this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

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It's a little sad that we need to actually say this, but:

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Respectful debate is totally OK, criticizing a product is fine, but being verbally abusive will not be tolerated.

Focus on discussing the idea, not attacking the person.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (4 children)

If you make a way for me to travel safely without potholes within an inch of passing cars, I'll buy an electric bike and ride it everywhere.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Sorry, best we can do is Mad Max.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I just ride around with a flame thrower and spray off a warning jet when cars get too close.

The pot holes are terrified of me because of the flame thrower, so they just get out of the way.

It's great fun, but I know I'm totally screwed if I crash.

Also, I'm pretty sure the tank hurts the range on my bike real bad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Supposedly, heavy giga-cars are the reason for so many potholes. Much harder to design asphalt for longevity supporting obese mammoths than simple sedans, much less bikes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

How do I stop someone from stealing it? I'm for it but I live in suburbia and the stores don't have bike racks for anything other than a parking lot. It's not a "bad" area but it has people. A $500 bike is one thing but a $1500 bike is another.

I don't think there is any secure bike parking as mentioned in the article and I'm not talking daily commute to work. If anyone has any tips I'm open to ideas.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You can get a $1500 electric bike? The only ones I've seen at the bike shop all start around $5000. I can get a car for $5000.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can get e-bikes for under 2k but they have some definite drawbacks. I wonder if the ones in the bike shop are all super high end models or mountain bikes. Even very nice e-bikes are around 3k, if they're designed for city use. Check out this list here https://bikexchange.com/best-electric-city-bikes/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I bought a cheap 500w electric mountain bike for $600, beat the shit out of it in the mountains, and it still runs fine. You definitely don't need to drop a couple grand just to commute around town.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Place near me sells electric bikes for like $2200 CAD so about $1600-$1800 US

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can get an e bike for less than $500 now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's less than a regular bike costs. Is it any good at all?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They are ok. Heavier, not super nice. But comfortable enough for 30 min or so.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

You can get a new bike for $5000. You can't get a new car for $5000 (unless you live in China). You can get a car for $5000 of course, but it won't be a nice new car.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've kept a chain around both of my scooters' stems for the years I've been riding each of them and have not had a problem yet. Two things to note: I'm not in NYC and I keep it racked in high visibility areas in daylight. Honestly with the price of bikes a 1200 scooter with a thick chain isn't worth the trouble me thinks.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yea but like the other guy said, there’s nothing to chain it to. I also live in suburbia and have been looking at an e-bike for groceries and other short errands but there are no bike racks at the stores for me to rack and chain it. Best thing I can do is chain it to a signpost I guess

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Rolling it through the store until they install bike racks is a great passive aggressive approach.

One place I lived was close to a semi-suburan mall. Despite being on a major intra-city bike lane, there was a single bike rack tucked in the delivery area.

I also learned from my new neighbor that you can just install bike racks wherever you want. He just buys the pole like ones and installs them wherever he wants parking.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He just buys the pole like ones and installs them wherever he wants parking.

Fucking genius. I 100% believe it would work and that nobody would ever even question it as long as you threw on a high vis vest while installing them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He doesn't even high vis. Shows up on his bike, slaps in the tapcons, then locks his bike and goes for a shop.

I've only seen one of his poles get removed, but it was replaced with an official city one.

My city also lets you call and request one anyway, he just doesn't like waiting. Edit: request are actually handled by the burroughs and differ slightly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I often chain to lamp posts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Chain, lock, SmartTag/airtag, insurance