New South Wales Australia.Thank you.Good bye.No more motorised bikes in NSW.

Electric bikes are a useless alternative with the current state of battery technology/capacity, not to mention the expensive cost of decent lithium batteries, and then comes the biggest issue: stuck in the middle of nowhere and you run out of battery power. You manage to find a homestead but they only have a 12 volt car battery charger and 2-stroke fuel.

so

a battery powered bicycle is completely useless, unless battery technology equals the energy density of liquid fuel for the same volume size of a specific quantity of liquid fuel, and, the speed of recharging the battery in the same time it takes to fill a fuel tank that normally contains liquid hydrocarbon fuel.

Electric bikes are not "useless", you're just too cheap to spend any up front money....

For Australia, you could hook up a 36v 40ah Lithium battery / motor on an electric bicycle and have an easy 80 mile range with only a 3 hour recharge time.
Total cost for the kit? Under $1,000... Cost to recharge? MAYBE .50 AUD? Don't know the cost of gas/petrol over there, but I'm guessing its at LEAST 4.00/gal or whatever that is in per liter....
Let's say, that 1 Gallon tank, gets you the same 80 miles... thats 8 times the price of an electric recharge...
Yeah, boohoo, ya have to charge for 3 hours, but have you ever ridden for more than an hour on a motorized bike... trust me, you ain't doing 3+hours in one ride... you stop, do whatever, you can charge when you get somewhere...

Lets say your petrol kit cost you $300AUD?.. ok, for $800AUD you can get an electric kit and battery....
As an example, if you're doing 80 miles, you save $3.50AUD every 80 miles....
Difference in price between electric and gas... $800-$300 = $500AUD... 500 divided by $3.5 = 142(days) -
In less then six months (180 days), your electric bike has ended up being cheaper then the gas bike!!!! AND, you don't have anywhere near the same upkeep as a petrol engine...

So again, explain to me how Electric Bikes are "useless"?!?
 
trust me, you ain't doing 3+hours in one ride...

I will partially agree with your comment, because i do stop to take photos on my rides, though i have been known to spend a full 12 hour day on a bike ride (in the warmer months).


Yeah, boohoo, ya have to charge for 3 hours

What if you are 50 miles from a power point/power outlet socket?


So again, explain to me how Electric Bikes are "useless"?!?

I have made that plainly obvious.
Things will change when standardised fuel cell technology is perfected and becomes widely available, whereby every lawn mower, weed wacker, chainsaw, leaf blower etc accepts a standardised fuel cell power unit, which will plug straight into an electric bike module, as they will be designed around it.

Only then will electric power be a viable alternative to liquid fuel, because it won't be dependent on lengthy recharge time, and it will be independent from the power grid - pop into any Walmart or Supermarket or 7-11 or hardware store or small engines store or petrol station/gas station and exchange a spent fuel cell for a new fuel cell, and you are back on your way in less time than it takes to fill a conventional petrol tank/gas tank.
 
Electric bikes are not "useless", you're just too cheap to spend any up front money....

For Australia, you could hook up a 36v 40ah Lithium battery / motor on an electric bicycle and have an easy 80 mile range with only a 3 hour recharge time.
Total cost for the kit? Under $1,000... Cost to recharge? MAYBE .50 AUD? Don't know the cost of gas/petrol over there, but I'm guessing its at LEAST 4.00/gal or whatever that is in per liter....
Let's say, that 1 Gallon tank, gets you the same 80 miles... thats 8 times the price of an electric recharge...
Yeah, boohoo, ya have to charge for 3 hours, but have you ever ridden for more than an hour on a motorized bike... trust me, you ain't doing 3+hours in one ride... you stop, do whatever, you can charge when you get somewhere...

Lets say your petrol kit cost you $300AUD?.. ok, for $800AUD you can get an electric kit and battery....
As an example, if you're doing 80 miles, you save $3.50AUD every 80 miles....
Difference in price between electric and gas... $800-$300 = $500AUD... 500 divided by $3.5 = 142(days) -
In less then six months (180 days), your electric bike has ended up being cheaper then the gas bike!!!! AND, you don't have anywhere near the same upkeep as a petrol engine...

So again, explain to me how Electric Bikes are "useless"?!?
You are a bit self-centric.I'm going to guess you live in a city, you have mass transit, and you think food comes from grocery stores?Electric is cool, and as soon as it can match petrol in energy to weight, and speed of refueling I'll change over.It's like this, show one electric passenger plane, just one commercial passenger plane that runs on electric, case closed.
Some people live many miles from anything, and 3 hour rides are done often, in other words,
"don't put your a.s.s. in my saddle" .
 
Hey, what's you're alternative..
you can spend Thousands on a CF bicycle and you don't need any gas.

Heres the thing..
in Aus, you can't ride a gas bike...
your alternatives are pedal or electric.

So stop complaining about it and either...

1.) Try to get the law changed back
or
2.) Buy an electric bike
or
3.) Buy a $4000 carbon fiber bike.

Those are the choices...


Also, there ARE alternatives like solar panels, etc.

If you're doing 12 hours on a bicycle a day, then ride a regular bicycle and get fit..

or Here's an idea!
BUY A MOPED OR MOTORCYCLE!!
Problem solved!
 
Hey, what's you're alternative..
you can spend Thousands on a CF bicycle and you don't need any gas.

Heres the thing..
in Aus, you can't ride a gas bike...
your alternatives are pedal or electric.

So stop complaining about it and either...

1.) Try to get the law changed back
or
2.) Buy an electric bike
or
3.) Buy a $4000 carbon fiber bike.

Those are the choices...


Also, there ARE alternatives like solar panels, etc.

If you're doing 12 hours on a bicycle a day, then ride a regular bicycle and get fit..

or Here's an idea!
BUY A MOPED OR MOTORCYCLE!!
Problem solved!
If it were me, I'd break the law, figure out a visual and aural stealth combo for a small rack mounted 4stroke, or move to another country.
Each of us rides for different reasons, I need my bikes as I can't afford to drive a car due to fuel/insur/reg prices, I'd rather eat.
Do you just ride for fun or do you do major traveling, bring home groceries?For major traveling, petrol is the only real option.I was proving a point, it's simple physics, when a certain weight point is passed, a MAB no longer responds, gets the mileage or classifies as a bike as far as I'm concerned.It's no longer nimble, it's a slug, sure it will get you around, but not economically enough to justify the crazy cost for a decent set-up that is going to be 4 times the weight, half the range, and half the overall
longevity.Electric is cool, it just ain't there, I can easily hop off my bike, sling it on my shoulder, hop a gap, hole or hot-wire fence
on foot, jump back on and I'm off, just like when you were a kid.I can also lift it over my head.Weight=amount of fuel spent.
If it's 200lbs and has pedals, you ain't pedaling crap, it's a moped.
Your "just buy stuff!" is callous and small-minded.First, even someone had the money, who wouldn't be silly enough to spend $1000 on a CF bike and strap a vibrating machine on it.Second, "just get fit" oh yeah, the people who are too old for that, just buy some new body parts.Or the guy with meds that keep his heart rate down.
If your solution is to throw money at things, we aren't in the same boat.
 
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Sometimes the higher courts find a way to let the little guy win. It happened with motor assisted bikes here in Illinois. Perhaps the Australian courts would demand a better reason for lower speed vehicles to be sidelined in favor of faster vehicles; citing resource depletion, global warming and all that. Electric bikes also use the burning of carbon for power except its done at the plant. In Canada, the higher courts demanded a better reason for prostitution to be illegal or the law would be overturned.

I have seen New South Wales business compete with World Class Technology here in Illinois. Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut while their own government takes them out of the game. Less competition for us.

Time to think about a Canadian vacation for some local Whiskey taste testing and whatever else I can find to do.
 
annually, exhaust emissions cause more deaths than road accidents.

yet here we are, doddling along at 50km/h cus its a public holiday, double demerit points, and everyone is far too concerned with holding onto their license for a while longer. noone thinks about the exhaust emissions. but, safety IS paramount, i guess. cant have anyone getting involved in car accidents, but breathing in each others contaminated air is perfectly fine :)

i shall stop smoking when i see petrol bowsers labelled with such things as "car exhaust causes brain damage"or "your driving may harm others" or even "petrol is carcinogenic", similar to the labels on my packet of cigarettes. oh, and it has to be packaged in plain bowsers, none of these fancy names or labels with lots of colours!

what am i going on about?


just how stupid the law can be. they target the defenceless, the seemingly "dangerous" while ignoring the real nasty stuff.

like eradicating diamond pythons and huntsman spiders whilst setting up conservation rules for king browns or copperheads and sydney funnelwebs...

