On Thu, 08 Nov 2012 08:12:02 +0000, Basil Jet
wrote:

On 2012\11\08 02:51, Recliner wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
On 2012\11\08 02:29, Recliner wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
On 2012\11\08 00:53, wrote:

One big question is how to translate the ubiquitous (by UK standards)
cycling in a place like Cambridge across the country.

Get rid of all the hills.

Or have Chinese-style electric bikes. I found their rapid, but silent,
progress disconcerting -- as a pedestrian in China you really have to watch
out for them.

Aren't ordinary push-bikes rapid but silent?

No, just silent.

How fast are these electric bikes?

Officially the most basic electrically assisted push-bikes are
apparently limited to 20 km/h, but the limiter is supposedly easy to
bypass. There are also equally silent, but more powerful, e-scooters
which travel at up to 50 km/h, and those are the ones that appear out
of nowhere, on both roads and minor paths where you wouldn't meet a
speeding car.

I was there a year ago, but this article from a couple of years
earlier gives you an idea:
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...904334,00.html

Here's a couple of quotes (remember, this was from 2009; the numbers
are undoubtedly much larger now):

The relative simplicity of the machines and their components has
encouraged a huge number of e-bike companies to open in China. In 2006
there were 2,700 licensed manufacturers, and countless additional
smaller shops. Rising to the top of the heap is not easy. Leading
manufacturer Xinri (the name means "new day") was founded in 1999 by
Zhang Chongshun, an auto parts factory executive who recognized the
potential of the field. In its first year Xinri built less than 1,000
bikes; last year it churned out 1.6 million.
....
....
Last year Chinese bought about 90% of the 23 million e-bikes sold
worldwide. Experts say that next regions to likely embrace e-bikes are
Southeast Asia, where gas-powered scooters are popular, and India,
where rising incomes mean personal transportation is starting to be in
reach of hundreds of millions. Japan has seen steady annual sales of
about 300,000 for several years, and in the cycle-crazy Netherlands
e-bikes are beginning to take off. In the U.S., where bikes are still
overwhelmingly used for recreation rather than transportation, e-bike
sales are expected to break 200,000 this year, or about 1% of China's
sales.

Read mo
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...904334,00.html


And here's another more recent article highlighting their dangers:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/20...t_12731933.htm

Quote:
Last year, according to Shenzhen traffic police bureau, 64 people were
killed and 233 were injured in 268 accidents caused by e-bikes. The
bikes accounted for 15.7 percent of all road accidents in the city in
2010.

"The bicycles are capable of high speeds and there is no registration
requirement," Sun Wei, a traffic management assistant in Luohu
district, said.

No registration means no license plate to track down, so riders can
easily flee after an accident, making it difficult for victims to
claim damages.
....
....
"From June to October is the boom selling season and we can sell about
200 electric bicycles a month on average, almost the same as last
year," said Zhang Shuang, sales manager of Xinri electric vehicle
franchise store.

"I knew that four government agencies launched a notice to limit the
speed and weight, but it hasn't influenced sales at all," Zhang said.
"Nowadays customers only care about price and speed.

"I've never heard that customers like to buy low-speed ones. If the
speed is limited to less than 20 km/h, people might as well ride a
bicycle rather than spend at least 2,000 yuan on an electric one."

In the Yadea franchise store, three young women in red T-shirts were
busy answering customers' questions.

"We can sell about 100 a month on average," seller Chen Han said. "The
majority of customers are office workers and students.

"Except old people, no one worries about high speed. Only an idiot
will spend a lot of money on an electric bicycle that drives like an
ordinary bicycle."

The most popular model in Chen's store costs 2,500 yuan, with the
highest driving speed of 35 to 40 km/h and a weight of 50 kg.

Chen said that each electric bicycle has a speed governor. Customers
can tear it down after purchase.

-- end quote, more in
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/20...t_12731933.htm

In message , at 11:48:36 on
Thu, 8 Nov 2012, Recliner remarked:

Officially the most basic electrically assisted push-bikes are
apparently limited to 20 km/h, but the limiter is supposedly easy to
bypass.

