Having DIY my own ebike, I can say my design would probably resemble those frankenbikes you mention. Ie.Norco six dual suspension with a big clunky box for the battery. (this becomes a 70 pound bike with battery) Furthermore, in canada we can go up to 32km/h, use a 500w motor and there is no need for a pedelec (which is by the way pedal control assistance instead of a throttle).

I disagree that a bicycle is for recreation purpose as stated. A bicycle is a transportation device, the reason and way you use them will vary. I have my ebike to comute to work and a road bike when I want to do exercise. Each have a specific function, and both are optimised for that function.

My ebike ride to work takes 15 minutes less then when I pedal with my road bike. It has better acceleration, better speed at hill climbing and can maintain a top speed of 32 km/h most of my comute. I dont arrive sweaty, do not need to take a shower, and can start to work immediately, without counting no traffic, free parking in the garage and availability of a secure way via bikepaths (oh, and it cost about 0.03$ of electricity each way)

I do think that the ebike is oriented toward the crowd that do wishes to lose 5 pound in a week. Using mine to work, I can wear a suit and not be a sweaty mess when I arrive. If I wish I can pedal as much as I like, to do some exercise.

My question, how much does one pay for the lightest road bike? The reason is an increase in performance do to lighter weight components and more fluid and efficient components. Would a low power motor with a battery do better for cheaper in terms of increase in performance. I says yes absolutely.

I think there are 4 user groups:
- comuter, which used to take a car of bus.
- performers, use motor to enhance their performance
- less in shape persons looking to get back into bicycling with being to slow. Assistance for steep hill climbing, a little faster top speed but for exercise purpose.
- experimenter, creating crazy bike that goes to 100km/h or other (see endless-sphere.com to see more about this community)

Lastly in terms of repainring ebike, I think it will be more a question of replacing entire component then repairing a specific fault. Example, swapping a controller, a switch, or a cable. I don’t think bike repairs will ever need to have electric engineer to do such work.

“E-bikes” is perhaps more of an umbrella category to include electric scooters, I think, and “pedalecs”(PEDAL EleCtricity bikeS, or close.. is it “pedelecs”?) are the EU-term for those assisted-only-to-25kph electric-assist bikes.

Imprecise, velo-related language can be distracting: Like many, I cringe at “bikers” used instead of “cyclists”, not because I want to sound douchey but because of the Hell’s Angels association.. or ha ha is this preference a kind of douchey thing?

Aesthetically-only appealing pedalecs will probably self-select in a Darwinian sort of way, but what is more interesting to me is the new and heavily-invested involvement of companies like Bosch and Shimano. Should the market insist that they offer long-term warranties on their gear? I think so. Are they training mechanics at the relevant shops? I hope so, but when someone mail orders a bike and then has to ship it out for repair things get nasty, and if this person does not have a second bike…

Personally, I first look for a competent bicycle manufacturer or retailer and then see what and even if they offer an electric option… and wait til they do.

Change is 100% inevitable, and makes news. Taking change in the best direction is a bit more tricky. New product development, without long term direction, sometimes feels just another route – lithium to landfill… merely looking for the next craze to make a few $$$ on. This is a damn tough dilemma for me and anyone else in the design business.

Like you and Carlton, the if we can promote products that the vast ‘blue ocean’ of non-cyclist find not only ‘soundbite’ / momentarily cool, but also give long term, health, fun pleasure and hassle free personal transport then i’ll feel much more comfortable.

I loved your quotes: “…..if the first iPods resembled a homemade bomb with a battery bolted to a logic board, connected by exposed wires, they’d hardly have gained a solid footing with the fashionable crowd”
and
” … e-bikes I saw resembled at best an unremarkable cheap bike, and at worst, the something tantamount to fashion suicide, right up there with recumbents.”

Phew, At least you didn’t add folding bikes to that

Well, I could, if you’d talked a bit about the wattage and speed issue. In the EU, e-bikes can’t be throttle-only, are limited to 25kph and can’t be above 250w. In US it’s much different and I’d very worried about the motorbikes that could soon be on bikepaths, but described as bicycles.

Many e-bike orgs in the EU want wattage and speeds increased. Big mistake.

If people wanted more speed and power they’d buy mopeds and motorbikes.

I’m with you on the design front. Before Eurobike I got lots of press releases on how companies are making e-bikes sexier for the new, younger e-bike demographic.

When I got to the show these bikes weren’t anywhere near as sexy as predicted.

I worry that bike companies will start devoting way too much of their R&D budgets on a sector that’s very possibly close to saturation point, in Europe at least.

It worries me that journalists continue to plug e-bikes as though they are Next Big Thing just because their market share, in percentage terms, is growing year on year. But big deal if it’s 25 percent YoY growth if the base was pitifully low in the first place.

At Eurobike a German trade org revealed that e-bikes will sell 600,000 units in 2010. Sounds a lot but this is just 4 percent of the EU market for bikes. Prediction for 2011? Five percent.

Why all the brouhaha for such a tiny market? Sure, the bikes are expensive, so lucrative, but if it ain’t mass market, why bother?

http://bikehugger.com/2010/09/urban-arrow-e-cargobike.html

that doesn’t just pop a motor onto anything with two wheels.