Peter Hitchens debate: real cyclists don't ride e-bikes | SpectatorTV 

He's talking about illegal upgraded bikes - not legal e-bikes - so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I've always ridden for local trips and at the age of 50+ with creaky knees I've recently bought a legal e-bike so that I can keep riding daily - not just on good days

I'm 63 and just bought my first e-mountain bike. It's the difference between me being able to go mountain bike riding. I can ride longer and go farther. I will be riding an e-mountain bike into my 70's.

There are many people who ride e-bikes irresponsibly and illegally, but you cannot tar all riders with the same brush. My road bike, with it's assist kit, weighs only 13.5 kgs, and looks exactly like any other road bike - this is NOT heavy. I have ridden a road bike for years for recreation and exercise and persevered unassisted into my late eighties, going electric, as I say elsewhere, mostly for the hills, which are still hard work, when I hit 90. No doubt Peter would have preferred me to stop, but I actually cycled 3,000 kms in my 91st year, most of them WITHOUT using the power. As for speed, due to my age, I now ride at much lower speeds than I ever did. E-bikes enable people with disabilities, or who are very elderly, to continue cycling. See how PH feels when gets into his eighties, when his jaundiced view might change.

I am 77 and ride one of my normal peddle cycles every morning but unlike Peter Hitchens I have no objection to e-bikes except for the price of any that might be attractive to buy. Although a former Londoner and yes, was a commuter cyclist there, I now live on the Bristol Channel and it is interesting how over recent years, how many older women use e-bikes for regular shopping locallly. Peter is being a bit of a grumpy old man on this one, perhaps not unusally :)

The laws on ebikes are actually very clear in the uk, and much more restrictive than some other countries. They actually are classed as motorbikes unless they are limited to 250 watts, only allow the motor to propel them up to 15.5 mph, and have no throttle. Those are called EAPC (electrically assisted pedal cycles). Anything that doesn't comply with EAPC law is technically a motorcycle and has to be registered with the DVLA, taxed and insured and you need a CBT.

The more taciturn Peter becomes, the more I adore him! 😅 love this discussion ❤

I am a fan of Peter Hitchens but it is obvious that he knows nothing about pedal assist, which, if used legally and correctly, is a boon to many cyclists. I am a 'real cyclist' and I went e-assist on my road bike at the age of 90, because the hills where I ride had got a bit too much, and my routes were becoming limited. I am now cycling further afield again - it's horses for courses in fact.

As someone from the Netherlands... how about pleading for proper bike infrastructure instead.

It's transport not an ideology.

Peter is a shadow of his former brother. I don't align with many of his opinions. Anyway, e-bikes are restricted to providing assistance below 15.5 mph. I'm 73 and ride an e-bike for exercise, despite what he claims. I only boost on hills and usually raise a sweat.

I love cycling, I own 2 road bikes and a mountain bike. I’m in my mid 40s and unfortunately am now largely unable to cycle these bikes anymore due to arthritis. An e-bike is my only route back into cycling to work. The problem with e-bikes is that people hack them so that they exceed the 15.5mph limit and the police do not enforce the law The e-bikes which go over 15.5mph are classes a speed pedelecs and to use these you need a license, the bike needs to be registered and you can only use them on the road and not on cycle lanes The problem again is the police are not enforcing the law. E-bike are however a good viable route to let people like me with long term chronic illness get back into cycling and out of cars

You are completely right peter.motorised vecihle should not be in a cycle lane.

I ride street, all mountain and an eMTB enduro, I rock climb and general lead an "outdoorsie" lifestyle. The benefit of zone 2 training cannot be underestimated..... E bikes are like hometrainers moved in nature, and assure a steady effort over set period of time... I find it very difficult to ride a bike exploring and keep my effort steady. Max effort training has its place. But since I ride my bike to work (part time bladesmith) I have even more time on a bike. That really helped me out in my other hobbies!!!

To be fair, there's e-bikes, and then there's EEE-BIKES!

I bet Peter is one of them cyclists that shouts "cheater" at people on e-bikes.

