Electric Gear Shifting Comes To E-Bikes, And It’s Awesome

www.forbes.com

17 comments

Boo. This is an advertisement masquerading as a review.
- Never read Forbes before?
  
  Of course I have. How does that preclude me commenting?
Guess they haven't heard of Rohloff before lol
- Also, aventon released one a month ago
Out of curiosity, when do bikes cross over to "motorcycle" or some other vehicle that requires insurance, registration, training, etc.?
Because feature creep is very quickly blurring the lines, and I don't see that as a good thing.
- When they lack pedals and/or exceed the statutory power limit (250w, 500w, 750w for EU, Canada, USA respectively)
  
  Well, that's how it is now, but things are changing quickly.
  Automatic gears lower the barrier of entry by removing a skill needed to ride a bike/e-bike, but that would also increase the risk, since... we're removing a skill.
  Having pedals on for cosmetic purpose doesn't really make it less of a motorcycle, right? Sure, lower power, but man that doesn't matter too much when they fly by inches away from you on a multiuse path.
- Saw a kid riding an ebike the other day. Full tinted motorcycle helmet and leathers. Zoomed away from full stop. Guessing a souped up controller. Easily exceeding Class 3 speeds. Didn't pedal once.
  I've got a Class 3 bike and an M1 license. They should just drop the pretense and create a midway category.
- That's very much a topic in some European countries like the UK and the Netherlands. There's already regulations about this but vendors of those bikes don't give a damn and sell these overpowered units so cops now have to find ways to spot them (like if they see you're not pedaling), stop them and fine them.
- Depends on the jurisdiction. US is state by state, with most having classes A,B,C, then up to moped or motorcycle.
  (troll is mass downvoting all my comments)
I live in such a flat city, almost never think about switching gears.
Which is kind of funny as I drive a manual car because I like feeling connected and shifting in the car, but the e-bike, I set it and forget it, use the throttle and pedal when going up a hill and gravity going down a hill. On the few occasions I encounter a hill.

17 comments