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ebikes on the Shore

Nov. 4, 2024, 2:47 p.m.
Posts: 1616
Joined: Sept. 30, 2006

RadBikes shouldn't be allowed on the road anyway. As they are configured, the way their throttles work is currently not legal. Ive seen many of them rattling around the streets of Vancouver, one catching fire is no real surprise to me.

Nov. 4, 2024, 5:15 p.m.
Posts: 758
Joined: Aug. 14, 2003

There you a

Posted by: norona

Posted by: cerealkilla_

Posted by: LoamtoHome

Solid state batteries will probably resolve the issue.

A bigger issue are e-bikes going up dh trails. Once someone gets seriously hurt or worse, trails will be shut down. This is happening more than people think.

Only true s88t for brains pull that move. I noticed that SORCA has clearly embraced ebikes as part of their mandate, included them in some events, and made clear statements about ettiquette and safety - specifically indicating that riding up downhill trails is a bad idea. Hard to influence better behavior if you don't let them in the clubhouse. A welcome move for those of us that ride mountain bikes and ebikes.

Amazing really, one little bulletin did more to address good etiquette on ebikes than our local product expert/rep and mouthpiece did in his entire career.....oh wait, that's right, he liked to post videos of himself pedaling up the tech trails and bragging about it like he was special.

For someone who knows nothing about me, or even knows me its awesome how much you think and post about me.... wait are you on e-mtb now, told ya!! :)

There you are. The guy with ZERO consideration posting videos of yourself pedaling up the downhills. The consummate irresponsible, me-first, selfish ebike rider. Way to rep your products.

Funny thing is, that when someone suggested you use your admirable skills and presence to promote responsible use of ebikes to help them integrate better, you told them to stuff it.

Lots more people riding ebikes for certain, but thankfully very few of them are following your poor example.

Anyhow, while we're at it, keep pretending that the "haters" are after you because they have a mindless dislike of ebikes. Fact is, it was never about the technology - it was about how certain people chose to use it. A message that you repeatedly ignored.


 Last edited by: cerealkilla_ on Nov. 4, 2024, 5:52 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Nov. 4, 2024, 5:20 p.m.
Posts: 546
Joined: Feb. 24, 2017

Posted by: shoreboy

RadBikes shouldn't be allowed on the road anyway. As they are configured, the way their throttles work is currently not legal. Ive seen many of them rattling around the streets of Vancouver, one catching fire is no real surprise to me.

I have no experience with RAD bikes. Just pointing out that this was a NEW bike bought from a local company that sells thousands of these things. You would think they would be motivated to make sure their bikes don't explode.

Nov. 5, 2024, 2:03 a.m.
Posts: 2776
Joined: April 2, 2005

Posted by: skooks

Posted by: Sethimus

Posted by: LoamtoHome

Solid state batteries will probably resolve the issue.  

A bigger issue are e-bikes going up dh trails. Once someone gets seriously hurt or worse, trails will be shut down.  This is happening more than people think.

importing and modyfying chinese shit is the problem, there are not that many fire problems with products from respectable brands

Not an E-MTB, but this was a new e-bike bought from a reputable shop.

sorry, rad power et al are exactly what i meant when i talked about shitty chinese ebike products. you don't see those much around here. ppl buy from respectable bike brands using motor/batteries from respectable brands. i.e. bosch/shimano/yamaha/fazua/brose/mahle etc.

Nov. 5, 2024, 8:12 a.m.
Posts: 5
Joined: March 20, 2023

You have valid points. Mountain biking can be a hard sport, it's worth rising to the challenge for some.

Nov. 5, 2024, 8:24 a.m.
Posts: 148
Joined: Oct. 7, 2020

Posted by: shoreboy

RadBikes shouldn't be allowed on the road anyway. As they are configured, the way their throttles work is currently not legal. Ive seen many of them rattling around the streets of Vancouver, one catching fire is no real surprise to me.

To be fair, the regulations came after some of these bikes so they may not have been illegal at the time. But some retailers are happy to sell you something that can't be ridden legally, there's no enforcement anyway. 

Not sure how Rad bikes work now but it's childishly easy on some of these cheaper bikes to bypass restrictions, if they have them. The BC Bike show is flooded with garbage that is cheaper than I'd pay for a non-ebike, and with quality control being one of the key factors in battery fires I agree with only buying big name-brand systems.

Nov. 5, 2024, 9:45 a.m.
Posts: 1616
Joined: Sept. 30, 2006

Posted by: tashi

Posted by: shoreboy

RadBikes shouldn't be allowed on the road anyway. As they are configured, the way their throttles work is currently not legal. Ive seen many of them rattling around the streets of Vancouver, one catching fire is no real surprise to me.

Why do you think the throttle is a problem, aside from the fact that it breaks a regulation?

I find it just makes getting the big pig of a bike rolling, saving me a bunch of shifting. Doesn’t seem to make me any faster (okay sometimes I throttle out of corners if I’m “shredding” on the minivanbike).

The throttle configured the way they have it makes them e-motorcycles, not e-bikes. If you don't have to pedal at all, is it an e-bike? My opinion is that it isn't. I ride the 10th Ave bike route daily, and I see many 'e-bikers' who never pedal at all because of their bikes have throttles that engage from a dead stop. Its the death by 1000 cuts idea. Oh we wont enforce the throttle regulation. Oh dont worry about that top speed regulation. Pretty soon you have full e-motorbikes on the bike routes (which I have also seen on numerous occasions).

