r/baywheels

Safe to say this is how people are getting to the fireworks.

Lyft is introducing a newly designed version of their e-bikes in SF.
They are lighter, which is a good thing.

But I took one out today and I want to report a serious design flaw.
Once that negatively impacts comfort and safety.

The nut/bolt assembly for the seat used to be facing the back of the bike.
Now it is facing the front and sticking out an inch on each side, which hits shorter riders right in the mid-thigh area, with each downstroke of the pedals.

This is very uncomfortable.
I would assume for taller riders, this isn't an issue, since it might align with their calves, which are generally a thinner part of the body.
But it is definitely noticeable for shorter riders and is dangerous because it can leave a scrape when stopping short when needing to bike defensively.

Any idea how this design issue could be escalated to corporate/management?
Rather than a whole redesign, maybe the nut/bolt assembly can just be made smaller, so as to protrude less.

(If they replace all Lyft ebikes with this new configuration without any changes, it might actually give me the ammunition to buy my own ebike, instead of using Lyft -- because I just don't feel comfortable riding the new ones)

Decided to lest out a throttle bike kinda disappointing as I’m usually able to pedal much faster