Advantages EUC vs bicycle

[Zopper]

If it’s 30 C, and I go 30 km/h on an EUC, it equals out.  The breeze means less sweating is needed to keep the body temperature in check. OTH, I always found pedaling uphill more difficult than walking (even when I push the bike, so it’s not about the total weight). The amount of sweat for any given route is usually “bike > pedestrian > euc”. When going easy.

[LanghamP]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:06 AM, Funky said:

Lol i have ridden to job many years on bike - i never had a sweat doing so.

If you don't speed like crazy, but simply ride at normal paste.. You wont sweat. And won't have a "body order".

Latvia is approximately 350 miles north of Montreal's latitude. It's about 50 miles or so from the main body of Alaska. In comparison, I live in Alabama which falls within the Sahara Desert. It's 90 F in the shade here.

[techyiam]

38 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

It's 90 F in the shade here.

Wouldn't you be sweating while cruising down a hill? 🙂

In your neck of the woods, everybody would sweat, unless they are air cond'ed. So how could employers use body odours from sweat as an excuse to "unsaid"-ban employees from cycling into work?

Edited June 8, 2022 by techyiam

[Funky]

7 hours ago, LanghamP said:

Latvia is approximately 350 miles north of Montreal's latitude. It's about 50 miles or so from the main body of Alaska. In comparison, I live in Alabama which falls within the Sahara Desert. It's 90 F in the shade here.

Yeah here it's normally under 80F, only in very hot summer days it's near 90F or over it.

[winterwheel]

On 6/5/2022 at 1:05 PM, Richardo said:

and i feel completely confident riding the bike on snow and ice on the street, but even snow it feels like a terrible decision to commute on an euc. 

I pass bicycles all the time on whatever wheel I happen to be riding. Many times I have ridden past people walking their bikes on super icy winter days.

If you learn gradually winter riding in euc is fine. I used to be a bike rider, no way would I ever attempt to use a bike in the winter conditions that I've been riding with various wheels.

[madbikes]

Especially during the early stages of the pandemic, EUC is the most wonderful mode of transportation for me. It occupy way less space than a bicycle, so it doesn't bother anyone when you decide not drive to work. If you tend to frequently grab a couple things fast in a convenience store or supermarket and move on, EUC is hassle-free.

As much as it's generally not recommended, riding EUC in the rain much more enjoyable than a bicycle. My back is completely dry on the only occasion I had to ride home in rain, compared to spending some money to find some good fenders with great coverage on a bicycle to keep you from soaking wet.

The thing that separates EUC apart from e-bike is power limit. Going up a 10% grade requires substantial power. A single hub-motor e-bike won't get you far.

[Freeforester]

A halfway decent mid drive motor pedelec e-mtb will literally climb a tree, and is far easier than walking up any half decent gradient. You’ll fall off the back of the ebike before you can’t pedal to assist, the bike is more than willing. Ask wee Danny MacAskill - here’s him without a motor!

 

 

And on his Santa Cruz e-mtb:

 

(Best not give him an S22!)

Edited June 12, 2022 by Freeforester

[VikB]

I'm a huge bicycle fan [human powered not motorized], but there are some missions I do prefer my EUC for. One I do a lot is hitting the local shops. I can ride my EUC there with a backpack on, trolley the wheel in the shops and then ride home with my purchases in the backpack. With a bicycle I need to find a spot to lock the bike, lock it and then unlock to leave. Not a huge deal, but for a quick shop the EUC is noticeably faster since it can roll inside with me.

In fact if I don't ride my EUC my longboard skateboard would be my 2nd choice for a mission like that. Basically for the same reason since I can grab my skateboard and take it inside with me. The skateboard is nice because I get some exercise vs. riding the EUC, but my cruising speed is lower.

[KiwiMark]

For fit people a human powered bicycle might be alright, but for older and/or less fit people they can be a bit much work.  I'm keen on getting an e-MTB though, that would be a lot of fun and in this country there are a lot of bike tracks that I could explore - thousands of kilometres of them.  There are plenty of advantages of e-bikes over e-unicycles, enough for me to want to buy an e-bike.

I won't be getting rid of my EUC though because there are plenty of advantages to EUCs too.  

One thing that I noticed when I got an e-scooter was that my hands were not free, those things are super dangerous to ride without both hands of the bars at all times.  With an EUC there are no controls at all for the hands, having both hands always free is a significant advantage for the EUC.  This is really useful if you want to create video, you can hold a camera instead of having to mount it on your bars or helmet or whatever.  You can also use hand signals on the road to let others know when you are going to make a turn.  You can drink from a water bottle while riding very easily.  You can adjust the strap on your helmet or zip up your jacket or get something out of your pocket or whatever - so many things your hands can be useful for when you don't need to use them to control your vehicle.

I'd agree with the main point mentioned here - the EUC gains a real advantage by being a lot more compact than most PEVs, allowing it to be taken inside instead of being locked to a rack where someone might tamper with or steal it.  Transporting by car a bicycle often needs a rack installed to carry it, but my EUC easily fits in the passenger side foot well (just in front of the passenger seat) so it is a lot easy to take places so that I can go for a ride.  I have taken my wheel by car over 100km to go for a group ride which I really enjoyed.  I can get my e-scooter in my car, but it is so much harder to do compared to the EUC.  If there was a problem (like a flat tyre) then at least you could easily get the EUC into an Uber/taxi/friend's car/bus/train to get it home.

