The e-bike thread.
Just stopping in to say hi. ebikes are cool in theory but all kinds of people around here ride ones that are all decked out to look like some kind of motorcycle. love the looks of the specialized one but the price is redic.
I built a sprint race hybrid bike way back when I was in highschool. we were judged on simplicity and who could get to the end of the track first. took a starter motor for a v8 something and made a pretty large battery tray centered under the bike. it was fast but the starter motor doesnt like being run under load for long. in drag racer form we had 3 passes on our motor before it died but we were first every time. the feeling of that thing coming on was unreal.
I built a sprint race hybrid bike way back when I was in highschool. we were judged on simplicity and who could get to the end of the track first. took a starter motor for a v8 something and made a pretty large battery tray centered under the bike. it was fast but the starter motor doesnt like being run under load for long. in drag racer form we had 3 passes on our motor before it died but we were first every time. the feeling of that thing coming on was unreal.
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If Joe's bicycle has a motor... Is it a motorcycle? This one definitely is:
http://rideapart.jalopnik.com/rideap...-rs-1002755063
http://rideapart.jalopnik.com/rideap...-rs-1002755063
[O]nce you are out on the road (or likely a track) trying to string together a series of corners, the Mission gains one huge advantage: all of its performance — every single horsepower, every last lb-ft — is instantly available, all the time, simply by twisting the throttle. No need to chase revs, no finding yourself in the wrong gear. Just twist and rocket out of any corner, any time, using the Mission’s maximum shove. Which, with 120lb-ft — all the time — is an awful lot.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
I'm fairly indifferent to it. It looks a tad too "designer-y" to me, though that is a minor point compared to its abysmal specifications.
According to state law in CA, yes, it is a motorcycle.
If it complied with the rules for maximum speed and motor power, then it would be a motorized bicycle.
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electric "backup" power and fold away cranks with pedals on them
only people that ride them are teenagers and people who lost their licence.
In ontario (iirc) as long as you have the pedals installed you are governed like a bicycle. as soon as you remove the crank/pedal you are a motorcycle.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Yes, that's true.
Non-CARB-approved turbo systems were also not legal in CA.
Realistically, the police here seem mostly concerned just with the Chinese food delivery guys riding the wrong way down one-way streets (95% of all streets are one-way here). Trouble is that you can't ride a bike through the Holland tunnel, and Omnibike is a bit too large and heavy to carry down the stairs and then onto the PATH train.
At present, Omnibike is relegated to weekend grocery-getter duty on this side of the river. Picobike the $95 Walmart Wonder is the daily ride to get from my apartment to the PATH station on this side (mostly because I don't want to leave Omnibike parked outside the train station all day), and CitiBike is the daily ride on the NY side of the river.
Incidentally, even forgetting about all of the electronics, there is a huge difference between a $450 bike and a $95 bike. I'd forgotten how crappy it was to ride a crappy bike...
Wheels are in motion, both literally and figuratively.
This is not the final solution.
Non-CARB-approved turbo systems were also not legal in CA.
Realistically, the police here seem mostly concerned just with the Chinese food delivery guys riding the wrong way down one-way streets (95% of all streets are one-way here). Trouble is that you can't ride a bike through the Holland tunnel, and Omnibike is a bit too large and heavy to carry down the stairs and then onto the PATH train.
At present, Omnibike is relegated to weekend grocery-getter duty on this side of the river. Picobike the $95 Walmart Wonder is the daily ride to get from my apartment to the PATH station on this side (mostly because I don't want to leave Omnibike parked outside the train station all day), and CitiBike is the daily ride on the NY side of the river.
Incidentally, even forgetting about all of the electronics, there is a huge difference between a $450 bike and a $95 bike. I'd forgotten how crappy it was to ride a crappy bike...
Wheels are in motion, both literally and figuratively.
This is not the final solution.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
So I believe that I have identified one shortcoming in the Citibike system: balancing.
This is where bikes would be if there were bikes available at the 33rd & 6th station (just outside the PATH station in Manhattan), if any bikes were, in fact, available at that location at 7:15am.
Or across the street at Broadway & 32.
Or up two blocks.
Etc.
For some reason, the distribution of bikes seems to be not only massively asymmetrical, but also insensitive to time. In both the morning and the afternoon, there is a paucity of bikes at the major west-side transportation hubs, and a surplus of bikes at Grand Central.
Now, I could see the supply of bikes shifting from one side to the other and back over the course of the day, but from what I have observed, this seems not to be the case. If I were drawing a broad demographic generalization, I would conclude that all New Yorkers constantly travel from west to east, and never return. Or, if they do return, they do so by first crossing the Atlantic ocean, traversing all of Europe and Asia, swimming across the Pacific to California and then hitchhiking across all of the US before finally arriving back on the west side.
This is where bikes would be if there were bikes available at the 33rd & 6th station (just outside the PATH station in Manhattan), if any bikes were, in fact, available at that location at 7:15am.
Or across the street at Broadway & 32.
Or up two blocks.
Etc.
For some reason, the distribution of bikes seems to be not only massively asymmetrical, but also insensitive to time. In both the morning and the afternoon, there is a paucity of bikes at the major west-side transportation hubs, and a surplus of bikes at Grand Central.
Now, I could see the supply of bikes shifting from one side to the other and back over the course of the day, but from what I have observed, this seems not to be the case. If I were drawing a broad demographic generalization, I would conclude that all New Yorkers constantly travel from west to east, and never return. Or, if they do return, they do so by first crossing the Atlantic ocean, traversing all of Europe and Asia, swimming across the Pacific to California and then hitchhiking across all of the US before finally arriving back on the west side.
Last edited by Joe Perez; Sep 17, 2013 at 08:53 PM.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Yes, I did finally find a bagel shop on east 83rd run by gentiles which was open and serving. And for $9, I got a rather good lox bagel. I shall be curious to see if The Bagel Curse continues.
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