What is it with these eBikes anyway?
The ads are profuse and the sightings are climbing. Ebikes
are the next big thing for the gasoline disgruntled among us. They are clean, cheap modes of transportation for those of us that prefer to arrive at work a little less sweaty than the tri-athlete set. For short commutes and the odd running around they are the perfect solution to save on gas.
But damn are they ugly!… …or they were. The new crop of ebike however is stylized much differently than your crazy uncle’s retrofit. Starting at about $1295 CAN and sporting a scooter like appearance, the sleak lines, and fully operational turn signals and high beam headlights sometimes make it diffcult to tell the difference between these and their gasoline powered cousins. In fact the only real tell tale sign are by the pedals sticking out the side.
Most advertisements will also claim, somewhat truthfully, that ebikes require no insurance, licensing or other restrictions. Although that may be true by the letter of the law, there is still a bit of smoke and mirrors going on once you dig deeper.