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  • Jrockwar@feddit.ukEnglish
    91·
    6 days ago

    I feel e-bikes are like electric cars and SUVs, so bloated that they’re redefining what “light” means.

    My cheap gravel bike from 2020 is 10 kg, and this one is 15. Is this “reasonably light for an e-bike”? Sure. Is this “so light that I won’t believe it’s electric”? Well, it’s 50% heavier than a budget gravel bike from 7 years ago, so no way I could believe that.

    • insomniac_lemon@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      I have a small folding ebike (both in terms of size and it’s only 250w), it’s 45lbs* (20.4kg).

      I had my doubt on weight as well until I got to try a similar non-electric folding bike and had to turn back due to the lack of assist (and I typically only use PAS 1). Though I also have health issues and am not in the greatest shape, so it could’ve just been me and having no water bottle with me on a particularly hot afternoon.

      If I could use a cheaper bike that’d be great. Though yeah, some people do have SUV-grade ebikes.

      * also I paid 1/3rd of the headline bike, though on sale and it isn’t sold anymore

    • abuttandahalf@lemmy.mlEnglish
      21·
      6 days ago

      Batteries and motors are heavy. E-bikes might be unnecessary in Amsterdam but it extremely hilly places they make transportation by bike actually viable.

      • Jrockwar@feddit.ukEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        No no, I fully agree they are necessary, I’m just making a different point. My point is about weight, not necessity.

        I also believe that EVs are necessary, and they’re much heavier than ICE cars, because batteries are heavy. This comes with clear problems - for example, pedestrian safety. What annoys me the most is that because all in all EVs are a good thing (or better than the alternative), we’ve accepted that weight and nobody bats an eyelid at the idea of a 2-ton car when it’s in fact an abomination.

        Bikes are not cars, thankfully, but 15 kg is not a light bike. It’s a light e-bike, but for it’s within 1960s standards for what a light “bike” should be. And if you’re a petite middle aged woman who carries her bike across 2 flights of stairs in the train station, being told that a 15-kg mountain bike is “light” is a bit of a middle finger.

  • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    6 days ago

    I just bought a very very similar bike for half the price. It’s not that 34lb. is light, it’s that the vast majority of ebikes are insanely large and heavy pieces of crap, for no reason.