of the ebike debate but mine really has changed my life and I could not be happier with my ebike and the freedom it has given me.

I think it’s awesome that a bunch of channels that I’ve been following for a while have recently been getting onto the urban planning side of sustainability and that Not Just Bikes is getting a lot of recognition. The man deserves it. Great video!

one reason people get ebikes that seems to be rarely brought up is that hills are a kinda big barrier to cycling, especially if your house is on a hill

I switched my regular bike to an e-bike and I really enjoy cycling now. I’m always excited to leave the house because cycling is just so much more enjoyable than before. I cycle to work, university and to the city center to run some errands or just hang out so I do cycle pretty much everyday. My e-bike was very expensive for a university student’s budget but I do not regret buying one!

real negative title for a video that was actually quite balanced. why?

100% agree to try it out on a regular bike first. I did that with my commute for a year, but I had problems with the range, so I didn't ride very often. The next year I bought an ebike and now I'm hooked! I ride just about every day, sometimes even in the rain

I have an electric scooter and I love riding it, but it sucks where I live in Florida because 1. I never know if I’m supposed to be in a bike lane or sidewalk. 2. Idk about any other place, but a lot of sidewalks here just end out of nowhere.

Unrelated but whoever's designing the thumbnails for this channel needs a raise. I have absolutely 0 interest in e-bikes but still clicked because the thumbnail looked too nice not to click. Against my best wishes, I now know the problem with e-bikes so thanks I guess

To be clear a stroad is NOT *either* a street or a road, but that awkward in-between that has a slow speed limit, but not a local street, and multiple lanes, but not a highway

I don’t think this video properly weighs the impact of battery production for an ebike vs an electric car. Yes, lithium ion batteries have known environmental impacts, but you have to weigh options to be fair. One electric car battery could make 50+ ebike batteries.

There's a further unpleasant problem with e-bikes. They get stolen. Often. I currently live in a fairly small, rich town. Not a single day passes without several bikes being stolen (both normal or e-bikes, old or new). While replacing a 100€ bike might be annoying, having to replace a 1.000€ e-bike gets nasty, even from an environmental point of view. I was told that the problem has exploded in several parts of Europe, starting with the Netherlands. E-bikes are hot stuff and that encourages crime, without the authorities being willing and or prepared to tackle it.

I'm seeing Not just Bikes everywhere nowadays and I absolutely love it

Community cycling advocate from Brampton Ontario (the second largest suburb in Canada and 7th largest city). E-bikes for suburban centers actually enable cycling for transportation where a regular bike does not. For cities with density, most destinations are within a 7km (4.3 miles) range, which is about a 15-20 minute bike trip. Ebikes for suburbanites are promising because they make an 18km (11 miles) trip with minimal tree canopy to block the wind and hills by bike more realistic to someone who predominantly uses a car to get around.. This video articulates that fairly well: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f7CjnNGUytHeiGqm.htmly6sE Brampton put in 50 km of infrastructure in the past 2 years and is hoping to put in another 25 this year. Despite that, it will be decades before we increase density to a point where cars become redundant. Compared to an electric car, ebikes have a much lower barrier to entry and enable multiple trips in a way that bicycles alone can't. Thanks for the video, and I appreciate your team shining a light on this topic. ✌

see, the issue with my city New York; it's not made for bikes. biking is suffering with the head, no bike lanes in many areas, and crazy people park their cars in the bike lane just because +owning a bike here is asking to be robbed, literally. I think bike-sharing apps are excellent, I have tried them in Washington as well and it just makes sense. wish more cities are designed around biking and protecting them

eBike + bike trailer means I very rarely have to drive anywhere.

6:40 You can never consume your way out of an environmental problem. Thank you for addressing that. Also that is why I prefer my old bike!

I like to use my regular pedal bike to get groceries and do smaller trips with, but it gets a little tedious and cumbersome to go longer distances. I got an ebike simply to broaden the range of practicality of cycling for me. With a higher average speed it opens the door to be useful in more ways and get further without it being a massive workout. I do have a solar generator as well that can charge it in about 6 hours of good sun. With gas prices where they are I will break even on the cost of the bike in no time at all.

I have been a recreational - if not hard-core - cyclist for a few years and I bought an e-bike in March. I live in a hilly suburb where cycling without assistance means you’re going full bore with several Jill climbs. We have some cycling groups, but not a lot of leisure cycling. I’ve tried to commit myself to using the ebike for all short-distance errands within a 10-mile radius. I use it for grocery runs (I installed panniers and a smaller cooler bag on the back rack) and to pick up takeout. I’ve put 400+ miles on it so far. Some use may wane as we head into the winter months - my town does not have great biking infrastructure to make cycling in the dark seem safe - but so far I’ve really been enjoying it. You still get exercise, you just rather smooth out some of the crazier exertion. I’ve taken my bike to the mountains where there’s better trails and been able to basically avoid using my car for an entire week.

Cmon man you live in Canada use kilometers not miles

I started biking/walking to work in a northern Canadian community; warm and dry bike, -30 & 4 feet of snow walk. Then we move to a small Canadian city which was not only bike unfriendly, it was walking unfriendly. As I've grown older and more handicapped, I became came more trapped in my car. Going back to a bike (trike in my case) would be one of the best things I could do for myself, however I'm afraid it would get me killed.

A great, balanced, honest opinion. Well done. And, this is coming from a car-free person who digs all two-wheeled devices-with or without additional battery-operated power.

This turned out to be really long, so if there's one thing you take away: If you think you might want to ride an ebike in the winter, make sure you get something with a standard bike wheel size so you can easily find off the shelf studded tires (ie. not the 20 inch fat tires that a lot of ebikes seem to use). I have a plug-in hybrid car, aka PHEV (got it in 2019 before the car market went crazy), and an ebike. The appeal of a PHEV is that it has enough battery power to get you through the typical day of making small trips around town, but can run on gas too to relieve your range anxiety. In my experience though, most of the trips that would be covered by the electric range of my PHEV would also be easily covered by my ebike. I can get pretty much anywhere in town with the ebike, as long as I stick to the streets that are 30mph or less (preferrably 25mph or less, but if you have no choice to go on a big dangerous stroad, chances are that the sidewalks are abandoned enough that you can just ride carefully on the sidewalk for that stint of your trip). I also don't show up to work sweaty even when it's 90 F outside, because the breeze keeps me cool and I don't have to work that hard. And, they make driving in car traffic, or "vehicular cycling," much easier to do, if you're comfortable with that sort of thing (although again, try to keep to the 25mph or less streets, even if your bike can go faster than that you have to start worrying about more motorcycle-esque crashes at that point) There are some things that the ebike won't do, such as picking up a friend (unless you have a cargo bike), transporting larger items that can't get too hot or cold, or going out of town. It's also very much up to the individual how willing you are to ride in the rain or snow, although both are possible and not even that bad with fenders, a poncho, and a studded tire. On the flip side though, I get the benefit of combining some light to moderate exercise just by getting around town, depending on how much I want to avoid sweating (although you end up engaging your core more just by balancing the bike, so I still usually feel better after a bike trip than a car trip). An ebike uses a much smaller battery than a PHEV, let alone an EV (the extra battery in my PHEV sedan takes up about half of what should be my trunk), so if you have a lot of solo or duo trips, an ebike plus a regular gas or hybrid vehicle is arguably better than a PHEV or even EV from a carbon footprint perspective, especially for solo trips, and is probably cheaper too.

i just a few months ago got myself an e-trike as an accessibility option. as a result of a car accident, and subsequent broken neck, spinal fusion, and traumatic brain injury - i was left disabled. walking, for me, is difficult and extremely uncomfortable. it gives me mobility without actually having to use what you usually think of as "mobility" options for disabled people. i bring this specific point up to say -- anything that has a genuine benefit to your healh/safety/mobility will always be worth the environmental concern. just like the video said -- just make sure you're actually going to use the dang thing. that said, i don't know this is true of all e-bikes, but the literature that came with my bike is that i should limit use in temperatures over 90°F. this means that in july of 2022 there were more than 10 days in the month that riding my e-trike between 11AM and 7PM would not have even been an option where i live and probably restricted my riding more than anything else. i like me some night riding as much as the next person -- but if there were any trips i actually *needed* to make - it would have to either be done before the heat of the day really set in or long after - making scheduling an arduous feat. i live in michigan so that means the snowy months will be out for me as well. i guess spring and fall are really gonna be the sweet spots for this thing. i really do love my e-trike -- but there are some serious limitations to consider and you should do some serious research before investing in one.

I love your channel - the subject matter, your viewpoint and execution. One of my favorites on KZfaq.