EUCs take some practice to be able to ride them at all.  This does mean that even if you couldn't take them in a store and had to chain yours to a bike rack it would be less likely to be stolen, there is a good chance that the bicycle thief wouldn't be able to ride it!  I've seen videos of bikes being stolen where the thief cuts the bike lock and then hops on the bike and rides away, this would be much less likely for a PEV that is less common and most people don't know how to ride them.

EUCs are often faster and more powerful than e-bikes.  A lot of e-bikes are made to fit in the regulations with 250W or 300W motors and in many places they are speed limited.  There are plenty of EUCs with 2,000W or more and top speeds of over 50kph are common enough.  There is also a decent amount of range on many EUCs with some like the Sherman having really impressive range for such a compact & high performance PEV.

But even without any advantages, just being a lot of fun is good enough reason to own and use your EUC!

[Richardo]

I think we'd all agree that e-scooters have the worst tradeoffs by far.
 

• Enormous
• Extremely heavy
• Taking even one hand off courts disaster, as does hanging a grocery bag on the handlebar
• No cargo space, plus can't carry anything in your hands
• more difficult to lock up than a bicycle
• just as bad tire changes, twice as many tires to change
• more maintenance, they devour brakes and the stems get loose
• more rolling resistance, needs a bigger battery, battery starts to sag and the scooter drags
• low rake angle makes them less stable at high speeds
• smaller wheels means even tiny obstacles can send you over the handlebars
• they lose all traction in wet conditions
• same crash types as an EUC, requiring full face helmet and making it borderline requirement to wear lots of gear
• waterproofing issues, possibly worse than an EUC.
• same battery fire issues as EUCs

E Scooters were my first PEVs and while they're a lot of fun, and have a few advantages over EUCs (like being able to drift and burn out, which I find really fun, plus being easier to 'mod' by sticking things on the handlebar & stem), the tradeoffs are unacceptable if you have the courage to learn a unicycle.

[conecones]

After being car-free for 2 years, and previously a cyclist, I can see a few distinct advantages a bike (or Ebike) has over EUC:

1. Safely carrying larger loads & outdoor versatility. A bike can easily carry a weeks worth of groceries, or enough supplies to go camping/bikepacking. An Ebike out of batteries can still be ridden. This is the most reliable way to reach some really remote areas.
2. Ease of maintenance. A bike can be maintained with simple tools and spare parts carried on the bike itself and every component doesn't need to be perfect - a couple loose screws here or there or a slightly misaligned derailleur isn't going to cause major problems. EUC components (especially the internals) need to be cared for meticulously, and even simple repairs like a tire change are challenging if out on the road. 
3. Safety, and the difference in safety between current design EUC and a bike is a very large gap. This is clearly reflected in the amount of gear worn. For some, this is the only advantage that's needed to choose a bike over EUC.

[Funky]

51 minutes ago, Richardo said:

I think we'd all agree that e-scooters have the worst tradeoffs by far.
 

• Enormous - If you worry about space. 
• Extremely heavy - Have you seen some of the "big boy" euc's? 
• Taking even one hand off courts disaster, as does hanging a grocery bag on the handlebar - You can't ride without hands? Bag on back, same as euc.. 
• No cargo space, plus can't carry anything in your hands - Same as euc, backpack. 
• more difficult to lock up than a bicycle - Really? 
• just as bad tire changes, twice as many tires to change - Solid tires FTW. No change ever. 
• more maintenance, they devour brakes and the stems get loose - Don't break, regen motor break. / Superglue. 
• more rolling resistance, needs a bigger battery, battery starts to sag and the scooter drags. - Same as anything electric. Even woman's dildo feels that. 
• low rake angle makes them less stable at high speeds - Duck and Cover = more speed and stable. 
• smaller wheels means even tiny obstacles can send you over the handlebars - Still better than euc cutout. 
• they lose all traction in wet conditions. - What doesn't? 
• same crash types as an EUC, requiring full face helmet and making it borderline requirement to wear lots of gear. - Pff i don't even wear on euc, all the time.. On scooter i would never wear one. 
• waterproofing issues, possibly worse than an EUC. - Some have IPX6 fully waterproof, so they win here. Euc's can only dream.. 
• same battery fire issues as EUCs - Yup, so this point was useless. 

Sorry - i was bored... E-scooters suck by default.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Funky

[Zopper]

16 hours ago, conecones said:

Safely carrying larger loads & outdoor versatility. A bike can easily carry a weeks worth of groceries, or enough supplies to go camping/bikepacking.

I disagree. 

The other points are valid, though.

Although… While walking is slower, it can get you to even more places than a bike. And I’m still thinking about a back harness to carry my euc over unrideable terrain: Think climbing over 1-2 meters high boulders, too narrow path on a cliff with rocks and roots… The ultimate combo. It doesn’t matter if you have a bike or an euc in such a terrain. You are not going to ride through it unless Red Bull is sponsoring you and making videos about you.  

[conecones]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:10 AM, Zopper said:

I disagree. 

The other points are valid, though.

Although… While walking is slower, it can get you to even more places than a bike. And I’m still thinking about a back harness to carry my euc over unrideable terrain: Think climbing over 1-2 meters high boulders, too narrow path on a cliff with rocks and roots… The ultimate combo. It doesn’t matter if you have a bike or an euc in such a terrain. You are not going to ride through it unless Red Bull is sponsoring you and making videos about you.  

That is one hell of a pack!! I initially tried to do weekend groceries on EUC with a large Uber Eats bag but after a couple of near misses due to random gusts of wind (over a bridge, around the corner of a building, etc.), I decided instead to do more frequent grocery runs with a regular backpack instead.