micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

As people point out there are a variety of reasons to use one. I have not yet but im getting older and I think eventually I will get one as I bike less far than I used to just because it takes me longer and I tire easier.

Lol, ~~gargle my e-biking balls ya cry baby. Only pretentious twat here is you.~~

Edit to keep the point but "loose the 'tude": Take it easy, you’re coming across more dramatic than necessary. Maybe reconsider before calling others pretentious.

Man has never heard of a hill. If I tried to commute on a bike in my city I would fucking die.

Yeah, I do 20km (one way) daily commutes, often with heavy rain and wind.

Doing that with a normal bike would be hell. Now it's a comfortable ride.

Ebikes mean you don't show up sweaty or tired, and they make longer distances more viable.

My ebike replaces car trips, not bike trips.

If you can use an ebike, you can use a bike.

No, I dont think so. Examples:

• hilly environment
• more than 10 km commute
• hauling children/heavy stuff

In those cases an while can make things so much easier that you decide not to use the car.

If you have a 5 km commute without hills, then I agree that an evoke doesn't make any difference (excluding the cost!)

An electric motorcycle needs insurance (in Europe at least), yearly tax, it's heavier and usually has no cargo space, can't use bike lanes, heavy helmet is mandatory

I've tried it both ways. What I have noticed with the e-bike is I ride it 7 days a week, where it was more like half that with my old bike. Frankly, it is so much fun I am making excuses to get out there.

Some points based on my experience:

• I used to avoid deep ravine trails due to the steep climbs involved. Now I seek them out.
• I don't mind travelling somewhat out of my way to reach said trails. It's really no bother on an e-bike. Nothing is ever a slog anymore.
• Heat waves and smog alerts don't phase me anymore.
• As for winter, you have more options. You can get fat tires that ride better through snow or mud, for example. Of course you can do so with a regular bike also, but it adds weight, so there's a trade-off.
• Travel times have lowered somewhat, but more importantly, they have become much more consistent. You don't pay a time penalty for fighting head winds.
• I don't show up at work a sweaty mess.
• If I want a stronger workout, I can choose where and when to do it, such as on a trail rather than busy city streets, and on the way home rather than work.
• I tend to slow down more often, where before I was blowing through stop signs and what not.
• If you have any muscle or joint issues, e-bikes are a godsend.
• A minor point, but my e-bike has a usb for charging phones. (These things are amazingly stealth. I owned mine for like a year before realizing it was tucked under a rubberized cover below the front panel, and then I found it on my wife's bike in a different spot.)

On the negative side:

• My e-bike model at least is bulkier than a regular bike (I do have the fat tires for winter and all that), which can make it more challenging to lock it up at bike racks.
• Brake pads don't seem to last as long as they used to.
• Yes, it costs more initially. But as the article points out, if this is an alternative to driving, you quickly make back the investment. A regular bike is obviously the cheapest option of all though.

The main difference is an ebike can do 28mph (class 3), so might make a longer commute possible that wouldn't be easy to do on a non-ebike.

It's about providing accessible micro mobility to people who otherwise might not consider it. It's like being able to ride a moped to work

The crux of the electric motorcycle is they no longer are a bicycle so you need it to be able to go to the full speed of the road which for a lot of place is 45 mph that means the bike can’t just have a top speed of 45 mph because at lower battery that top speed will drop and if there is a hill you are going to lose even more speed. Now try to find an e motorcycle that has a top speed closer to 55mph not from a sketchy company and it’s much more expensive.

As others have said bicycles work great on flat terrain but my commute has 450ft of uphill and while that’s not a problem for a fun bike ride it does mean arriving to work sweaty that for a professional job is considered unacceptable so when you add in needing to change at work and the slower speed that can be easily 30 minutes a day which even at minimum wage is over $900 a year that easily covers the cost of the bike

I have studded fat tires for winter. Ice is actually better than snow for my bike. I've done 1.5 winter commutes, as in 1.5 winters, but the most recent one I just didn't work as much because it was cold and I wanted to stay in bed.

As far as ebikes in general go, it makes it more accessible. I wasn't anywhere near the fitness level needed to do my work commute on manual bike three years ago but I was able to do it on ebike including the steep hill I could barely walk up because of my fucked up knees. I can and will happily do long haul rides on the ebike. I can do the ride on manual bike now but I need 3x the water and workout suppliments to be able to do it again the next day.