I’m team e-bike. I’ve ridden e-scooters, never an e-moto.
The classic problems with the e-scooters are a high centre of gravity, short wheel base, and small wheels.
The e-moto addresses these to some minimal extent, but an e-bike really resolves these problems entirely.
For a personal buying decision I’m ambivalent - if it suits your purpose then fine.
At a regulatory level I have significant concerns. As tech improves it’s basically a motorbike that doesn’t require a license. They look small and manageable so drivers / riders have an unreasonable level of confidence.
I mean it looks just like a moped without any bodywork on it. You sit in the same position and presumably control it the same way.
Why not just get an electric moped at that point and then you can go to like 60kmh without having to worry about getting pulled over?
That’s kind of what I’m getting at. This thing is an unregulated low powered motorbike. I’m sure you can buy them from Temu for a few hundred dollars, because they don’t have to meet any regulatory standards.
I’m in favour of new legislation to regulate these as a separate “e-moto” class.
Bicycles aren’t so accessible to users with issues with their legs or balance. Vehicles where you can sit down on a real seat and don’t need to provide the balance suit almost everyone.
Unfortunately bellends zooming around all over the road and pavement are probably going to prevent estabilishing good regulations for users and lead to them just being banned for everyone.
It’s true that bikes aren’t accessible to everyone, but that doesn’t resolve the issues around the pictured e-moto thing.
The solution for accessibility is the 4 wheeled gopher that seniors have had for decades.
I agree that, as with most things, there’s a real risk that the bellends will ruin it for everyone.
I agree that bikes are more comfortable, but the foldability and lower weight give scooters a huge advantage in many situations.
I know there are folding bikes and non-folding scooters, yada yada, my point remains.
Yes but the problems I mentioned: high centre of gravity, short wheel base, and small wheels, are all safety issues.
Foldability et cetera is a matter of convenience.
The accidents people are having on e-things are pretty bad in some cases. Far worse than the skinned knee or elbow I had as a kid.
Im not going to argue that they shouldn’t be allowed, but I think our social treatment of these devices hasn’t really matured. They’re dangerous, but people overlook that because they look innocuous.
Oh yeah the injuries I’ve seen are not only bad but unusual too.
Some fun examples: Patient hit a curb at speed. Not only facial injuries but somehow split the left iliac wing (the big roundish flat bit of the pelvis) in half. Patient split their humerus vertically from the elbow about halfway up.Source: I’m a radiographer
Yeah ok.
The bike shop I frequent was selling e-scooters for a while, but stopped because of ethical concerns - customers incurring grievous injuries.
Those were high-end, well made and compliant e-scooters as well.
Its not only the riders, but risks to pedestrians as well. Someone in my city died after being hit by a drunken tourist on an e-scooter.
IMO bikes, electric or not, are the superior format.
No,
the centre of gravity on an e scooter is way lower, where the feet touch, the centre of gravity for that ebike thing is near where her ass touches aka the seat, its MUCH more unstable, especially with her feet splayed like that as well
it’s precisely why offroad riders sit OFF the seat, to lower the centre of gravity to make their bike/motorbike/ebike more maneuverable.
the unstable thing is her carrying her groceries in bags on the handlebars, it’s a fucking pendulum, it’s why jesus invented backpacks for e scooters.
Sorry chief. With the greatest respect, that’s just not how “centre of gravity” works.
We could argue semantics, but basically physics doesn’t care what’s you and what is the scooter. Standing up increases the height of your mass.
“offroad riders” stand up for a few reasons, the main one is that you can move your mass forward or backward or left or right. The other reason is that your knees and elbows act as additional active suspension, you can even “scrub” bumps and small jumps by lifting the bike up towards your mass.
Sorry but it’s kind of absurd to suggest that you can lower your centre of gravity by standing up.
When you have an accident, if you’re standing up you’re far more likely to go over the bar if you’re standing up - that seems intuitive to me.
Whether or not you’re more maneuverable and therefore less likely to have an accident because you’re standing up is unknowable without data IMO.
I haven’t tested one, but I looked into them recently as a potential option for getting around a little faster than my wheelchair. A lot of places in the US classify them as a motorized vehicle, therefore legally they should be ridden on the road, which I do not feel great about - there’s a reason why I didn’t look into e-bikes as an option for me and it’s because due to my brain fog I lack situational awareness to be able to dodge cars. But luckily my city has no regulations about them and so I could probably get aware with riding one (slowly) on the sidewalk, except our sidewalks are insanely bumpy, so there goes that.
