The E-bike Debate!

A few days ago in my Facebook feed, there was a post about an E-bike demo day that had just taken place on a local trail system. That post started up the old debate about E-bikes. The opinions on this subject are everything from, "they are motorized vehicles and should not be on the trail". To "they are not because you still have to pedal the bike".

I guess a year or so ago when I was at the beach, that was the first time I heard about an E-Bike. I believe my first comment was why would you want an E-Bike? I was told because your non-riding friend or family member will be able to ride and keep up with you (people who ride all the time). Well at the time that made some sense.

After reading the post about the E-Bike demo day I have more of an opinion on this debate. First off I want to say I do think the E-Bike has its place but it's not on the trail. I think that if it has a motor then it's motorized and is a motorized vehicle. Now I know that can be debated and I am okay with that.

We have to think back years ago to the first motorcycle. The first motorcycle was built when someone put a motor on a bicycle and over time the motors became more powerful and the bicycle with a motor became a motorcycle. I see that today's E-Bike is just the first generation and that we will see the E-Bike motor either get smaller and lighter or stronger/faster or both.

So my E-Bike opinion is not based on where we are today but on where we will be years from now.

Okay, I did state that the E-Bike has its place. I believe that place is with the cargo bike. This is the perfect application for pedal-assisted bicycles. If you do the cargo bike lifestyle thing, and use your cargo bike in place of a car. I can see needing a motor to assist you on that type of bike.

I am interested in your point of view on this.