[ggm]

Look I get it, I deserve an "ok boomer" but they have got at BEST cycle protection, certainly not a full face helmet, rarely shoes even. It's a disaster waiting to happen. There were 14 deaths in Queensland in 2025 for this class of vehicle, way above normal level.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

You know? Since about 1980 I did wheelies too, on my road bicycle. And up to 70kph on flat grounds for up to two minutes. Then having to go down to 55 to 60, which I could hold up for an hour, depending on weather, fitness (varying). No helmet, ever.

Also no broken bones, or having caused others to crash. Annoyances maybe, but such is youth :-)

I'm of the opinion that this "disaster waiting to happen" thinking is a disaster by itself. I may concede that some of these kids are too reckless too often to be good for them, because e-bikes make it too easy to go that fast, without having developed the ability to handle these speeds safely first, or knowing where not to(sharp curves, rain, wet leafs, sand, fine gravel, etc(Did I mention I rode iced roads in winter?)).

But in principle the ride is getting more stable at higher speeds, because gyroscopically stabilized by the spinning wheels.

I see it as a darwinian filter of fitness. Sieving out stupid. Just like that.

If you don't give youth the chance to navigate that, there will be more and more unfit.

No amount of laws will change that.

[slau]

I don’t think I’ve ever met someone claiming to be able to easily maintain 70 km/h. Maintaining 50 km/h for an hour puts you well into top professional territory, especially if riding solo.

There’s basically no chance you got to that level without serious training, coaching, and a lot of experience.

That is a very different situation from just using a credit card and being able to zip down the road at 50-60 km/h. People have been killed by these fat bikes (as in, a pedestrian being struck), because fat bikes are significantly heavier than road bikes, and kids with no experience drive them in places where pedestrians do occur.

I doubt you were pulling 50+ km/h in the city centre, or on the beach promenade. Yet this is what we see with fat bikes.

The laws aren’t designed to protect the rider. They’re designed to protect the uninvolved bystanders who just want to enjoy a stroll.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Yeah. I'm hearing that over and over again :-)

The thing is, I lived where I had several routes of about 2km length with several steep inclines of 12% in them, right from my door. And not much else to do. So I did that, first on a road-bicycle with 26" rims for youths, which I grew out of very fast.

Got a bigger frame with 27 x1 1/4 then.

Now when that was new to me, I've been KO after riding up there, even needed to step of the bike, some times. But I persisted. Got myself some 'mountain gears' for the rear hub(ten speed only, so five mountain gears back there).

That helped. But I grew out of these, too! Because I didn't need them anymore! Installed the normal ones back, and thundered uphill as if it was nothing, being just warmed up enough to thunder over the mostly flat, and excellently paved ways going through the forest on the high plateau.

Giving it all, until absolute exhaustion, pulsating tunnelvision, nearly 'grey-out'. Again and again. By myself. No coaching whatsoever. Until I didn't have these grey-outs anymore. I later discovered this is called "Interval Training".

Topped that by installing cranks two centimeters longer than usual, and installing 'speed gearing' front and right, to get an even higher transmission ratio.

Where only 3 to 4 speeds were really usable for me. The rest I had no use for(most of the times). I started mostly in the eight gear, carefully, to not burn rubber, because tires were expensive for me. Didn't help much though, because even with that gearing the back wheel slipped when I pushed down hard from stand in tenth gear.

So wheelie it was, because why not? Whoo hoo hoo!

> I doubt you were pulling 50+ km/h in the city centre

Of course I've been, to show off! :) Sustained for my way to school for about 10km, without breaking a sweat, not arriving wet and stinky. Even in bad weather. Because that took me 15 minutes max, and public transport would have taken me 45 minutes to an hour. I tested. And refused.

(Imagine the surprised faces of some girls in my class, seeing me arriving in time, after I waved to them in the tram they rode, at the start of the trip(Heart Heart Heart beating sooo fast(Theirs). Ooooo wow!(Giggle))

At the time I made up to 300km per day, which I didn't even notice at first, because all I ever cared for was moving the 'needle' to the right as far as possible for as long as I could. A neighbor looking at my speedometer noticed that, and of course couldn't believe it :-)

Now that wasn't the rule, but it 'happened' again and again. 150km to 200km was more normal.

When I've been out of money for spare parts I ran 'almost-marathon' up there, just 39km instead of the usual 42.x. Sometimes two times, after a short pause, and a meal, back home. I didn't feel good until I had that sort of exercise. Shrug?

