tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9241204.post7089935885242807166..comments2024-01-15T14:14:40.035-05:00Comments on Citizen Rider: E-bikes and the illusion of something for nothingcafiendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749761363337659545noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9241204.post-21774106801407461252018-11-16T20:55:09.620-05:002018-11-16T20:55:09.620-05:00That corresponds to a lot of my observations: e-bi...That corresponds to a lot of my observations: e-bikes have been "in development" since the 1990s and you still have very little standardization. You can't turn something into a ubiquitous appliance if it doesn't perform reliably and has poor support.cafiendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05749761363337659545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9241204.post-58801811007583227722018-11-16T14:49:54.415-05:002018-11-16T14:49:54.415-05:00I was tempted by the idea of a little help to haul...I was tempted by the idea of a little help to haul groceries from a wider range of stores. I am happy to leave the van in the garage for weeks on end until a big shop of heavy or bulky supplies is needed, assistance could cut out the van for most trips or so I thought. <br /><br />In my innocence I thought electric assistance could be brought on at a touch of a switch especially for the short sharp assents where the extra weight of the machine meant it really was needed. No such luck! The machine I chose to try had something of the clean lines of a conventional bike but because of the cost had electronic lock built in and I had to acquire a bluetooth enabled device to wake the darn thing up, then use a touch screen on the cross bar to change the settings. Touch needs eyes taken away from your route, young eyes which can read detail that close...<br /><br />The thing could have got me to the stores I wanted and came with stronger well designed carriers than you will ever find for most bikes but worked through the battery far faster than advertised making me fear a slow hard slog home at some point. What really sent it back was a test to get me to the top of a local hill, gearing was rubbish and it failed at the first steep rise...<br /><br />Perhaps when / if the industry settles down and works out how to make them without so much extra bolt on rubbish and metres of extra cables I may try again in my old age... Colinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01667939789517989280noreply@blogger.com