I’ve heard a lot of people enjoy them for short distances though. It just didn’t end up being viable for my needs
TL;DR: looked into e scooters as an option for getting around with a disability (can’t drive), determined that I’d be better off with an e-bike which I can’t use anyway
I’ve seen some people do DIY wheelchair scooters which look decent, it seems like there are a good amount of options nowadays, I hope you find one that works for you.
Just looked it up and I found a video, hell yeah, this looks like a great idea! Tbh I’ve been thinking about if I could tinker a bit and upgrade my wheelchair to go really fast… right now it goes about as fast the average New Yorker walking (literally, I looked it up XD). I lack tinkering skills. But this sounds like a good way to get them c:<
I wouldn’t call any vehicle, electric or not, “hands-free”. That is simply dangerous marketing.
Personally, I like bicycles over scooters because it is more of an open ecosystem. Many people know how to fix/maintain bikes, the tools and parts are mostly interchangeable between different bike manufacturers, and there are many accessories available that are universal.
You can even buy kits to electrify regular bicycles.
Ask your local ER how many people come in on a regular basis with serious injuries from riding these scooters with tiny roller blade wheels.
And wear a helmet. A friend of mine wasn’t even really moving on the thing, fell over, and it changed his life.
I have a “wobbly & dangerous” escooter. I ride it quite a bit. I take it to the grocery store. I have a large rectangular insulated backpack to carry my groceries.
I bought a solid tire version that I had a ton of fun with.
Very useful, range of 10 or 11 miles, more than enough for getting to the supermarket or picking up stuff.
I got an e-bike a couple days ago for extended range, and a flattire the second day.
solid tires are my favorite, and for me, it’s not that bumpy or uncomfortableb like i heard. If my little scooter had 30 miles of range, instead of 10, I 100% would have just kept using that.
may i ask what brand?
hiQis, seems like one of a million generic brands off amazon.
but it looks nice, charges reliably(3 hours), folds down for carrying, turns great and again solid tires make such a huge difference not having to worry about a flat.
definitely going on my list of cargo scooters to consider, thank you very much!
you got it! have a good one!
The one in the image has vacuum tires, are those a problem?
I had to look up vacuum tires!
They certainly sound better than pneumatic, and either pneumatic or vacuum are going to give you a smoother ride and better battery range, but I’ll happily give up a few miles of range for never having to change a scooter tire.
There are some lime scooters near me in this style, they’re nice for something like a small grocery run. I think that image really oversells the idea, though- you could accomplish the same thing with a hook on the upright between the handlebars (I think the Brits call that a curry hook?)
My bosses son lost his licence a few months ago through no fault of his own. He has been using one of these to get between work-train station and trainstation-home.
He went to the pub the other night and was pulled over by Highway Patrol. Turns out, his model is now classed as a motorcycle and you need a motorcycle licence to ride.
You also need a 0.00% BAC to ride a motorcycle so he was don’t for riding without a licence and also being over the limit. When he gets his licence back, he will need an Interlock installed!
The cop told him that he would have been better off driving his car because then he would only have been done for unlicensed driving!
- Riding a motorcycle without a permit
- having drank alcohol
- over the limit
How is that not his fault?
From the sound of it, he wouldn’t have been over the legal BAC level had he been in a car. And he had no idea it was classified as a motorcycle. So…
I believe the ”over the limit” is referring to the blood alcohol content, not the speed limit.
Ah, my bad, I think you’re right. Still his fault for the rest, though.
How does one lose their license without fault?
He loaned his car to mate. The mate got pinged by an automated speed camera.
His mate then hid the infringement notice from him so he couldn’t delegate blame.
Damn that’s fucked
Holy moly. Where was this?
Victoria, Australia
I use the sharing services regularly and they work just fine :) Especially great when the tram is on strike
I use those “public” e-scooters to commute and I find them fun to use. Sometimes, I switch to bikes whenever available. I particularly like that they have turning signals which is usually not on bikes so you have to gesture with your hand.
I actually like the kind on the left but the pavement is too uneven here to ride either
I’ve got an e-bike and a child carrier that I can attach. The kids are almost too big to sit in it, but it works perfect for storage. Grocery shopping for my family, check. Picking up large parcels, check. Getting rid of garbage at the recycling center, check. E-scooters are in my view extremely unnecessary and dangerous
The local layabouts like these: they’re quiet, so they can come up to your house in the middle of the night without being heard, and they can carry a small load, so anything they steal from your yard can easily be transported.
They’re also fast enough and heavy enough that they can run over and do serious damage to pedestrians.
