Just curious of the feedback of the electric fat bike in the link below. The difference between a bicycle and a dirt bike used to be very clear. Put your mountain bike on one end of the spectrum and a 450EXC at the other, but then figure out where to fit things like this Norco Fat Bike or the Stealth, or electric Free Ride. https://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/fa ... -electric/ These will be $3700 when they come out. 32km/h restricted governer. Thoughts?
It will be interesting to see how the anti-fun folks treat these being used in regional forests and other "protected" properties. Unfortunately for the fans of fat bikes, I imagine they will be classed as motorcycles.
http://www.stealthelectricbikes.com/model-range/ The Stealth bikes are defined by their pedals or lack thereof. B-52 and F-37 have pedals, the H-52 has fixed footpegs like a motorcycle. All are electric powered, but the H-52 would feel more like a motorcycle. I think it will be like mopeds, as long there are working pedals, then the category is different. Working pedals = bicycle. No pedals = motorized vehicle. Limited speed and no pedals, who knows? Electric bicycles are interesting, electric motorcycles will be confusing due to questions about registration and insurance.
All you can do is enjoy it while you can. I tried a friends BionX kitted hybrid mtn bike 2 yrs ago. I was very impressed at the time. The rear hub/motor was pretty heavy and you changed gears normally like a regular bike, but it had impressive torque and variable regen from free wheeling to max. I rode it around the Mosport track for a few laps (after hrs at a race meeting) without peddling and about 1/2 charged and it would pull 22kph uphill on the back straight. I saw 35-40kph on the flat. It ran for most of the afternoon and would go quite a ways on its own power with all the hills providing regen.
Any performance electric bike with a hub motor is a bad design. Taking one offroad is even worse. Putting that much unsprung weight and flywheel effect on the back wheel will severely mess up the handling. As a toy it might be fine, but to go fast and have serious fun, its a no-go.