I've got no problem with electric bikes so long as they confirm to present regulations. I do have a problem with the inevitable modifications that some make. I rode alongside on my motorcycle a kid on a 'pedalbike' averaging between 45mph and 50mph and he wasn't even peddling

Logical fallacy. A rocket works by chemical reaction. A car works by chemical reaction, therefore my Volkswagen is a rocket. Motor vehicles are propelled by motors. An ebike *can* be partially propelled by a 250W assist motor, therefore it is a motor vehicle. No, I'm afraid neither are true. Moreover, people who ride ebikes *do* pedal, and ebikes are indeed bicycles. The difference between a motorcycle and an ebike is largely down to power, and if regulation is to be sensible it ought to look first at power.

My tidy area now looks dreadful. Electric scooters chucked around all over the paths look hideous

I love hearing mr Hitchens point of view . The e-scooter situation is a thorn in my side (living in bristol) . Modified e bikes seem to be an issue , perhaps large fines should be implemented . I bought an emtb a few years ago , it was one of the best purchases ive made . Its given me a new incentive to get out into the wilds again .I also enjoy riding my road bike and a hard tail MTB . Which I ride about 25% of the time .

This man is amazingly wrong in every direction.

Real cyclists don't but in NYC chinese delivery guys do. And in California, everyone over 60, who lost their drivers license , or can't afford a car, rides them

Same problem on canal towpaths. They are a nightmare.

“I can’t see ANY point in them”. Ok. Hitchens lite has wonderful oratorical deliver but apparently can’t be bothered to research the topic. He’s right that they often go too fast on multi-use trails. All the e-bikes I see going too fast have riders who are in the age bracket as Hitchens (and me).

Whether they are motor vehicles or not ( they have a motor and a bike is a vehicle in the law. Go figure) but they are much too fast for cycle lanes. I’m 76 and have been cycling for 65 odd years in London and for a short while our cycle lanes made it safer but now these things have come along, I feel unsafe, not from cars, but from these motorised bikes in cycle lanes. And they are dumped all over our pavements too.

Lol, not many motorbikes weigh 350kg

I’m 68 and I’ve bought an e bike, without the electric assist I wouldn’t be able to manage the hills where I live. I cycle everyday and use my bike instead of my car.

Maybe he should fight for quad bike users to wear helmets,as it’s currently NOT a legal requirement as they are classed as ‘cars’…E-bikes are here to stay,he’s part of the risk-aversed modern idiocy,shown when he folded and took the jab.

We don't need any more laws, Nanny is strangling us with them. What we need is effective policing. Fat chance of that happening though.

wheel out sleepy old peter for any traditionalist argument

Peter is being a bit obtuse. Genuine e-bikes require you to peddle and are restricted to 15mph. I ride a road bike and easily exceed 15mph on any flattish road - 20mph easily. The bikes that are dangerous and too fast are actually illegal - anything that has a throttle/ go button is not legal and not an e-bike. Such bikes are actually electric motorbikes and you do need a licence and insurance. Those deliveroo chaps whizzing by at 20+mph without turning a peddle are the problem and need policing. I recently spent a week in London hiring line bikes as necessary and did a 7 mile journey from east London back to Westminster doing a steady 10-15 mph and didn’t raise a sweat - if id done it on my normal bike id have been 13:51 quicker but in a lather. They make non exercise biking a pleasure.

Peter is conflating pedelec (from pedal electric cycle) or EPAC (electronically power assisted cycle) with electric motorcycles, and is therefore clueless about the subtle benefits of riding an EPAC which is far more aligned to normal pedal cycles than he would have you believe, he really needs to understand the differences and to differentiate between them.

I live in Tokyo and like most people here cycle every day. We don’t ride for exercise we ride to got from A to B. I would love an electric bicycle. When I lived in the countryside in England people would stop cycling when they had start pushing there bicycles up hill as they aged. Peter seems to be unaware of how much benefit an electric bicycle is too people. Instead of being stuck in your village unable maybe to walk far due to age, you can transport yourself to other places. Good for health physically and mentally.

Most important debate since the partition of Ireland.