One of the hard things about riding a bike is also the weather....like when it's in the middle of winter, I'm freezing my fingers off and trying to pedal through 30cm of snow. Icey roads/paths are also a hazard (especially going uphill) and all-weather solutions for bikes aren't widely available. I am an avid bike rider but this doesn't make riding a bike all seasons an appealing choice.

Your concern about people buying ebikes and not using them has already been answered by studies. I'm one of the examples of people who had a road bike that I used rarely, then one day decided to get an ebike on sale, and it completely brought me back to cycling way more and farther than before, also replacing many car trips. The message should be, get an ebike, it is a gateway vehicle to more cycling and all the benefits that come with it. Normal bikes are too much of a barrier for folks already, ebikes have to be experienced, not just thought about abstractly.

As someone from Denmark where many people use bikes for commuting. Most work places offer bath facilities. So it’s normal to arrive at work 10-15 before work time to take a quick bath.

I've been riding bikes all my life, as of 7 to 8 years ago I had to stop because of knee problems. In 2020, I got my first e-bike, and with the first ride had my first fall. I didn't take into consideration that the bike is heavy and I had to get used to the weight. It took me a day or two to get to know my bike well enough that I can ride her safely. Once I was good with my e-bike, I was able to get around on her like I wasn't able to do with my mountain bike. It's giving me the freedom to go ride places that I used to once again. The freedom I get with my e-bike I would like to say is the same as riding my old bike. I love it.

Nope, I'm Dutch, so biking being a frivolous children's activity doesn't even make sense to me.

I have a bike just because I can't afford a car, that's it. Fuel and Insurance is the reason for me to ride a bike, not Climate change (although I do think more should be done by companies/corporations). Getting an E-bike, in particular, is vital because I am overweight and I need to get uphills A LOT.

I was more of a scooter kid growing up. Now I own two E scooters that go 25-30 mph 😤

Two months ago i sold my car because it broke and needed a big investment, and at that point I was already playing with the idea of commuting by bike to work (It's a 6 mile commute). After thinking about price of fuel, maintenance and other stuff like car wash, I decided to jump on the e-bike wagon. I managed to find a cheaper used one and since then I used it everyday. It is awesome, BUT you have to bare in mind the weather (I live in UK), the storage space you have and of course like you mentioned it the infrastructure. I'm not sure how much i'll be doing it when it's pouring rain all day in the autumn season. For now I would recommend people to either buy a cheap bike and give it a go to see if they enjoy it, or maybe use one of those subscription services for e-bikes.

In Belgium, using my e-bike for commuting, rather than bus or car and love it. Infrastructure is amazing here though, all my 10km commute is on bike lanes and it's awesome. Other countries should really invest in more bicycle infrastructures.

Important note about bike safety, step through bikes are safer to ride than road bikes, and are more comfortable for people to ride. Step through bikes and a tad bit less efficiency would really help more people consider biking (e bike or old fashioned bike).

I ride roughly 90 miles per week on my old school 2019 Specialized Diverge. Unfortunately, none of that mileage is for actual commuting, all of it is exercise/leisure! My office is literally less than 4 miles away from my home, but there is no way to get there and back safely. The city I live in is building a Bike/pedestrian loop around the city, but they don’t seem to be concerned with connecting points of interest and areas people live/work. It is very frustrating because we get great riding weather almost all year long. Great video!

Glad to see you guys take a step outside the normal topic area with this video! 🎉

Correction at 8:52 Jason from Not Just Bikes did *NOT* coin the phrase Stroads. The term Stroads was coined by a guy named *Charles Marohn* who founded the nonprofit *Strong Towns.* However Jason did coin the term *Bicycle Gutter* to describe awful bike lanes that put people cycling in harms way.

I really appreciate this video highlighting the downside of e-bikes because sometimes it does feel like people think we have a battery tree. Also, I’ve been trying to research how to better advocate for protected bike lanes in my city in the U.S. so I’m going to take this as a opportunity to ask if anyone has any good resources for that? I just want to be able to take a safe bike trip to my grocery store lol.

I live on a hill between two rivers so there is a lot of elevation change in my journeys. Also I will be 57 in a week so recovery takes longer. I'm thinking of a conversion so I can handle the steep inclines round here.

