瞪羚式的荷兰式电动自行车会代替汽车

These are not just bikes with motors, they are an entirely different mobility platform.

这些不仅仅是带有马达的自行车，它们是一个完全不同的移动平台。

About the Bike

关于自行车

First, let's talk about the bike. Gazelle has been making bikes in the Netherlands since 1892, and their e-bikes have all the attributes of classic dutch-style bikes: solid, heavy, durable, with a comfortable upright riding position. The Medeo, which I have been riding, is their lowest priced model, starting at about US$2500. It has a 250 watt Bosch mid-motor churning out 50 Nm of torque and a 400 watt-hour battery that will push it about 59 miles in ECO mode. I have been using it mostly in Tour mode, which will go approximately 33 miles.

首先，我们来谈谈自行车。Gazelle公司自1892年起就在荷兰生产自行车，他们的电动自行车具备了传统荷兰风格自行车的所有特点:坚固、笨重、耐用，直立骑姿舒适。我骑过的Medeo是他们价格最低的车型，起价约2500美元。它有一个250瓦的博世中置马达，产生50纳米的扭矩，400瓦时的电池可以推动它在生态模式下大约59英里。我大部分时间都是在旅行模式下使用它，大概能跑33英里。

Gazell Medeo on the Bentway Park/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

It is a step-through design which at first I had to force myself to use. In fact, this is much easier. The bike is substantial and has real inertia, taking a push to get going but then never stops. It feels solid, stable, confident. In Tour mode I play nicely with others in the bike lane, going at about the pace of the 25 year old commuters, getting passed by the speedsters.

这是一个一步一步的设计，起初我不得不强迫自己使用。事实上，这要容易得多。这辆自行车很结实，有真正的惯性，需要推动才能开动，但永远不会停下来。它让人感觉坚实、稳定、自信。在游览模式下，我和自行车道上的其他人玩得很愉快，以25岁的上班族的速度前行，被那些超速驾驶者超越。

Battery and brakes/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

The battery is up high too, built into the carrier. I thought this might be a problem, that perhaps it would be better to keep the weight low, but it's a great carrier and I never noticed issues of centre of gravity.

电池的位置也很高，内置在载体上。我认为这可能是一个问题，也许它会更好地保持低重量，但它是一个伟大的承运人，我从来没有注意到重心的问题。

There are a couple of caveats. For e-bikes really to eat cars, they need two things that drivers of cars take for granted: a place to drive and a place to park. We need good, safe and separate bike lanes and routes so that people feel comfortable. That's why Egbert Brasjen can ride his e-bike at age 96. With the right infrastructure, you can ride this forever.

这里有几个警告。如果电动自行车真的要代替汽车，它们需要驾驶者认为理所当然的两样东西:一个开车的地方和一个停车的地方。我们需要好的、安全的、独立的自行车道和路线，这样人们才会感到舒适。这就是为什么埃格伯特·布拉斯扬在96岁的时候还能骑电动自行车的原因。有了正确的基础设施，你可以永远驾驭它。

$250 worth of Abus locks/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

We also need safe, secure places to lock our bikes. I have been very nervous, leaving a $2500 bike on Toronto streets, where 3700 bikes were stolen last year and only one percent recovered. I paid more for the 2 Abus locks than I have paid for some bikes, and including the AXA lock that comes with the bike, I am following the lock-per-hour rule I learned from an Abus rep from Chicago: "If I go to a three-hour movie, I put three locks on the bike."

我们还需要安全的地方来锁我们的自行车。我一直很紧张，因为我把一辆价值2500美元的自行车丢在了多伦多的大街上，去年那里有3700辆自行车被盗，只有1%被找回。我花在两把车锁上的钱比我买一些自行车的钱还多，包括车上的AXA锁，我遵循的是我从芝加哥的Abus代表那里学到的每小时上锁的规则:“如果我去看一场三个小时的电影，我就给自行车上三把锁。”

Riding in Toronto's always lovely and safe Harbord Street bike lane a few days ago, I pulled up beside a blue 1990 Mazda Miata, identical to the one I sold last fall. I started talking to the driver, a guy about my age, about how I sold mine and was now riding this e-bike; it was faster in the city, and I didn't have to put the top down to get sun and air, and I was using it much more than I ever used the car. We talked at every light for a number of blocks, about how I no longer felt safe in the car mixing in traffic with big SUVs, and actually feel safer in the bike lane on the Gazelle.

几天前，我在多伦多一向可爱而安全的海港街自行车道骑车，停在一辆1990年产的蓝色马自达旁边，它和我去年秋天买的那辆一模一样。我开始和司机聊起我的年龄，聊起我是如何卖掉自己的车，现在骑着这辆电动自行车的;在城市里，它的速度更快，我不需要把车顶放下来获得阳光和空气，我用它的次数比我用汽车的次数多。我们在几个街区的每一盏灯前交谈，谈论我在与大型suv混在一起的汽车中是如何不再感到安全，而在瞪羚大道的自行车道上实际上感到更安全。

Virginia Block at Amego/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

The Gazelle Medeo is not just a bike with a motor. It's a model for an entirely different mobility platform, a different way to get around cities, and perhaps more importantly, around suburbs that are too diffuse for a regular bike. It's a transportation revolution and it will eat everything.

Gazelle Medeo不仅仅是一辆带马达的自行车。这是一种完全不同的移动平台的模式，一种不同的城市出行方式，或许更重要的是，在普通自行车无法使用的分散郊区出行。这是一场交通革命，它会吞噬一切。