oceaniceternity<p>I was walking around and then walked myself into a library read some old bike magazines and was struck by how similar a lot of ebikes are to early motorcycles.</p><p>It makes sense: ebikes are filling the void of dirt cheap personal transport. Reliable transport is needed when public transport is unreliable and takes forever.</p><p>Yet the process for getting a license for a car (at least in NZ and likely Australia too) is a long process with increasingly stringent exams. Cars are also increasing in price. Both due to the cost of living, and increasing premiumisation. Cars: even a cheap shit box for a minimum wage worker represent a significant investment of capital. Both time to aquire a license, and to buy a vehicle.</p><p>Motorcycles could arguably fill that void. Except the training requirements are extensive and expensive in order to gain a license. Road registration is also expensive.</p><p>Then there's the humble bicycle. No license requirements, no registration requirements, no real regulation requirements like a motorcycle has. Efficient. Dirt cheap even compared to a motorcycle (I paid nzd $2,000 for my motorcycle, while a decent second hand bicycle costs just a couple of hundred dollars, with much less intensive maintenance requirements). Except they are sweaty, painful (good pain, but exercise nonetheless) and slow.</p><p>Enter the ebike. The wild fucking west. Ranging from a motor quite literally bolted onto a bicycle to things that look like a motorcycle with pedals bolted on. No license requirements. No regulatory requirements. Just... As an American friend might say FREEDOM.</p><p>I see online about how they ought to be regulated like motorcycles, how they are unfit for cycle paths (to which I say cycle paths are woefully designed for bicycle traffic: a good cyclist on a good bike can keep up with an ebike, and a mediocre one sure as hell can draft one) how they are good for exercise...</p><p>But I don't hear much about the economic argument. How the everliving fuck is a broke fucker meant to get to work in this day and age? It's not like cars are cheap, or buses are good. I really think that ebikes ought to stay exactly where they are: the wild West of transport.</p><p><a href="https://sakurajima.moe/tags/ebikes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ebikes</span></a> <a href="https://sakurajima.moe/tags/motorcycle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>motorcycle</span></a> <a href="https://sakurajima.moe/tags/ebike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ebike</span></a> <a href="https://sakurajima.moe/tags/commuting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>commuting</span></a> <a href="https://sakurajima.moe/tags/cycling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cycling</span></a></p>