Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles, heelies, or an office chair: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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It's a little sad that we need to actually say this, but:
Don't be an asshole or you will be permanently banned.
Respectful debate is totally OK, criticizing a product is fine, but being verbally abusive will not be tolerated.
Focus on discussing the idea, not attacking the person.
[Note: All images in this article are generic AI-generated to keep us from getting sued over copyright law. Apparently, if I ride my pedal bike instead of my e-bike for 5 km, I can work off the environmental impact of those four AI image generations. I’ll be back in 20 minutes.]
the gall of putting that at the end and not the start of the article.
if I ride my pedal bike instead of my e-bike for 5 km, I can work off the environmental impact of those four AI image
Using more energy does not offset energy use...
And even if it did, you could just ride your bike and NOT generate the images?
I hate Electrek
Why would using screen caps from the show invite a lawsuit?
That site uses AI images for virtually all their articles, it's nasty.
hell if I know
Ah yea “net neutral”. Doesn’t matter the damage caused, you just pretend to make up for it later.
Kinda like the KKK doing whatever they want, lynching, hanging shooting etc. so long as afterwards they buy “hate-neutral credits” to offset and damage and claim a net neutral presence.
Net neutrality and carbon offsets/credits are you wanting to reduce pollution by not going to work with a car each day, and instead of buying a bike, you pay your coworker to do so instead.
The result as far as pollution goes is exactly the same - one less car user. The environment doesn't care one diddly squat that it's not actually you personally biking each day.
Kinda discredited the whole opinion article imo
South Park accurately satirizing modern life is not a surprise. It's the reason they've been on the air this long.
Just a few days ago I saw an ebike go the same speed as me in my car at slightly over 30 km/h on the sidewalk on the other side of the street in Germany.
For this you need to know:
So all in all while the situation is different here we have similar issues.
And who wouldn't love to be overrun at 30 km/h on a sidewalk for pedestrians...
It was a funny episode, and hilariously nailed the biking community to a t. I’ve been biking for 40 years and never really enjoyed socializing with other bikers. They’re a bit much. Also I was looking into an e-bike but now I think I’ll just stick to walking the dogs.
E-bikes can be great: I still ride my regular bicycles too, but on days where I'm in a hurry, am beat up from rides, or have to haul a lot uphill, e-bikes have been fantastic. I have a Ride1up Portola with a front rack.
I've decided that my next bike is going to be a cargo ebike, they just look so useful and it would be nearly free to ride around on.
Omnium and Tern make great cargo bikes, but with big pannier bags and a front rack, my Portola has effectively become a mini cargo bike.
Cycling changed profoundly when the US manufacturers like Cannondale entered road racing, they turned it into rampant consumerism and enshittified it before enshittification was a thing. Now it's douchebags on $20,000 bikes.
Ive been falling off of bicycles and having a great time since I was six years old, and I couldn't believe how people in my local riding groups acted. If you don't have the "right" equipment then you aren't one of us.
Thats fine, 20 years ago I got a recumbent and I've ridden the drivetrain off of it multiple times now. Im shopping for an e bike mostly because theyre different and ive never tried one.
there is a basic level of skill and competence required, and if you feel that is exclusionary... yeah that's the point.
I have led and organized many rides. lots of bozos show up who don't belong there. including people who have no helmet, or are on the entire wrong kind of bike for the activity, and a million other things.
and if you politely try to correct them they never take it well. because they are arrogant and ignorant.
if you show up with the right attitude and the appropriate equipment, and you can keep up, nobody cares how old or new or expensive your bike is. if you show up with a bad attitude and inappropriate equipment... of course people don't want to deal with that.
If theyre exclusionary from the start, how is one to know what "skills" they are lacking? Maybe stop pushing newcomers out of the sport?
As I recall I never got the chance to be rude, and my bike was just fine. If I have to ride on eggshells to ride with a group I will just ride on my own.
knowing how to brake for starters. how to keep appropriate distance, how to respond to features in the road, etc. etc.
people do not know these things. they think they know them... but they don't and they often endanger themselves and others.
you go and learn the skills by going to beginner specific rides that are designed to introduce people to how to ride in a group and how to learn basic handling skills.
multiple times I have had to call an EMT because some bozo showed up to a ride, unprepared, and crashed, and that ruins the ride for EVERYONE. riding way above their fitness and skill level and insisting it's not a problem until they are in an ambulance with broken bones or passing out from over exertion.
god i remember once doing a casual ride for an ice cream tour, and a woman on the ride almost passed out after going slowly up a 50ft hill... we all had to stop and i had to give her an energy gel I brought... because I knew it would happen to someone, and then the rest of the ride i had to avoid all hills because this person was totally unfit and a danger to themselves.
So, I now have two multi-paragraph responses that illustrate my point. Thanks for that.
yeah, having to be responsible for others lack of skill and safety when they make mistakes... makes me an elitist prick.
got it. i'm sure next time you crash your car you'll tell the barrier that preventing you from flying off the roadway into a ditch and dying... that it was elitist and shouldn't have prevent you from doing that. because the traffic engineer who installed it is a jerk or something, and you know better.
Meh, I do 100 miles per week just on my commute and frequently clear 200 total. I don't think I'll have any trouble keeping up with your weekend warrior group ride in flip-flops and slacks. I'll even pull the whole time and then walk normally on smooth surfaces afterwards.
you know who sucks?
people who posture and boast.
who project their insecurity onto other people, especially who 'look different' than them.
Same. The MAMIL cult is exhausting. A lot of these types like spending money, and talking about riding more than riding.
I do have an ebike though. It makes commuting in the heat bearable, but I go back to the acoustic when it starts to cool off.
A lot of these types like spending money, and talking about riding more than riding.
absolutely.
Indeed. You can see the food delivery people racing through the pedestrian zone with their unregulated e-bikes every day. As long as there are no consequences, this behavior will continue.