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Comment by verelo | Hacker News Reader

I wish you luck with the ebike, but personally i feel like they're problematic.

It could just be our roads here though; the issue I find is that they're too fast for bike lanes [risk to cyclists], but too slow for the road [cars frequently pass them at higher speeds and very close-by]. It seems like everyone is frustrated and the ebikers are just being pushed around by everyone.

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What kind of e-bikes do people have in Canada? Electric-assist types, or ones with a throttle?

In Europe the assist-type is way more common, limited to 25 km/h and at least in Germany the stereotypical user is an elder person that now suddenly can go a bit faster and go comfortably up hills.

I've seen both, the Electric-assist seem less common [or maybe just harder to identify?]. The ones that I see as not really fitting in are the larger ones that look kind of like an electric Vespa.

Ah, yes, those really don't mix well with neither bike lanes nor cars.

They seem to be the worst of both worlds, I think there has been a lot of controversy about them using bike lanes in The Netherlands lately.

That's not a bike but an electric scooter. They shouldn't be on bike paths nor pedestrian sidewalks. They have more in common with a motor bike or dirt bike than they do with a bicycle.

EA bikes just can really only be identified by their battery packs. The motor can be embedded in the wheel hub or in the pedal crank.

In the UK they are limited to 25km/h in the USA it's 32 km/h. Although a lot of grey market imports are much faster

In the UK you only get assistance up to 15.5mph on an eBike (legally) so they're generally no quicker than a normal bike

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