I have am 65, great health except for the tenonitis I have in my legs from riding my bicycle so much. I now have both a bicycle and a motorized bicycle. Not all motors are the cheap 2 cy. chinese, that are loud and polluting. I have a 4 stroke, fairly quiet, low r.p.m. motor. Honda makes a lite weight 4-stroke motors, and are very low polluting. It can be done. As for E-bikes, with out a lot of money, I can’t buy one that will go the distance. I power along very carefully, obeying the laws. As for Portland bicycling, I have seen many arrogant riders, riding illegaly, with no regards for other peds.,autos,or other bikers.(think brakeless bicycles). I hope the”true” bicyclers well see that there’s many reasons riding a motor assisted bike, and it’s far greener than a SUV, in all ways. One thing more, Just imagin the I-5 Bridge, with mostly bicycles of every king moving across it. Jack Tar

Yes – it does have emissions – yes it does require less effort than a regular bike and yes, the electric solution has come on strong and in many ways is a much more elegant and green way of getting assited propulsion.

I love my Gary Fisher Chronus (the old one with a flat bar and fat slicks, not the new weight watching weenie) and I love pedaling it for recreation and fitness. But I also have an older garage sale sourced MTB with a cheap chinese 2 stroke that is both fun and endearing (for different reason) … one does not compete with the other … and when finances and time allow, I suspect I’ll one day try and do an electric bike build up as well. Broaden your horizons and leave your hate mail out of it. I do this because I am a bicycle enthusiast – not because I’m Lance Armstrong or a greenie or hate cars … just like bikes … even those with a little extra oomph when you need it … it’s not a race so it is not to be considered as cheating … the gas bike just allows me to go further and faster and arrive not looking like a stick of melting butter … it aint for everyone but you need to try it before you judge it, you might like it ? It’s cheaper than a high end set of Dura-Ace gears or a nice set of road wheels and is the furthest thing from being and extravegance. Most kits can be installed (and removed, if you dont like it) in an afternoon so most folks can do it themselves so it’s a great project if you like to tinker like many bike folks do.

as far as the emissions go… who cares. sometimes i start my up car engine and leave it running in idle, while i ride my 2 stroke engine bike wide open – balancing to drive the bike with no hands so i can spray hairspray cans into the air during my commute. i don’t recycle and i leave all the lights on at work when i leave for the day.

As a practical matter, like a typical bike, a motorized bicycle is much cheaper (MPG, insurance, repairs, etc.) than a traditional auto or gas-powered scooter. It never becomes so worn out that the whole vehicle must be replaced–a few new components and it is good as new. In a competitive environment of product manufacturers producing the same standardized components, consumers are in a very favorable economic position.

Any way we can get people off of 4-wheels and onto 2-wheels is a win for everyone.

That’s actually kinda funny. But those ads are generated automatically based on the content of the site.

I like what Jeff S. said: “horrible solution to a non-existent problem”.