I detest “acoustic” and any other qualifier because we don’t define the OG by the upstart. We’ve had bicycles for 150 years. I’m passionate, even reverential, for the tinkerers and engineers that forged their evolution, and for the fanatical drive of the riders finding the limits of human power that’s led to some of the greatest competitive moments in history.
Ebikes have nothing to do with any of this. They’re great fun and make the sport more accessible to the wealthy and lazy (or disabled), but bicycles are defined by the use of pedals for propulsion, not by an aesthetic or common parts. Appending that word is redundant. It’s also insulting, as if you introduced a scull with a trolling motor and demanded that all the others were called “oar sculls.”
A bicycle is a bicycle. The heavy, powered mopeds in drag that some of us choose to ride are, for convenience, ebikes. We don’t need to further differentiate actual bicycles.
Jan. 28, 2025, 9:02 a.m. - Alex D
I detest “acoustic” and any other qualifier because we don’t define the OG by the upstart. We’ve had bicycles for 150 years. I’m passionate, even reverential, for the tinkerers and engineers that forged their evolution, and for the fanatical drive of the riders finding the limits of human power that’s led to some of the greatest competitive moments in history. Ebikes have nothing to do with any of this. They’re great fun and make the sport more accessible to the wealthy and lazy (or disabled), but bicycles are defined by the use of pedals for propulsion, not by an aesthetic or common parts. Appending that word is redundant. It’s also insulting, as if you introduced a scull with a trolling motor and demanded that all the others were called “oar sculls.” A bicycle is a bicycle. The heavy, powered mopeds in drag that some of us choose to ride are, for convenience, ebikes. We don’t need to further differentiate actual bicycles.