Nov. 5, 2024, 10:57 a.m.
Posts: 15313
Joined: Feb. 19, 2003

Posted by: Sethimus

sorry, rad power et al are exactly what i meant when i talked about shitty chinese ebike products. you don't see those much around here. ppl buy from respectable bike brands using motor/batteries from respectable brands. i.e. bosch/shimano/yamaha/fazua/brose/mahle etc.

You must not be familiar with North American consumers or our brand of end-state Capitalism and greed.

Nov. 5, 2024, 10:58 a.m.
Posts: 261
Joined: Feb. 12, 2020

FWIW Tashi, I attended a "sustainability" event a few years ago at a local university on behalf of a bike shop. We were posted up next to the RAD bike tent and rep who came up from the lower mainland. He showed me how, without any special tools or developer code or anything, you could set your RAD power ebike's max assist/throttle speed to well over 32 km/hr through the interactive menus available within the bike itself. I think they topped out around 45 km/hr, which might be the US setting you're talking about. 

So they're sold with regulatory compliance but (at least at the time) consumers could configure them to something else tool free. Sounds like they still can. Then ride on the sidewalk, your favourite trail network, through stop signs, etc., all without pedaling. 

In other news, a neighbourhood in Kamloops was experiencing a crew of teenagers on Sur-ons terrorising the trails and in one or two instances taking over the public pump track. On the bright side, one of them totally got smoked by a car and got extremely injured.

Nov. 5, 2024, 12:04 p.m.
Posts: 2409
Joined: Nov. 8, 2003

Posted by: tashi

When it comes down to it I don’t think that the throttle or max assist “mods” cause safety issues to be concerned about, but that’s based on my experiences and the people I see using them.

I need to move to your neighborhood.

Nov. 5, 2024, 12:34 p.m.
Posts: 431
Joined: Feb. 24, 2017

Posted by: tashi

Running on the throttle only is very very (VERY) slow with a Rad. Anyone who wants to cook without pedaling is going to be on something else or hacking the shit out of their rad, adding a throttle to a bike is easy peasy for anyone like that.

This. We have a Radwagon and ain't nobody blowing by anyone with that beast on throttle only like it's a moto. 

Hating on RAD is bike snobbery at it's finest.

Nov. 5, 2024, 12:55 p.m.
Posts: 261
Joined: Feb. 12, 2020

The thing is, as a mode of transportation, they're great, and strictly for on road use and following the rules of the road, I don't care about throttle use. If enforcement and regulatory compliance weren't issues, I'd even go so far as to say that a 45 km/hr limit would be great on road only options, particularly in places without bike lanes. But as other users have mentioned, this blurs the line with e-motorcycle rather than an eeb, and sadly for a number of reasons we just aren't set up to deal with a proliferation of alternative people movers.

Nov. 5, 2024, 12:57 p.m.
Posts: 1616
Joined: Sept. 30, 2006

Posted by: earleb

Posted by: tashi

Running on the throttle only is very very (VERY) slow with a Rad. Anyone who wants to cook without pedaling is going to be on something else or hacking the shit out of their rad, adding a throttle to a bike is easy peasy for anyone like that.

This. We have a Radwagon and ain't nobody blowing by anyone with that beast on throttle only like it's a moto.

Hating on RAD is bike snobbery at it's finest.

I dont 'hate' on RAD bikes specifically. I know there are other bikes out there with dead stop throttles, that are much faster and are also bending/breaking the MVA. There are more RAD bikes out there than the others (likely because of their lower price point) so there is more exposure to them. Just because you are only 'slowly' breaking the laws on your RAD bike does that make it acceptable? We cant control people hacking e-bikes to make them faster etc, but in my opinion they shouldn't be sold from a retailer with a throttle that breaks the rules and have a user accesible software upgrade built in that ups their speed limit to 40km/h. Is that fair?


 Last edited by: shoreboy on Nov. 5, 2024, 12:58 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Nov. 5, 2024, 4:30 p.m.
Posts: 15313
Joined: Feb. 19, 2003

^^  IG ads target me  with these all the time.  Claimed 60-100kph conversion kits.

https://rigebikes.myshopify.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZVhE2Kqa6LsZ93Q0eUnRmMRY7frU_fAiGvrVOMpK_iYbqELNuO8jqR-7U_aem_pHGue4pwi32BsWj5vjMNCw

Nov. 6, 2024, 8:28 a.m.
Posts: 1616
Joined: Sept. 30, 2006

Posted by: tashi

Posted by: shoreboy

Posted by: earleb

Posted by: tashi

Running on the throttle only is very very (VERY) slow with a Rad. Anyone who wants to cook without pedaling is going to be on something else or hacking the shit out of their rad, adding a throttle to a bike is easy peasy for anyone like that.

This. We have a Radwagon and ain't nobody blowing by anyone with that beast on throttle only like it's a moto.

Hating on RAD is bike snobbery at it's finest.

I dont 'hate' on RAD bikes specifically. I know there are other bikes out there with dead stop throttles, that are much faster and are also bending/breaking the MVA. There are more RAD bikes out there than the others (likely because of their lower price point) so there is more exposure to them. Just because you are only 'slowly' breaking the laws on your RAD bike does that make it acceptable? We cant control people hacking e-bikes to make them faster etc, but in my opinion they shouldn't be sold from a retailer with a throttle that breaks the rules and have a user accesible software upgrade built in that ups their speed limit to 40km/h. Is that fair?

How do you up the assist to 40km/hr on a Rad?

It takes less than a minute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQyRqTosP84

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