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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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I agree that there should be options for bigger people, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be bikes as light and high-performing as possible made for those who can use them, and if that's the focus of a given manufacturer, that's not an ethical issue. It's just their specialization, and there's plenty of room for other designers to focus on bikes for heavier riders as that market becomes viable.
Everyone deserves to ride bikes, and bike designers deserve to focus on the types of bikes they want. 7-foot NBA players deserve to be comfortable in cars, but it's not Ford's fault or responsibility that finding a car is more difficult for them than for those between the 10th and 90th height percentiles. No less unfortunate, but changing the design of all cars or expecting app major manufacturers to design for outliers isn't necessarily a solution.
I don't read the article as an attack on building high performing bikes.
Just about manufacturers giving a better idea of what a bicycle or wheel set can stand up to by including some maximum supported weight information that is not just available in a manual (which most people don't see until post-sale)
We can pretty easily infer the weight of an overall build down to how much the spokes weigh before buying... why can't we be given more information about what a rim or frame can stand up to with regards to weight?
100% agreed with this point. I don't think the article attacks bike makers for their specialization, but I think a lot of the people reacting to pieces like this take it there or read active/intentional fat-phobia into brands' current practices.
.... 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.