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Not a useful comparison. Motorcycles don't intermix with cyclists and pedestrians on sidewalks and bike/walk paths, pretending they're riding a bicycle.
Be sure to test ride a variety of e-bikes before you buy. I had done some research and thought I knew what I wanted but ended up upgrading to a more expensive bike after test riding a few.
We live a few blocks from a rail trail where bikes with a throttle are not allowed.
The problem on the trail near us is not e-bikes but rather the guys on regular bikes going very fast and not sounding a warning when approaching from the rear. One of the first things I learned when I joined a bicycle club over 50 years ago was the importance of calling out "on your left" when overtaking someone.
In May 2023 we purchased an "XPremium" e bike from the "Lectric" bike company, after considerable research. They have their main office in Phoenix, AZ. When I had some questions I called their tech support; the man picked up the phone in 30 seconds or less and we ended up talking for half an hour; a very pleasant experience.
The "Xpremium" arrived in 4 days, took me an hour to do the unboxing etc, then out for a ride. Our town of Paradise, CA has very steep hills and at age 77 I can barely walk up on some, never mind taking a bicycle. The e bike goes up, pedaling, or not, on throttle alone. I'm extremely pleased. I needed the bike for exercising our new dog; walking alone isn't enough for the little guy. If I lose my driving privileges this bike can take care of going for groceries, banks, doctors office and so forth. Our speed limits are 35 mph or less, so I hope I won't get run over. We only do street rides, no trails.
We have a friend close by, and they purchased another bike from the same company, a trike, 2 wheels in the back, 1 in the front. I had a chance to try it, and it was one scary experience. For the record, I had 5 different motorcycles, from a Vespa up to an 1100 cc Kawasaki, and several bicycles. Never had a problem with any of these, but the trike won't lean, and the steering is unnerving for me. I was considering one for my wife who can't ride a normal bicycle, and I'm glad we didn't - she could never get used to a trike.
I think with plenty of practice I could master it. The point of this post: is anyone here riding a trike, and how was your learning curve in the beginning?
Last edited by mgforshort; 12-18-2023 at 02:27 PM..
Be sure to test ride a variety of e-bikes before you buy. I had done some research and thought I knew what I wanted but ended up upgrading to a more expensive bike after test riding a few.
We live a few blocks from a rail trail where bikes with a throttle are not allowed.
The problem on the trail near us is not e-bikes but rather the guys on regular bikes going very fast and not sounding a warning when approaching from the rear. One of the first things I learned when I joined a bicycle club over 50 years ago was the importance of calling out "on your left" when overtaking someone.
Actually, I've found that the bell is a lot more useful. The problem with "on your left" is that people don't always understand what they're supposed to do. The bell is clearly understood, cuts through ambient noise, and it makes people turn round and look. Then they can figure out what to do (no one who's looking at an oncoming bike is going to step out in front of it).
There are a lot of "bike path racers" who seem constitutionally incapable of imagining "what could go wrong in this scenario?" and insist on trying to thread the needle between elderly walkers, toddlers, dogs, kids wobbling along on their first bike, etc. The technical term for these people is "idiot arseholes". They're probably the same ones who will go from the far right lane on the freeway straight to the far left lane, at 80 mph when the traffic's going 60, by using each little gap of 1.1 car lengths, never imagining that someone might slow down or change lanes.
But I will say there is a considerable group of E-bike riders who clearly have very little control over the thing and yet they're riding at speeds only the fastest real bicycle could achieve. At least, if you see someone on a real bike traveling 22 mph, they've had to put enough miles on the bike to get to that level of fitness that they have some degree of bike handling skills. The E-bikers? Weave and wobble seems to be their watchword.
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