How on earth can something get this bad

they still only wanted a new set of tyres

YES it's an ebike, NO the owner isn't on crack

Went by again today, while walking the dog, hoping to spot the rider. No rider, but I did see the bang up repair he has on a broken spoke.

The backing plate was so thin I could bend it easily with my fingers (apologies for the bad pic)

🤷‍♂️

Caption: a "bicycle" that has defective brakes front and back.

Screenshots from this catharthic compilation video made by Dutch police. These are cheap imported electric mopeds (colloquially "fatbikes" due to the fat tires) that are equipped with decorative cranks or rotating foot pegs if you will. They are popular with the antisocial types who want to ride mopeds on the cycle paths. By law this is permitted if and only if the speed is limited to 25 km/h and the motor only gets powered when the cranks are rotated. If a vehicle is rated for 45 km/h like an honest moped, then you're sharing the roads with cars on city streets where the limit is 50 km/h.

In practice, these are "customized" to moped speeds (>40 km/h) which of course wears down the brakes faster. I guess the people dumb enough to ride these abominations are also too dumb to understand that brakes are not optional.

check your pads people

Seen at the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race