It does feel like this is such an untapped market. Think commuters, credit cart tourers, tourism around a spread out city. Something that is safer than a motorcycle and faster than a bike.
In Germany at least the routes are a lot prettier because they go through forests and villages. It's what got me to cycle more and ride my motorcycle less.
Being in a train certainly improves safety, but being kind of slow is not very safe when you're forced to share the road with cars going at least twice your speed.
It's not safer than a motorcycle. Motorcycles have lights and signals and can accelerate away from danger. Plus the riders are generally covered head to toe in safety equipment, whereas nobody is ever going to wear leathers on a push bike.
I disagree. A perfect rider is still safer at 20 mph than 60+. There are just unforeseen things that happen, like deer, and the same perfect rider has more time to handle those things at slower speed, and the consequences are less severe.
And this is borne out in the statistics -- there's no reason to believe motorcycle riders are any better or worse than cyclists at bike handling / driving skills, but the motorcyclists certainly die more on average. I suppose if you're an amazing motorcyclists but a shit bicyclist, stick to motorbikes, but that seems pretty far-fetched.
(Safety gear like armored jackets, pants, gloves, and boots -- available to motorcyclists but impractical for cyclists -- certainly helps at the margin. Nevertheless, the stats are worse for motorcycles. I'm not saying don't ride motorcycles -- I have in the past and will again. More speed just doesn't make you safer.)