One could say my power was equivalent to a light motorcycle with up to 60cc. 50cc I always won against. 80cc I've been chanceless against, except if the rider switched and coupled clumsily, but not for long, they always won.

What else? I could jump over closed turnpikes, and the hoods of (police)cars. Still can do, btw.

> The laws aren’t designed to protect the rider. They’re designed to protect the uninvolved bystanders who just want to enjoy a stroll.

I actively avoided pedestrians, meaning going slow in the forest on weekends, or not going fast at all along the river. Only during bad weather when there only were few people, or none at all.

Racing the https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinpfeil_(Schiff)

Also not harassing them in the pedestrian zones downtown, just slowly curving around them, sitting upright, hands off the handlebar. Sometimes from still afar(when they were standing in clusters with no way around them), to not disturb them by ringing the bell, instead saying loudly ring, ring and making "parting the water" motions with my hands :-)

Maybe it's a cultural thing?

Had different relations with most car drivers, though. They always honking, me always flipping them the bird, because I've been just going within their flow, instead of the curb, without forcing them to slow down, so fuck off? (Yes, I knew about dead/blind angle already, and rode accordingly)

With all that said let me intone Darth Vader here: "I find your lack of faith disturbing!"

/now playing Born to be wild...

[hommelix]

Great story, and I believe you. I go through similar slope to work, 5 to 15%, 120 m altitude difference. Doing it daily since Covid has improved my fitness a lot. I fully believe that doing something like you in my teenager days would have shaped me differently.

[K0balt]

Holy shit. Beast.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Not really. Just 75+kg to 85kg at about 176cm to 181cm. Still grew up at the beginning.

I may look athletic, but am no Hulk.

[revolvingthrow]

I usually end my rides at 24-28 kmh average and outside of cyclists and e-bikes the amount of people that ride faster than me is pretty much zero. 70 is completely absurd, especially for "youth".

I don’t really care if a bunch of reckless kids want to gamble with their lives, but the place to do it is clearly on the street, not on the sidewalk. Those ebikes are pretty much dirt bikes, and nobody sane argues those should slalom between pedestrians, just like cars or motorcycles don’t drive on sidewalks. I don’t want to constantly be on the lookout for a 60 kmh vehicle careening right into me whenever I’m outside, which increasingly happens with food delivery "bikes" as well. There’s no place for them on crowded beaches either.

Wanna go as fast as cars? Cool, do it on the streets, it’s what they’re built for. Helmet (or even clothing) optional, I suppose, it really isn’t my problem.

[NkVczPkybiXICG]

55kph is about how fast Remco Evenepoel just did a flat 12km time trial in the UAE tour, to win it. I think you’re being a touch overconfident if you think you can hold that for an hour.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

I didn't care that much about these things at first, until others noticed the distances on my speedometer, or have seen me in action, when we had the same routes, speeding by them without even noticing them. Except when they honked their horn, or later talked to me about that.

All I can say is that this disturbed me, so I made sure the speedometer wasn't lying to me. By doing many rounds on an empty running track, to check if the distance counting is right. Confirmed by measuring trip distances on maps, and comparing the stopped times for that. Further confirmed by comparing car-trip times by "progressive" drivers between locations, and mine. It all checks out. No matter if mostly flat, or hilly terrain.

(Nowadays even in alpine terrain, going from about 2500m altitude up to 4400m, and got cited for reckless driving, because doing 90kph downhill where only 15mph were allowed. Shrug)

Oh! And no doping, btw...

[cuu508]

The current one hour world record is 56.792 km, if you can hold 55-60 km/h for an hour you should give it a go.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

I don't really care, as I didn't from the beginning because I've found popular, organized sports unsatisfactory. And Tour de France mostly unimpressive at the times, considering I had a much more heavy bike, and no car with a spare standing by in case of flat tires or other mishaps. I also did most of this in normal traffic, needing to stop at traffic lights, crossings, whatever. And watching out for all the broken glass, all the times.

From https://osm.org/go/0GIDMKQGO--?m= to

https://osm.org/go/0GC~DS4_r?m= in 25 to 30 minutes, depending on weather, traffic, whatever.

Maybe gulping down a can of coke, orange juice, isotonic sports drink, in no more than five minutes. Going back, usually 1 to 2 minutes slower, because of wind coming from the south, which is funneled there from within the Rhine valley out into the open "Kölner Bucht"(Bay of Cologne?).

Did this at least a few dozen times in this times.

Going from https://osm.org/go/0GJGHYJiY?m= to

https://osm.org/go/0GC~DS4_r?m= again.

This time with a classmate on a much better bike, and member of a cycling sports club.

In nineteen minutes! Classmate almost collapsed on arrival. Though the first third to quarter of that track goes slightly downhill. Anyway, don't remember the time back, because I didn't want to give my classmate health problems, so we took it slowly.

Then, in another temporary 'home turf' for about a year, from here https://osm.org/go/0GI2sXyvp-?m= to

https://osm.org/go/0GJpBsflN?m= which is very hilly with many steep inclines, ups and downs, on all available routes.

Twentyone minutes! Up to 25 on my way back. Did this at least several dozen times in that time. "Progressive" car drivers take 25 to 30 minutes on that route. 'Normies' more like 35 to 40.

Also did countless other tours from my first OSM-link to Aachen, Koblenz, Hagen, Düsseldorf, and up into the Eifel, to the big radio-telescope in Effelsberg, then mostly downhill through curved roads back to the Rhine, and back home along it. Also tours through the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebengebirge on the other side of the Rhine to Siegen, or just up the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drachenfels_(Siebengebirge) instead of taking the cog-wheel train ;->

All in rather good time, maybe not for the first time, but when I knew the road(s) better, having built up a mental picture of the 'ideal line', hazards, and such.

[Levitating]

Do you live in areas where these fat bikes are popular?

I am fine with youth experimenting with dangerous stuff. What I have a problem with is having my small bike-oriented city be filled with kids pretending to be gangsters racing around on electric bikes with complete disregard to others.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Depends. Where I spend most of my time they seem to be actually forbidden by the BLM, which covers most of possible tracks. Maybe because of that they are uncommon on downtown roads, too? It's also an image thing there, like "Electric assistance? Loser!"

Tourists may see it different, but then they'd have to bring them with them. Seems impractical when most of them are already packed with skis, snowboards, and coming by regional plane from larger hubs. Which most them do.

Where I only visit nowadays, they seem also to be uncommon, except for the feeble things capped to 25kph. E-Scooters are way more annoying there. Be it by their drivers, or them simply being dropped in the midst of the way for whatever reason.

[magicalhippo]

There's a dearth of organ donors, so one could say let them have their fun.

Problem I have is that they often collide into others or cause others to have severe accidents, not unlike drunk drivers. And that's not cool at all.

We don't have a fat bike plague here, but we do have similar issues with E-scooters. Too many drive them with no regards for other peoples safety.

[defrost]

We all took risks in the 1980s, kids thrive on risk.

The element of risk existing is not the argument being made here by ggm - it's the morphing and stretching of of the acturial mortality and morbidity curve.

The claim being made is that unregulateled electric bikes mixing in neophyte road users, suburban traffic, uncapped speeds, etc is increasing the per capita risk for an age band over what it was when "we" inhabited that demographic tribe back in our short pant days.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

Just one of GAIA's ways of getting rid of "elite overproduction" in an already overpopulated world.

[xnx]

Did your bike weigh 90 lbs and accelerate to top speed in 4 sec?

[LargoLasskhyfv]

No. Just 13kg, IIRC. Though I once sped through this curve https://osm.org/go/0GJEvDJAo?m= , on my backwheel only (In a wheelie so to speak), at about 40 to 60kph, having accelerated with a scream of rage on the parking space there. Burning rubber. Almost ran over a female teacher of mine, after that curve. Still wheelieing up, cursing "Shit! Shit! Outta my way! Shit! Sorry!" fast, trying to bring the front wheel down by leaning hard into the handlebar, all in a blur. Still burning rubber. Didn't really work until the next crossing, which I also took with the frontwheel up in the air, but not so high anymore. I still don't get how exactly I did that. Because I havn't done that before. Just feeling impossible rage, and having the urge to get away from there ASAP, or else...

I'm just remembering six fast jerking motions, bringing me around that curve on the backwheel only. Instinct, guardian angel, who knows?

Rage was expensive. Backtire slick, internal wire netting visible all along. 30 Deutsche Marks gone :-(

OTOH I had unforgettable sex with that (sports)teacher(a very good and early triathlete) a few hours later :-)

Edit: I didn't even notice the burning rubber. I've just been shown my visible skidmarks on the tarmac, and they still stank.

I've been assured that they literally did burn in parts, with tiny blueish flame. But not for long, 2 minutes at most.

Looking at my backwheel...slick to the netting. Meh!

[smackeyacky]

100% bullshit you did those speeds unless you’re Phil anderson

[LargoLasskhyfv]

If you say so? Shrug

(Mumbling something about Talk to the hand Terminator-style here)