I bought an Ebike 10 years ago when my commute involved a 600-ft valley to ride down and up again. When my battery started to age, I began to be obsessed with saving power, to the point I would be pedalling like mad on the way down with maximum regeneration braking just to top it up and it would not die on me halfway up the other side. At some point I was using so little electrical assistance that it was not even sufficient to just move the extra weight of the E part of my bike. I needed a new battery. Then I saw that replacing my battery would cost almost as much as a new (non E-) bike weighing half as much. . I decided to sell the Ebike and for less than the net cost of replacing the battery, got myself a much nicer bike, trading the E for higher-end specs. I never went back. Now I just bought myself a new commuter bike, and for less than en entry level Ebike, I could choose a *very* nice bike. Dropping the E in Ebike gets you all of this : nicer bike, lighter bike (that you can carry up steps), no more hassle about charging the battery, a much more nervous and enjoyable vehicle, especially when riding for fun. A much smaller environmental footprint. In other words: it's an upgrade. To me, the Ebike was like the training wheels on a kid's bike: just a stepping stone.

I tried an e-bike few times for commuting and it is awesome, especially up hill. It also feels safer when driving next to cars, as then they don't need to drive by if I go the same speed as they do. I am considering buying one. For me, two factors are health and eyes. I work in front of a computer so driving (vs metro) is a good workout for both my legs and eyes.

Video: “Most of you learned to ride a bike as a kid” Me: * looks around nervously*

I feel like the hardest thing about biking for me is even if I had an e-bike it gets so hot most months that I'd be a puddle of sweat just sitting on my bike and I can't exactly show up to work smelling like I just worked out 🤣

Another major benefit of e-bikes that you didn’t mention is that they take up way less space than cars and so if they replace cars, we can free up lots of parking lots for more interesting things like housing or pickle-ball courts. Two years ago my wife sold her car and got an e-bike and now we have personal gym in our garage.

Great video! I live in San Francisco and we are lucky enough to have pretty phenomenal bike infrastructure here on most roads.

I've recently ended up with an e-bike after my dad passed away. I never would have considered one before, but I'm kind of in love with it now. My biggest issue is that my battery wouldn't do me to go a long distance trip (say, across my city to a friend's house), without dying, and then I've got to contend with cycling a heavy bike the rest of the way 😂

Just found out your channel a week back and I can’t stop watching it! Great videos and I love watch them!

I’m a 70 year old who rides a recumbent trike with e-assist. They are just plain fun and I do use for most of my short (up to 20+ miles) trips such as shopping and even doctor appointments

Ebikes enabled us to move down to a single car. So the ebike removes the carbon footprint of an entire car. While biking infrastructure is not the best. It's not awful in my section of the city. I am able to shop, and do most things with a bike. I was also getting fat and this helped me lose weight by encorporsting excersise into my routine sense I don't have a car.

Sad thing is that the humble bicycle is only taken seriously as a means of transport when it features a motor. It is even more ridiculous that many bike manufacturers now that they build e-bikes start talking about "environmetally friendly transportation" and completely ditch their non-motorized product lines, even though that line did not need energy to charge batteries and produced no hard-to-recycle electronic waste.

Just an awesome video and so well put. As someone that is drawn to the shine glowing light of ebikes like moth to the flame, I really appreciate videos like these that are within a greater context and that let us truly sit back and analyze things for what they are. Thank you!

I bought a cruiser bike recently to get back into bike transportation and I love it! I am not as strong as I used to be so its a bit tough but I will get stronger as I use it more!

Great video! I'd never buy an e-bike, because I like cycling so much the old way. I hope this isn't just a passing fad and people are genuinely buy them to abandon driving cars. Otherwise it's just waste and a new form of excess.

This is a great point about how absolutely ATROCIOUS the infrastructure is in America. I know so many people that want so badly to not be car dependant, but they feel like if they ride a bike on the streets even once they'll be killed (which is not that far off) and I live in a relatively bike friendly city. It's so sad because E-bikes and bikes in general are the perfect form of transit for most cities, IF they were actually safe to ride.

love how witty "let's backpedal" was, I love your editors lots!

I could not agree more!! I have been watching not just bikes for a while now and I preach that pedestrian safe infrastructure every day!! When frustrated with traffic remember it's not the people stuck in it with you its the lack of good alternative transportation.

"Should you buy it" "It depends". You know that message goes for everything. Dont just buy the crazy latest hip thing because it claims to be sustainable or because everyone is doing out. Think through if its really the best thing for you and if you really need it. Or if an alternative is maybe a better fit

This video pointed out the flaw of an ebike having a battery, however it didn't point out that electric cars which are hailed as the green alternative to all of our problems have batteries that are approximately 100-200x larger than an ebike battery, and therefore have a massive climate impact compared to ebikes. While ebikes might be slightly less environmentally friendly than regular bikes, they are literally thousands of times better than cars, be that either electric or gasoline. Switching from a regular car to an electric car isn't that much better for the environment and it might potentially be even worse when you consider the massive amounts of lithium and cobalt that has to be mined for their gigantic batteries. Switching from a car to an ebike, however, has great positive impact on the environment. It is better than a gas car for obvious reasons, and it is better than an electric car because far less metal and around 100 times less lithium is used for the same purpose : getting you from one place to another. Accelerating a 2 ton metal box will always use more energy than accelerating a ~20kg bicycle, making them far more efficient in their travel as well. Even if you bought a regular ebike and a cargo ebike to carry heavy things for every person in your family, it will still be far cleaner than even the cleanest of cars.

the editing team had a lot of fun with this one! glad to see you finding film spots. are you filming multiple videos in one session per airbnb, and getting the scripts written over time?

Great video....I had an ebike last year before switching to a 110cc motorcycle(its actually cheaper than a mid-priced eBike). I tried commuting with the eBike but the battery kept running out before I got to the office and wasn't that fast(It was a 2 hour commute vs 30-45mins on a motorcycle).

My biggest gripe with eBikes is that many people who ride them seem to have little bike handling skills. The skill is not how to go fast, that's just cardio and knowing how to shift, it's how do you navigate when you have to slow down? I had people come at me head on in the bike lane because they hit the "go fast" button and didn't manage to make the turn or wobble all over the road when they have to slow down.

As someone who has been commuting to work for years, I think that the most important thing to do is to make sure you're tires are topped off on air before riding. Most people that think they need an Ebike probably have been riding around on tires that are under pressurized.

"bike-curious" lol that is gold

Not just bikes is my other favorite channel - so happy to see the crossover here!

yay new video :)

This is classic gatekeeping. I am an Ebike delivery driver in Europe. Bike gets up to 40mph. Cost is low, income is high. Passing all traffic is awesome.

One thing I love about my city of Abbotsford here in Canada is that walking/cycling is really fun and sometimes faster or more convenient, as there are many sidewalks, wide alley shortcuts with guards to prevent cars, and some bike lanes as well. By the way are you a Sikh or have gone to India? Because that bracelt looks a lot like many karras.

Another thing that could expand the utility of ebikes is battery swap stations. Gogoro in Taiwan has shown a really compelling model for efficient electric transit. I'm not sure if any of these city planner type channels have covered them yet.

Another issue wirh ebikes in my opinion is life expectancy: at the end of the day, ebikes are technologies which will evolve and eventually become obsolete (by design or not). On the other hand, the standard average bike hasn't changed much over the last DECADES and are easily repairable. Mine is 30 years old and still going strong, and I see a lot of people with old-looking/slightly worn out bikes around. What other modern objects can you still say as much about nowadays? I'm concerned people will change ebikes every 4-5 years as we do with other battery powered technologies.

“Every pressing reality of climate change.” LOL: That’s been massively exaggerated. I don’t ride my bike to save the planet. I ride to save me from having a heart attack and save some dollars. Also it’s sometimes easier in a big city.

Any kind of bike riding is a good thing. As a Dutchy I don't even own a car because I got a good bike. The few times I need a car is rent or borrow one. Even though I drove bikes since I was like 4 for commute. And I drive quite quickly and takes shortcuts a lot, I never have a fear of being hit. If I would step on a bike in the USA or Canada I would shit myself before I got around the first corner since even the bike infrastructure is usually a painted gutter in a car minded place. No thanks, or as I say it in the southern of The Netherlands, "naait hem, ben niet gek". Peace out, I hope there will be changes for the people across the pond.

I bought an ebike last year. I have two non-electric bikes, a hybrid that"s around 16 years old that used to be my urban commuter bike and a 35 year old mountain bike that once was my only bike and was transformed for a while to be my urban commuter bike before i bought my hybrid (I have since re-transformed my mountain bike back to being a mountain/trail bike and use it for offroad trail riding once again). I bought my ebike in February of last year after buying one for my wife as a late Christmas present. It transformed.her urban commute from 45-50 minutes to about a half hour. I am between jobs and have yet to really use my ebike as a commuting tool,.but it has been a game changer for getting around the city. I run errands with it instead.of using a car many times. I live in a very hilly area of the city of Boston and hills that i once either walked the bike or else rode in a creeper gear at 3mph, i can zoom up at speeds like 17mph. The main effect of this technology is that I choose to ride my bike a lot more than I used to, and I do so usually with a smile on my face.

I'll say it: motorcycles are, speed to speed, safer than e-bikes. In the US, you need a lisence endorsement for a Motorcycle, that you can get from safety courses- making you a smarter rider. Motorcycles are also associated with much safer full face helmets, and DOT approved padding. Many people on e-bikes are wearing less safe clothing, and helmets rated for far lesser impacts despite the fact that they are also traveling at 30mph. Nobody on an ebike is wearing full motorcycle padding, despite them being just as quick in the city (and less visible). I will say, lots of harley owners are the outliers. They tend to dress up like pirates and are the most likely sub category to be inebriated while riding due to biker bars being geared towards them

yo

You're exactly right, I live in NYC and the biking infrastructure here is pretty decent but could use a lot more upgrading, as the biking population is increasing, the City does have plans for improvements, so the future of biking in NYC is looking promising.

Greetings from Dublin ROI, glad you have mentioned Not just bikes. I myself ride an E-bike for almost two years, and use it every day for commuting, errands and bike touring, on occasion, and battery lasts for 85 km per charge. It's great on hills and on windy days. Turns out, I don't need a car here and bike lanes are showing up everywere, plus almost all delivery guys, in downtown Dublin, ride e-bikes. So, for USA riders, just keep riding and local communities will have to turn arround🚲

I love my ebike 💯⚡⚡⚡

My favorite e-bike trend is the elderly people that can barely get a bike moving to get their feet on the pedals are hopping on 20+mph machines so they can injure themselves or others.

I remember watching something on NHK Japan about pedal assist bikes but it wasn't through a battery, the way the wheels moved and when you pedaled, there was like a little rubber cushion that helped propel the bike forward. I thought it was really interesting, I'm not sure if it's something that's become popular in N America (I'm not up to date on biking trends) or not but it seemed like a really cool idea and a good choice if, maybe, you weren't looking to do an E-bike but also weren't sure about a regular bike.

I got an ebike and it does help me get exercise. I like to put it on higher assistance to go to the store, school or work to keep me from getting sweaty then going low or no assistance on the way home to get a workout where I don't care about my presentation as much.

The case can be made e-bikes are more important in the transportation of food than people. Just like how electric cargo vans is expected to offset way more carbon footprint than electric personal vehicles. I live in Toronto and anytime I am downtown I see bike couriers delivering food on ebikes way more than bicycles these days. Anyways excited for the ebike revolution in the next 10 years.

I am really torn on the topic. When I see people taking an ebike for their long daily commute, I think its great. But too often I see young, fit people riding their ebike along a nearby river without significant elevation changes on the weekend I ask myself if its really necessary for them to ride an ebike. Sorry for the long convaluted sentence... What I am trying to say is: Replace your car with an ebike = helpful Replace your bike with an ebike = not so helpful Sadly I seem to see more of the latter...

Glad to hear you're from Victoria! Nice to know of another KZfaqr in my own city putting out great content!

I think e-bikes make it easier for folks whose commute is 10+ miles, but their bodies aren't really trained for 10+ miles. If I had a 20 mile commute, I'd get an ebike more than likely, but since my standard daily commute is 3 miles and back, it's way easier for me to continue using the standard bike I rent with the bikeshare in my city.

Would appreciate km/hr in text when referencing mileage :)

Biggest problem is if your not sub to future proof

I got an ebike as my first bike since I was a kid. I used to bike all the time as a kid, and I forgot how much I loved it. I don’t have a car and just moved to an even more bike-friendly city and now the only time I don’t bike somewhere, it’s because I’m walking there instead. My ebike gets me to and from work without getting sweaty and when I’m tired before or after a shift, I can just use throttle or turn up the pedal assist. I go slow enough to see my neighborhood and everything in it but about 5-6x faster than walking. I have a rear rack and so even getting groceries and stuff is super easy.

i was going to recommend the channel not just bikes, then you did 😆 nice video ! cheers