(our tassie devil is dying of some facial tumour...so why not breed whats left up and hand em out as pets for those that want one? cus that would make sense, wouldnt it...and governments dont make sense!)

fabian said it all...electric is fine in the city, in the town. its next to useless if youre 100km out in the bush, and the only form of long distance communication that works is a CB radio... useless if you DO ride for more than 3 hours at a time.


and of course, just like these"energy saving"compact fluorescent lights....why dont we get a complete rundown on the costs involved?

not just their "efficiency"but how much energy it costs to MAKE the freaking things? to dispose of them? a clever person can make a standard incandescent light bulb...but can the same person produce silicon circuits at home? no. bend the glass tubes? extract the phosphor and then apply it inside said tubes? no, no, and no. yet the plain old light bulb has been banned for sale over here! and whats more"efficient" when it comes down to TOTAL costs?

same old story. mass DIS information...

electric might be all good when its set up, but noone caters in the costs of manufacturing the batteries. the raw materials, the energy involved in each step of the process.

and, well...your electric bicycle is STILL steam powered! yes, thats correct. the power station is running steam engines to produce that electricity to charge those batteries...



global warming? in the eighties they wanted to paint the glaciers black to prevent global COOLING!

and every day i see bigger, blacker, boxier landcruisers and other 4WD behemoths cluttering up the road, guzzling even more fuel down... bigger traffic jams, bigger queues at the service station, bigger profits to be had by oil companies and fuel excise demanding governmental authorities.

trains can haul more weight more efficiently than trucks...yet theres heaps and heaps of trucks driving around and very very little transporting done by rail...even interstate, its trucks trucks trucks.

efficiency? HA!

the prius is a joke. an engine so inefficient it can barely run itself, let alone produce useful power. and try buying one of their batteries, new, if required!


rant rant rant rant. edit edit edit. delete. add. delete some more. add something else. rant rant rant...
 
your alternatives are pedal or electric.

A high end carbon fibre bike is a preferable option to a law compliant 200 watt (0.27hp) electric bicycle, and it's a faster option than a 200 watt electric bicycle.
Also, when the battery goes flat, the high end carbon fibre bike is a much more preferable option to an electric bicycle, with all the extra weight and increased friction of an electric bicycle that's saddled with a dead battery.


Buy a $4000 carbon fiber bike.

A higher end bicycle store is selling a bike with electronic gear shifting and full carbon fibre frame and wheels for $5,500 (reduced from $8,000) and i'm very tempted to place down cash for the thing, considering it's dripping with the latest technology and weighs next to nothing, and an ordinary rider can easily sit on 25mph, which is faster than my motorised bicycle.


Also, there ARE alternatives like solar panels, etc.

Oh hush now Specialx.
I am not prepared to take along 20 solar panels on a bike ride and then spend 2 hours setting the things up and 12 hours waiting for the sun to make an appearance; long enough to charge the battery, so i can keep riding an electric bike.

If you're doing 12 hours on a bicycle a day, then ride a regular bicycle and get fit..

If i wanted a regular bicycle, i would be regularly using a regular bicycle. The reason why i am not riding a regular bicycle is because i like the technical aspect and the engineering solutions of my motorised bicycle.

Here's an idea!
BUY A MOPED OR MOTORCYCLE!!
Problem solved!

If i wanted to travel using that method, i would be doing my travels with that method of transport.
The reason why i am not, is because i prefer traveling on my motorised bicycle, with all of the engineering solutions that's been thrown at it, and the enjoyment that comes with engineering bullet proof reliability (partly) through your own ingenuity.


Those are the choices...

They are your choices, but since when have your choices become "my" choices?
Maybe it's time for you to get down to the beach and feed the seagulls, because they will give you a lot more attention than what you are getting on here; when expressing impractical options.
 
If it were me, [I'd ...]move to another country.

I've been giving that idea serious thought and exploring my options.
At the moment, family is holding me back, but time marches forward and looking after my parents won't go on forever. When that time comes to pass i'll give real consideration to leaving Australia and setting myself up elsewhere, in a nice tropical location, with a healthy level of "open" government corruption, to ensure that any problems can be easily made to go away, should i need to deliver a brown paper bag to the right person in a government department.
 
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