Researchers at Portland State University are looking for e-bike riders to fill out an online survey. The survey is part of an ongoing study that began last fall with an aim to “provide valuable insight into the potential market, user characteristics and barriers to adoption” of e-bikes.
Here’s more about the survey from principal investigator on the project John MacArthur:
“Are you an e-bike rider? Do you enjoy sharing your e-bike experiences with others? If you answered yes to both of these questions, researchers at Portland State University want to hear from you! Research is currently taking place at Portland State to better understand the role that e-bikes can play in a sustainable transportation system. If you have experience purchasing and/or riding e-bikes please consider taking an online survey and share your experiences. The online survey will ask questions about purchase and use of e-bikes to better understand the barriers to wider e-bike use. You have valuable information that can contribute to exciting research on e-bikes!”
With the focus of policymakers on electric cars, this research could help bikes compete for a similar amount of political traction and funding.
This study, Evaluation of Electric Bike Use in Portland Metro Region, is funded through the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium and is slated to be completed by the end of this year. For more info read our story on it from back in October and visit the official project page on the OTREC website.
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How about an e-bike compromise from all the h@ters:
Rightfully smug Nietzschean physical superiority from those who will never use any assistant device (which we all will politely tolerate),
E-bikes and other methods for “cheating” for the rest of us lazy/practical people.
Can’t we all just get along?
E-bikes are where it’s at, I’m an endurance rider and when I’ve spent a weekend riding 300+ miles I sure wish I had an e-bike for my 25 mile commute the next week. I will be building one up in 2014.
It took me less one second to complete the survey because I am not an e-bike user. oh well. i might consider to buy one some day. i am not that old yet. 🙂
E-assist cargo bike is on my wish list!
I sold my ebike right before Mrs Dibbly & I moved to Portland from Florida, nearly 3 years ago. I used it to commute to work in the Florida summertime heat & humidity for several years. On the days I rode it, I would pedal home for exercise. With no showers at work and faced iwth mornings of 75+ degrees and 100% humidity most days there really wasn’t any other choice. (I answered the survey as though I was still in Florida and still using it.) It was perfect for that time & place but I had no interest in bringing it here. It was a conversion and a little finicky, electrically, so rather than sell it to someone who didn’t know that system inside & out, I stripped off the motor, controller, etc, and sold the bike itself.
We build trails and sharrows and greenways to entice folks out of their cars and on to the streets. And when something comes along that doesn’t perfectly fit our ideals we reject it?
Ebikes will bring more folks out riding. Some will always rely on ebikes, some will look at the limitations, both of the bike and perhaps their own reducing limitations and decide to go ‘old school’. But they won’t be driving.
Like any other time technology meets the masses, there has to be discussions. and adjustments.
Still, it beats the heck out of a SUV.
At 60, I am still riding my traditional bike and loving it. At 70 or 80, maybe I’ll be ready for an e-bike.
Don’t think of an e-bike as a replacement for a conventional bike, Think of it as a replacement for a CAR.
I have been experimenting with an E-bike built to TX legal limits (no speed limit for pedelecs or crank-assist with no freewheel on the cranks) and have been quite pleased with the results so far. Still have that pesky range problem, though.
I’m thinking about getting an e-bike since I sometimes have to ride to multiple locations for work and sweat quite a bit if it’s over 60 degrees out. I still want to ride a bike but don’t want to stop because I’d be too gross to meet with clients and this seems like a good compromise.
Since that’s my photo I thought I should say something. The e-bike isn’t a pure bike, it’s transportation, that’s over the top. There are so many benefits: leaving the car at home or replacing a car, increases range that you’ll “ride” too, potential to use wind power as transportation, lower carbon footprint, encourage handicap/injured to use alternative transportation, quiet, affordable compared to a car.
One reason their so popular in Europe is that the cost of gas is nearly triple what it is here. When a carbon tax (gas tax) reflects the true cost of oil on the environment, electric bike use will explode here too.