E-bikes are regulated… just the law is not enforced.. don’t lump people breaking the law with criminals…

😂😂😂 Keep not liking e-bike. I didn't buy mine for fitness. I Just need it to commute. If I wasn't Riding it, I would be driving my car. What do you prefer an e-bike passing you (which does not happen very often because road bikes are shockingly fast) or a car passing you close enough to give you anxiety or knock you off. Pick the right battle and leave e-bike riders alone.

Good "what's his name above" as some say; If your jogging and some one is pushing a pram, if your on a bike and someone drives a tad close, once you or them are past and your still alive, there is no point in getting overtly fraught, the danger is past; keep doing the same thing untill one's luck runs out.

It is cetainly fashionable to foment anti-cyclist passions. Usually in the absence of evidence. And of course the police should enforce the law on illegal bikes and scooters. They should also enforce the law on motor vehicles. I ride between 4000 and 6000 miles a year on unpowered and (legal) ebikes. I am threatened by illegal actions by motorists every day - jumping red lights, stopping in bike boxes, close passes, verbal abuse, incorrect use of horn. It is apposite that you are several thousand times more likely to be killed or injured by a motor than by a bike.

Yeah right. It's all just too unsafe out there with 25 kmh ebikes and 20 kmh scooters etc. And those massive, heavy, noisy, cluttering, lane hogging e-things are putting all of us at totally unprecedented risk of our lives in our streets. Just look at the stats showing the uncountable surge of lives lost due to being hit or coming off an ebike or scooter. Just terrifying! And we cannot overlook the other major concern being voiced ... the horrible, environmentally and aesthetically destructive sight of hire bikes and scooters littering our pristine streets and blocking the serene views of all those lovely parked cars, the ones we sensibly handed 95% of public space over to in the past century. RESPONSIBLE car drivers, stop texting, and get your eyes off the road onto more important things ... our safety! ... All you rational, sane car driving citizens, keeping our city streets fresh, safe and as beautiful as only 2500, 3000, 4000 kgs (and growing on average) of metal and glass, controlled by a visibility restricted, self-entitled moron half asleep at the wheel in the soporific aircon, safely screaming past at 50, 60, 80 or 100 kmh, just as god intended.

Perhaps a limited number of approved suppliers could provide lower power bikes that only assist when you're going up a hill above a certain gradient. Then perhaps there could be stricter enforcement of ebikes in general. In particular, ebikes used by delivery companies should be very strictly regulated, as some riders of those really take the piss.

Judgmental much?

Next time please insert a link to Peter's article in the video description.

I’m 65, the majority of my riding is done on my Thorn Nomad, heavy touring bike, not electric, my other two are a Brompton and Birdy, folding bikes, not electric, my main objection is bikes on pavements, both electric and non- electric, especially electric, as they speed past you, not one have used their bells to warn of their approach 🤬🤬🤬have to agree with the comments on the police, they have a blitz about every six months in Cardiff, where they book everyone who is cycling in the pedestrian area, yet I’ve seen delivery cyclists passing police on other days and they do absolutely nothing 😡😡😡

Motor bikes electric or other should not be allowed on bike paths. Too heavy and too fast.

E-bikes are great for those of us who do not have the physical ability to cycle any longer, and for those cyclists who are responsible enough to ride with respect for others ... But they are sooo convenient that the Yob element have taken them to their hearts, just like the druggies who race about on pavements with mobility scooters. Then we have the CURSE! of fast-food delivery cyclists who come at you from every angle, have no respect fo traffic lights OR one-way-streets ... Let's not have o have a driving licence for them, but register them and have number plates so that the dangerous riders can be Prosecuted and Fined for breaking Highway Code Rules ....

That loft needs improvement. Most e-bikes produce, consistantly, my 1hr power output max. I cant imagine how little effort one would have to put in to the generic 15mph.

They're good for one reason and one reason only A to get slobs out of the house and B for what I deam a short term commute to work, so for example say 2 to 5 miles esp useful when using on a country lane or path, but I do despise if ppl go past me super fast, what one thing Hinchins needs to take into account is when I go running down some lanes which just happened to be good for motorcyclists then you will find ppl driving fast as they go past me which is scary..

