ON YER e-bike
KEEP UP WITH THE FAMILY BY DITCHING THE PEDAL POWER
Your son told you what you needed was an e-bike. You nodded agreement without having the slightest idea what an e-bike could be. So what is an e-bike and why would your son be recommending one to a 60-year-old? An e-bike is a bicycle with a built-in electric motor. It allows you to use traditional pedal power yet switch to the electric motor to provide propulsion when you need it. There’s a wide range of e-bikes, from those that look like a sturdy bike to those more like a moped. Your son is probably suggesting a small bike for you. You can get your exercise using pedal power but when you tire, at the flick of a switch, you can let the motor do the work. They also allow you to keep up when you’re out riding with younger members of the family. Your son’s advice could be sound, particularly if you’ve been a cyclist for much of your life. You’ll probably pay around $3000 for one.
You borrowed a water blaster from a friend and while you were using it, it died. It now needs a new motor or to be replaced. What are your obligations to your friend – buy a new one or take the view it was on its last legs anyway? Assuming you were not misusing it, I would take the latter point of view. I would find out how much a similar water blaster would have cost to hire for the time you had it and offer that amount to help the owner buy a new one. Hopefully, the owner will decline your offer, accepting he’d be up for a new one anyway. Don’t pay more than that. Don’t agree to share the cost of a new one unless you want to share ownership. And certainly don’t agree to any notion that, because you were using it when it died, it’s your responsibility to replace it.