Ebikes!

[Judd]

The lightning bolt now exists. Unfortunately, it's more or less useless, because there are so few ebikes in the system that if you go to a location with a lightning bolt, the ebike is pretty much sure to be gone by the time you get there.

I tried to get an ebike one day, using a Jump bike to get to the CaBi locations. I went through four CaBi locations (one of which showed two ebikes), without managing to snag one. I finally gave up and used Metro.

One time, I found one in the wild--only to discover that I couldn't take it out because it was broken.

Of course, this was not as bad as the time I finally found an ebike that wasn't broken at a CaBi station, went to take it out, and discovered that someone had smeared a thick layer of dogshit on it...

So far, I have never managed to ride a CaBi ebike. I'm really hoping that CaBi will soon get enough of them that finding one (preferably one without the dogshit) is practical.

Sorry about the terrible luck finding a Plus, especially the dog poo one. From what I've seen, it's much harder to track one down in DC since there's a lot more population density and CaBis turnover faster in general. I've been fortunate to snag several rides on the Columbia Pike and Four Mile run corridor in Arlington and weekends in Crystal City.

[Judd]

My friend Schep made a tool to alert you when a CaBi Plus is docked at locations of your choosing: https://the-cabi-electric.glitch.me

[Dewey]

Good analysis of the CaBi Plus ebike trial on GGW https://ggwash.org/view/69833/capita...e-learned-data

[cvcalhoun]

Good analysis of the CaBi Plus ebike trial on GGW https://ggwash.org/view/69833/capita...e-learned-data

I really hope to be able to take advantage of this some day. I love the Jump bikes, but their utility is limited by the fact that they aren't allowed to go beyond the DC line, and I live in Bethesda.

However, I have yet to take even one trip on a CaBi Plus. There are so few of them that there may not be one in the area you need in the first place. The lack of ability to reserve one means that you can rush to a station that has one, only to find it already gone. And then I've had a series of issues, ranging from the one that got stuck in its dock and couldn't be taken out to the one that had been deliberately smeared with a thick layer of dog poop.

If the CaBi Plus bikes ever become readily available, that would motivate me to buy a membership. But it is simply not practical to take a regular CaBi on my usual route (seven miles, much of it straight up Massachusetts Avenue to the Cathedral). I'll keep my fingers crossed that the program is expanded some day to the point of being useful.

[komorebi]

I rode a CaBi Plus for the first time today, and I actually didn't like it very much. The Plusses are heavier and more unwieldy than the regular CaBis, which are already tanks. And the e-assist kicked in and cut out unpredictably, which made for a jerky ride. Possibly it was a problem with that particular bike, or possibly I would have gotten more used to the e-assist over a longer ride. But that's now the third model of e-bike that I've tried, and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'm just not meant to ride e-bikes.

[dasgeh]

I rode a CaBi Plus for the first time today, and I actually didn't like it very much. The Plusses are heavier and more unwieldy than the regular CaBis, which are already tanks. And the e-assist kicked in and cut out unpredictably, which made for a jerky ride. Possibly it was a problem with that particular bike, or possibly I would have gotten more used to the e-assist over a longer ride. But that's now the third model of e-bike that I've tried, and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'm just not meant to ride e-bikes.

I've ridden 2 Plusses and never experienced this. I thought they were really great ebikes.

I've ridden a bunch ebikes, generally, and most newer models ride like regular bikes, just stronger.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I rode a CaBi Plus for the first time today, and I actually didn't like it very much. The Plusses are heavier and more unwieldy than the regular CaBis, which are already tanks. And the e-assist kicked in and cut out unpredictably, which made for a jerky ride. Possibly it was a problem with that particular bike, or possibly I would have gotten more used to the e-assist over a longer ride. But that's now the third model of e-bike that I've tried, and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'm just not meant to ride e-bikes.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of their assist. The only way I could get it smoothed out was to ride at a higher cadence/effort, which almost defeats the purpose. I find the Jumps to be much better and they feel very similar to my Radwagon, which is rear drive.

[DCAKen]

I rode a CaBi Plus for the first time today, and I actually didn't like it very much. The Plusses are heavier and more unwieldy than the regular CaBis, which are already tanks. And the e-assist kicked in and cut out unpredictably, which made for a jerky ride. Possibly it was a problem with that particular bike, or possibly I would have gotten more used to the e-assist over a longer ride. But that's now the third model of e-bike that I've tried, and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'm just not meant to ride e-bikes.

I haven't experience that jerkiness on the CaBi Plus I've ridden. I ridden one here and the same model out in San Francisco a few times. The assist was predictable as you start pedaling, but for a first-time rider, getting used to that may take a little time.

[buschwacker]

I rode a CaBi Plus for the first time today, and I actually didn't like it very much. The Plusses are heavier and more unwieldy than the regular CaBis, which are already tanks. And the e-assist kicked in and cut out unpredictably, which made for a jerky ride. Possibly it was a problem with that particular bike, or possibly I would have gotten more used to the e-assist over a longer ride. But that's now the third model of e-bike that I've tried, and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'm just not meant to ride e-bikes.

I haven't ridden a CaBi Plus yet, but your experience may be the result of a defective cadence sensor on that bike. The cadence sensor is a series of magnets around the crank area - as you pedal, each magnet is activated and the ebike computer activates the motor to boost you. If some of those magnets aren't giving good feedback to the computer, slow pedaling results in the boost not kicking in, but fast pedaling would. It sounds like a defective bike to me.

[Judd]

I've ridden 2 Plusses and never experienced this. I thought they were really great ebikes.

I've ridden a bunch ebikes, generally, and most newer models ride like regular bikes, just stronger.

I’ve ridden a Plus about 25 times now and I have experienced some that were jerky and felt like the assist was cutting in and out. I’ve also had experiences where the battery was about done where the assist was weak.


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