I converted my mountain bike to an ebike and I’m having a blast with it! I just moved to Oakland and there’s pretty good bike infrastructure here, so I can use the bike for transportation even for relatively large distances. I’ve been using it to get groceries, run to the bike shop, and see friends. For the nerds, I added a Bafang BBSHD mid drive motor and EM3EV 52v 20.5AH pack to my Norco Fluid HT bike. I added a rear rack with Ortlieb panniers. It’s a rock solid bike and thanks to the high power of the BBSHD the bike accelerates quickly and easily reaches 30MPH/50KPH. This means I can keep up with the flow of traffic on most surface streets and don’t have to worry about cars zipping past me - I’m usually tracking behind the car in front of me so there’s nowhere for an approaching car to go. I have a full face downhill mountain biking helmet and a smart helmet brake light from my good friends company called Brakefree that lights up when I slow down. The gear and the speed of the bike leave me feeling safe enough. And it’s a blast! Earlier this week I rode the bike 8 miles through the city to a park up in the hills. It’s fast to get there and feels very different than sitting in a big energy guzzling car. And once I got to the park I just kept rolling right on to some trails. What a wonderful feeling! I’m more convinced than ever of the power of micro mobility in cities. We need more protected bike infrastructure. When we think of cities we often imagine roads as a given. But we’re deciding which infrastructure to lay down and maintain - and we don’t have to make it all so focused on automobiles.
EDIT: I want to emphasize one point which might interest people. As I said the speed helps me feel safe as I move with the flow of traffic. I run my bike at 1500 watts. This is twice the legal limit of 750 watts, but this isn’t well enforced. In the UK, the legal limit is just 250 watts. I think policy makers assume that a smaller number is safer, but I’m not convinced this is true. While higher speed means more risk of high speed collisions, lower speed means more risk of being hit from behind. It’s worth looking at raising the legal power limits, and whether this would increase safety for bike riders. I think it might.
EDIT: I want to emphasize one point which might interest people. As I said the speed helps me feel safe as I move with the flow of traffic. I run my bike at 1500 watts. This is twice the legal limit of 750 watts, but this isn’t well enforced. In the UK, the legal limit is just 250 watts. I think policy makers assume that a smaller number is safer, but I’m not convinced this is true. While higher speed means more risk of high speed collisions, lower speed means more risk of being hit from behind. It’s worth looking at raising the legal power limits, and whether this would increase safety for bike riders. I think it might.