The funny thing is this literally could not be further from the truth, and my experience on my e-bike I get constant people in cars rolling down windows at stop signs to ask me questions about it, like where they can get one or how it works. People who see me arrive at a location and lock it up will constantly ask about why it looks like that and what the deal is, I've literally never had that on a motorcycle or moped.
I live in a town that's fairly dense, I have never had to bike anywhere that's more than 3 km away, and I am pretty confident I've never had to go more than 10 km in a day since I've had it. I usually do a little bit of pedal assist but mostly just hang on the throttle and only have to charge at 1 or 2 times per week. I have a North American model and it goes fast enough that people don't get upset with me on residential streets if I'm riding in the road. Most of the speed limits around me are 30 kph though, and I think it's just slightly slower than that.
Again though, my town is very flat and everything is pretty close together. I'm lucky that my house is located equidistant between the two main places where stores and businesses are located so even if I have to go to both clusters of locations, it's only around 10 km.
Ah okay, I'm considering a few options for a 9 mile one way commute (so, twice a day). At 20 mph its a bit slow, tbh. If I could get up to 30 mph then I think I would consider it. I've also seen some electric scooters that go 30mph for around 1000 dollars, with the added bonus of extra portability
So, the reason they go 20 mph is apparently because they're limited by law. From a quick search, electric scooters are legally classified as electric bicycles, so would also need to be governed down to that same speed to be road legal. If you don't really care about the legality, you could always get one of those DIY 2000w ebike kits and throw it onto a normal bike.
They're not that expensive, but I'd recommend getting an oversize disc brake kit for your bike, because the brakes on a bicycle are absolutely not meant to tote around a heavy bike going 40 mph, and frankly, neither are bike helmets. Protect your brain, get a motorcycle helmet in a bright colour, otherwise you're a silent, barely noticeable ghost, easily mowed down by an SUV driver.
My 6 mile commute at assist level 4/5 uses 3 battery bars out of 5 by the time I get home. If I ride casually with friends on acoustic bikes, I'll put it on level 2 and still have all five battery bars after going the same distance (even longer, tbh).
I have a RadPower, and it's limited to about 19mph, although I sometimes hit 22 on a slope. There is one hill I can go down at 35 mph. I definitely wouldn't feel safe at 28-30 on that bike for an extended period of time, even the hill is sketchy but it's fun enough to go for it occasionally. Going closer to 30 might be ok on a higher end ebike, but idk. I also am on residential streets and bike paths almost everywhere since my city segregates the bike routes from the main traffic routes (by a block or two), so going faster isn't super necessary and it would be more dangerous to dodge cyclists, people crossing (between parked cars), drivers being inattentive at stop signs, etc... but if you're going to be primarily on bike lanes on arterials, it probably won't be as much of a concern.
They're sincerely fun. I recommend getting a cheap MIPS helmet, as there are more protective than a traditional helmet to the type of accident you might find yourself getting into, or even go for a moto helmet. I also recommend bright colors, because pretty much the only thing an SUV driver can see is the top of your helmet, so a brightly colored bobbing head shaped object is going to get a lot more notice than something black and matte which seems to be the trendy style of the day.
Mips helmets can be found for as little as $50 or $60 online or even sometimes in bike stores, don't let some bike shop dude talk you out of a helmet with rotational protection, they can absolutely make the difference between getting a mild concussion and death from getting pumped by a car or even just a fall.
cool, I bought the original radrunner over a year ago. If you haven't already upgraded the LED to LCD display, you can get it for half the price that Radpowerbikes is selling by finding the OEM (Kingmeter) on aliexpress. Rad just slaps their names on some accessories and double the price lol. Their mirror that they are selling for $50CAD is just Hafney rebranded, again you can find them for half price on aliexpress. Good mirror.
Yeah, I am a tiny white passing woman with a terminal case of kindergarten teacher face, so people find me very approachable which I imagine contributes.
Generic looking nonthreatening white dude here with boyish looks, people just approach me and are like "hey I don't really have anything to say you just look really approachable"
God, it's wild. I had a lady the other day stopped me in the grocery store to have a conversation and I didn't want to be rude and tell her that I had no idea who she was because it seemed like she knew me and I just suck at remembering people, but after about 20 minutes of mostly inane drivel I apologize and told her I couldn't remember where I knew her from and she just straight up told me that we never met before but I had a friendly face so she felt like chatting since she had nowhere better to be.
The funny thing is this literally could not be further from the truth, and my experience on my e-bike I get constant people in cars rolling down windows at stop signs to ask me questions about it, like where they can get one or how it works. People who see me arrive at a location and lock it up will constantly ask about why it looks like that and what the deal is, I've literally never had that on a motorcycle or moped.
What kind do you have?
It's a radrunner 2
Thats rad :sicko-biker:
How fast does it go/what is the range (for pedal assist and no pedal assist)? I've been looking at ebikes for commuting
I live in a town that's fairly dense, I have never had to bike anywhere that's more than 3 km away, and I am pretty confident I've never had to go more than 10 km in a day since I've had it. I usually do a little bit of pedal assist but mostly just hang on the throttle and only have to charge at 1 or 2 times per week. I have a North American model and it goes fast enough that people don't get upset with me on residential streets if I'm riding in the road. Most of the speed limits around me are 30 kph though, and I think it's just slightly slower than that.
Again though, my town is very flat and everything is pretty close together. I'm lucky that my house is located equidistant between the two main places where stores and businesses are located so even if I have to go to both clusters of locations, it's only around 10 km.
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Ah okay, I'm considering a few options for a 9 mile one way commute (so, twice a day). At 20 mph its a bit slow, tbh. If I could get up to 30 mph then I think I would consider it. I've also seen some electric scooters that go 30mph for around 1000 dollars, with the added bonus of extra portability
So, the reason they go 20 mph is apparently because they're limited by law. From a quick search, electric scooters are legally classified as electric bicycles, so would also need to be governed down to that same speed to be road legal. If you don't really care about the legality, you could always get one of those DIY 2000w ebike kits and throw it onto a normal bike.
They're not that expensive, but I'd recommend getting an oversize disc brake kit for your bike, because the brakes on a bicycle are absolutely not meant to tote around a heavy bike going 40 mph, and frankly, neither are bike helmets. Protect your brain, get a motorcycle helmet in a bright colour, otherwise you're a silent, barely noticeable ghost, easily mowed down by an SUV driver.
My 6 mile commute at assist level 4/5 uses 3 battery bars out of 5 by the time I get home. If I ride casually with friends on acoustic bikes, I'll put it on level 2 and still have all five battery bars after going the same distance (even longer, tbh).
I have a RadPower, and it's limited to about 19mph, although I sometimes hit 22 on a slope. There is one hill I can go down at 35 mph. I definitely wouldn't feel safe at 28-30 on that bike for an extended period of time, even the hill is sketchy but it's fun enough to go for it occasionally. Going closer to 30 might be ok on a higher end ebike, but idk. I also am on residential streets and bike paths almost everywhere since my city segregates the bike routes from the main traffic routes (by a block or two), so going faster isn't super necessary and it would be more dangerous to dodge cyclists, people crossing (between parked cars), drivers being inattentive at stop signs, etc... but if you're going to be primarily on bike lanes on arterials, it probably won't be as much of a concern.
I'm actually looking at the DIY option with a 1200W motor... it would be around 600 + price of a bike, I've heard of some people using a BMX bike
I just bought a radrunner with the passenger package so my wife and I can tool around town together!
Should be delivered soon! I'm excited.
They're sincerely fun. I recommend getting a cheap MIPS helmet, as there are more protective than a traditional helmet to the type of accident you might find yourself getting into, or even go for a moto helmet. I also recommend bright colors, because pretty much the only thing an SUV driver can see is the top of your helmet, so a brightly colored bobbing head shaped object is going to get a lot more notice than something black and matte which seems to be the trendy style of the day.
Mips helmets can be found for as little as $50 or $60 online or even sometimes in bike stores, don't let some bike shop dude talk you out of a helmet with rotational protection, they can absolutely make the difference between getting a mild concussion and death from getting pumped by a car or even just a fall.
cool, I bought the original radrunner over a year ago. If you haven't already upgraded the LED to LCD display, you can get it for half the price that Radpowerbikes is selling by finding the OEM (Kingmeter) on aliexpress. Rad just slaps their names on some accessories and double the price lol. Their mirror that they are selling for $50CAD is just Hafney rebranded, again you can find them for half price on aliexpress. Good mirror.
I think the RadRunner 2 uses a totally different display, but thanks so much for the info I will definitely be doing some research into this!
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Yeah, I am a tiny white passing woman with a terminal case of kindergarten teacher face, so people find me very approachable which I imagine contributes.
Generic looking nonthreatening white dude here with boyish looks, people just approach me and are like "hey I don't really have anything to say you just look really approachable"
God, it's wild. I had a lady the other day stopped me in the grocery store to have a conversation and I didn't want to be rude and tell her that I had no idea who she was because it seemed like she knew me and I just suck at remembering people, but after about 20 minutes of mostly inane drivel I apologize and told her I couldn't remember where I knew her from and she just straight up told me that we never met before but I had a friendly face so she felt like chatting since she had nowhere better to be.
Well that's when you start talking about communism and shit
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You could also try pogies!
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