All the bike trails near us have speed limit signs for e bikes. I agree it’s a better alternative.
I have a huge pet peeve about bikes on sidewalks. They aren’t allowed in my area but it’s constantly being ignored.
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I loved biking in college and law school. our island would he wonderful for bikes except for the terrible traffic and motorists who do NOT share the road well with one another, left alone look out for motorists.
We had two regular manual bikes stolen from our carport over the years. One of D’s friend’s dad has permanent brain injury due to bike accident—hit by a vehicle. We have NO dedicated bike paths near where I live, sadly. Until it’s safer to bike, our island remains a very dangerous place for anything as small and fragile as a cycle or bike, with it without a motor.
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In my neighborhood development, I ride on the street. In one section, there is even a nice bike lane. But out on the busier road (4 lanes, divided) I ride on the nice wide sidewalk. There are actually very few pedestrians, and it is easy to pass safely.
I believe we happen to have a speed limit at the trails near us. We actually have a lot (over 300 miles of rail trails). I think it’s 20 miles an hour. Road bikers and those training for events can go much faster than that on those trails and often do. Bike etiquette is very important. Weekends can be more challenging due to families with small kids on bikes etc. The speed variant tends to be highest. Electric bikes provide a new wrinkle though most people on the bike trails who use electric bikes seem to travel pretty reasonably. Frankly since the gradient is usually no more than 1 and occasionally 2% you really don’t need much assist. We have a fair amount of bike groups on the back roads around us. I haven’t noticed many e bikes in those groups. I’m guessing that would be frowned upon if not straight out not allowed amongst those riders. I won’t be using my bicycle to commute and frankly don’t see the need to use an e bike on our trails so I won’t be buying one. I can where they might be useful and don’t have an issue with them.
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Our multiuse trails have a 15 mph speed limit, but it’s not well posted, and not really enforced. But our trails are not rail trails and they meander a lot. The crew built it that way to make it a bit more interesting for the pedestrians vs a straight trail, and it does help keep bike speeds lower. We don’t have too many serious bikers around here, but they are typically found on the county roads which are quite dangerous. They are all blind hills & curves, 55 mph and no shoulder, just a deep ditch. I think almost every biker I know has gotten into an accident at some point. It’s not for me. Recreational bikers will be found on the trail and usually don’t go fast. I’ve actually passed some running!
Technically our trails say “no motorized vehicles” which probably would include e-bikes, but nobody enforces it. It’s basically the honor system around here. I don’t see people getting mad at someone using an assist if they need it. The original intent was to prohibit 4 wheelers and scooters.
Bikers are not allowed on sidewalks. They are considered vehicles, not pedestrians. That being said, nobody is going to ticket a kid riding on the sidewalk vs the street. We would prefer them to be there!
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Does anybody transport e-bike(s). Our friend that bought one has a small pickup truck (with “lid” on the cargo area, not a cap). He may get a hitch rack.
I’ve had the opposite perspective. I’m both a frequent walker and a biker of the same trials that are expressly designed for both and to be shared. I find it much more frustrating as a biker because its far more common for me to encounter poor behaving walkers than I encounter poor behaving bikers on those paths. Most bikers slow down, go as far away from the walkers as possible on the path, and announce themselves (as I do). Of course there are exceptions, but they are greatly out numbered by the poor behaving walkers.
Walkers are frequently are oblivious, act like the entire width of paths are for their personal and exclusive use and sometimes are overtly hostile to bikers even when the bikers are doing everything correctly. This is proportionately even more true of the older walkers. I can slow to a less than 1 MPH crawl, slowly cruise by an older man at least 6 feet away after having both dinged my bell and announced “on your left” and still get looks that can kill or even hostile comments as I glide by.
It also doesn’t help that many walkers use loud headphone or airpods in their ears so they can’t hear bells or loud announcements. It’s certainly your right to listen to something loud while you walk, but then you should be responsible for your situational awareness and not be surprised when someone passes you. It’s not your personal path and the path is designed for walkers and bikes. If you don’t know how to share, don’t use a public path.
Also, I have found that announcing “on your [right/left]” as you are supposed to do can actually be dangerous. I’ve lost count of the number of times if you announce “on your left” to someone on the right side of the path that their irrational reaction is to spin their body around to the left directly into the path you just advised was being passed on, then stand there like a deer in the headlights and look shocked. Come on people. It’s super easy. Expect the path to be shared, expect to be passed – by faster walkers, joggers, bikers – and be prepared.
There’s a common and well understood etiquette that both walkers and bikers are supposed to understand when sharing a public path. If people can’t abide by a few very simple rules of conduct they really shouldn’t be on the path as they just make it more dangerous for everyone.
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I’m going to push back a little here. I understand where you are coming from, but is this etiquette really common and well understood? Is this etiquette posted at entrances to the trails so people can see it? If someone is walking and hasn’t ridden a bike since they were a child, they may be unaware of these rules that you expect people to know and follow. If these rules aren’t posted then they might think they are in the right and you are doing something wrong. There is a saying that pedestrians always have the right of way. Maybe they are following this and not biking etiquette that they have never learned. Maybe these well understood rules are not really well understood. How are they supposed to understand them if they don’t even know they exist? I just think you are bring a bit harsh here on people who might not even know that you think they are doing something wrong.
A lot to unpack here.
First and foremost, pedestrians have the right of way over bikers. Always. By law. So ‘sharing’ is a nice concept, but not the law. Sure, walkers hogging the trail is not cool, but they do have 100% priority over those on wheels, even if the biker has to come to a full stop.
Long time marathoner, here, and former triathlete (so have done my share of biking). And greatly appreciate the early morning bikers who announce early and pass single file. And even better when the last member in a bike line announces that they are the ‘last’. But the fact is, like walkers walking four abreast hogging the trail, some bikers will ride 2-3 abreast bcos they too are in a conversation (and oblivious the common courtesy of single file passing). (Generally it’s the mid-day bikers, not those early morning serious riders.). And now we have families on e-bikes riding 2-3 abreast with the kids swerving all over the road awaiting their parents to catch up. What ever happened to single file? And for that matter, what about walking on the right, pass to the left? (At least most bikers adhere to this rule, and parents are trying to teach their kids.)
btw; even after many years on teh trails, it took me a long time to not jump left when I hear, ‘on your left’. It’s not intentional and certainly not personal, it was just an auto reaction. I still flinch when I hear it, but I know the best thing for me (and them) is to stay my course on the right side of the road and not make any sudden change of directions.
I think there is general courtesy that should go along with the rules of sharing the road. I’ve been driving in my car and clubs of bike riders were riding side by side taking up the whole lane. Of course they have the right if way…and I do stop. But it would be considerate if they rode in a single line especially when there is a line of cars behind them.
Same with runners. I know they have the right of way, but it’s general courtesy to move over…and allows others to pass…not take up a full lane of the road.
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In my area we also have a greenway that is shared by cyclists and walkers and the answers to your questions for our greenway are all yes. There are signs at each entrance telling folks to keep to the right and telling cyclists to call out “on your left” when they pass, which they do 60% of the time.
That said I do think that sometimes cyclists come flying through going way too fast. And also sometimes dog walkers let their dogs wander over to the other side of the greenway and stretch the leash across the whole greenway just perfect for tripping up a cyclist or a runner.
As a person who very occasionally bikes the greenway and very often walks it and very often drives my car on roads with bikes, I really wish the cyclists on the road would use the greenway. It drives me crazy that they don’t.
We have a situation like this:
| narrow 2 lane ROAD w/ no shoulder | 3 ft wide sidewalk | CREEK | 10 ft wide greenway |
Cyclists are in that road all the time when they could just pop over to the greenway and have more room to ride and no cars. Drives me nuts as a driver and sometimes as a walker.
The other day I was walking down the narrow sidewalk and a young adult guy was riding a bike down the narrow sidewalk (against traffic) right at me. W T F? I held my ground because I was on the sidewalk and I’m not going to jump out into traffic (the sidewalk was on the right and I was not walking facing the traffic). He very clumsily bounced down off the sidewalk when he saw I was not budging and said “sorry”. To be clear it’s a narrow 3 foot wide sidewalk with traffic on one side and a drop down to creek on the other side. I didn’t say anything but I was thinking “what the heck dude – get off the sidewalk!” If I am walking on that sidewalk the direction he was going facing traffic and other folks are coming up two abreast (too narrow for more than two walkers side by side) I usually get off into the road when no cars are coming because I am facing traffic and can see when it’s safe! Bike dude acted like I should share the narrow sidewalk with him when he could’ve been biking on the 10 foot wide greenway right on the other side of the creek. Some people are just clueless.
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A lot to digest here.
We have e-bikes - I have a rad power bike with pretty hefty fat tires. My husband ordered it about 4 years ago and while it’s easy to ride I find it heavy and a bit big for me. I do like how I sit on the bike. I tried another Rad bike that was smaller but I didn’t feel the reach was as comfortable. My husband has a Sonders that looks like a mountain bike. He likes that it doesn’t look like an e-bike. @Colorado_mom we do transport them on occasion. The Rad required a special sized tire holder on a rack designed for e-bikes. We had to wait over a year for the attachment to come in. My husband figured out he could get the existing rack to work for my bike by slightly deflating the tires and carrying a pump and pumping up when we got to our destination. They are very heavy to lift and get on the rack. I couldn’t do it on my own.
I like having the throttle. I like that I can give a bit of extra power to go up a hill without having to change my power assist level.
In my city they have e-bike racks around town that you can rent and return at any rack in the area. I haven’t done so but my daughter and her husband liked that. They would rent near their house, ride to an area. Drop off the bikes and enjoy lunch and pick up another bike for the trip home.
I see lots of kids on e-bikes, I know a lot of people complain about poor behavior but I see that it’s given teens a way of getting around without having to get a ride. My husband has played VB at the beach for 25 years and in the summer there is a camp that used to be a zoo at pickup time. Last night my husband said for the first year it’s very different as so many kids get themselves to and from the camp by e-bike. The kids seem to like the style where they can get a 2nd rider on the seat.
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I’ll have to keep an eye out for e-bikes around here. My impression is that it is older, mellow riders opting to have the extra assist. Lots of really serious cyclists in Colorado, and most would consider e-bikes cheating. Some of them go pretty fast, but they typically will be biking on roads rather than multi-purpose trails.
For my safety and also for consideration of others trying to pass me I only use one earpod for podcasts when running or walking. Once I had to abandoned a podcast that was recorded in stereo and did not work with single earpod. But I’ve listened to literally hundreds of podcast episodes where it worked just fine. If I listened to music, this method would not work.
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I live in an area that is extremely health conscious. Tons of serious cyclists but still a lot of e-bikes. My area of town has a lot of cyclists and runners due to the quiet roads and hills. It’s super annoying when the cyclist ride two or three across and it’s not safe to go around them due to blind corners.
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How easy is it to learn to ride an e-bike.? We leisure ride a trail in our area where a number of visitors to the local city rent bikes or now e-bikes to use on it. I’d thought about renting e-bikes to go the entire length and see if we like them. Then on a recent ride I saw two separate incidents where people lost control of their e-bike and went down and in one case down as it sped forward. Luckily no one was seriously hurt.
I will admit when I hear a smug “passing on your left” and it turns out to be an e-bike I do mutter something like “try some actual exercise.”
No muttering. I would definitely say that out loud. That person on the e-bike passing on your left could be me! 
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I’m guessing those people may have been using what I call “fake” e-bikes, or basically rebranded mopeds. If it has a throttle and you don’t need to pedal to achieve motion, it’s a moped calling itself an e-bike because the latter is considered cooler now.
A traditional e-bike still requires the user to actively pedal to move and if you stop pedaling it will coast to a stop just like a bike. Or you can brake with your hands, just like a non-e-bike. Traditional e-bikes also intentionally top out on assistance in the 20’s MPH (and to get to that speed you need to be pedaling very hard). So the learning curve for riding is zero because it looks, feels, rides exactly like a bike. The only learning curve is how to charge it and turn the pedal assist on or off (or change level of assist on some e-bikes).
If you have never ridden a traditional e-bike, think of it kind of like what it feels like when you are pedaling your regular bike downhill with the wind to your back – same process, you just achieve more results for the same energy.
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First, as someone else noted, these rules are often posted. But that’s really beside the point because very few people read posted rules anyway.
I didn’t learn the etiquette as a biker, I learned it as a walker observing bikers. As adults, we shouldn’t have a free pass to ignore information and stimuli and then stubbornly claim ignorance. It doesn’t take much walking on a path shared by bikers to observe the pattern of behavior. Making the assumption that pattern is because everyone else is doing it wrong is willfully ignorant and arrogant. When I started doing path walks, well before I took up biking sometimes, it took minutes to figure out that bikes (and runners and even faster walkers) will be passing and that the polite ones alert you when they are about to and that I should not stay in the center of the path assuming I’m the only user. Now I could have said to myself, “what are those bikes doing on my path!” or “while are they startling me by alerting me” or whatever, but as a thinking/processing human I instead deduced that this was smart, rational behavior that people had worked out long before me to cope with this shared resource and that if I found myself biking I should do so as well.
Almost no one reads books on etiquette yet most of us are capable of making many actions in our daily lives that are based on social etiquette. No one needs to read a rule or be told that they shouldn’t cut the line. It’s one thing if you are doing something for the first time. It’s another when you do so regularly and still choose to ignore it. Same applies to all kinds of things – staying in the passing lane when traffic is faster on your right, standing on the left side of a double width escalator, etc.
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I gotta say - I believe a lot of this is just common sense. I bicycle a lot, often on paths shared by walkers. I always give notice that I’m coming, stay as far away from walkers as is reasonably possible, and get thanked regularly by walkers.
If you’re a walker on a shared use path, I think it’s your responsibility to understand the “very normal” rules of the road.
Young kids, whether they are walking or riding, get full right of way and often I slow way down for them. But adults should own making smart decisions and respect that they need to figure out how the path culture works.
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Seems like we’re saying the same thing.
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