General Motors starts taking orders for its electric bicycle

a) if you're going to have a full length bike that doesn't fold, use something resembling a fat 29er (700C) mountain bike frame. It'll be much more rigid. And the user can do things like put a water bottle cage or two on it.

b) 700C gives a much, much wider choice of good quality tires for road, cyclocross type tread pattern (like 700x32), and crosscountry mountain bike type width and tread pattern.

c) the totally nonstandard crankset and crankset ring size mean that you can't easily find parts for it, compared to the cranksets and ring sizes you would see for a suspensionless 700C city bike based around a drivetrain like 2x10 or 2x11 in front, and 11-34 cassette in rear. crankset rings for use with 20" size wheel folding bikes are much more rare than normal size rings.

edit: more:

d) no specification on what derailleur it uses, what shifters/brake levers, no specification on what disc brakes it uses. which in the "serious" bicycle market ($2000+) usually mean junk. I want to see specific shimano or sram part numbers there.

https://urbandrivestyle.com/products/unimoke-urban-utlity-el...

Plus it also comes down to throwing as many options at the wall to see what sticks. Harley has a large accessory and clothing setup already and dealers will need more than just sales of motorcycles. Rumor has it the corporate level is forcing dealers who want to carry the EV motorcycle; separate from the EV bicycles whose availability isn't quite known yet; nearly a hundred thousand for specific charging stations and layout.

[1] https://electrek.co/2019/01/07/harley-davidson-livewire-e-mo...

I also like (and own a) https://www.vanmoof.com/en_us/

I think a lot of people have that reaction to ebike (and regular bicycle) pricing at first. It's important to remember that decent entry-level bikes really start around $500. Many people have a conception in their head of something from Target or Walmart that's very low quality and doesn't hold up well. You might also want to get some better components given that you're adding a motor and battery to it so the bike might really start at $700 or $800. The Yamaha has Shimano Sora components which you probably don't tend to find on regular bikes below $800. So, there's a regular bike starting point right there. Often times you want better tires because you'll be riding faster than regular bikes tend to get ridden, a better chain because you'll be putting more stress on it, etc. Often these bikes come with lights that add to the cost. It's also important to remember that weight plays a big role in bikes while cars can pile on weight without as much concern.

Most importantly, they come with a motor and battery pack. The battery pack can be a very expensive part of the bike, often costing $700+. Add the motor into the mix and it's easy to see how one can break $2k.

However, there are certainly ebikes that can be had for cheaper. Rad Power offers options for $1,500 that are quite good. They don't have quite as much range and they're rear-drive rather than mid-drive bikes, but they're quite good.

It's also important to remember that we're kinda in the infancy of ebikes. Bosch just introduced new motors aimed at lowering the entry-level price point of mid-drive bikes. Yamaha is just entering the market now. GM is just entering the market now. Prices will likely come down a bit as they become more popular and as companies put more investment into them.

Also, ebikes are often subject to import taxes and, in Europe, VAT included in the quoted price. Trump's trade spat with China raised the price of ebikes in the US by hundreds of dollars in many cases. In fact, the tariff was going to be 25% which really shook the ebike industry (https://www.radpowerbikes.com/pages/rad-pricing-returns). The prices in the article might be including VAT which is a bit unfair to compare to American prices. As they noted, the bike will be cheaper in Germany which indicates that VAT is likely in play. It's easy to see how VAT and tariffs might have a large impact of 20-40%.

To close, even at $3k, an ebike can be an awesome purchase. I live in a city where parking is expensive and a car won't get you to your destination at more than 20MPH. Heck, the speed limit in the city is 25MPH. So, an ebike becomes a car and even public transit replacement. With more range, flexibility (on your schedule, to exactly where you want to go), and speed than public transit, an ebike can be amazing. Parking at my work costs $250/mo for cars or $3,000 per year. Insurance on that car would probably be another $1,000+. Let's assume a $20,000 car that needs replacing every decade. Another $2,000/year.

If you live 10 miles from work and your option is to drive and sit in miserable traffic and pay $6,000/year for that, an ebike starts to look pretty awesome. You get exercise and stimulation while the assist is there to handle any fatigue - and these bikes can really provide assist to the point that you don't have to worry about fatigue.

Heck, even if you're replacing public transit, an ebike can be reasonable. A transit pass might cost $100/mo which becomes $1,200/year. After two years, you've spent the cost of a Yamaha CrossCore. After 15 months, you've spent the cost of a Rad Power Rad City. You get to go where you want, when you want, with more speed than a car or public transit can offer. Again, that's going to depend on your city and its traffic.

Yes, the bike "seems expensive". Bikes seem expensive to me too (ebike or even regular). C'mon, it's just a bike? Wheels, pedals, chain. $500-800 for that? Heck, I have enthusiast friends that spend several thousand on a regular bike. However, cars can have some huge costs and I think a lot of people are pretty miserable in traffic - especially as traffic continues to get worse in our cities.

Plus, they're amazing for the environment. 1kWh of electricity can get you 100 miles of range - and more if you're putting in decent effort. 1kWh of electricity in an electric car can get you 4 miles. Plus, parking has a huge environmental cost. Parking garages use a lot of steel and concrete which are terrible for climate change. Surface parking means mowing down trees and turning open space into an asphalt wasteland. Bike parking takes up space, but not nearly as much space and it's often space that can be less impactful on the environment around it because bikes can be lifted and maneuvered in ways a car can't be.

It certainly depends on where you live, but if you find yourself driving 2-8 miles around the city a lot, a bike lets you avoid traffic and parking hassles and an ebike lets you do that faster and with less physical effort - they open up biking to more and more people.

Solo vehicles run to motorcycles; weird podules are a third-vehicle choice after a full-featured car or two.

Larger wheels do have slightly less rolling resistance.