
Electric bike trials in Australia see 50% purchase and change transport habits - awjr
https://cyclingindustry.news/electric-bike-trials-in-australia-see-50-purchase-and-change-transport-habits/
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avivo
The actual study writeup, showing bike use before, during, and after:
[https://rac.com.au/~/media/files/rac-website/pdfs/about-
rac/...](https://rac.com.au/~/media/files/rac-website/pdfs/about-
rac/publications/reports/2016/rac-ebike-trial-the-power-of-electric-
bikes.pdf?la=en)

Total (bike and ebike use): Before: 11% 1st week: 55% 5th week: 65% (peak)
10th week: 50% After: 41% (not everyone bought the ebike)

Car use went from 61% (before) to 46% (after) — bikes decreased walking also.

100% of participants said they were satisfied, with more than half saying they
were extremely satisfied with the e-bike.

~~~
Shivetya
how many were cyclist before this study? I would assume most. Usage surely has
to be weather dependent. I just find studies like this to be highly contrived
and too short to have actual real value in their predictions.

Did you find information of average length of trip, number per day, and such?

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Reason077
The biggest problem I see restricting the uptake of e-Bikes for urban
transport is the risk of _theft_.

You really need secure bike parking at both ends of the journey given that
these are typically $1000+ machines - locks are no obstacle for a determined
bike thief!

A cheap push-bike, on the other hand, you can feel comfortable parking on
almost any street - which is really what makes a bike so convenient in the
first place.

Better security/anti-theft technology needed. Needs to be effective _and_
convenient!

~~~
agumonkey
All bikes get stolen, even the crappiest ones.

Theft is the reason I don't use my bike anymore, unless I don't stop.

~~~
maccard
Crappy ones don't get stolen. I lived in an area with rampant bike theft, had
3 bikes stolen, and bought a crappy bike. I didn't even bother locking it most
of the time. I sold it when I moved, after 2 years of pretty much daily use.

~~~
exodust
Yes but limiting yourself to a crappy bike is depressing. You've giving in to
fear of thieves. They have "stolen" your good bike ride, and you're okay with
that?

Having a good quality bike makes riding more enjoyable, safer, more
comfortable, more efficient.

~~~
mauvehaus
A bicycle that looks like hammered shit doesn't necessarily make for a bad
ride. Initial quality is largely irrelevant if:

0\. It's suited to the task (a Wal-Mart mountain bike is lousy for running
around town) 1\. Stuff degrades gracefully (cheap index shifting generally
does not; friction shifters are a far better choice on a cheap bike) 2\. You
maintain it. 3\. You take the time (and money) to find a comfortable saddle
for it.

Crappy bikes become unfun when they're neglected. Unfortunately, they usually
get neglected because they were poorly suited for the intended purpose anyway,
or because people don't want to pay a bike shop to tune up a $150 bicycle
(which was probably poorly assembled in the first place).

This is a case where learning to do the work yourself pays the dividend of
both raising the competence of the user and resulting in a useful tool for
years to come.

Most people would be much better served by an old 10-speed than a new crappy
mountain bike. They're better suited to getting around town, immensely
tolerant of neglect because there isn't anything that truly needs to be in top
shape to run, and easy to put right.

And yes, I say this as somebody who has a nice road bike, a nice mountain
bike, and a road bike that lives outside all year long, looks like hell and
that I wouldn't hesitate to ride 15-25 km.

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chubs
I seriously considered buying an e-bike for commuting to work (I'm in
Australia too). The biggest obstacle for me are the laws. We follow the euro
laws (max 250 watts, and max 25km/h). The power is fine for a skinny-tire road
bike, but you really need more for a suspension bike. Our roads aren't as nice
as europe - you really want to ride a dual suspension mountain bike. Also my
commute is 40 KM each way (very common), so you really want to be travelling
faster than 25! I imagine people in europe don't commute that far. So it
doesn't look to me like the rules work particularly well for us, at least it
swung me against buying one personally.

~~~
ehnto
I definitely ride my conventional bicycle up to 30kmph+ in bicycle lanes, both
separated and beside the road. I think 25km/h is simply too low. I do think
anything over 40kmph is getting silly however. You may as well be on a petrol
scooter at that point.

I also have no idea why they insist on it being pedal assisted rather than
throttle based. The regulation states that you have to be pedalling for it to
engage the motor, so you can't just engage the electric motor on it's own.

Such a regulation really limits the possible kits and bicycles you can
purchase, as the Australian market seems to be lagging behind the rest of the
world and the options are fewer.

~~~
exodust
Well he can keep peddling beyond 25, the motor just doesn't assist past that
speed. If road is flat, this would be easy enough.

I'm guessing by "conventional bicycle" you don't mean a mountain bike. Try
riding a mountain bike at 30+, it feels wrong. Your whole posture is too
upright, it's not designed for speed. Not easy to reach 30 on a mountain bike
without going downhill.

