traingang

I don't know what this post is saying, but I'm gonna use it as a place to discuss ebikes.
They're good in that they make biking more accessible, however (disclaimer: this is in the context of a city with good bicycle infrastructure and a common culture of most people taking the bicycle to their destination, this is not in the context of some poorly planned us car-centric hellscape).

1. There's now a lot of people that have never gone fast on a bike, suddenly cruising at 25 km/h as if it is nothing. If you've never gone fast on your bike in am urban environment, then that's not super good to just be able to do. There's a significant difference between just cruising towards your destination and turning yourself into a tiny self-propelled maul. I've seen way too many people with no awareness of their surroundings and no awareness of how their breakers react, suddenly coming to terms with this as they hit said brakes way too late.
2. There's a lot of bikes that are being tuned to go above those 25 km/h. That's not really the same vehicle anymore, but it's still sharing the same space as a bike. This isnt exactly safe, at least not when the person isnt used to being super fast on a nimble little iron horse. I think it is kinda wild how vehicles going only 5 km/h faster requires a license to drive, but the bike is excempt. I think there should be some sort of license or something. A brief course, something.