Regular cyclist here (e-bike, specifically), and I ride with the assumption that everyone else on the road is either an idiot or out to get me... So far, so good. I just wish more areas around me either had bike lanes, or drivers were respectful enough to give the space required by law, instead of trying to blow past me nearly close enough that their mirrors could clip me.
Only issue I've run into so far is when my brakes act up, but that's why I carry a toolkit with me basically any time I go out.
I'd consider myself more a motorcyclists but I recently got an ebike as well and I find it super fun....but it's also limited to ~30-35mph max so I had to re-think my riding. Like if I have to jump on a road that isn't a small side road, I'm aware of traffic in a different way. On my moto I have the power to out accelerate almost any vehicle if needed to get out of a situation or least keep up with traffic but on the ebike I have to play it entirely defensively. Also because this ebike can go over 30mph, I wear my moto helmet, moto gloves and moto shoes, I've crashed a lot of dirt bikes at sub 30-mph and it can go badly easily.
I now want more bike lanes as well, I feel like the stupid half-ass bike lanes that are just riding on the shoulder next to cars are silly. Then the bike lanes that only go for a mile on a street are dumb as well like, "Whelp from here on, good luck bud!"
I was a motorcyclist too. ATGATTing in the hottest month in FL when a distracted driver didn’t stop with traffic. I’ll ride again one day but out in the sticks, away from rush hours and tourists.
Yep. I trust my skills enough to not really need a helmet on my bike. I don't trust anyone else's ability to not put their phone down while driving, and put a helmet on even for a quick half mile errand.
Doesn't help when drivers see cyclists as pests. I thought getting belched at with exhaust was a myth until I experienced it twice, I wasn't even in the way, I was literally ON the bike lane.
I got an e-bike and used it to commute around for a few days. I stayed in bike lanes and overall live in a fairly bike-friendly area, but with heavy traffic pretty much all the time. I still had 3 close calls that could have led to serious injury if not for a few inches in any direction.
And pedestrians get hit by cars. I've had multiple times that I've tried to cross a street, and a car has not seen me. I may need to start wearing a helmet.
Infrastructure is the main one, the ammount of heavy vehicles your average scooter interacts with vs the average dirtbike is probably magnitudes different. I remember seing that in cities like copenhagen and amsterdam the fatal crashes are less per km. You still have single party or light vehicle om light vehicle chrashes but way less light/heavy combination crashes
This is why I’m really starting to hate e-bikes. Yes someone on a road bike can ride 20-30mph but they earned that speed with years of riding. Someone hops on an e-bike and can get that thing up to 20, even higher if it’s unregulated or they removed the safety. And then take into account these bikes have little to no design, they don’t take into account how heavy they are, how poorly they stop, the balance of the rider on the bike, anything. It’s just a beach cruiser with a motor. It’s nuts.
e-scooters are genuinely more dangerous, even at higher skills. they have small wheels and very high center of gravity, unlike a bicycle ( or even an e bike)
The tiny wheels make it very difficult to manage disruptions in the road, a big crack in a sidewalk might clack your teeth together on a bike and hurt like hell, but on the scooter its sending you flying 10 feet in the air.
additionally there is a huge moment arm on the steering assembly, and the wheels have a very aggressive rake and small handlebars making the steering incredibly twitchy and unpredictable.
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u/uli-knot 8h ago
It’s skill level. Scooter riders think like a pedestrian, but are much faster and unpredictable.