Re: E-Biikes are not bicycles

On Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:17:55 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 9/27/2024 12:22 PM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

Am Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:54:27 -0400 schrieb Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>:
 

Another guy on the ride is ~80, will always be somewhat overweight,
but wants to ride with the club for social reasons. When his ebike was
recently out of commission, he was desperately tired trying to keep up
on a very fancy, lightweight conventional bike. The motor and battery
allow him to socialize with his friends.

 
Perhaps.  But perhaps he got overweight and stayed overweight, because
he was given a tool that enabled and rewarded this very behaviour.
Including a narrative suitable as justification. A fancy, lightweight
conventional bike might have been the the road not taken, twenty years
ago, figuratively speaking.

 
Not true in his case. He and his (younger) wife moved here and joined
our club maybe 10 years ago. Then, he rode a conventional bike, and they
did lots and lots of mileage on club rides. He had a belly then, and
it's never gone away. His wife recently did some senior races. His first
ebike (maybe 4 years ago?) may have been motivated by a desire to ride
at her speed - well, and the speed of other club members.
 

It is worse now.  Nowadays, as both older and somewhat disabled people
have long been captured by the marketing teams and many healthy middle
aged people have already bought an E-Bike too, children have been in
focus an the target for marketing for a few years now. Have a look at
 
<https://www.mystrobl.de/ws/vp/ebike/vsf_e-bikes_fuer_kinder.JPG>
 
That picture shows the cover of a magazine from VSF ("Verbund Service
und Fahrrad", formerly and translated "association of self-managed
bicycle companies", a nation wide marketing and lobby organization in
Germany)
 
The title on the cover, in bold letters, says "E-bikes for children".

That's horrifying to me.
 
Last year, my friends and I were enjoying playing in an acoustic music
session at a park pavilion. For a while we watched three or four kids
zooming back and forth on an adjacent (very low traffic) road. They were
being goofy kids, but at 20 mph at least, so crashes could have real
consequences. I think their parents are nuts.
 
I occasionally see kids zooming around on electric scooters. Apparently
it's no longer fashionable to use one's muscles. This is not a good
trend.

I don't like E-bikes but a lot of older people are buying them to keep up
with the younger members of club rides. What they do with their money is
their business.

I am also getting a bit tired of the belief of far too many that the
object of riuding is to go as fast as you can. While I certainly am not
fast now, I am getting continually passed by people on expensive light
carbon fiber bikes. Then at the top of the hill, they are resting with
their tongues down around their knees.

I am reminded of one of the oroginal club members that taught us how to
ride to the top of a hill without having to rest. May he rest in peace now.