Don't be silly Peter. The lanes, bridleways, bike parks and tow paths are full of ebikers who generally travel at much lower speeds than road bikers as the bikes are speed limited. e-bikes give a much rounder workout as they are heavy and need much greater upper body strength to manoeuvre over and around obstacles etc. As the workout doesn't concentrate on the leg and stomach muscles to such and extreme extent as with road cycling, it's possible to ride far more frequently. Avoiding the roads means that you're far less likely to be killed by some fat-arsed motorist. Stick to the subjects with which you're familiar Peter.

Omg just thinking what Christopher would have said about this! 😂 he would have been mortified, he hated physical exercise

He actually comes over more nuanced by the end of the debate than this title / his article suggests. He's right that e-bikes should be broadly treated like motorcycles (over 15.5mph). However his core argument that they should be banned because they annoy him... and he had a motorbike crash doesn't hold water. I had an uncle die on a motorbike - that doesn't mean they should be banned.

This is like the Flintstones complaining that they don't need to push their 'Car' along with their Feet ... What a ludicrously pointless debate.

A silly non comparison. Love it. The Hitch slap is back.

I'm in Beach community in Southern California where these scouters and bikes are ubiquitous. I assumed they would be dangerous and cause accidents, they don't, but do increase an ambience of chaos and disorder I don't like.

I'm almost Peters age cycling yes, e-bikes no... If we have to put up with them, they need to be strictly restricted to 15 miles an hour max, any faster on the road with liability insurance. Probable liability insurance with them anyway.

Okay, who put ayahuasca in my cocoa?

Peter Hitchens, a man who will not allow himself to sit down to read (he stands at a desk) is wrong on e-bikes. E-bikes allow people who wouldn’t ordinarily ride bikes due to age or illness to enjoy freedom, our wonderful countryside and increased levels of fitness. People of all levels ride e-bikes, for a variety of reasons. Many ex racers who are an order of magnitude fitter than Mr Hitchens ride e-bikes. Julien Absalon for example. 5 times world cross country champion, 33 World Cup wins. E-bikes allow riders of all fitness levels to ride faster, and that is more fun. Do you remember fun Mr Hitchens? Or are you too starchy stiff for that sort of thing? Mr Hitchens wouldn’t cycle around some areas of Yorkshire. He rides around pancake flat Oxford on an old shopping bike. Meet me at bottom of Ilkla moor bhat ‘at Mr Hitchens and you can demonstrate to me what you mean about real cyclists.

The silent speed is very dangerous

So real motorcyclists do not ride mopeds? Where does a motorbike fade into a moped? And where does an e-bike fade into an electric motorcycle? This is a legal issue that needs to be fixed. He is both right and wrong. The scooters are flat-out illegal on public roads, so that is not a thing except in the sense that police seem utterly uninterested in enforcing the law.

Peter hitching just talking a load of rubbish the legal speed of a e-bike is 15 miles an hour no throttle I live in North Yorkshire which is very hilly I'm in my mid 70s and it's helped me get back on a bike remember e-bikes have five levels off assist so you can choose how much you have to pedal and there is no such thing off cycle lanes where I live

I can see Peter with a Penny Farthing.

Its true we don't

Peter they should stay at home and ride e-vibrators instead. Safer and better fun!

Hitchens is right: ebikes are motor vehicles; and they're heavy and can potentially cause alot of harm to cyclists. The first thing most people don is disable the governing system which limits the bike's speed. Some can then exceed speeds of 100kph. But ebikes are the future, and eventually everyone will be driving one-except Hitchens. It's unsafe to drive them on the automobile lanes, and yet they pose a danger to cyclists as well. But govt doesn't know where else to put them. So it's either they use the bike lanes or people will stop buying them.

Tories are just mental these days. Anything important and they want to ignore it for this kind of nonsense. Bring back Cameron and Rory Stewart, at least they arent crazy.

