Why do perfectly healthy teenagers need electric bikes? I understand the case for less physically able to use ebikes, but why can't these kids just use regular bikes? Has everyone forgotten how to use their bodies?
Edit: carbrains have arrived
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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I am long since past my teen years, but as an avid traditional cyclist who is now an ebike enthusiast, here are a few points off the top of my head:
- ebikes are consistently faster. It is easier to plan your day around ebike trips, since they take about the same amount of time every day. With a regular bike, your trip could be twice as long today because yesterday's tail wind has been replaced by a stiff head wind.
- Issues involving extreme heat and poor air quality (in my experience, these often go hand-in-hand) have less impact on ebiking.
- Terrain not being an impediment gives you more options. There may be some path you'd never have contemplated before since it is hilly or goes down into a deep ravine you will eventually have to slog your way out of, and so you'd wind up taking busy city streets instead with the danger that entails.
- ebikes do give you exercise. You can usually control the amount of pedal assist or even turn it off for a real workout. When off, you will get more exercise than with a traditional bike since ebikes are heavier. But you can do this exercise wherever it is safest to do so and go electric when you need to move with traffic.
- If your city has a main corridor for cycling in terms of say an off-road paved trail to downtown, but you'd have to go out of your way to an extent to reach it, you will be more likely to do so on an ebike. It is just not as much of bother to seek out the better and safer routes.
Whatever it takes to get fewer people on cars
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It's safe if there's safe places to ride bikes? More bike lanes are needed everywhere, especially as cars get more and more out of reach for people.
Overall they are a very good thing.
(Maybe just ... do some public safety campaigns for sidewalk sharing etiquette haha)
I was going to say, when I was a kid, growing up in the 70s, I had a dirt bike with a spedometer and I regularly pushed that thing to 25mph just with the pedals.
My first thought was "faster than 20? No big deal..."
But then I hit this:
"in fact, the Talaria can hit 70 miles per hour. His mother gave him her blessing, she said, and even helped him clip a wire that removes the speed “governor” that ordinarily limits the vehicle to 20 miles per hour."
Having an eBike that can go that fast with relatively no modification at all does not seem wise to me, and it's irresponsible of the parent to assist in that.
1 year after graduation, one of my high school friends got into an argument with his girlfriend, was riding his motorcycle too fast without a helmet, and crashed straight into the back of a garbage truck, killing him instantly.
A bike helmet wouldn't have helped, maybe a DOT approved motorcycle helmet would have.
I think the real concern should be all the exercise the kids aren't getting by riding eBikes. Kids that ride bicycles everywhere build muscle and cardiovascular strength and the benefits of that carry on into young adulthood. Our children are already playing outside a lot less than they used to. Children should get lots of exercise, and eBikes provide very little compared to a regular bicycle.
One thing to consider here is the potential for heat stress. We don't want to depend on a mode of transportation that's unusable in the summer.
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