It's too bad about EBR, but iIt's too bad about e bikes in general.
EBR was at its best during the Sondors Storm. Court pretty much let things play out, even though they were out of control for months. He said, or suggested, it was an open forum and people could post what they wanted, within legal reason.
That's not true anymore. The forum is run by Ann, which may not be her real name. She doesn't care about the free exchange of ideas, like Court did, so if it gets out of hand, she just pulls stuff. There was an idiot selling a minor ebike who kept attacking Pedego. Pedego is what Pedego is, so not much reason to attack Pedego. I said this guy must have been raped while he was in prison by a Pedego Interceptor, or whatever it was. She let it go for a while, and then took it down. Later on the guy said stuff that made it sound like I really believe he had been raped in prison by an ebike. I asked how that could happen but, you know, not much response. I guess it was OK to take that down. If you make a joke, that's it. People laugh, or not and then you have to write another joke.
Ann removed another post over the weekend and there was no reason at all, I could see. I made another joke. A guy told me to not post negative things, to keep the forum nice. I said I didn't think there was an ebike bike path to the baby unicorn petting zoo. That's all I said. This member has gotten me down, and I told him in a private message I didn't care what happened to EBR because it was in a death spiral into blandness. And he was part of the rush to blandness.
I finally told Ann M, in a private message that I 've shared with a couple of people, that she is a censor and there are no standards, so it no good for people who post. But the thing was dead anyway.
She basically takes little shots at DIY or Luna Build type bikes all the time. It's just a steady drip of corrosive acid. I used to react, but it has gotten old. I 've asked that Court to do genuine comparisons of BBS type MTB's and Haibikes. It's never going to happen. EBR is way too friendly to Lectric and never mentions their shockingly high prices, never suggests comparing actual Luna products to Lectric products, like battery packs.
The Rye Lie is that he is a journalist. He is a guy looking to build up his site and he is now willing to be against some people in the community.
Eric is far from a saint, but he did change the battery situation with e bikes, after Storm and his cheap batteries on the Sondors bike. The BBS is the BBS, the good, the bad, and indifferent. Luna is a discount site with a lot of products. You go there for price. Eric has figured out that DIY can only go so far, so he is selling assembled bikes, DIY bikes. The prices are great. EBR acts like the BBS doesn't exist. Great, but let's don't pretend EBR covers the ebike scene. It's a corporate type site. Unless you are Prodeco, because Court doesn't like Prodeco.
The real question is how do you get somewhat impartial information on e bikes? What if you might want a Haibike, but you might want a Luna build? No one does those comparisons. You need a young guy with a lot of bike experience, maybe not ebike experience. No one is ever going to do real reviews I guess. I'd like to know what the different hub motors really can do. How fast can they go, what hill can they climb, how well do the throttles and PAS systems work. When it comes to doing this, Court failed completely.
Lectric says they have a torque sensor for the BBS. That was in September. Still, these DIY type bikes need much better PAS systems, better control systems in general. The DIY stuff has to be refined.
Why don't the DIY people make great PAS systems and great throttles and bluetooth controls, stuff that would really make them competitive with Haibike and Stromer?
Is there any chance of ever making any of this stuff in the US? They are small motors. Do we make anything here? I mean, you know, Trump has a point. I guarantee that everything the big ebike companies do is out of Asia. Haibike said they might assemble in Denver. Sure. Might. And even if they do it won't resolve where e bikes can be used, trail access or whatever.
If Court is such a critical member of the ebike community, let him bring Haibike and some jobs to Colorado. Let him actually try to resolve the trail access issues. I don't even know where he stands. Court acts like the California rules actually resolved something, but everyone seems to be bending the California rules.
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