this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
141 points (89.8% liked)

Showerthoughts

40428 readers
887 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What we have called “motorcycles” should actually be called “enginecycles”. Also, the engine on enginecycles is a four-cycle engine.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 45 minutes ago

ice cycles. I really am not fond of ice on so many levels.

[–] Fourth@mander.xyz 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Really unfortunate this classification system has happened. What you're thinking of is an electric moped, but it's all getting lumped together. Check this out.

https://youtu.be/bB6hBLmBhPA

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 2 points 3 hours ago

The differentiator is max speed in Canada. Regardless of how they are built. If you can exceed a certain speed, license required.

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The Honda Goldwing is a six cylinder outdoor Campervan Winnebago.

[–] redhorsejacket@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Does it smell like a steak and seat 35?

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 14 minutes ago

Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

It seats ten midgets comfortably.

[–] Phunter@lemmy.zip 1 points 55 minutes ago (1 children)

What if I need to transport thirteen and do not care of their comfort?

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 minutes ago

Side bags. Always a solution!

[–] autriyo@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

There's definitely two stroke/cycle motorcycles out there. They're less popular nowadays due to emissions but have lasted quite a bit longer than 2 stroke cars or trucks have...

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 minutes ago

they ended in 2021.

[–] Jerb322@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

My friend said something similar to me a long time ago. I said, General Motors.....?

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

ITT: y’all be taking my random before-bed shit thought way too seriously.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 7 points 9 hours ago

some of the cooler enginecycles comes with two-cycle engines

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 12 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Really? Because I don't remember pedaling my Honda 750.

[–] Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Try pumping the gear shift lever and rear brake. It'll probably do something. Not sure what.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I don't remember pedaling my eBike, either. With a big enough motor, they're all but completely vestigal.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

It's true that there are different classes of ebikes. Class 3 ebikes with enough power can be basically motorcycles disguised as bikes. Mine is a class 1 and very much a bicycle. If the distinction can be made that some ebikes do not require pedaling and are therefore motorcycles, by extension it is equally valid to say that ALL ebikes must have pedals so all ebikes are bikes. The truth is really somewhere in-between. Not sure how important that is to a shower thought though.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

eBikes require pedaling. I don't know what you had, but it wasn't an eBike.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 minutes ago

not exactly, a bunch of those Chinese DUI scooters have pedals, but they don't do anything.

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Depends on the juridictions. Some countries make pedaling mandatory (mine does), other don't.

[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 3 points 6 hours ago

eBikes requiring pedaling is mostly just a software limitation - not a hardware one. I can't quite see how it stops being an eBike after you disable this limitation.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 24 points 14 hours ago (7 children)

Upvote for the main thought, but

  1. A gasoline engine is a type of motor. You are making a distinction without a difference. A motor is just something that produces mechanical motion. Motor. Motion. Motivate. All come from the same root as “move”
  2. An “engine” can be the whole apparatus that does the work, not merely the thing that provides the power, and could be powered by a water, beast, or even manually such as the cotton [en]gin[e]. A lot of that usage comes from pre WW2, but it survives in things like “train engine” (the vehicle that pushes or pulls a train) and “game engine” (the program architecture that manages the processing power provided by the computer to convert user interactions, game assets, etc. into something that we recognize as a game).
  3. It’s not a four-cycle engine. It is a four-stroke engine: each piston makes four strokes each complete engine cycle.
[–] redhorsejacket@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Multiple decades on this earth, decent schooling, undergraduate degree in history, and yet today is the day I discover why the cotton gin is called that. Wild. Thank you for sharing.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It’s not a four-cycle engine. It is a four-stroke engine: each piston makes four strokes each complete engine cycle.

Akshually

“A four-stroke (also four-cycleengine

[–] Admetus@sopuli.xyz 3 points 9 hours ago

I didn't know what to say but you nabbed it.

Also reminds me of the motor effect: electromagnetism causing motion. Perhaps that's why the name 'electric motor' became so dominant...

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] fizzle@quokk.au 34 points 16 hours ago (23 children)

I'm a bit triggered by this, so let me apologize in advance for the incoming rant.

You might be kind of right etymologically, but bikes, e-bikes, motorcycles, and likely in the near future e-motos, are specific things defined by law. The confusion between these vehicle classes is causing harm.

An e-bike is a pedal powered bicycle with an electric motor that assists the rider while pedalling up to 25km/h. You might be able to switch modes between more assistance and less assistance but there is no throttle.

If you purchase a cheap walmart / k-mart bike, swap the rear wheel with a powered hub from alibaba and strap on a battery from temu, that's not an e-bike. They have a throttle and no limiter and in most cases can propel a 12 year old idiot at 50km/h but some times more than 70km/h. This is not an e-bike and more accurately described as an unregulated electric motorbike.

The frame isn't built for this kind of stress, and the riders often have no capacity to understand the danger they're imposing on themselves and others - zipping past kids playing and so on.

It's an emerging disaster in Australia and I imagine other places as well. It's turning the population against e-bikes when they're not the problem.

We urgently need more appropriate legislation drafted to clearly define the classes of vehicle, and we need police with the right skills and equipment to enforce those laws.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Your statement is only partially true. In Florida, where I live, yes Florida, I know . . .there are three classes of ebikes. Class 3 ebikes must have pedals but can have a throttle and can operate without pedaling. By law, it IS still an ebike. So I believe it comes down to jurisdiction.

The rest of what you said is pretty much true and it's a problem here too. I absolutely love riding my ebike. Mine has gears and is every bit a bike. For me the assist helps with hills (yes we have a few small ones here) and mostly wind. But it also serves another purpose. Making the ride either easier since I'm getting older or faster means I'm more likely to use the bike than a normal bike. I believe for these reasons I actually get MORE exercise with my ebike than my normal bike, at least until someone hits me with a car. So yeah, these guys with their over-powered "ebikes" are going to ruin it for the rest of us by getting us banned from trails and such.

load more comments (22 replies)
[–] Michal@programming.dev 35 points 17 hours ago

Enginecycles? If you specifically refer to internal combustion engine (ICE) then it'd make sense to call them icecycles. It sounds weird, maybe icicles?

But seriously EU has a definition of what an ebike is, it's not just a bicycle with motor, there's max allowed power, max assistance level, and importantly it should only assist when pedalling. Anything beyond that, yes, is classified as a motorbike.

[–] Stitch0815@feddit.org 3 points 10 hours ago
[–] BenderRodriguez@lemmy.world 22 points 17 hours ago

OP thinking he cracked the code to ride a motorcycle on the sidewalk.

load more comments
view more: next ›