The ebike class 1/2/3 concept is stupid puritan nonsense driven by cyclist jealousy and serves only to limit the usefulness of ebikes as car replacements.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Cyclists are jealous of ebikes passing them without apparent effort

As a cylclist...no this is not it at all, and the fact that you think this at all tells me you're definitely not a biker.

As a cyclist I'm terrified of ebikes flying by me at 20mph wearing zero proective gear without notifying me that they're flying by me. Or flying at me. Or flying by me on the sidewalk when I'm a pedestrian. Or flying by my door on the sidewalk when I'm literally just trying to get my mail. Or flying through a stop sign at me when I'm walking, biking, or driving. Or any of the other ridiculous things ebikers tend to do at maximum speed with absolutely flagrant disregard for literally anyone's safety. Getting up to 20mph on a pedal bike requires some serious effort and distance so most people aren't zipping around on sidewalks or on city streets or on gravel bike trails at 20 mph. E bikers though have one setting and it's "hit the speed limiter" regardless of their environment or how safe it might be.

Honestly it's less the bikes that are the problem it's the people on them. Frequent bikers use body language, signals, words, and sounds to help each other identify where we are and where we're going in order to keep all of us safe out there. We ding our bells our shout "on your left" when passing. We make eye contact and adjust our speed to pass each other without stopping at intersections. We stay in our lanes and help protect each other from cars when we're on the roads and on the trails. E Bikers don't do any of this shit, they just whizz around everyone at top speed without having any respect AT ALL for anyone else on the road. They're like the BMW drivers of the bike world. It's a safety hazard for them with regards to their unexpected behaviors and cars, which isn't really my business I guess. But what is my business is when it's a safety hazard for me, and that's what basically every rich asshole on an e bike has become.

I'm not saying ban them or anything like that, banning things is generally dumb, but we absolutely need to do something to deal with the massive safety hazard they're causing (along with electric scooters) in our already horribly unsafe bike lanes. If classifying them by "level of safety hazard they present" helps us do that then I'm all for it. At the very least I don't think any motorized vehicle should be allowed in bike lanes or bike trails unless they're specifically motorized for accessibility rather than for dickhead speed. They should be relegated to the spots where other motorized vehicles are until and unless the people who use them can prove that they can safely exist in spaces reserved for human powered vehicles only.

So basically fuck e bikers, stop putting everyone on a bike in more danger than we already are and maybe we'll change our mind about you.

Look below to see an example of ~~BMW drivers~~ ebikers who have no clue that other people use the infrastructure they're destroying

[–] ElHexo@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

Wish we had your cyclists, most of the ones in my city are pricks.

Some do the "on your side" yelling as they pass, which strikes me as quite strange because it's a bit late.

I say this as someone who enjoys recreational bicycle riding.