I continue to love my e-bike for my daily commute and errands. It gets me to work in ~20 minutes when either the metro or driving take closer to 45. I can get there in my suit and tie without sweating, even in the summer. It’s also great for zipping to and from meetings during the workday, which I do pretty frequently. Finally, it makes hauling groceries, kids, trailers and other errands a breeze.
I also find that it makes me a better behaved cyclist. There’s no motivation to try and maintain momentum, so I stop at every light.
I built mine on an old mountain bike from an ebikes.ca kit. They aren’t the most cost effective route but offer good parts, turn-key installation, and great support. On the throttle vs. pedalec debate, after trying both I’ve found that I prefer the throttle. I find it easier to modulate the motor during starts to set off smoothly and maintain traction. It’s also helpful not to have the motor kick on if you’re just soft pedaling up to a light while changing gears. I also tend not to use it once I’m up to speed, since leg power can keep you going just fine.
The Riide bike linked in the article looks interesting. Keeping the design a simple to maintain single speed has a lot of merit. The only thing that troubles me about their design is that the battery is integrated into the frame, so you have to bring the whole bike indoors for charging. I may store my bike in our foyer/living room, but that might not be feasible for many apartment dwellers.
And if you’re not feeling up to it, just keep pedaling.