I electrified my wife's bike in her mid 60s and had to do mine shortly after. They are brilliant, as if we go a bit too far it's no longer a major problem to get back. The argument from Hitchens is stupid, snobbish and fallacious. My e bike is not 2.5 times heavier, it's not even twice as heavy. It increased from about 15kg to 23kg. If I were to hit a pedestrian, heaven forbid, it's my own weight that will become the issue F = m x a. Also my e bike can only get to 15 mph unless I manually peddle it. Basically he's a lying prat.

Waste of time debate.

Afraid Peter is wrong here. He’s correct in asserting that unregulated e-bikes are an issue. The regulations are also unclear and to be frank, you’d know a bike that was doing 15.5mph plus as it’s an unspectacular speed limit. Seeing bikes being treated like mopeds doing the speeds he is talking about is totally an issue - correct. He’s also right in that escooters (within the law or not) are an issue that needs to be considered - as a law abiding citizen who rented an escooter in a city recently, I quickly found myself at the edge of the law as both pedestrians and road users disliked you equally. Where I think he is way off is for properly equipped EAPCs that conform. Claiming proper exertion is the only compliant method for cycling is a nonsense - gently electrically assisted bikes are exactly that and make hills that are extremely difficult, now just about possible. I’d invite him to try one and see the realms within it permits you to operate. People claiming they shouldn’t be on towpaths are the same people who don’t like cycles on them. Again, I’d encourage you to discount that view. The issue is more enforcement - do the police know the law because most consumers certainly don’t and as Peter says, having police check EAPC conformance is near impossible. People seem not to care.

If you support his arguments.. just know you are also against low cost transport for people with disabilities, against older people riding a bike, especially if they live in hilly areas… and believe you should only ride a bike if you are fit enough to ride a normal bike… When I was younger I rode my bicycle far far faster than my legal e-bike van go

E-bikes are the downhill ski of bikes and no CO2 (from the bike anyway).

Sounds like trans-bikes, to me: invading bike spaces!

What nonsense. I've been cycling for many years but now in my 80s and living in a very hilly part of the country I find a little electrical assistance is a great help. When I was 72 I did ride a 'normal' bike but it's difficult now. I still get out of breath climbing a hill even with the aid of a motor. I used to cycle commute 27 miles/day on a pedal cycle and our holidays usually involved cycle camping in mountains. I know many former racing cyclists who, in old age, have been able to keep riding with electrical assistance. Of course, I don't live in London.

35kg is more than 77 lbs. A typically modern bicycle is 25 lb to 35 lb and many are considerably less. If e-bikes don't warrant licences, why do electric motorcycles or indeed electric cars? As a cyclist and motorcyclist, I agree with Peter.

Peter ‘usually’ comes across as very intelligent 😏

do ebikes identify as bikes?

Why does Peter not like E Bike? Maybe because he is porky LOL

the battery on an ebike goes flat way too fast if your giving it the full beans everywhere, im sure most people who own or ride them learn to use the right amount of power at the right time, i think peter is just another do gooder scare monger, sadly the theres plenty of them every day, dont know where they all come from

Definitely should be licenses for the ones that go faster than 20mph. I was on a bike path the other day and 4 of these monsters came charging past me. The massive chunky wheel variety. Not bicycles, if you were hit by one of these you'd be in hospital

Once again Peter Hitchens read my thoughts exactly. ( albeit with his enhanced vocabulary ) 🚲 - - - -

As I often find myself, I’m with Peter on this one.

Hitchens is 72, why the fuck would anyone think his opinion on ebikes is even worthy of internet bandwidth.. XD

The claim that ebikes “still need to be pedalled” and that stops them from being motorised vehicles, is absurd, and Henry knows it. The effort required is the absolute minimum, and that’s what most people use. I have owned an ebike and I dumped it and got back on my normal bike because ebikes are a fraud in so many ways. The whole reason I got into cycling was to keep fit, and ebikes make a mockery of that. Ebikes are good for older and less fit people who would otherwise have to give up cycling. But apart from that they’re dangerous on cycle lanes. I know many people who have “tweaked” their ebikes and scooters to do up to 40 mph! And that’s asking for trouble on a cycle lane!