Interesting take on WWSJD (what would Steve Jobs do?) in today’s transportation marketplace. I ride a Rivendell, a bike culture that’s sort of obstinately anti-electric, but I have to say, my eyebrows raised a bit when I saw this headline.
I ride a LectricXP Lite. I wanted a folding bike that would fit in my small trunk and the decent ones were $400… for 399 more, I got a bike that folds and has an engine. What the anti-electric people seem to forget is that are electric bikes are STILL bikes. I rarely use my battery but when I do it, its awesome after a long ride.
Apple would be smarter to do this than make a car.
I mostly agree with this take. I ride a “Ride 1 Up” electric mountain bike. It’s my second e-bike.
I don’t have any issues getting local shops to support it (most parts on good bikes, outside of the frame and bearings are interchangeable). But, Apple has stores and people would expect those stores to offer repairs. No chance they want that.
According to at least one study eBike riders are hospitalized more often and have more serious injuries than regular bike riders. Why? Riders tend to be older and less experienced. And lack of helmets and protective gear may be a factor. It’s early days and I don’t think anyone has enough data to be sure of the facts.
Apple is very protective of its image. They love it when someone is “saved” by their Apple Watch. But AFAIK they have yet to comment on the false 911 calls from Apple Watch worn by people on roller coasters. They don’t like bad press.
If people start getting injured on APPLE ebikes that will get headlines. I’m not sure Apple would be willing to risk that.
This then begs the question (and which might have been discussed elsewhere, but I didn’t look…): Assuming that Peleton goes under in the near future, would Apple consider making a run for it?
Nice article. VanMoof’s integrations make me think BikeOS/BikePlay could be interesting, potentially paired with AirPods set to cycling mode to augment sounds of danger and provide turn-by-turn.
The actual motor hardware I’m hoping becomes commodified. I want to see e-bike prices driven down, with more of the money going into better (relatively) lightweight frames, more tire sets, and demystifying hauling for more people.
Tell me about it. I used to train on highways with wide paved shoulders and I still had a**holes break beer bottles directly in front of me. But that was better than the full bottles that were thrown at my head.
I think so. High-end hardware product that’s got baked in services and recurring revenue. I assume they’d also get all the course content, which they could rebrand as Apple Fitness and increase their workout library exponentially.
When Peloton can be bought cheap, I’ll bet Apple makes a bid.
Maybe, but only, if you meet all requirements of their policy, at the time of the theft.
I rather looking forward for the new Alarm/Theft Protection Bosch has introduced in July, as it should prevent the theft with a good chance anyway, and I could see the location of the bike by myself at a far cheaper rate than VanMoof’s, and be able to direct the police to the position without a 14 Day Wait time.
“They’re all out to get me” was the attitude I put on when commuting to work by bicycle in traffic on city streets. That experience helped prepare me for when I began to ride motorcycles. Cagers don’t behave any better around solo motorcyclists than they do around bicycle riders. And even riding down a peaceful country road, the deer and the wild turkeys can kill you.
Completely independent from what happened to you:
While I agree with you about the often observed lack of attention of people in cars, my experience is unfortunately also often, that a lot of people (fortunately not all!) on Bikes are going crazy on our streets.
There seems to be absolutely no rules for them.
Traffic lights? Not for me!
Turn signal? I am stronger than the following truck!
Passing on the right? Well, if there is half a feet of room, I might pass!
Pedestrian Crosswalk? Yippie, I am faster than anybody would expect…!
…
This has developed to a “quality”, that there are really plans in Germany, to have a license plate on your bike, so that the police will be able to punish those riders.
An other problem, I observe when I drive my own car, specially in the early morning and evening, and with the upcoming Fall on the Northern Hemisphere, that a lot of Bikers (and Pedestrian, too) seems to be in a kind of a “Hide-Mode”. Dark clothings, and no lights switched on, compared with the above way of riding, might add up to a very dangerous situation.
I will never understand what is wrong with switching the lights on, and wearing some High-Viz Clothing!?
I don’t know about Germany, but in the UK even if you can prove you know where stolen property is, the Police still won’t do anything about it with any kind of urgency. Stolen Bikes, Laptops and Phones come very far down their list of priorities.