A few months back I purchased a Volt electric mo-ped from zero-e-motors. It took a while to get the paperwork through the DMV as they hadn’t sold one to someone in Oregon yet. But that’s all been settled for a while, and today I broke 250 miles.

The bike goes about 34mph if I’m on a strait stretch for a while. It has a tough time with any kind of hill, so my routes to and from places end up going through more neighborhoods than they would if I were in a car. I get passed illegally almost every day. I’ll be doing 28 in a 30 zone, and somebody will swing across a solid yellow line to pass me. Generally only to stop at a signal a few feet down the road.

It’s certainly made me much more conscious of how I drive my car, how fast I accelerate, how much I can maximize coasting etc. I’ve also noticed that Eugene is not a very motorcycle friendly place. Bike friendly perhaps, but motorcycles are the third-class citizens here. Better signage on all free-to-park spots, more free on-street parking, and more acceptance of riders.

On the acceptance of riders front, earlier this month I parked on street downtown (legally) and when I returned to my bike hours later someone had picked it up and moved it onto the sidewalk. (It weighs about 300lbs so it was probably quite a pain to do and required multiple people.) I’m just glad I didn’t get a ticket for parking on the sidewalk!

Did you know that while the UO has on-street motorcycle parking, in order to park there you must buy a permit?

We’ve got a lot of work to do…

2 Comments »