In response to the letter “E-bikes: Dangerous on Burke-Gilman Trail” [Aug. 3, Opinion], I experience an e-bike and query the arguments used within the letter.
E-bikes weigh roughly 30 kilos greater than non-e-bikes. The riders of bicycles of all types have a standard vary of variation for adults of about 80 to 300 kilos. Guess what’s the major supply of additional mass of a rider and bicycle?
E-bikes authorized to make use of on the Burke-Gilman Path are Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes constructed with a most velocity of 20 mph and all have speedometers. There are Class 3 e-bikes able to 28 mph and “juiced” racing bikes able to speeds exceeding 50 mph, however they’re a small minority of the e-bikes in use as a result of Washington state rules forbid their use on bike/pedestrian trails such because the Burke-Gilman.
Non-e-bikes usually do not need speedometers and will be pedaled a lot sooner than 20 mph. Using the path and maintaining my e-bike to beneath 15 mph, I’m way more incessantly handed by non-e-bike riders racing down the path than I’m handed by e-bike riders.
Maybe a bias towards these newfangled e-bikes has coloured the observations made within the letter.
Robert Nielsen, Seattle
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