Thoughts on Sports

“Don’t Let Fear Flatten Progress on E-Bikes”

This article thoughtfully articulates the current backlash against e-motos, the conflation with legal e-bikes, and the danger to the latter. We need to be able to embrace e-bikes as true micro-mobility vehicles while getting control of kids riding e-motos dangerously.

“Review: Brompton Electric T-Line with E-Motiq”

An electric T-Line sounds almost perfect. 24.6 pounds without the battery sounds amazing, and the 32.4 with it is about the weight of my non-electric G Line. The two big cons: the almost $8,000 price tag and the 15 MPH limit.

“Brompton World Championship California”

Fun! I’ve watched videos of the BWC in the past, and the Sea Otter seems like a great venue to do it in the US. (I’m not sure there should be multiple races called the “World Championship”, but whatever.)

“Why another US state is preparing a 10 mph e-bike speed limit”

The laws are coming for “e-bikes”, but it’s not vanilla e-bikes that are even the thing that strike me as the most dangerous: it’s the e-motos (very fast electric dirt bikes) and e-scooters that have really made me take notice. And there are so many form factors that regulating what can use the bike lanes is going to be difficult.

“California is Trying to Close the Last Major Electric Bike Loophole”

I agree with this article, which basically says that CA Assembly Bill 1557, which tries to limit the legal amount of power an e-bike can be rated for to a certain wattage number, is well meaning, but misguided. I’m all for clear classification and regulation of e-bikes, but this isn’t it.