This is my e-bike. It gets up to maybe 15 miles an hour. It does not go very fast, but I still like to ride it around and feel the wind in my hair. I need to get a new battery because I can only take it out for about an hour before it starts to fade and manually pedaling the bike becomes faster than using the battery.
If you look carefully under the basket (which is rusting and falling apart, there is a headlight. Yes, it is broken. But it still works. I just need to buy some duct tape and fix it. The rest of the bike is also in a less-than-perfect condition, but it works. Almost everyone in the apartment building has bought an e-bike, so soon we will be riding down the street as an American e-bike gang going to a KTV or to the mall.
The grey box under the seat is the battery. The seat folds up, so I can get the battery out and take it into my apartment. There is a key for the battery, which obviously turns it on and off. There is also a switch on the handlebar to turn the whole bike on and off. The kickstand is nice, since it lifts the back wheel off the ground completely and folds up when the bike is pushed forwards.
There are some standards for riding an e-bike. The first is that no one wear a helmet. And I mean no one. I do not even think they sell them in the stores. Maybe at the mall they have some, but nowhere else. The second is that girls and women here will use these oven mitt-looking things to cover their hands. For what I gather, they are to protect one's hands from debris and dust and in the wintertime, to block out some of the cold. The latter makes sense, but the former just seems weird to me. Women also wear these full face visors that protect against wind and dust. They are perfectly useful and practical, but they look really funny. They are almost like riot police visors, but are tinted to protect from the sun. Third, if a woman is wearing a short sleeve shirt or a nice shirt that she does not want to get dirty, she will wear a long sleeve shirt backwards over her front to cover herself. Again, it has a practical purpose, but it looks amusing to me. Men, on the other hand, do not have to do any of these things. They can ride around with their hands exposed, their faces exposed to the sun, and wearing clothes normally. I am sure I stick out, since I ride without any protective coverings.
On the back of my bike is an extra seat. Sometimes, I see people use it for books or a package, but most other times, I see another person sitting there. Couples will use the same bike to go someplace, or parents with their children will be on the same bike. Parents with infants who cannot hold onto to them will buy booster seats that fit onto the back of the bike and the parents can travel around that way with their child. The back seat comes in handy, but it makes driving and controlling the bike a little difficult. At least until one becomes used to it.
Overall, my e-bike is wonderful and so convenient. In many ways, I wish these would gain popularity in America because they do not use gas for energy, are convenient for some short distance travel, and most importantly, are a lot of fun to ride!
If you look carefully under the basket (which is rusting and falling apart, there is a headlight. Yes, it is broken. But it still works. I just need to buy some duct tape and fix it. The rest of the bike is also in a less-than-perfect condition, but it works. Almost everyone in the apartment building has bought an e-bike, so soon we will be riding down the street as an American e-bike gang going to a KTV or to the mall.
The grey box under the seat is the battery. The seat folds up, so I can get the battery out and take it into my apartment. There is a key for the battery, which obviously turns it on and off. There is also a switch on the handlebar to turn the whole bike on and off. The kickstand is nice, since it lifts the back wheel off the ground completely and folds up when the bike is pushed forwards.
There are some standards for riding an e-bike. The first is that no one wear a helmet. And I mean no one. I do not even think they sell them in the stores. Maybe at the mall they have some, but nowhere else. The second is that girls and women here will use these oven mitt-looking things to cover their hands. For what I gather, they are to protect one's hands from debris and dust and in the wintertime, to block out some of the cold. The latter makes sense, but the former just seems weird to me. Women also wear these full face visors that protect against wind and dust. They are perfectly useful and practical, but they look really funny. They are almost like riot police visors, but are tinted to protect from the sun. Third, if a woman is wearing a short sleeve shirt or a nice shirt that she does not want to get dirty, she will wear a long sleeve shirt backwards over her front to cover herself. Again, it has a practical purpose, but it looks amusing to me. Men, on the other hand, do not have to do any of these things. They can ride around with their hands exposed, their faces exposed to the sun, and wearing clothes normally. I am sure I stick out, since I ride without any protective coverings.
On the back of my bike is an extra seat. Sometimes, I see people use it for books or a package, but most other times, I see another person sitting there. Couples will use the same bike to go someplace, or parents with their children will be on the same bike. Parents with infants who cannot hold onto to them will buy booster seats that fit onto the back of the bike and the parents can travel around that way with their child. The back seat comes in handy, but it makes driving and controlling the bike a little difficult. At least until one becomes used to it.
Overall, my e-bike is wonderful and so convenient. In many ways, I wish these would gain popularity in America because they do not use gas for energy, are convenient for some short distance travel, and most importantly, are a lot of fun to ride!