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this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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.... Nobody is saying that?
This is literally the same argument Republicans used during BLM protests.
Nobody was saying non-black lives don't matter. Nobody is saying lightweight bikes for fit people should be a thing of the past.
I just want to be able to tell my buddy pushing 250 where he can get a bike that won't cost way more than someone just getting into a hobby is willing to spend. I want to be able to get my parents and sister and in-laws riding with me and my wife without telling them "sorry, you need to buy a $3,000 bike because nobody makes a standardized style for people your size"
Totally agreed and I see the connection with the (deplorable) "all lives matter" reactionary argument. I don't think this article makes the argument I was referencing, but many people's reactions in these comments do. I honestly don't find much that I disagree with in the article, but in how people suggest the bike industry addresses those issues, there may be a lack of balance.
A lot of people just go knee-jerk in the direction they want, not realizing they're dragging everything along with them.
I would love for there to be a "fat bike" style that's fairly standard across the industry, but there simply isn't. I spend all day building bikes for various companies, and the only new things I see are ebikes, and a lot of those are simply hub motors and speed controllers crammed onto existing frames. That means the effective weight limit is even more reduced.
It's going to be quite some time before the industry changes to heavier models simply because they don't see it as profitable yet. Even if they tried to pivot today, it would be years before you see changes in your local stores.
I wasn't reading through every comment, I just saw a bunch of people saying they want heavier bikes, but it didn't seem like anyone was trying to suggest normal bikes stop being made. Heck, as far as I'm concerned "skinny person bikes" should always continue being made just for the same reason some people want "fat people bikes" today, so someone with an abnormal body type can ride comfortably, and safely.
The fact of the matter is, the industry will only go where the money is. And as sort of a logical conundrum, more fat people would hike if they had better bikes, but the bikes won't show up until more fat people ride.
So the question is how big is the demand?
If the industry clearly advertised the weight limits of each model it would help. This would allow a company to offer a niche product. If the demand is there, the company will succeed.