15 mile with an electric bike and good infrastructure that let you go fast is doable. And electric bike is already so much better than a car because it weight much less and as such consume much less. But I agree overall it does not replace a train because people won’t cycle when it rains.
I’d rather cycle when it rains than get a train, assuming it’s not like 3 hours in a freezing temperature watching cars go by while I’m stuck at cyclists-only red light.
That’s still almost an hour each way with the US class 1 ebike limit of 20mph. Not really doable for me or most people purely from a time usage stand point, not to mention 2 hours in the weather if it’s poor.
An electric motorcycle would be a lot more interesting to me, because it’s not held up by the stupid US ebike laws with such low speed limits.
For what it’s worth, US limit is only 20mph with full motor. Class 3 is allowed, with 28mph (45kph, actually) when using pedal assist. I threw a larger chainring on my eBike to make maintaining 28mph easier and I just pedal everywhere.
45min-1 hour for one way to work is already what I do with public transport and it considered kind of standard time of commuting in Paris.
In bike it is harder I have to admit you have to be willing to spend the time and have the physical condition to do it.
The pro of taking public transport is also you can do other things while transporting even if limited but it is less tiring than driving a car or bike :)
I’d be willing to take longer, but I wouldn’t want to do the trip uncovered in the rain. Also, the highway doesn’t have a shoulder in one section, so I’d have to route around that to be safe on the bike, and I don’t know how much length that would add to the trip (and it would probably involve adding travel on unpaved / dirt / gravel roads…)
15 mile with an electric bike and good infrastructure that let you go fast is doable. And electric bike is already so much better than a car because it weight much less and as such consume much less. But I agree overall it does not replace a train because people won’t cycle when it rains.
I’d rather cycle when it rains than get a train, assuming it’s not like 3 hours in a freezing temperature watching cars go by while I’m stuck at cyclists-only red light.
That’s still almost an hour each way with the US class 1 ebike limit of 20mph. Not really doable for me or most people purely from a time usage stand point, not to mention 2 hours in the weather if it’s poor.
An electric motorcycle would be a lot more interesting to me, because it’s not held up by the stupid US ebike laws with such low speed limits.
For what it’s worth, US limit is only 20mph with full motor. Class 3 is allowed, with 28mph (45kph, actually) when using pedal assist. I threw a larger chainring on my eBike to make maintaining 28mph easier and I just pedal everywhere.
Most bike paths are class 1 at least where I am, I don’t think I’m going to pedal faster than 20 especially with a load of groceries.
Even 28mph isn’t that fast when the roads I take to the store on a motorcycle are 45-60mph limits.
State-bound, but this.
45min-1 hour for one way to work is already what I do with public transport and it considered kind of standard time of commuting in Paris. In bike it is harder I have to admit you have to be willing to spend the time and have the physical condition to do it. The pro of taking public transport is also you can do other things while transporting even if limited but it is less tiring than driving a car or bike :)
Well sure, but if you add another 2 hours to get groceries on top of your commute that becomes kind of difficult right?
I’d be willing to take longer, but I wouldn’t want to do the trip uncovered in the rain. Also, the highway doesn’t have a shoulder in one section, so I’d have to route around that to be safe on the bike, and I don’t know how much length that would add to the trip (and it would probably involve adding travel on unpaved / dirt / gravel roads…)