Electric Bikes

[Jmoan]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[linuxyeti]

[linuxyeti]

[Easy-X]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[linuxyeti]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[Shaft]

[Bhud]

Someone famous once said, "there's no such thing as society". They were right. If I make a noise and it annoys someone's dog, so be it. People occupy space and make sounds. I exist.

I look at the lists of some of the classic bikes some of you electric bike advocates are riding or simply own, and I shake my head in wonder....
Why? Well, because each of them is a legend in its own right. I would only ever own one at a time, I would buy the Haynes, go through each of them with a fine-toothed comb, lovingly restore each of them or just chop them into the ultimate hard-sprung streetfighter. They are legends. I remember the 80s. People used to ride recklessly, but they had a GREAT time. Cars at the time were slow and cumbersome and awkward around corners. Bikes would fly past! Riders were a different breed, their souls were made of a different stuff. The bikes were incredible roaring beasts, their riders capable of taming Demeter by throttling her in the river, etc. It was a whole motif in popular culture. Hunter S Thompson and The Edge, but also Mandiargues, surrealism, etc. Not to mention great acts of daring and risk... That's how visceral the experience is/was. 80s bikes (I may be picking one up next week!) SO I could never understand taking the experience of such imperfect-perfect machines for granted as a means of getting to work 20 miles and back...

[Easy-X]

Well said!

Of all the vehicles I've owned or now own, new or old, the ones I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy are the ones I've either built or restored myself.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Ribenapigeon]

Wait until some idiot on an Ebike kills some kid while tooling around on the pavement then watch as legislation gets acted upon. A good thing as well, I saw this complete twit of a woman on some fat wheeled Ebike powering around Inverurie town center on the pavement. When you think of all the hassle and cost and regulations that You have to endure owning even a low powered motorcycle these idiots on Ebikes are taking the proverbial. I always think they're just ersewipes who can't be bothered to go and get a proper motorcycle license or even just do the CBT.

[moonzoomer]

[Easy-X]

True enough... but it'd have to be someone important killed. Look at the fiasco of the guy on the fixie bike with no front brake.

With regards to licences and helmets: anything over 250W, 36V or 15.5mph needs to be tested as a moped or motorcycle by law.

However, laws are only "real" if enforced. Ebikes, ecigarettes and ganja... all things the police can't be bothered with.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[ThatDippyTwat]

[Ste]

People are lazy, they don't want to have to plug their car in to charge when they're at work so that the car has enough power to get home that day.

Going around at night unplugging the charging cables from the cars on peoples driveways would cause problems for all of those people. Unplugging a dickhead neighbours car at 11pm and get up to plug it back in at 7am would get annoying very quickly.

[EazyDuz]

[Easy-X]

If you ask a psychologist they will tell you that you can have any law you like but unless it is enforced then ppl won't take any notice.

Driving/riding a vehicle that requires a number plate without MOT/Tax/Insurance is dumb. The number plate screams at any ANPR system "nick me!"

Segways, "hoverboards" and dinky stand on powered scooters are known by everyone to be illegal to ride on either pavement or road so an easy pull for the police.

Derestricted motorbikes and overpowered ebikes can easily look like their "legal" equivalents: plausible deniability. The only way to actually know is to dyno the thing. The average plod wouldn't have the stomach for the paperwork.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[stevo as b4]

Fuck me, we're really mixing up our technology and comparisons in this thread arnt we?

Since when has a discussion about E-bikes been relevant to a thread about motorcycles and in particular a Honda CBF600 successor/electric replacement?

E-bikes are relevant to cyclists and pedal chat, and it'll be the same sorts of people with the same sorts of commute that find E-bikes a thing to be interested in.

The person that needs all 75bhp of their ER6 to get to work and back every day can't think about a pedal assist E-bike or a DIY 50cc beating home built machine.

Anyway Mr Kawasaki Jimbo really thinks anything EV is a real bag of wank and that they'll get worse not better as time goes on.

Does anyone on BCF actually run a petrol bike as a daily hack to work, and also use the same bike for track days, Sunday loon blasts, and 2000mile touring trips to remote locations? I really think not generally, so an EV does not have to do everything, nor does an ER6 or a 50cc scooter. All daft arguments indeed.

Oh and who is this Bhudd twat who keeps spouting TM style rants about socialism and trying to lump it into motorbike talk?

[MahatmaAndhi]

I've been reading and watching a lot of videos relating to electric motorbikes as I was trying to see if the savings for fuel would outweigh the finance - it won't.
The initial lump sum of a Zero DS is around £12,000 with the latest ZF14.4 battery and even more to get the full 18kWh "Power Tank". Alternatively, the BMW C Evolution sits at around £14K, which is a lot of money for a scooter with shit storage space.

The range is also quite awful, particularly if you're going at speed. The 18kWh battery will net you 156km at 70mph or 96 miles. That's the advertised range. Realistically, it would probably fall short of that. It does have fast charging technology though, so you could get 80% charge in fairly quick time (and then an age for the remaining 20% if you chose to).
That said, the cost to fill it up is superb.

Up until I recently changed job, I was putting in around £45 a week in my car to do about 200 miles (this is all back-of-a-fag-packet maths. It could be wrong.)

200 miles on a Zero DS would cost about £5.00 to cover the same distance (at 14p per kWh off of a wall charger filling up the Power Tank).

Ultimately, the longer your commute, the more you'll save. Particularly if you can charge it at work. However, that initial lump sum is just ridiculous and I could not even begin to justify it, even on PCP (not the drug.)

[Easy-X]

[Baffler186]

[Robby]

Every electric bike thread ends up like this.

Right now, the technology is crap and expensive but quickly improving. People that buy them either really want them, or have enough money to afford them without being concerned about the tradeoffs.

We are now in a situation where an electric bike would make sense for a lot of people, a lot of the time. Those of us who ride 40-70hp bikes for a daily commute of under 50 miles and have access to plug socket at work or at home could use an electric bike to do the same thing.

The valid objections to this are range for the occasional longer weekend ride - range anxiety is a problem for all electric vehicles - and of course price. Electric bikes cost about twice as much as an equivalent petrol one. The running costs are slightly lower, but petrol bills are one of the smaller costs of bike ownership.

The shift to electric bike ownership is likely to happen in a few years, and requires a few things:
1. Charging infrastructure. Same problem for electric cars. It will continue to gradually improve, in line with the uptake of electric vehicles.
2. Technology plateau. Right now a second-hand electric vehicle is not a smart buy, because the 5 year old stuff has half the range of the modern stuff. The modern stuff still only has half the range of a petrol vehicle. It isn't worth buying a new one until I know it won't be hopelessly outdated and worthless after 5 years. Likewise, it isn't worth buying second hand unless its only slightly behind the newest models.
3. General uptake. If I buy a vehicle I want to know that the support network is there to stay. That means charging infrastructure, dealerships, parts, forums. A bit of a catch-22, because this only happens when enough people own a similar vehicle to keep all of the support network going. Chinese 125s cocked up on the dealerships and parts aspect, meaning they will forever be regarded as shit disposable bikes.

10 years ago electric bikes were basically just an idea, with a few homemade ones. Now they are commercially viable as a niche/exotic product. In another decade I expect people like me will have one, and a decade after that petrol bikes will be niche/exotic products.

[EazyDuz]

[Easy-X]

All fair comments...

For context, how do ppl feel about derestricted 50cc bikes?
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter