Lyft Pulls Its Electric Bikes From the Bay Area After Four Catch on Fire (siliconvalley.com) 52
"Lyft's Wednesday move to pull all its black and pink electric bikes from the East Bay, San Francisco and San Jose came after flammable battery packs or vandalism caused at least four bikes to catch fire," reports the Bay Area Newsgroup:
San Jose city officials are encouraged by the fact no one was injured when a bike caught fire there on Tuesday, said Colin Heyne, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation... "They have no intention of re-introducing the bikes until they know what the problem is and have fixed it," Heyne said. "We'll work with them to get a full picture of what they are doing to investigate these batteries and what they will go through for safety testing before they relaunch the bikes...."
Representatives from Lyft reached out to the city on Wednesday after two fires were reported in San Francisco over the past week, he said, and told them it would deactivate the e-bikes until it could remove them from its fleet...
Lyft spokeswoman Julie Wood declined to answer questions about the incidents, other than to say no one was injured.... Wood on Thursday didn't respond to repeated questions from this news organization about whether there were any fires involving the e-bikes outside of San Francisco.
Lyft told the paper at least one of the fires was causd by vandalism (and not a malfunctioning battery) but acknowledged they weren't sure what caused the next two bike fires.
One frequent cycler wondered why Lyft didn't simply offer their customers regular (non-electric) bicycles? He told the newspaper that the disruption in service was frustrating -- though "I understand the safety concern and I don't want there to be a battery exploding between my legs when I'm riding the bike around."
The paper also notes reports that Lyft "pulled its black electric assist bikes in April after problems with the brakes caused some riders to careen over the handlebars."
Representatives from Lyft reached out to the city on Wednesday after two fires were reported in San Francisco over the past week, he said, and told them it would deactivate the e-bikes until it could remove them from its fleet...
Lyft spokeswoman Julie Wood declined to answer questions about the incidents, other than to say no one was injured.... Wood on Thursday didn't respond to repeated questions from this news organization about whether there were any fires involving the e-bikes outside of San Francisco.
Lyft told the paper at least one of the fires was causd by vandalism (and not a malfunctioning battery) but acknowledged they weren't sure what caused the next two bike fires.
One frequent cycler wondered why Lyft didn't simply offer their customers regular (non-electric) bicycles? He told the newspaper that the disruption in service was frustrating -- though "I understand the safety concern and I don't want there to be a battery exploding between my legs when I'm riding the bike around."
The paper also notes reports that Lyft "pulled its black electric assist bikes in April after problems with the brakes caused some riders to careen over the handlebars."
I had to make this joke (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
And the Lucite Award for impressive first post goes to...
Spontaneous combustion (Score:3, Funny)
SHERIFF: "What could have done that to him? Gasoline? Napalm?"
AGENT ROGERSZ: "It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes."
-- Repo Man
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
It's the technology, not a single brand of the technology. No Konas have been recalled because of the incident but also no Teslas.
Re: (Score:2)
Better Headline (Score:4, Funny)
Lyft's Bykes are on Fyre!
Why electric bikes? (Score:1)
It's not like the Bay Area has ridiculously steep hills everywhere. Just pedal you lazy bastards and show up to work drenched in sweat with a leg cramp.
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know about Lyft, but the bike share ebikes I have tried are grossly underpowered for their enormous weight. They basically offer a more pleasant experience on flat terrain to people who aren't regular cyclists, but if anything they're harder to get up serious hills than a conventional bike with low gears.
Despite its iconic hills, a lot of San Francisco is reasonably flat; most people could get by in most places without a motor at all. Still given the likelihood users will want to tackle those famou
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't count too much on bike handling skills you learned "long ago" on a bike with new and profoundly weird geometry.
These bikes generally mimic old school English three speeds (technically called "roadsters"). That's a good idea, because roadsters are comfortable for short rides and beginner-friendly. A roadster is maneuverable at low speeds but has good high speed manners.
The problem is they don't quite get the formula right. At walking speeds these bikes feel quite a bit like those old school Ralei
Re: (Score:2)
Commuting speed is over 12 mph. I suspect the issue is really one that would be easy to fix by adjusting the fork offset by a dozen mm or so.
Re: (Score:2)
SF is full of hills, South Bay not so much. I saw an electric bike last week and it sort of surprised me, mostly because the rider was in the very middle of the auto lane and not in the bike lane 40mph (65kph) is not a good speed to have while on a bicycle in heavy traffic. Or even low traffic.
Whats wrong with disruption? (Score:5, Insightful)
" He told the newspaper that the disruption in service was frustrating "
But isn't that the whole point of silicon valley start-ups , to disrupt?
Oh wait, I guess its only ok when it happens to common people and their jobs, not hipsters.
Re: (Score:1)
" He told the newspaper that the disruption in service was frustrating "
But isn't that the whole point of silicon valley start-ups , to disrupt?
Oh wait, I guess its only ok when it happens to common people and their jobs, not hipsters.
Shouldn't that be "hipster"?
I swear there's just one hipster in the entire fucking universe, living a multiply-folded timeline.
"See how we're all different together!" - the battle cry of the hipster.
Re: (Score:2)
Contrary to the obviously prevailing opinion - given the points you've received - playing games with words might sound cute but making an actual point it does not.
Re: (Score:2)
In the DC area they have a partnership with Capital Bikeshare. In NYC they partner with Citibike.
Does Lyft not have a similar arrangement in SF?
Back in the day... (Score:3)
...Lyft's response to this would be, "But we're just a startup!"
That don't fly anymore.
But, seriously, how hard is it to make a working electric assist bicycle? Haven't these been around since the 1890's?
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, but it's hard to make them vandal proof, which is what is suspect here.