~~~
GhostVII
I ride my mountain bike 30+ all the time, it feels fine. It definitely makes
me a bit more sweaty, but is a sustainable speed for a few kilometres at least
especially if there is a bit of a slope.

~~~
exodust
Right, so a slope is needed to sustain 30. I highly doubt any mountain bikers
are sustaining 30+ on the flat with knobbly tyres and dual suspension.

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avivo
It references that RAC ran the study. I was curious. It turns out it's the
"Royal Automobile Club of WA" (Western Australia).

More details: [https://rac.com.au/about-rac](https://rac.com.au/about-rac) and
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Automobile_Club_of_Weste...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Automobile_Club_of_Western_Australia)

It's great to see a historically car focused org trying to replace cars with
bikes! It sounds like a pretty incredible organization — curious what the
Western Australians here think.

~~~
strayamaaate
Hi, from Perth, WA.

I think it’s a great initiative.

We have a similar climate to the US west coast with only a few weeks of rain a
year, relatively flat landscape and way too many cars per person (due to
public transport and distance).

It’s pretty common to drive very short distances to pickup something small.
I’m sorely guilty of it.

One reason I avoid cycling is that I feel it’s somewhat risky. I lost a close
friend in high school who got knocked down by a drunk driver. More bikes on
the road raises awareness, so a net positive imho.

~~~
NegativeLatency
North of California it rains regularly for most of the year.

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dalbasal
It's actually a curious result (though not surprising, based on experience).
Ebikes are just a very light and low power motorbike.

We have motorbikes. There are obviously huge downsides to an ebike relative to
an motorbike. They're faster, for instance.

I think a big part of the story is that ebikes are just fun to ride, aside
from practicalities like travel time. This is kind of a weird conclusion, for
a tranport policy person to digets. It can't be quantified and charted. What
are they supposed to do with it?

This makes me curious about other things. Would a super-light, 4 wheel
vehicles also be fun? What would a transport system look like if fun was the
major guiding principle?

~~~
chubs
I commute by both motorbike and (push) bike. Pushbike has some nonobvious
advantages IME: * You can ride in the breakdown lane which is _way_ less
stressful than lane-splitting on the motorbike. * You can take off-road
shortcuts between suburbs which is fun and saves loads of time. * Maintenance
when you commute by motorbike costs a fortune! Tyres, chains, and valve shims
cost thousands a year. Way more than a car.

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anitil
This article is ... odd. Some of the wording doesn't make a lot of sense. An
example: " (Time of year not weather indication were not cited).".

From what I can gather, 60 participants were given an electric bike for 10
weeks, and around 50% later went on to buy the bike they were given. Usage was
60% at the beginning, dropping to 28% by the end.

So half or greater of the people who purchased a bike weren't even using it.

~~~
euos
My employer did similar trial (I ended up buying the bike and now I do around
30% commute by bike).

I don't think you can expect high percentage from people that are not obsessed
with cycling - and those already use regular bike. E.g. I need to be home
early 2 days/week to drive my kids to classes, sometimes I need to go to
grocery store after the work, on some days there's dentist, weather, etc. So
the drop in the usage is expected.

~~~
senectus1
why would someone who _is_ obsessed with cycling be interested in buying an
electric bike?

All the cycling nuts I know consider them to be heresy...

~~~
taneq
There's your lycra brigade guys who will always think adding $1,000 worth of
electric drive gear to a $500 bike is cheating, but spending $10,000 on an
ultra-light carbon fiber frame with ultra-low-rolling-resistance tyres is
totally legitimate.

But then there's also people who start off with an electric bike and love how
convenient, cheap and easy they are. I have a couple of friends who've got
e-bikes and use them as regular transport.

~~~
victorhooi
There's a pretty large difference between shaving 250 grams off your bike
weight, versus replacing all your pedalling with an electric motor =).

One will get you banned from the Tour de France - the other will not...

I confess I'm one of the lycra brigade people (they're not all guys!), and
have spent money on trying to save those couple of extra grams.

However, for me, I like cycling also for the exercise benefits - and using an
electric monitor would remove all those benefits.

Although for somebody who doesn't want to pedal - I think they're great! You
get many of the benefits, without arriving as sweaty.

~~~
Someone
Nitpick: shaving 250 grams off your bike weight _can_ get you banned from the
Tour de France.

UCI regulations state a minimum weight for a bicycle of 6.8 kilos
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_bicycle#UCI_rules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_bicycle#UCI_rules))

~~~
victorhooi
Fair point =).

Fortunately, I don't race in UCI events, haha.

My understanding was that the rule is around safety - i.e. they didn't want
people pushing the limits at the risk of failure. There's calls for it to be
scrapped, now that we know more about the limits of carbon fibre.

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emmelaich
Perth (and Western Australia generally) is pretty flat and has a lot of rain-
free days.

I'm sure that is relevant.

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CryoLogic
In Seattle, electric bikes and boosted boards a commonplace. Great for
avoiding rush hour traffic.

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keyle
Also Zero Motorcycles are starting to have interesting models here. check them
out if you're interested in electric motorcycles. I requested a quote for
their 2017 models, waiting on a response.

~~~
mmel
Actually, they just shuttered their Australian distribution.
[https://motorbikewriter.com/zero-electric-motorcycles-
pulls/](https://motorbikewriter.com/zero-electric-motorcycles-pulls/)

~~~
keyle
wow really, what a shame. Thanks for letting me know as I just inquired about
getting one!

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eternauta3k
I've considered buying a bike with a gas engine, since they are quite cheaper.

