E-bike loan scheme across the Stroud district

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,680
6,418
  • Informative
Reactions: Scorpio

Scorpio

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 13, 2020
368
163
Portugal Algarve (temporary)
It's a great idea and I've seen several rental schemes working well in Europe.

My 2 first concerns are that the article says the "bikes are ideally suited to the hilly areas around Stroud" - none of the legal Ebikes I've tried are ideal for hilly areas.

Life in Britain is constantly changing and there are some areas where I'd not feel safe leaving any bike locked on the street, especially something worth several hundred £££.
In those areas the scheme won't work for anyone that doesn't have indoor space to keep the bike.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,680
6,418
hills, more like ski jumps maybe there hoping for a nuke strike first to level it all out :p
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,680
6,418

that was the road to my school prison any ice on it and you never stopped till you hit the bottom i used to bomb down it on roller blades 30mph
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,181
3,172
none of the legal Ebikes I've tried are ideal for hilly areas.
Looks like it has a mid-drive of some sort. If it has the right gearing, that'll probably climb anything, but it might do so slowly. Mid-drives are usually good hill climbers, even when legal "250W" manufacturer rated. Mine could be 720W, and still be legal, but it's only 648W at the moment. My legal mid-drive conversion eats hills for breakfast, sometimes lunch and dinner too.


On a night out recently, I couldn't believe how many escooter death for hire machines there were littered all over the city center. They were parked absolutely everywhere against buildings, lamp posts, lying looking dead in the middle of pavements. I almost tripped over several. There was one parked in a bike hire bay. I didn't see anyone riding escooters or ebikes at 2am. No ebikes left lying around that I could see, but hiviz green escooters discarded everywhere.



that was the road to my school prison any ice on it and you never stopped till you hit the bottom i used to bomb down it on roller blades 30mph
161ft down in 0.8 miles... yep you'd attain high speed.
 
Last edited:

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,680
6,418
hope they got good fkn brakes ;) none of my roller blades made it esp the rubber bit on the back of one leg

got new ones in warranty tho and not cheap either like 160 quid in 1994 im just to fast every bolt snapped and cracked the plastic that held the wheels to the ski boot.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,181
3,172
hope they got good fkn brakes ;) none of my roller blades made it esp the rubber bit on the back of one leg

got new ones in warranty tho and not cheap either like 160 quid in 1994 im just to fast every bolt snapped and cracked the plastic that held the wheels to the ski boot.
We used to roller blade down this - 112ft down 0.2 miles (it's shorter than that, Google Maps is wrong, more like 0.1 miles). Arrival to the traffic lights at the end had to be timed perfectly. This steep road snakes two sharp bends, loads of fun at the time. I've still got the rollerblades for when I want to commit suicide. Haven't tried cycling up this for decades.

57678
 
Last edited: