Simon Cowell crashed on a......

[cmg]

For those that are interested in what kind of bike Simon Cowell crashed on its a "Forbes confirmed with Cowell’s company SVP Syco Entertainment US that he was in fact riding a SWIND EB-01 electric motorbike." He poped a wheelie and fell of the back. Surgery followed.

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a33563310/simon-cowell-breaks-back-in-ebike-accident/

So this is how we go electric, just get them street legal and they'll take over. In case you want more... https://swind.life/products/swind-eb-01-mountain/

[stackie]

The Swind has a top speed of 60 mph.

Bicycle? I think not. It even looks like a motorcycle.

That’s a motorcycle that you can drive without a motorcycle license or training. Recipe for disaster.

Jon

[Veloo]

Didn't know it was that kind of "electric" bike.

Felt bad for him at first but yeah, that's just dumb.

[Davist]

More dollars than sense, like a lot of Hollywood types, I'd say..

[pdmtong]

The issue with any electric bike is now we have given speed and in this case power to the unskilled.

Used to see this all the time - ebike riders behaving in completely unpredictable ways because they can dart and accelerate with ease

I throttled an electric scooter and the thing shot out from under me - it takes some practice to get the control response dialed

[PaMtbRider]

I saw this posted somewhere else. I believe the price tag on that thing is $21,000 usd.

[Veloo]

With the exchange rate, that's about what I paid for my 2013 Subaru Impreza.

I saw this posted somewhere else. I believe the price tag on that thing is $21,000 usd.

[Toeclips]

Check off bike riding as not a talent

Every picture I've seen in the news he's not wearing a helmet

[unterhausen]

and, strangely enough, he didn't have a head injury.

It's a bit weird everyone gets all excited over an e-motorcycle and yet they don't care about cars that can go 150 mph being driven on neighborhood streets. Often at highway speeds.

The bike Cowell crashed on can't be licensed anywhere.

[benb]

We're definitely in a wild west era right now.

That thing is in a loophole zone. IMO there's no way that thing should be sold without a registration and should not be legal for anyone without a class M license to ride.

And of course should not be allowed anywhere other motorcycles are not allowed... sorry an eBike with 10x the power of an elite cyclist is not a bicycle period just cause you put some vestigial cranks on it.

I don't even blame Cowell here if he doesn't have a Motorcycle license and just didn't know any better.

[Mark McM]

We're definitely in a wild west era right now.

That thing is in a loophole zone. IMO there's no way that thing should be sold without a registration and should not be legal for anyone without a class M license to ride.

I don't think this thing is any kind of legal loophole. It is clearly a motorcycle, and subject to all the laws of motorcycles when ridden on the road. The only loophole here, if you can call it that, is that the Swind is marketed as an off-road bike, and when ridden off-road doesn't need to licensed or registered. Cowell was apparently riding this bike on his private property, so didn't need a license.

As far riding on the road, here in Massachusetts, the laws on the books haven't quite kept up on technology between mopeds and e-bikes (according to the letter of the law, e-bikes are mopeds here). But mopeds still require a drivers license, and are limited to 30 mph. If this thing an go 60 mph, then in Massachusetts it is a motorcycle, and requires a motorcycle license to operate on the streets.

[merlinmurph]

The initial stories I read described it as an "electric bicycle" and "e-bike" - their words.

Is that really an e-bike? 15kW?


OTOH, I met an older couple (70s) in a campground near Acadia NP and after seeing their e-bikes, I asked them how they liked them. They told me that a ranger saw their e-bikes and told them they could not ride the bike trails because their bikes had throttles. Just an example of the mess this is. There is no easy answer.

[Mark McM]

The initial stories I read described it as an "electric bicycle" and "e-bike" - their words.

Is that really an e-bike? 15kW?

15 kW translates to roughly 20 horsepower. That close to the power of a Honda CRF250 off-road motorcycle (and twice the horsepower of a Honda CRF125 off-road motorcycle.)

The pubic tends to associate anything with pedal cranks as a "bicycle", whether it is like a bicycle in any other way or not. Like the oxymoronically named "stationary bicycle" (a bicycle is a two wheeled pedal powered vehicle - a "stationary bicycle" neither has wheels nor is a vehicle).

I'm not sure what Swind's angle is marketing this as an e-bike - maybe trying to increase their customer base. I'm sure this isn't the last serious accident that will be had with it.

[cmg]

from the manufacturer's site. "Delivering a staggering 15kW of electric power, this is the most technically advanced and powerful electric bicycle on the market." this is a bicycle?

[raygunner]

I just purchased an e-cargo bike the other day and when I told my mom she said "oh no, you should return it...didn't you hear what happened to...that guy?"

[ultraman6970]

To ride w/o a lincense at least here you have a top speed of like 25 mph, since when 60mph is street legal?

As for his accident, well... you have to know what are you doing even to go over 25mph IMO.

Locally im just waiting for accidents to happen in the trail involving regular bikes and electric bikes.

[Velocipede]

Jay Kay was faster

[benb]

Meh.. when you have any real power you need to know what you're doing even to go pedal bike speeds... cause serious motorcycles have a ton more power & brakes and such and weigh a lot more than a bicycle. This thing is a serious motorcycle. Maybe it's got the power of a CR250... but it probably has the torque of a liter bike too. And it's that ultra low end torque an electric motor has that's the hardest thing to control. Though if it's got bicycle brakes it's probably staggeringly short on brakes compared to a CR.

The majority of cyclists the majority of the time get away with behavior that will dump you on the ground really fast on a motorcycle.

I'm 99% sure my handling/cornering/emergency braking skills have deteriorated a lot since I stopped riding a motorcycle.

You have to be consciously aware of the correct way to ride a 2-wheeled vehicle constantly and do the correct things when riding a big powerful motorcycle. On a bicycle you're constantly doing silly stuff and get away with it cause the bike weighs nothing and has a ton of grip and no power. Bad turn in behavior, dangerous use of the brakes, etc..

[slowpoke]

You have to be consciously aware of the correct way to ride a 2-wheeled vehicle constantly and do the correct things when riding a big powerful motorcycle. On a bicycle you're constantly doing silly stuff and get away with it cause the bike weighs nothing and has a ton of grip and no power. Bad turn in behavior, dangerous use of the brakes, etc..

Can you expand on this? I assume bicycles, with less mass, are more forgiving when you enter a turn too hot compared to motorcycles. What else would one need to be more conscientious about?

[KJMUNC]

I see this all the time in our beach town and have been thinking about this issue for a while: I see kids ripping around town on "e-bikes" that are really bikes with batteries (not like this, an electric motorcycle), but they still easily hit 25-30mph immediately, and kids are riding on sidewalks, through parks, etc.....areas they'd never be allowed with a motorcycle, nor even a pedal bike at that speed.

I suspect it's going to come to a head when one of them gets seriously injured or runs into someone else and causes a major injury.

I love seeing more people on bikes (e-bike or otherwise), but the e-bike industry/OEM should really find a way to take a leadership role in shaping the direction of municipal codes or they're going to get a reputation not unlike the dreaded "bird/lime scooters"

[54ny77]

Was on popular path in my area last weekend and some moron on an e-bike with a trailer with kid in back ripped past me, no horn or anything, doing at least mid-high 25s mph. Came close at the pass, but a decent distance (a few feet). A reasonable pace on the path is mid teens. He was pretty much double that. Farther up trail he was weaving around people at speed. Just stupid.

Frankly, that's a moped, not a bike. I don't know what the answer is on allowing them on paths, because I have a pal who rides one but needs the assist for medical reasons. He also doesn't go screaming along on trails.

I guess put an idiot behind the wheel of anything fast (car) and they'll behave accordingly. Let Darwin sort that out for them and hopefully not involve me!

[benb]

Can you expand on this? I assume bicycles, with less mass, are more forgiving when you enter a turn too hot compared to motorcycles. What else would one need to be more conscientious about?

Being aware of counter steering & consciously doing it is the big one.

[Mr. Pink]

https://www.treehugger.com/simon-cowell-did-not-fall-off-an-e-bike-5074440

[marciero]

from the manufacturer's site. "Delivering a staggering 15kW of electric power, this is the most technically advanced and powerful electric bicycle on the market." this is a bicycle?


Gotta love the marketing "staggering", "brutally fast", "insane", etc. At 15kW it 's more horsepower than the dirt bikes I rode as a kid.


...
Maybe it's got the power of a CR250... but it probably has the torque of a liter bike too. And it's that ultra low end torque an electric motor has that's the hardest thing to control. Though if it's got bicycle brakes it's probably staggeringly short on brakes compared to a CR.



A bit less at ~20hp but yeah, this.

Does it have twist grip throttle too?

[colker]

I see guys zooming their ebikes on MUT paths everyday. It´s indeed the wild west.

[peanutgallery]

E bikes will be the next Boomer Remover. It is known that the Velcro straps from podiatrist sourced, New Balance shoes raise havoc with electronics:) They are all kinds of chaos on the rail trail at the moment

With e bikes, there are going to be some growing pains. No...it isn't going to save the industry

[unterhausen]

Does it have twist grip throttle too?
It has to, it's not meant to pass any sort of regulatory scrutiny.

[oldpotatoe]

The initial stories I read described it as an "electric bicycle" and "e-bike" - their words.

Is that really an e-bike? 15kW?


OTOH, I met an older couple (70s) in a campground near Acadia NP and after seeing their e-bikes, I asked them how they liked them. They told me that a ranger saw their e-bikes and told them they could not ride the bike trails because their bikes had throttles. Just an example of the mess this is. There is no easy answer.

BIG difference between an 'E' assist bike and a 'E' powered bike. Throttle?? An electric scooter with rotating pedals. No different really than the pile Cowell fell off of.

[AngryScientist]

as i opined in another thread, only rich idiots would buy this kind of bike.

it's a non street legal twenty one thousand, five hundred dollar monstrosity.

for that huge amount of money, you can pretty much have any motorcycle you want, and have it street legal.


that said, the outcome is really not at all surprising. tourists wind up in the hospital ALL the time after crashing scooters rented without having any idea how to ride a 2-wheeled vehicle with even a little power.

[ultraman6970]

Is cowell able to walk or not?? havent seen anything besides he broke his back.

[Hellgate]

Looks like a blast to me. On terrain/flow/downhill park it would be a hoot!

This is really a tweener bike, not really a bicycle, not a motorcycle.

I'm got a fair number of miles on Zero and Energica electric motorcycles and they are very fun. Not much different from gasoline motorcycles and they're not difficult to ride, in fact once you get used to the fact you don't shift it becomes second nature.

In this case Cowell screwed up and didn't keep the rear brake covered during his ill-fated wheelie. Purely rider error m

[merlinmurph]

Thought while on my ride....

I wonder if the pedals actually do anything. That is, if you spin the cranks, do they actually engage the drivetrain, or do they just spin, maybe for legal reasons.

[ultraman6970]

Well... is that sold as a bicycle or a motorcycle, here in VA just for the speed that thing will be an electric motorcycle.

[Asudef]

Reminds me of this Cycling Tips article that made a good argument about e-bikes. (https://cyclingtips.com/2018/08/jra-with-the-angry-asian-enough-with-the-e-bike-hate-already/)
Thats definitely a motor vehicle class just loopholed as a bicycle but at least its off road where you can only really hurt yourself.

[Hellgate]

I really don't get the hate here. It's a cool bike. Yes it is different but it's 2 wheels. I gets people outside riding. Just because it doesn't meet your definition of riding doesn't make bad. Or is it because people are jealous of the Cowell?

Some days this is the most curmudgeonly place.

Oh, I hate gravel bikes, er, CX bikes. So there! [emoji6] No, I really do hate "gravel" bikes.

[slowpoke]

The hate is not not against ebikes.

It's about people (enabled by ebikes) traveling in a MUP or bike lane faster than the average traffic flow, which presents a possible danger.

[Velocipede]

Codpiece Cowell is thinking of suing the company now.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9047241/Simon-Cowell-considers-legal-action-against-electric-bike-company-breaking-back.html?ito=facebook_share_article-bottom&fbclid=IwAR02U62NTHRj0PeInSsWahxHE60OyLDc9-RZX8Kezxsi3yTSsc3wehIf4_Y