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

And the quote in the article that (paraphrasing) only an idiot would buy
an electric bike and not speed on it, is priceless.
--
Roland Perry

On 08/11/2012 11:55, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 11:48:36 on
Thu, 8 Nov 2012, Recliner remarked:

Officially the most basic electrically assisted push-bikes are
apparently limited to 20 km/h, but the limiter is supposedly easy to
bypass.

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.


And the quote in the article that (paraphrasing) only an idiot would buy
an electric bike and not speed on it, is priceless.

In article ,
(Walter Briscoe) wrote:

In message of Thu, 8 Nov
2012 03:55:21 in uk.transport.london,
writes

[snip]

It's across the Euston Road in Belgrove Street. Not obvious if leaving
the area by tube, I accept, but more apparent if catching a bus. It's
nearly empty as I write. I also see it is the top docking station by avg
hires per day since install.

[snip]

Colin,
Where do you find such statistics?

The website cited earlier:

Unofficial live map:
http://cyclehire.eu/main/

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Recliner) wrote:

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:36:47 -0600,
wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Wed, 7 Nov 2012 19:16:03 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

I've never stumbled over a Boris-Bike rank on my various recent trips
to London[1], nor of course would I impose a bike on my fellow
travellers on the train to London.

Goodness - never? They were deliberately located away from Main Line
stations so that will explain why you might not have immediately seen
one at St Pancras. However I fall across the things all over Zone 1.

Indeed. I do sometimes wonder about Roland! The nearest one to King's
Cross and St Pancras isn't exactly far away or non-obvious either.

One thought is that the docking stations aren't very obvious if
they're empty, so maybe he's only passed empty ones?

They seem clear enough to me, empty of not.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 12:49:08 on Thu, 8 Nov 2012,
Mizter T remarked:

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.

Prejudice is "An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or
without knowledge or examination of the facts".

The fact are, as we know from all too many observations: cyclists regard
themselves above the [traffic] law.
--
Roland Perry

On 08/11/2012 13:48, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 12:49:08 on Thu, 8 Nov 2012,
Mizter T remarked:

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.

Prejudice is "An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or
without knowledge or examination of the facts".

The fact are, as we know from all too many observations: cyclists regard
themselves above the [traffic] law.

Yeah, all of them. The facts, by Roland Perry.

Mizter T wrote:
On 08/11/2012 13:48, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:49:08 on Thu, 8 Nov 2012,
Mizter T remarked:

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.

Prejudice is "An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or
without knowledge or examination of the facts".

The fact are, as we know from all too many observations: cyclists regard
themselves above the [traffic] law.

Yeah, all of them. The facts, by Roland Perry.


.... and by virtually everyone else who drives a car and sees many
idiot cyclists deliberately putting themselves in harm's way.

In message , at 14:51:55 on Thu, 8 Nov 2012,
Mizter T remarked:
Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.

Prejudice is "An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or
without knowledge or examination of the facts".

The fact are, as we know from all too many observations: cyclists regard
themselves above the [traffic] law.

Yeah, all of them.

Enough of them for it to be commonplace.
--
Roland Perry

On 08/11/2012 15:00, Anthony Polson wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

On 08/11/2012 13:48, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:49:08 on Thu, 8 Nov 2012,
Mizter T remarked:

Cyclists flouting the law. Who'da thunk it.

Roland Perry using any ecuse to flaunt his prejudices. Who'da thunk it.

Prejudice is "An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or
without knowledge or examination of the facts".

The fact are, as we know from all too many observations: cyclists regard
themselves above the [traffic] law.

Yeah, all of them. The facts, by Roland Perry.

... and by virtually everyone else who drives a car and sees many
idiot cyclists deliberately putting themselves in harm's way.

Yesterday I saw plenty of utterly moronic and unlawful driving of cars.

Anyhow, I rather expect you'd say any cyclist riding on a public road
was by definition 'deliberately putting themselves in harm's way'.

But a discussion with you involving the splendid transport mode that is
cycling is about as pointless as me expending the effort to press send
on this post.